Altec Lansing XM3120 Docking/Speaker System for Audiovox Express and Delphi Roady XT
by Altec Lansing Technologies
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Our Price: $109.99 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $49.95 (click here) Category: Car Audio or Theater See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
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for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Altec Lansing XM3120 Docking/Speaker System for Audiovox Express and Delphi Roady XT
Customer Review: I like this XM home player very much
Summary: 4 Stars
The Altec Lansing XM 3120 came with adapters to use with the Roady XT and the Audiovox Express. But if you lose the adapters, don't worry too much about it. My Roady XT worked fine with out it. It doesn't change the connectors any, it just 'pretties' up the connection a bit. As long as the basic connectors us the XT style connections, it'll work fine.
The sound is pretty good in spite of its small size. It looks bigger in the photos than it is. It's no Bose radio, but far better than a music product that costs well under $100 should be expected to sound.
It is "on" all the time, and when you insert the radio into the connector, the radio comes on. There is a volume knob that appears to change the volume level at the reciever and not at the player; at least the volume display changes on the radio reciever.
There is a headphone mini-plug socket that works fine. Not sure what a previous poster was complaining about. No problems for me at all.
It comes with its own external sattelite antenna. It looks like the same connection as the one on the Roady XT, Though it is physically smaller than the external home XM antennas that I am familiar with (for the old Roady 2). It seems sensitive enough.
Also, the device does not seem to get in the way of using the remote control.
The device uses an external power supply. For me, that is a bit of a negative. In that I intend to travel some with it and that power supply is one more thing I have to keep track of. But on the other hand, an internal power supply adds size and weight to a device and DOES generate a lot of extra heat, keeping the two separate probably makes some engineering sense and if I lose the Power supply, I can probably buy a generic replacement.
All in all, I'm very happy with this device, good sound, good price, pretty good build quality. I'd buy it again.
Update 2/6/2008 I liked this unit so much, I DID buy it again. I took the first one to my office and realized I missed it at home. So I bought another. Still good sound, still compact, still inexpensive. That's a lot to like!
Customer Review: GREAT sound for the money!
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are looking for a great-sounding yet inexpensive radio for your XM Roady XT or XM2go, look no further! I am a new subscriber to XM radio and cannot say enough good things about it. A car kit came with my Roady XT receiver and I couldn't wait to get it into the house...I had actually inititally gotten a home kit that would convert a used (and enormous) stereo into a home receiver, but the direction that my townhouse faced didn't allow any reception in my living room (no windows). Since I couldn't put the giant stereo anywhere else, I ended up checking out the little boomboxes on XM's website (my sister had recently purchased the Delphi bow-tie shaped boombox for around $100 from that site). After much comparison shopping, I found the Altec Lansing boombox on Amazon's site for less than half the price!
I wasn't looking for anything super loud, but I do appreciate good sound quality, and was a little leary of this little radio's ability to produce a richer sound. The reviews raved about Altec Lansing's technology that was able to produce great bass from tiny radios, and they were not mistaken! I LOVE this radio! I set it up on my kitchen counter where I can turn it to face the kitchen as I am cooking or doing dishes, or toward the living room when I just want to chill and listen to music. My antenna works great up on the South window sill (reception seems to be a little unreliable according to the other reviews), and when I come in from the car, I bring the receiver in and just pop it into the dock--easy! My only wish is that it came with a remote.
I highly recommend this little bad boy! And as usual, Amazon had the best deal around and it arrived 2 days after I ordered it.
Customer Review: Great Deal for the money
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this item several months ago when it was on sale for under $50.
It works well with my Express-EZ. For an inexpensive boom box, it sounds very good. Smooth bass, adequate highs. You can adjust the EQ on the XM receiver to fine tune it. Some have complained that the volume is a little low, but what do you expect? This isn't a $400 Bose Wave Radio, it is an inexpensive way to listen to your favorite XM channels at home. If you want a party house box, you have to pay for it! If I wanted to turn my living room into a disco, I would get a home kit and run the XM radio through my big amps.
The antenna cord was a bit long for my purposes,but I am glad to have it coiled up in case I mount it in another place. Depending upon the makeup of your home it works fine from inside. It helps to have access to a window sill on the correct side of the house for the antenna, but if you don't have lots of metal in the roof above, or foil-backed insulation in the ceiling, the signals should pass through OK. Metal foil, multiple stories, or metalic tinted windows will make the outside window option necessary. Otherwise, small adjustments in mounting angles, or even moving the whole antenna a few nches one way or the other can sometimes make a big difference.
Some have complaned that the volume knob is too small. I agree that it is small and feels a little cheap, but I wouldn't want to put a larger knob on such a small control shaft, it would snap it off and lead to bigger problems. All in all, a great deal for the money I paid.
Customer Review: Great little unit
Summary: 5 Stars
Altec Lansing has brought another good sounding product out in the tradition of it's computer speakers (which I have owned several units over the years). I have this XM unit as a second unit that I now utilize mainly in my office at work with my xpress EZ. I can not complain, great sound, small size (doesn't take up much of my desk), and easy to use. Reception is equivical to any other unit out there. I occasionally will utilize this with my home surround sound system by connecting up my main stereo through the headphone jack. Works well. The sound is actually more clear than my Audiovox XM Boombox unit, though that unit will play louder. This unit easily fills my fisrt floor (around 700 sqare feet) with sound. Worth buying if you want to get a decent product at a lower cost.
***Addendum 6/3/2009: I wanted to add now that I've had this item 1 year, about a month ago it quit allowing me to change the volume level on it (with my EZ Xpress model). If I take my reviever and place it into my other boombox, it works great, and also in the car. Once i've taken the reciever to the other boombox and bring it back, sometime the volume control will work again. I still stand by my first review because I do use this a lot, and it gets a good workout.
Customer Review: Good Sound, Great Reception, Excellent Value
Summary: 4 Stars
Why didn't this device get 5 stars? Well, it has the smallest, tiniest, really small volume knob on the face of the planet. For Christ Sakes Altec Lansing could you guys have snapped on any smaller volume knob? I'm serious. True, it does come with a remote control but personally I would rather just use the knob, which is small. Have I mentioned that?
Other than that small flaw this is an excellent device. Gets pretty good sound for being so small in size and price in comparision to other similiar devices, I have to give it that. Doesn't have the deep bass or get really loud, but that isn't what I paid 30 bucks for. I bought this is that I could listen to the radio at a moderate level in my house, not to make it a dance club. Also, the reception of this product is amazing. I can face the antenea straight towards the wall in my house and i always get full coverage from XM. I had the other brand for two weeks and could never get never one bar coverage inside of my house, from the exact same area that I have the XM reciever. XM to totally worth the $12.95 a month and this docking station is a great way to get your monies worth.