According to engadget.com:

Audiophiles, rejoice! Starting in March of next year, XM Satellite Radio will begin offering two stations of music in 5.1 channel surround sound, 24-hours-a-day. Unfortunately for mainstream music lovers, the 2 stations in question are Fine Tuning and XM Pops, both of which had been deleted from our receivers long ago. DSP and surround sound sound experts Neural Audio Corp. will be providing the tech behind the broadcasts, called XM HD Surround, which can be played on older units but only in 5.1 on upcoming rack gear by Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, and Yamaha (i.e. you gotta pay to play, folks). As much as we'd love to hear Slick Rick's "The Show" coming at us from all angles, even this meager start bodes well for the radio industry, as we can envision a day in the not-too-distant future when we can listen to NPR in full 20.5 channel glory over at the Mansion.

http://engadget.com/2005/12/28/xm-to...nd-broadcasts/

 

But will this work in our TL's? Or will we need some sort of upgrade?

Does anyone know?

 

I may actually re-subscribe to XM if my TL is able to play the 5.1.... only if I get a reduced rate though.

 

As per his email, it "can be played on older units but only in 5.1 on upcoming rack gear by Denon, Onkyo, Pioneer, and Yamaha".

Being that the TL (and RL I assume) use Panasonic head units, and were produced before HD Surround was conceived, the answer is "it'll probably sound like normal XM music stations."

HOWEVER, I would assume that XM is dedicating more bandwidth to these (as they dedicate less bandwidth to talk and the absolute minimum to XM Traffic & Weather). More bandwidth = less compression = higher quality sound.

 

Nice avatar lindros2, do you really have one?!

Anyway, back on topic, I can say with almost absolute certainty that the TL cannot play the 5.1 streams that will be introduced in March. Pretty unfortunate as DVD-A is a dying technology that's just never managed to catch on. I guess while the OEM navigation and sound system is nicely integrated, it's very limited. Meanwhile, aftermarket devices do not integrate as well, but they offer a ton more features Quite unfortunate I'd say.

 

I doubt it. The XM module in our cars is 2 channel. Even if by some "magic", of which there is none, it could down-mix 5.1 to 2channel Dolby Surround Sound, the head unit wouldn't be able to do anything with it.

Seeing as how the bandwidth on XM is used so "crappily" now, I can't imagine them doing 5.1 of any worth. I mean, XM at the $70/year deal works only on the "quantity" business model, not "quality" As in, that much choice for $70/year is OK even if it sounds like FM radio. At their full "rack rate" they are dreaming.

 

It will be interesting to see how things progress (especially with the new European satellites going up). Only time will tell, but XM is definitely a huge leap (in content) ahead of AM/FM (like cable vs. broadcast TV...)