Low-Cost Whole House Sirius or XM
With high-end products like Sonos being marketed as a good way to get whole-house satellite radio, the inexpensive option is so much easier and uses the thing you already have — ordinary radios!
Simply Google for an FM transmitter (like this one or this one or one of these — all under $100). Make sure you do NOT purchase something for an iPod (won’t have enough power). It should be a transmitter under 1 watt of power (in the U.S. — anything more and you might bump into some FCC problems).
Now here’s the best part… Since satellite radio can be listened to online and most people have a broadband connection in their home, you can hook this up to your computer and avoid purchasing another radio and monthly subscription.
To get the audio from your computer to the whole-house FM transmitter, purchase the cables you need and splitter from Radio Shack. They have everything you need.
The rough diagram is:
Internet --> Computer --> Computer Speakers
|
V
FM transmitter
|
V
Any radio in your house
The FM transmitter will allow you to choose a regular FM frequency to transmit on. Simply choose one that doesn’t have a radio station in your area on it. Also, stay away from any other station’s frequencies — especially strong or weak ones. Strong ones may interfere with your signal, and you may interfere with weak ones’ signals.
Fire up your satellite radio online player, then tune a radio to the FM frequency you set.
Whole-house satellite radio for under $100.