2005 Prius + Sirius S50 Installed

The first Sirius unit I had in this car was the setup from Factory Interactive, integrated with the factory display of the Prius, which is a nice feature. I wanted to be able to do scheduled recordings though, so I decided to switch to the Sirius S50 which has been a pretty decent unit for me.

With the Factory Interactive kit I had installed the antenna on the roof per the instructions. For this one though, I decided to try using the center speaker grille as a mount (not using the center speaker), it is metal so the antenna sticks fine with it's magnet. The window is big enough for good coverage, reception has not been much different than when it was on the roof and the wires are much easier to run.

I found that I received better reception with the antenna facing down (text upside down when looking from front of car into the window) versus facing up. Your results may vary, I encourage trying it both ways.

At first I pulled the wire up through a gap in the dash panels, crimps the wires a little and works, but I wanted something a little cleaner looking. I decided to make a hole in the grille (should be cheap to replace if I want to return to stock) and run the cable down through the dash so it is hidden. You have to drill a pretty good size hole (I did a two stacked holes) to get the cable end through, but you can slide the antenna down to cover the hole. I put the speaker back in place, it fills the void, won't get lost and holds the cable nice and snug.

For the tuner, I mounted it down to the right of the center pod (again, another cheap part to replace). With the S50 being a vertical mount, it was the best spot in my opinion. It's out of site a bit for thieves and seems to be mostly out of the way of legs. Since it is out of hand reach, I used Velcro to mount the remote control to the side of the console where it's easy to reach.

I used the Sirius FM injector to get the best reception I could, so it is basically hard wired with the Sirius & FM antenna plus the power.

I posted pictures on my web site, click to check them out.