If you have Onstar...you can inquire in the truck. They will connect you with XM radio person who will provide status based on your XM radio ID which can be found at channel "0"

 

I have played with the EQ for 12 months and it still SUX. I think it is an XM thing and not so much the truck.

 

Believe it or not it was actually my wife who pointed out the "hollow" sound to XM when compared to other sources. Regular radio sounds better and the iPod through the aux has been the way to go. I haven't really looked into it but I don't have many options as far as EQ. Actually, I believe all I have is TALK and one other setting (sorry, don't remember what it is at the moment. Also, I was thinking my EQ settings weren't saving but I might have been listening to different sources when I was setting them. In other words, I set it while the kids were watching a DVD and the later, when I got back in the car, it was on regular radio and thus, no saved settings.

I'll probably re-up the XM service when the trial expires but the sound quality is lacking.

 

My 2007 Tahoe also has problems with poor reception. I have noticed problems with FM and XM stations, especially when I drive by trees, power lines, buildings, bridges, drive-thru windows.... The sound quality is very poor. My previous Suburbans and Tahoes did not have this problem, I wonder if it is because the FM & XM antenna is now in the back side glass window?
Anyone else notice similar problems?

 

I know the FM is in the back window but isn't the XM on the roof?

 

Mine seems OK on all three sources. Have your dealer check it out.

 

the XM signal has nothing to do with the sound quality of XM. its either on or off.

XM works better in metro cities because XM has invested heavily in terrestrial repeater stations to help with dead spots.

 

two subjects:
sound quality...poor
reception ...poor-Trees and buildings beside vehicle block view of Sat. signal way too often

 

Sounds like you might have a problem. Antenna or connection?

My XM picks up even when I'm getting gas and under a roof. Kind of surprised me until I saw the post about repeaters.

 

I was told that the XM and FM antennas are both located in the rear side glass. The small antenna on the roof is for the OnStar. Apparently, GM did not want to upset its paying OnStar customers, so it kept with the more reliable antenna.

Technically you may be correct that the XM signal has nothing to do with the sound quality. But what if the signal is being dropped only for a millisecond, you may not notice a large gap of silence but the song is disturbed, the result (to the uneducated music lover) is poor sound quality.

Nevertheless, I took my 2007 tahoe to the dealership on multiple occasions. They replaced the head unit, the back glass antenna, and traced all the wires to make sure it was not in the wiring. After these repairs did not resolve the problems, I test drove another similar new Tahoe and found that it had similar issues.

My stereo is the premium Bose package with DVD.
I wonder if the Navigation stereo has a better tuner and/or better sound quality.