I figure that since we always review performance parts, I'd throw in some stereo stuff reviews. For the past year I've had the XM commander in my truck. My headunit is XM capable but Alpine quit making the tuner box for it and it was at least $200 off line. Well, good things come to those who wait. A few months ago, TERK introduced it's line of universal XM tuners and adapter boxes for Alpine, Sony, Kenwood, Pioneer, and I think a couple of more. Anyways, I went and bought the adapter for Alpine. If you already have the XM commander then all you have to buy is the adapter box. The tuner will work. Now for the actual review.

The adapter comes with the required capables to plug into the head unit (like Alpine Ai-Net cable w/another plug to hook up additional Alpine products), RCA cables, and a cable to plug into the tuner. These cables are maybe 24" in length so it makes it a pain to mount and route this thing. I ended up stuffing it behind that little cubby hole in the dash. I mounted the tuner under the back seat. While that might be a pain, the benefits for out weigh it. The sound is 10x better than it was when it was modulated, not having to deal with a seperate display makes it easier to change stations and it also cleans up the inside of the truck.

Overall, I'm fairly impressed with this little unit. It cost me $50 for the adapter. If you have to buy the tuner box, it'll cost you another $50 but that does include the antenna.

 

As soon as Crutchfield get my Sony adapter box in stock (so I can hook up my changer AND XM) I'll have the same set-up. I'm hoping it's as cool as I think, because my radio SUCKS!!!

Oh Well, who needs radio when you have 7 MP3 CD's in the changer with ~200 songs each

Chris

 

Well, I guess I spoke to soon about this little thing. When I first installed it, it worked great. Now it won't change channels and every time you press a preset button it automatically changes the preset. I hate technology.

 

Ha Ha!! Oh wait

Chris

 

I'm officially confused. Get in the truck this morning and figured what the heck, I'll try it. Low and behold it works great.

 

If you want to see problems, buy the Pioneer unit! The adapter will only work with the DEH-P7700MP or DEH-P770MP (Premier) in the 2005 lineup. And you need to jump through hoops just to get it to work with those units. It also will not work with any of the video or navigation units, current or not. It will however work with the older Pioneer P Buss units. The only adapters I have not heard of having problems is the Sony and Kenwood, so far. I know that Terk/Audiovox are working on a new generation of adapters that are supposed to fix these problems. My advice is to wait for the second generation of adapters. By then maybe they will have the bugs worked out.

 

Or 20+ gb of MP3s on a Neuros Audio Computer!

 

I had great luck with my Pioneer unit in the car (CD head unit, can't remember the model number right now...fairly high end unit from about 3 years ago), XM ready...I added the XM tuner and all went together great and controlling it is very simple. It works through the controls on the head unit or remote control, and tuning it is just like tuning a regular FM radio, even the presets. I purchased a Delphi SkyFi for use in the house, and for our older vehicles without an XM ready head unit. It also worked great. The 2 accounts never had a problem...UNTIL...

XM decided to start charging our checking account automatically instead of mailing the invoices every 3 months. They don't give any advance notice, and we keep a small checking account just for paying bills out of, which doesn't have much money in it. Our theory is, there isn't a lot of money there if the wrong person gets hold of the account info. As it turns out, XM was the wrong person. For over a year we fought with them to just mail the invoice, but they kept charging the checking account whenever they wanted. Once they caught us before we had put money back into that account after paying other bills, and we had about 3 other checks bounce because XM took the money that was planned to go to them! After fighting with XM, they put the money back into the account, and I requested that our account be shut off, since I was pretty ticked by then. Well that didn't help with all the overdraft fees. We thought we were fine, then 3 months later, they tried taking money...AGAIN! After a heated phone call they seemed to get the idea and a few weeks later the account was closed. Well a couple weeks after that we started getting bills for money due...THROUGH THE MAIL! Oh sure, NOW they figure out how to mail us bills!

I really miss our XM service, and it isn't the same in the truck or car without it, since I spend more time driving than I do at home. But until they figure out a better billing system, I'll live without it.

Jim

 

The older Pioneer units work just fine. It is only the 2005 units that have the issues. You can now get a direct plug in Sirius tuner for the Pioneer units as well, if you want to go that route. The only downfall is it stays in the car only.

 

I tried listening to Sirius, and it just didn't have the audio quality of XM. It also doesn't have nearly the range of channels, and the ones it had didn't seem to be as good. But I wasn't able to listen very long, so I really didn't get a true test of it.

Jim

 

WHOA!!!!!!

I've only got about 6 GB of music

Chris