I'm talking with an audio shop locally to upgrade my HU from stock to the Alpine 9857. I have an XM subscription, so I want to add XM and also add the iPod capability. He's telling me that I need two Terk boxes to make the XM work. One is listed as the "Terk XMdirect Universal tuner box ($49.99)" and the other is listed as "Terk XM Smart Digital Adapter - Alpine AiNET ($49.99)". Then there's the Alpine iPod full-speed connecting cable ($39.99).

Do I need all these things?

 

The 9857 has a separate plug for AiNet and the ipod cable KCE-422i.

I think Alpine only has a Sirius module so you may have to go with those Terk items. It sounds right as you need to get into AiNet. The prices are jacked up obviously, the ipod cable is $30 MSRP and prolly $20 on ebay.

 

Yeah, I saw that, too, on the prices. Thanks for the input. What exactly is AiNet?

 

Yeah, price is jacked up.
Ipod cables are $30 even from Bestbuy.

Dan

 

AiNet is essentially a proprietary Alpine plug with pins that have L/R input and controls for different interfaces. You can run a whole series of devices from it as long as the HU supports them. Like you can hookup an AUX-IN cable, a CD Changer, Bluetooth, Sirius, etc. They also have splitter boxes (kca-410 i think) so you can tag on more stuff.

Check out http://www.alpine-usa.com/US-en/products/s...egory=ADD-ON_PR

 

Great link. It definitely makes more sense now.

 

I finally got my 9857 and had it installed. I decided to keep my XM Roady XT instead of using the Terk box so that I have the option to use XM in our other car. I had the installer connect the Roady XT via the AUX interface (RCA jack).

Everything else works great, the CD, tuner, and iPOD interfaces all have great sound quality. The XM is pretty bad, though. I adjusted the volume on the Roady XT unit itself but it's still considerably quieter (for example, I can have volume level 10 on the other sources, but have to turn up the XM to about 15 to be at the same level).

Is that just an issue with using the RCA input? Would it sound better using the Terk box setup?