Alpine

Alpine DUA-9820XM & XM radio antenna

[10/25/2004] Reviewed by: Bruce Rosen - bruce_k_rosen@hotmail.com

Applicable to: '90 - '97 '99 + 1.6 liter 1.8 liter

This is the Alpine AM/FM/CD head unit that includes a built in XM Radio receiver. No additional box is needed for getting XM, just add an XM Antenna and subscribe to the service.

The unit installs just like any other after market AM/FM/CD head unit that is "single DIN" in size. In my 96 it was very easy since my original Mazda radio was already single DIN size. Radio works well, sound quality is good, and it makes adding XM to the car really nice since no additional boxes or control panels are needed, just the subscription service and a single wire XM antenna must be purchased. I installed the XM antenna by running the wire up and around the windshield hoop under the rubber molding. Then mounted the "micro" XM antenna (about 2" square and 1/2" high) to the top center of the windshield hoop. The antenna mounts using an internal magnetic and has little tiny plastic feet on each bottom corner, so there is no damage to the paint and no holes to drill. Reception with the XM antenna in that location has been good both with the current Alpine unit, and with the Roady2 unit I previously had in the car to see if I even liked XM.

As much as I enjoy just driving my Miata, having XM is an additional pleasure. It is worth the cost of subscription just for the pleasure of not having to listen to DJs talking and commercial after commercial trying to sell me stuff. It is great to be able to switch between stations that are playing specific types of music knowing that I will immediately be hearing exactly that type of music, or other content such as comedy. My family listened to it in the Miata and liked it so much, now I've got it in all 5 cars (yes there is a fee per car, right now it is $9.99 a month for the 1st car and $6.99 per additional car, with a max of 4 additional). So, if you are thinking about XM, the Alpine makes an excellent choice if you want to have both a quality AM/FM/CD unit and XM, and you want to avoid having to add yet another box somewhere in the car, or another control device on the dash. The Alpine looks good in the dash, and has quite a bit of functional! ity options built into it.

Over 30 minutes to remove completely