New XM Tuners To Begin Shipping In September
By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 8/6/2001
Alpine and Pioneer announced pricing and delivery on their new XM Satellite Radio tuners, joining Sony as one of three companies to offer full XM systems this September.
Pioneer said it will ship in September a line of three satellite tuners, including an FM Modulated add-on tuner that can work with any existing car radio. Called the GEX-FM903XM, the FM Modulated tuner can be installed anywhere in the car and comes with a separate display module for showing XM channels and other information. It also ships with a remote control at a suggested retail price of $249. It is joined by the GEX-P900XM add-on tuner that is designed to work with Pioneer's 14 XM-ready head units as well as previous Pioneer P-units that date back to 1994. Suggested retail price for the P900X is $199.
Also new is a combined head unit/add-on tuner package called the DEH-P3370XM. It includes the DEH-P3300 CD receiver with fold-down faceplate, rotary volume control, 50-watt by 4 power, built-in 3-band parametric EQ and SF EQ circuitry and comes bundled with the XM add-on tuner for a package price of $399.
Alpine announced that it will ship in mid- September its TUA-T020XM AiNet XM Radio Tuner Module plus a KAE-020XM Magnetic Mount XM Radio Antenna. These will work with Alpine's six existing 2001 XM-ready head units to allow XM reception. The tuner module will carry a suggested retail price of $280 and the antenna will be available at a price to be announced.
Alpine said it has already sold 70,000 of the six XM-ready 2001 head unit models which are compatible with the new XM tuner and antenna. These head units lead with the CDA-7873 CD Receiver/CD Changer Controller at $350. At the top of the line are the CDA-7878 MP3 CD receiver/changer controller at $850 and the CVA-1003 CD Receiver/CD Changer Controller with 6.5-inch motorized screen at $1,100.
Sony is on track to deliver its XM receiver shuttle system — a receiver that can dock either in the home or car. The model DRN-XM01 comes bundled with a docking cradle, small antenna, remote control and is designed to slide out of the cradle for transportability. Suggested retail price for the DRN-XM01 is $299 for the self-install version or $399 for the custom installation bundle.
