Our take on the XM Direct2 Tuner

by Zak Billmeier

Add the endless entertainment of XM Satellite Radio to your aftermarket car stereo with the XM Direct2 tuner. First, you'll need to purchase a brand-specific cable that connects this adapter to your stereo. Once connected, you'll be able to change channels and see programming information on your stereo's display. XM includes a magnetic, roof-mount antenna for pulling in the satellite signal.

Note: Before installation, this unit must first be programmed by connecting it to a computer with a 32-bit operating system running either Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista, or Windows 7, and Internet Explorer.

Note: A subscription to XM is also required — learn about XM's programming. Satellite radio service is available only within Canada and the lower 48 states — not available in Hawaii or U.S. territories.

Highlights:

car-only XM radio interface — works with brand-specific adapters
includes roof-mount antenna
displays text on the stereo and supplies power to the satellite radio
warranty: 1 year
Our 60-day money-back guarantee

Hands-on research from the Crutchfield Labs (what are the Labs?)

What’s in the box? | In-depth notes

Product Research

What's in the box?

Download owner's manual

XMDirect² Vehicle Tuner with attached 42" cable
Protocol Interface Adapter
Snap-on cover for PIA
6' USB Programming cable (USB Type A connector on one end and proprietary XM connector on the other)
Magnetic antenna with attached 22' cable (single SMB connector)
Antenna cable rubber bumper
Alcohol prep pad
Installation Guide (English/ Spanish/ French)
Computer connection instructions

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Features

Product Overview: The Audiovox CNP2000UCA XMDirect² Protocol Interface Adapter allows you to install XM Satellite Radio with select aftermarket car stereos. It includes the XM Vehicle Tuner, a magnetic base XM antenna, the Protocol Interface Adapter (PIA), and a USB programming cable. For most installations you will need a separate XMDirect² connection cable for your specific car stereo brand (see list below). In addition to the proper hardware, you will need to subscribe to XM Satellite Radio in order to receive programming.

XM Satellite Radio: XM Satellite Radio programming offers over 170 digital radio channels including commercial free music channels, plus news, sports, talk, comedy, and other entertainment programming from coast to coast. XM also offers traffic and weather alerts for several major US cities (24 cities as of 6/29/10), as well as live sports broadcasts from Major League Baseball, NHL, the PGA tour, Indy car racing, and several major college conferences.

XMDirect² Connection Cable: XMDirect² connection cables are available for XM-ready Alpine, Clarion, Eclipse, Jensen, JVC, Kenwood, Panasonic, and Sony car stereos. For specific head unit model compatibility, see the connection cable for your car stereo brand. The required cables for each brand are:

Alpine: 220CNPALP1
Clarion: 220CNPCLA1
Eclipse: 220CNPECL1
Jensen: 220CNPJEN1
JVC: 220CNPJVC1
Kenwood: 220CNPKEN1
Panasonic: 220CNPPAN1
Sony: 220CNPSON1

Installation Overview: The XM Vehicle Tuner plugs directly into the Protocol Interface Adapter (PIA). The XMDirect² connection cable for your aftermarket car stereo (sold separately) plugs between your XM-ready radio and the PIA via a 34-pin connection. You must also mount the magnetic antenna on the roof or trunk of your vehicle, and route the cable to the tuner (inside the vehicle). Before installation, you must download the proper radio model protocol to the PIA from the XMDirect² website (firmware will not be available for all satellite ready radios, but if this unit is listed as an accessory for your radio, it is compatible and the correct firmware is available on the audiovox.com/xmdirect/ website). This requires connecting your PC to the PIA via the supplied USB Programming cable and accessing the Internet.

Note: You must have Windows XP, Windows Vista (32 or 64 bit) or Windows 7 (32 or 64 bit) installed on your PC for programming the PIA.

Dimensions: The XMDirect² components have the following dimensions:

Tuner:
- Width: 3.71"
- Height: 0.70"
- Depth: 2.05"
Magnetic Antenna:
- Width: 1.41"
- Length: 1.74"
- Height: 0.53"
- Cable Length: 22'
Protocol Interface Adapter (PIA):
- Width: 2.78"
- Height: 0.85"
- Depth: 4.65"

Review Summary

Average Customer Review:

16 people say:

5 Star:

(5)

4 Star:

(3)

3 Star:

(1)

2 Star:

(1)

1 Star:

(6)

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1-10 of 16 items >> Sort Results By: Date Reviewed | Rating | Helpfulness

5 out of 5

XM Direct2 Tuner

Written By Gilbert H, Houston, TX on Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

very easy to installed been waiting almost a year to add XM radio to my JVC radio, love it!

1 out of 1 people found this helpful

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5 out of 5

XM Direct2 Tuner

Written By rickey b, tupelo, ms on Monday, March 12, 2012

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

love the cnp2000uca and xm direct2 tuner for my alpine cda 9853 , and everything worked great , it fix behind my radio nicely and it was priced at a good price. Thank you crutchfield and my advisor dasiy was great with the information i need about there product and my alpine radio.

Pros:

great price and product works great

Cons:

The frist unit was bad , but got another one ship had to wait 2 days ,but they made it good

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5 out of 5

Easy Install

Written By Chris B, Houston, TX on Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

This was a very easy install. Connecting the 2 wires to the navigation head unit was easy, just matched the colors, and the cable connection uses a unique connector. It took some time to run the antenna cable. I had to go around the sunroof and went out through the third brake light rubber mounts. Very easy to pass the thin antenna through this rubber mount (Nissan Frontier Pickup).

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5 out of 5

XM Direct2 Tuner

Written By , nm on Saturday, January 29, 2011

works great

1 out of 1 people found this helpful

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5 out of 5

XM Direct2 Tuner

Written By Eric, Chesapeake Beach, MD. on Thursday, September 09, 2010

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

Ordered the MX Direct2 Tuner package from Crutchfield a couple of weeks ago. First off,
let me say that the customer service, when I called, was excellent. Since I wasn't sure of
what I needed, I told them that I wanted to hook up XM radio to my Alpine 9884 car
stereo. Within a few seconds, the gentleman on the line directed me to the Crutchfield
website that had what I needed so I could review it. After that, I placed the order, which
was very quick, and within a couple of minutes, my order was placed.

After the order was placed, I received an email within 2 hrs saying that my order had
already shipped (That was a Thursday). And by the next day around 4pm, my kit was
sitting on my doorstep (granted, they are located in VA., and I live in MD., so it may take
an extra day or two if you live in the midewest or the west coast).

I am very pleased with Crutchfield's service and will definitely be using them again in the
future. By the way, my kit worked perfectly as well.

8 out of 11 people found this helpful

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4 out of 5

Works Great

Written By Michale, Dayton, FL on Monday, April 02, 2012

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

I was hesitant to order this due to the reviews on the site, but gave it a try anyway. I went to the Audiovox website for detailed information on installing and was up and running in 30 minutes. So far everything works great.

Cons:

Has to be programmed by consumer.

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4 out of 5

XM Direct 2 Tuner

Written By Mikek, Greensboro, NC on Thursday, November 25, 2010

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

I wanted XM to be controlled thru my head unit; it meets my expectations.
Crutchfield provided first class service to receive and respond to my questions.
Recommended!

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4 out of 5

XM Tuner

Written By Jerry, Austin on Thursday, June 02, 2011

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

Great product. You have to download the config program from the internet and configure the unit, but it is simple to use.

1 out of 1 people found this helpful

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3 out of 5

old hat technology

Written By Mike, Colorado Springs, CO on Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

I know better than to buy something without reading the details about it, but this one I missed. The requirements necessary to download the binary file for the adapter are from the 1900's. I had to pay an extra $10 to have it loaded after talking to some computer stores, insuring they had what was required to download the .msi file. A Tech Support group at a local office supply store could not do it. Their reason was "it must be a defective unit." So, I called Crutchfield asking for help. They readily agreed to send a replacement. This time I went to a local computer parts store, who had all the necessary items to download the program...and well worth the $10 to have it done. It works just fine now, and there are no more issues with mating to the XM radio receiver I purchased. Now that I've bought this, I see it is being discontinued. Not my lucky day when I purchased it.

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2 out of 5

Terrible

Written By James g, Nj on Monday, March 26, 2012

Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)

Crutchfield Customer Review

The reviewer purchased this item from us, verified by the email address on the order.

Huge piece of garbage. Finally works. Really just a terrible product

Pros:

Packed nicely

Cons:

Not one instruction regarding wiring. A very poor product

Was this review helpful? Yes | No

1-10 of 16 items >>

Learn more about Car Satellite Radio Tuners & Adapters

Satellite Radio Programming Packages

Zak Billmeier

1/2/2012

based on 31 ratings (26 comments)

The radio you have determines which satellite radio plan you can get. Find out what's available for your particular radio, plus check out a channel guide.

Everything you need to know about satellite radio

Zak Billmeier

12/8/2011

based on 77 ratings (22 comments)

An overview of satellite radio.

Visit our Learning Center to learn more about Car Satellite Radio Tuners & Adapters

Things you'll need

Adapter Cables

Don't forget the cable to connect to your receiver.

XM Direct 2 JVC Adapter Cable

Connect your JVC receiver to the universal XM radio

Also available in:
Open Box: $11.99

$19.99

Low Stock

XM Direct2 Tuner

Add XM satellite radio to your aftermarket car stereo (Model CNP2000UCA)

Also available in:
Open Box: $79.99
Scratch & Dent: $79.99

$49.99

In Stock

After $10.00 Price Break and $50.00 Web or Mail-in Rebate

XM Direct 2 Alpine Adapter Cable

Connects your Alpine receiver to the universal XM car radio

Also available in:
Open Box: $11.99
Scratch & Dent: $10.99

$19.99

Low Stock

XM Direct 2 Sony Adapter Cable

Connect your Sony receiver to the universal XM radio

Also available in:
Open Box: $14.99
Scratch & Dent: $10.99

$19.99

In Stock

XM Direct 2 Panasonic Adapter Cable

Connect your Panasonic receiver to the universal XM radio

$19.99

In Stock

XM Direct 2 Kenwood Adapter Cable

Connect your Kenwood receiver to the universal XM radio

Also available in:
Open Box: $11.99

$19.99

In Stock

XM Direct 2 Clarion Adapter Cable

Connect your Clarion receiver to the universal XM radio

Also available in:
Open Box: $14.99

$19.99

In Stock

XM Direct 2 Jensen Adapter Cable

Connect your Jensen receiver to the universal XM radio

Open Box

$14.99

Low Stock

XM Direct 2 Eclipse Adapter Cable

Connect your Eclipse receiver to the universal XM radio

Open Box

$14.99

Low Stock

Show more items

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Crutchfield - North America's electronics authority since 1974

XM Direct2 Tuner

Add XM satellite radio to your aftermarket car stereo (Model CNP2000UCA)

Item# 220CNP2UCA offer details

Review Summary

By buying this product you'll earn up to 100 Rewards points.

Our take on the XM Direct2 Tuner

Highlights:

Hands-on research from the Crutchfield Labs (what are the Labs?)

Product Research

Our Product Research Team

Features

Product Reviews

Review Summary

Average Customer Review:

XM Direct2 Tuner

XM Direct2 Tuner

Easy Install

XM Direct2 Tuner

XM Direct2 Tuner

Works Great

XM Direct 2 Tuner

XM Tuner

old hat technology

Terrible

Learn more about Car Satellite Radio Tuners & Adapters

Learn more about Car Satellite Radio Tuners & Adapters

Satellite Radio Programming Packages

Everything you need to know about satellite radio

Accessories

Things you'll need

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