Question about XM

[budthedog]

I got a used Alpine CDA-7873 given to me by my kid. It has the CD player but no cassette player. It's a real nice unit but lots of overkill for an old geezer like me. All I really want is a quality radio & to be able to get my XM in clearly. I'm currently using the factory radio with the cassette tape adaptor for the xm, which would be fine except that the front speakers won't work most of the time, either with the tape or regular radio.
This Alpine unit has XM capability built in, but requires some sort of Ai(?) adaptor (extra $30some, of course) & , according to the manual, the Alpine unit then "controls" the XM unit. Sounds pretty awkward to me.
This unit is probably at least 4 years old, so anything new wouldn't be mentioned in the manual. Is there any real easy way to hook this up without my having to study every audio innovation made over the last 10 years? Thanks.

[spiko]

Buy a head unit that has an AUX port, plug in XM Radio to AUX port.

[RichardLSU]

Buy a head unit that has an AUX port, plug in XM Radio to AUX port.

Yup.

[elcamino1]

Just spend the thirty bucks cheaper than a new radio.

[budthedog]

Guess I'll just buy a different radio, maybe I can finance it by selling this one on ebay. Thanks.

[MONSOON]

Why not get one of those adaptors that plugs into XM unit then you tune your radio to a certian frequency to receive it? Should be able to pick it up at Wally World or BB for under 30.

[budthedog]

I already have one. 1st time I tried it on my Festy the seat belt broke the wire (bad positioning). I fixed the wire & installed it in the wife's Taurus. I'm trying to keep it simple as possible. Thanks for the suggestion, though.