alpine ILX head units

anyone using the external switches for lights and other things? I just noticed they were there.

 

after digging around found that you also need to have the alpine KA-001 unit now debating go this route or auxbeam. I really like the idea for it to be just on a page of the head unit.

 

the auxbeam seems like a dead ringer for me. not needing to wait for the radio to boot, or having to flip through pages on the radio to get to the appropriate settings screen..

and the auxbeam, there's a few dozen different similar units. meaning that if auxbeam suddenly goes out, i still have options.

if i were to like the ilx method and alpine suddenly pulls support(as radio companies are well-known to do), i need to change switch models anyways...

 

good points i just found it interesting how it had the 8 switches with pulse momentary latch just one click away. then i found out you need to buy the KAC-100 along with it.

 

oh and I am no audio guy at all i got lost when cassette tapes went away lol

 

for years, i built sound systems based around the pioneer 'p-bus' extension port. it worked well to add auxilary inputs for a time when no radio's supported it, or add satellite radio support. back before those options were baked right into the radio, it was a really elegant solution to adding functionality and features to radio's that didn't immediately support it, when not everyone wanted to upgrade radio's every time they wanted one additional feature. now i've got 4 p-bus modules gathering dust in my basement, and pioneer doesn't even offer the functionality in newer radio's anymore.

2 decades ago, i was also involved in home automation/home theater installation. before my time back then(heck this problem/solution has been going on since the 1940's), i read of dozens of companies that were "going to revolutionize the home automation market", with "seemless integration across all devices", with at least 1-2 companies jumping onto that bandwagon every year since, only to watch as nearly all of those companies/solutions fail in one way or another, and sometimes rather explosively leave the market with no other options for the people that bought into the ecosystem. leaving tons of broken equipment that cost many thousands, but at the flip of a switch is not even worth scrap. and then watching as some people cobbled together integration modules from multiple brands that either happen to work together by something that didn't break, locating some interested rogue programmer that debugs and forces things to work that never should have, or using multiple apps to do things that only one app did before.

because of all that experience with custom one-off commercial modules, i really don't trust add-on modules like that. it makes for a 'tv/vcr-combo' type deal, where inevitably, one part of the combo breaks, and i'm left with cobbling together additional equipment to take the place of the part that broke, that is nowhere near as elegant as if i had planned to buy better functioning, but physically separate gear from the beginning.

alpine is only going to offer that module for as long as it remains profitable to sell. if you had difficulty digging up details that you even need it, it's an indication that it hasn't sold all that well to begin with, so likelihood of it remaining in place in newer iterations of alpines ilx radio's is very likely going to fall on wrong side of the coin toss for future implementations.

 

Solid advice i appreciate it sir thank you