My Alpine W407 head unit along with a bunch of parts have arrived. I’ve actually got everything except for the rear view camera which I should get next week. Aramex has been pretty good, my GPS took 10 days to clear but all my other parts took just a few days. So far I’ve ordered the following stuff for my FJ:
Alpine iXA-W407 Digital Media Station $554.48
Alpine HCE-C107D Rear View Camera $176.99
Scosche TA2076B 2007 Toyota FJ ISO/Double DIN With Pocket Kit $19.58
Scosche Stereo Wire Harness Toyota FJ Cruiser $12.31
PAC TR7 Multi control interface bypass module $23.26
PAC SWI-JACK $42.90
Total: $829.52
Currently my plan is to install everything myself just like I did with my Wrangler (1, 2 & 3) except this looks like a much more complicated install specifically the amount of wires I will have to solder. But, I don’t trust anyone with this so I’ll just do it myself. Will post more pictures and details hopefully this weekend when I work on the car followed by a review of the W407 since there doesn’t seem to be a decent one available online.
By the way, the prices above are what I paid for the items. I just checked now and every single item is now available cheaper than what I paid which kinda pisses me off. In addition to the above I also picked up a Garmin 255 for $99 which is ridiculously cheap and I also tinted the FJ which I will post about separately. Next on my to do list is the lift kit and bigger tires followed by the blacking out some of the silver parts.
Update: I originally purchased the Scosche adapter for the Toyota FJ Cruiser but it turned out to be really crap and wouldn’t fit the stereo right. I ended up installing the Alpine using the Metra adapter which worked out a lot better. Here is a link to it on Amazon. [Link]
27 replies on “The Alpine iXA-W407”
I dont trust aramex anymore .
Good luck man š
Sweet I didn’t know that you got an FJ, did you post about it?
how much did u pay for customs??
Mark, I thought tinting was illegal in Kuwait?? So you sold yor Jeep allready?
DHL Easyshop lost one of my items.I bought a camera lens from Amazon and it arrived in Kuwait,according to the tracking.But they’ve been looking for it for almost a week.
I just did something similar… I bought the DNX9140 (Kenwood) for my Denali. Now, the nice thing about it is that its the only one with “REAL” garmin maps… So, I updated the maps using the USB cable and it works nice. With Bluetooth, rear camera, Garmin Nav, Ipod integration, plays from external hard disk or bluetooth A2DP, works from the steering wheel… The shipment cost me about 120 KD (Thank DHL for the price), and installation another 120 (80 KD for the adapter). If you need a place who knows what they’re doing to do the installation, let me know…
Awaiting the full review š
Nice setup, but you can have it done professionally if you get confused about which wires to solder and how to set it up.
I can’t wait for the write up!
FYI
Amazon’s Gold Box deal….
Garmin 765T – $185 (US Map)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/goldbox/ref=pe_36550_14436090_pe_01_mainimage
This is how much I paid for customs+shipping:
Alpine iXA-W407: Shipped to my friends APO so free
Scosche TA2076B 2007 Toyota FJ ISO/Double DIN With Pocket Kit: KD4
Scosche Stereo Wire Harness Toyota FJ Cruiser KD4
PAC TR7 Multi control interface bypass module KD4
PAC SWI-JACK KD4
They all arrived separately.
Mark, when you’re installing an aftermarket stereo, is it a given that you’re gonna need the Scosche stuff? Or is it different from one car/stereo to another?
Well it depends on what kind of OEM stereo u have? If its not a regular size than you would need some kind of adapter to fit it and after market one.
The aftermarket stereos are mostly just two basic sizes, a single DIN and a double DIN.
Here is info on that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_7736
Each car would need a different type of adapter. The FJ for example is wider than a double din so I need an adapter that would fill up the extra space on the sides and hold my head unit in place. On the Wrangler the slot is wider than a single din and also taller but not tall enough to install a double din so the adapter for the wrangler had to fill the gaps around the head unit like in this picture:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QrpxOdK-0CGjZxArhGVXkQ?feat=directlink
Now the wiring harness is to make life easy. It allows you to connect your aftermarket stereo to you cars stock cables without having to cut anything up. You don’t need the wiring harness but a lot of people prefer it since u don’t end up slicing through factory cables in case you ever want to connect the original OEM stereo again.
I think the size will be OK (everything is single DIN), but I think I’ll need the wires. Are they overpriced here? And as I’m super lazy, will I be charged a lot if I choose to get it done at the shops? It’s nothing more than a new head unit.
whats your car? I am not sure if they are available here or not, i didn’t even bother looking for them just ordered them online.
Mark, you do spend ridiculous amount of money on the car. But then that depends on how much ridiculous amount of money you earn :P. Guy thing !
A 2005 Altima with its sad no-brand stock stereo.
New: https://www.bossaudio.com/main/998
Mark, did you get the FJ yet?
Mark since its a DIY project could you also include the tools used? Like Soldering Iron(type, wattage etc)Shrink tubing, connectors etc.
I’m in the market for a similar setup and would appreciate the info.
I’ve got some shitty ass setup i got from hawalli lol I don’t think i am going to solder the stuff since there are too many wires and I usually melt all the plastic before i get a right solder hehe.
I think i am going to go to ace and see if they have these little things that connect to cables instead of solder or worse case will do like the wrangler and have someone solder the wires for me. The only issue here is I don’t have the exact instructions for all these wires so I am expecting some trial and error and if i solder the cables it makes life hard.
I guess crimping them with copper connectors would be less messy than soldering them.
i do all my car installs here in Kuwait city… Zaharat Al Naseem ( opp Araya complex) or shuwaikh Shara Zeena. They are professional car installers..Check for guys Naem or Waseem.. They do good job and have all the items you mentioned here…Best of luck !!
To Gurshaan:
And how much would they charge for a small (head unit only) installation?
@ Rafeek, If its just a head until installation they might charge you 5 – 10 Kd.
I passed by Zaharat Al Naseem which is located across from Al Raya (has kenwood and pioneer in the shop signage). Was planning on giving them the wires to solder together but ended up in giving them the whole project to take care of.
The guys speak English first of all.
Secondly they speak proper English that you can understand.
Third they know what they’re talking about. The guy seems to get a lot of customers who order their stuff online because he asked me if i had done that. He knew that US Alpine units have the annoying need to put the car on Park and raise the handbrake to change the settings and he knew about the bypass unit I got for that. He knew about the PAC SWI-Jack which is for the steering wheel controls and he will be programing it for me. The most difficult thing for me to install would be the rear view camera but to him it sounded like the easiest thing from the whole project.
Great guy, gave him everything, will be back tonight to install the stuff and then next week when I get the camera will pass by for him to install.
Total price for the full install is KD50. He originally wanted KD60 without the camera install but I managed to haggle my way to KD50 with. For him the hardest thing will be the steering wheel controls thingy because it requires programming the SWI-Jack.
Will see how things turn out.
installed my pioneer double din unit today, love the rear park camera that Ive installed, lebo guy did it for me in hawalli and was offered a great price for everything, everything costed me no more than 466 USD in total, and Im in love with my pioneer display, fits perfectly on my new offroad patrol.
Next is installing a cd changer with 6 cds to fit in it, but I really doubt that, my little imation USB plays 23 days worth of music consecutively, thats equal to 8200 songs, which you can translate to almost one thousand album, which I believe is sufficient for me. Oh and I have my lovely AUX cable that plays around 2000 songs off my blackberry on my command, to hell with apple and its ipod, even though my pioneer system is ipod and iphone ready. Love bargaining in kuwait and having my warranty here. Us kuwaities if we dont like it, we throw the thing in the dealer’s face, so they know how things work, consumer protection organizations and their delayed action can kiss my kuwaiti ass goodbye š
I had the kenwood dnx9140 from amazon before you write your review for the alpine š