letank87 Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Hi guys, After weeks of debating which headunit I should replace my stock US spec unit with, I finally went for the JVC KW-AVX700! I found it really difficult to chose between it and the Alpine IVA W200Ri that I know a few guys on here have, as both have their plus points. In the end, it was the SD card/DivX/screen quality and overall look of JVC that clinched it not to mention the fact that it was £60 cheaper! To begin with I was a bit put off that it didn't have touch screen but I believe the screen quality is noticeably better than the Alpines and who wants greasy finger prints over their pride and joy anyway! The JVC was also available in a black or silver finish. I went for the contrast of silver to match the rest of the aluminium finish in the zed and I'm well happy with the outcome! Next on the list is a couple of cameras (reverse and front bumper, which I'll try to make recordable for track days!) and I might even see what this car freeview is like for £35 on ebay! With sky sports news in my car I really could live in it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 looks really good! any closeup pics? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuey Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 nice how much dude.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Like Stuey says "how much ? " Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 I paid £500 (after some haggling!) from the Birmingham franchise branch of Car Audio Centre. Their online price is only £489 (the cheapest I could find by some margin as the RRP is £799) but I just had to see it in the flesh and compare it with the Alpine in order to make my mind up. Beware, I saw this head unit cheaper on ebay (approx £350) but it was for the US and Asian spec, which does not play region 2 DVD nor has the correct radio bandwidth for the UK not to mention RDS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lomoto Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 Good value unit, looks superb Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgershot Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 can i ask (as i'm thinking about doing the same thing) what the double din blank bracket/thingyamajig you used !? BTW - looks V V V mate ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 can i ask (as i'm thinking about doing the same thing) what the double din blank bracket/thingyamajig you used !? I just used the original surround that came with my car from new. It's an JDM Version-S so although it came with Brembos etc. it only came with the single DIN headunit. I would have thought that these could be found easily though considering the Bose headunit is slightly over double din size. In fact I think that the non GT spec car comes with the x-trail headunit which requires it to have one of these. Maybe someone who has the non Bose setup can confirm this??? If this is the case then you should be able to get one from your dealer or possibly ebay??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burgershot Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 cool - thanks .. i was just under the impression that once someone takes out all the gubbins (whether it be Bose or whatever the country of origin specs) the hole that is left will be the same and a 'standard' double DIN blank bracket would allow the user to add whatever Double head unit they wanted. No probs - however i have to say ... Yours STILL looks really GOOD ! B)B) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted January 14, 2007 Share Posted January 14, 2007 no extra surround on mine, just the unit non Bose. You will need a surround adaptor for most double dins afaik. Can be found on Ebay, there's links to them on here somewhere. Search will help surely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 Sorry, when I said surround I meant the bracket thing you were talking about. Cars with Bose do not get this as the Bose fits nicely into the facia, whereas (I believe) the non bose cars have the X-trail unit which is smaller (same as double din) and requires a factory fit adaptor bracket to fill the gaps as I had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 14, 2007 Author Share Posted January 14, 2007 Sorry once again , I've just read Minel's response! In that case, I'd see what you can find on ebay or send a PM to one of the guys on here who has a similar head unit. After looking through the ICE section, I'd try Nana Moon, StephenG or Blacky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted January 17, 2007 Share Posted January 17, 2007 no extra surround on mine, just the unit non Bose. You will need a surround adaptor for most double dins afaik. Can be found on Ebay, there's links to them on here somewhere. Search will help surely. I was wrong! Upon closer inspection, it looks like the base stereo has already got the extra surround needed for aftermarket double dins! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 28, 2007 Author Share Posted January 28, 2007 looks really good! any closeup pics? Sorry for the delay on getting these pics up. Enjoy! P.S I thought I was right about the surround on non-bose headunits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 28, 2007 Author Share Posted January 28, 2007 Here's a few more! I didn't realise that there was a 3 attachment limit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted January 28, 2007 Share Posted January 28, 2007 looks really good! did you ned any adaptor for the oem speakers, or did you change them too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted January 29, 2007 Author Share Posted January 29, 2007 No, I've still got the original clarion speakers fitted. In fact the only additional part I fitted was an ISO harness adapter, which for a non-bose JDM happens to be a 4-speaker Micra harness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Removed Posted January 29, 2007 Share Posted January 29, 2007 so for £500 you get this new headunit with DVD, Ipod (surely it must have an aux in!), mp3 headunit? hmm food for thought... one last thing, what about the steering wheel buttons?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 Not sure about the steering wheel controls as I don't have them, but I'm sure it would be possible. You can find all the tech stuff here http://www.jvc.co.jp/english/car/asia/dvd/kw_avx700/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350Satch Posted July 19, 2007 Share Posted July 19, 2007 I'm regularly in the US and was thinking of upgrading my BOSE system. Do you know if the RDS is completely incompatible with the UK radio systems? I was pretty set on picking up the Alpine IVA-W205 (think the 5 denotes US market) until I saw your posting on the JVC. Did you get it hooked up with the steering wheel controls and the phone kit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted July 19, 2007 Author Share Posted July 19, 2007 I wouldn't buy a US spec headunit! I had a US OEM 2-din (non bose) headunit in the zed before I fitted the JVC and I found that they work on different frequencies over there. Not quite as big a problem as with the Japanese small bandwidth, but they only seem to tune to odd decimal places. (ie. 97.5, 97.7, 97.9 etc.) Not the end of the world I know, but it could be a pain if your fav frequency is 96.2 for example! Also, I think a US AV headunit of this kind would only play US region DVDs! I'd play it safe and get a European model, that way you get a valid manufacturers warranty incase anything goes wrong! Sorry, I can't help you with the steering controls as I don't have any. Although I have recently aquired some from a scrap car, so I might be getting hold of the PAC device and doing my own retrofit! Watch this space! As for the Alpine, I was recommended by many audio specialists to go with the JVC. Not having touch screen, means that the picture quality is much better and you don't get the added pain of greasy finger prints or even scratches! Plus the SD card reader is absolutely awesome! I have 40 albums on my 2GB card, so I never need to change CD unless I want to watch a different DVD. I've now also added a rearview camera - AWESOME! Not sure if anyone else has this headunit, but I'd been interested to hear their thoughts??? Personally, I think the contrast of the silver finish looks so much better in the zed than the Alpine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350Satch Posted July 22, 2007 Share Posted July 22, 2007 I'd be pretty interested in the rear view cam, but am now wondering if I spend enough time in the car to warrant watch a vid one it. I have dozens of DivX films, so the region thing wouldn't be a problem. Do you find you spend much time in front of a 7.5" screen watch vids? I am in the US weekly, so again, not too affected by the region 2 setting and re faults, I can easily return stuff to the shop. I have found however, that most products sold in the US come with pi$$-poor warranties, often only covering 90 days of workmanship & parts, then only parts fro the next 9 months left in the warranty. I hadn't noticed the frequency thing, I'll check it out in the next few days in the US. The main reason I would buy stateside is cos of the weakness of the dollar. It does represent very good value right about now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newswseller Posted July 26, 2007 Share Posted July 26, 2007 I wouldn't buy a US spec headunit! I had a US OEM 2-din (non bose) headunit in the zed before I fitted the JVC and I found that they work on different frequencies over there. Not quite as big a problem as with the Japanese small bandwidth, but they only seem to tune to odd decimal places. (ie. 97.5, 97.7, 97.9 etc.) Not the end of the world I know, but it could be a pain if your fav frequency is 96.2 for example! Also, I think a US AV headunit of this kind would only play US region DVDs! I have a US headunit fitted (JVC KW-AVX800) and it has a European radio setting, so the odd decimal places you mentioned doesn't apply. The only trouble is that it only plays Region 1 DVDs, but I have tons of Divx movies, so it doesn't matter that much.. The surround sound is awesome though!! Bargin though at only £299.99, could not beat that price in the UK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
letank87 Posted July 26, 2007 Author Share Posted July 26, 2007 That's really good news about the radio frequencies and that is an absolutely fantastic price for what I think has to be one of the best AV headunits on the market! When I think about it, I suppose I don't actually watch DVD's that often anyway, so the region thing isn't too big a deal! Like you, I have tonnes of stuff on DivX, which has to be one of this headunit's best features together with the SD card!!!!!! I totally agree with you about the surround sound! If you can find a DVD which has a Dolby intro, it sounds frikkin' sweeeeet!!!!!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
350Satch Posted August 29, 2007 Share Posted August 29, 2007 Does anyone know what the one extra connection to get the BOSE amp turned on is. I've spent bthe best part of today fitting this stuff. I have the PAC - ROEM to sort out the impedence and the PAC - SWI Jack to control the stereo from the wheel. I'm getting desperate now. I know someone posted earlier that the earth had to be properly grounded, but I think I've done that. P.S. Many thanks to Rob for the How-to guide on fitting the PAC-SWI, but can anyone give me a dig out on this last part of my prob. The JVC KD-BT1 powers up and functions well, but it's all picture and no sound right now. Ta in advance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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