My new car stereo
Today morning I got a surprise delivery, my stereo which had shipped from the US 3 days ago with U Shop We Ship had already arrived to Kuwait and cleared customs. It was my first time ordering from Crutchfield and I have to say they really are the best for purchasing car audio equipment from. With my Alpine iDA-X001 head unit they also provided me with everything I needed to install it into my Wrangler by myself including a face plate, wiring harness, antenna adapter and a step by step installation guide with pictures of my Jeep.
I took both the Alpine wiring harness and the one that Crutchfield sent to connect it to my Jeep to a store in Hawalli to have them solder it together. Its a pretty easy job of just connecting wires of the same color together but I didn’t have a soldering iron so I let them do it for me. After having them solder the wiring harnesses together I went back home and took apart my Jeep’s dashboard and installed the head unit myself. It took me less than 30 minutes to have it up and running. This is what I love about the Wrangler, its such a simple car, I seriously think I could take it all apart using just a philips screwdriver.
The Alpine unit doesn’t play CD’s or tapes, it just connects to the iPod and from what I have seen so far it does an amazing job of it. I will post a full review after I try it out for a while but so far it looks like its going to be a positive one.
If anyone is planning on buying something from Crutchfield use the coupon code: p3zty-qbfrh-bh34q
It will give you a $20 discount and I get a $20 credit.
Note to Wrangler owners: If you want the factory sub to work then you need to connect the Blue/White cable (Remote Turn-On) to the Blue cable instead of Blue to Blue. The Blue cable is for Power Antenna and so powers the sub only when you are tuned into the radio. The Blue/White cable sends power constantly so the factory sub will be powered when tuned into the radio AND when connected to the iPod or listening to a CD or whatever. This applies when installing any head unit not just the Alpine.
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21 Comments, add your own...
1. 47 | December 15th, 2007 at 11:49 pm
It plays cd’s if u connect it to a cd changer, i read about it, cuz im planning on buying the same unit :)
2. Mark | December 15th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
yeah I know but the whole purpose of this unit is that all my cds are on my ipod anyway so don’t need a cd :)
3. lfc-q8 | December 16th, 2007 at 1:11 am
congrats now u need to change the speakers
4. Marzouq | December 16th, 2007 at 10:04 am
When you do something like this you need to change the wiring and the speakers to make sure everything is crystal clear! Enjoy the new setup!
5. K.theKuwaiti | December 16th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Why is my stuff still in customs!
6. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 10:12 am
I will be running new wires once I get the JL speakers and amp next month. I will be upgrading the front dashboard speakers to 5-1/4″ just like the rears so I have a more balanced sound. Currently my rear speakers are bigger so you can tell the music is coming from the rear louder than the front.
Only issue I have at the moment is trying to figure out what sub to get. I think I only have place for one amp which is under my seat and this amp will be powering the speakers. For the sub in the trunk I am thinking of the 200watt 10″ Powered Bazooka. It has a built in amp which saves space but I am not sure the whole thing will fit behind the back seat.
7. RaZ | December 16th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Customs !!! Their web site is not even working. somehow mark never gets cutomed - i think this has somehting to do with usws.
8. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 10:20 am
And thats why my Knight Rider radio controlled car is still sitting in customs waiting for me to go clear it…
9. RaZ | December 16th, 2007 at 10:31 am
ok i was always curious, so i guess this is the chance to ask. Remember back in the day when you ordered the first i-phone after the crack post and all. I went there to usws and there was a bunch of people that had iphones in the held shipment, i also saw that each person had to pay customs, however you posted the next day saying you didnt have to pay, again just curious.
10. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Yeah I didn’t pay customs on the two iPhones I ordered. But I ordered one iPhone with USWS and the other with this other company thats launching the service soon. So maybe the post you read was when I had received my iPhone from the other shipping company.
11. DLC | December 16th, 2007 at 11:41 am
so whats the name of this “other company” - now that uve utilized their services - r they better than usws?
12. K.theKuwaiti | December 16th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I have two amps and a subwoofer in the diwaniya .. they are yours if they fit.
13. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
DLC, I can’t say who they are nor can i judge their service yet based on 1 shipping experience.
K: Got pics?
14. DLC | December 16th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
fair enough mark..
when r they going public - any idea??
15. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Nope, they had a 1 month test period where they invited some people to try the service and when it was done they went silent. Don’t know whats happening now.
16. yo_ghurt | December 16th, 2007 at 3:37 pm
Mark, one thing I enjoy about your blog is that it swings from extreme geek to extreme sneakers to extreme shawarmas. This comes under the first category, obviously…:)
17. K.theKuwaiti | December 16th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
You want pictures too?
Just come over and see if it fits ..
18. Mark | December 16th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
why did god invent digital cameras? Fine I will pass by and check it myself the old fashioned way.
yo_ghurt thanks, and extreme shawermas doesn’t sound like such a bad name for my shawerma place, it has the right amount of cheesiness to make it work lol
19. vampire | December 17th, 2007 at 11:51 am
harnesses make thing so much fck’n easy
good luck with ur new setup
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