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NEW Alpine CDE-W265BT

18K views 85 replies 14 participants last post by  ZoSoIV 
#1 · (Edited)
Hey Audio Fans Alpine has a new killer budget friendly double din out CDE-W265BT, 249.00-279.00 depending where you get it, PACKED with features, three 4 volt preouts, 9 band EQ ,time correction (((Sirius XM Radio))) Bluetooth etc, anyone in the market for a inexpensive high SQ deck this is it guys! I would highly recommend this



Alpine CDE-W265BT CD receiver at Crutchfield.com
 
#5 ·
Looks like a lot of bang for the buck.

ZoSoIV, first thanks for all your input on this thread. I've been lurking for a short amount of time and trying to come up to speed, also building a purchase list. Dumb question, I have 14 w/JBL, is my current BT built into the factory HU? In other words, would a new HU would replace all current hands free functionality?
 
#16 ·
ok, so the CDE-W265BT has a front right, and a front left, a rear right and a rear left output

on an FJ cruiser, in my case an '08, the multi-pin connector that was attached to the old head unit has inputs for a pair of dash tweeters, a pair of door speakers a pair of rears, rear tweeters in the D-Pillars, a pair of headliner speakers, and a sub woofer

Any thoughts about how to make all of those speakers work with only those outputs from the Alpine?
 
#17 ·
I don't believe you would use those outputs.

You would use the harness that came with HU plus an additional harness that will allow you to plug into the multi-pin connector that was attached to the old head unit.

I don't know which additional harness is needed for your FJ.
 
#18 ·
OK, now I get it after studying the factory wiring diagram: the OEM head unit also only has 4 outputs (Fr R/L and Rr R/L), and then, downstream of that, there are junction blocks that take care of splitting up the signal to the various speakers.

The Alpine and the Metra documents didn't show that, but now that I'm looking at the FJ wiring diagram I see it and understand, and am ready to proceed.

thanks guys!

only grumble with this Alpine unit: there isn't a rear USB, only the one on the front face - this means I've got to upgrade from iPod Classic to using the phone (too small storage) or buy a new iPod touch with bluetooth to get rid of the visible wire (i.e "theft magnet"). Probably was time for me to enter the "2010's" anyway...
 
#19 · (Edited)
I would not worry about hooking up the exciters in the headliner

Also you could always use the front USB with the iPod Classic and unplug it and take it with you when you exit the vehicle, I have a 160 gig iPod Classic also with almost 20,000 songs on it

Let us know how you come out?
 
#22 ·
here it is

All 9 speakers work just fine (the vehicle harness handles all of the splitting, from the R/L Front and R/L Rear hook-up at the head unit).

The steering wheel controls don't work yet, because the little black box in the second photo is faulty. Crutchfield is sending a new one. As you can see in the photo, the harness hook-ups are really simple, almost all of the wires are the same color (connecting the Alpine-specific plug to the Crutchfiled supplied Toyota specific plugs). One exception was the sub woofer power signal, the wire from the Alpine is the blue / white one (not the solid blue one, that's for a power antenna and only gets power when the radio portion of the Alpine is turned on).

Sadly, the Alpine has no rear aux input, so the 3.5mm "Aux" socket in the lower dash panel is now dead (those two taped up RCA male plugs shown taped to the little black box in my second photo are the feed from the dash Aux, and would have gone to the head unit if there'd been a place to attach them). I'll get myself a Toyota small switch blanking plate (55539-28160) to put in the dash so the "dud Aux" is gone.

The Alpine does have a 3.5mm Aux in, and a USB in, but both are located on the faceplate. Since the whole point of getting a new head unit was to be able to move the iPod to the glovebox, I did something a little big clever, a little bit crude (3rd & 4th photo), and notched the side of the filler panel to route a USB cord from the front to the glovebox. Works great, and easy to unplug when/if anything else ever wants to go there. You can also see this in the first photo, now that you know what to look for.
 

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#85 ·
here it is

All 9 speakers work just fine (the vehicle harness handles all of the splitting, from the R/L Front and R/L Rear hook-up at the head unit).

The steering wheel controls don't work yet, because the little black box in the second photo is faulty. Crutchfield is sending a new one. As you can see in the photo, the harness hook-ups are really simple, almost all of the wires are the same color (connecting the Alpine-specific plug to the Crutchfiled supplied Toyota specific plugs). One exception was the sub woofer power signal, the wire from the Alpine is the blue / white one (not the solid blue one, that's for a power antenna and only gets power when the radio portion of the Alpine is turned on).

Sadly, the Alpine has no rear aux input, so the 3.5mm "Aux" socket in the lower dash panel is now dead (those two taped up RCA male plugs shown taped to the little black box in my second photo are the feed from the dash Aux, and would have gone to the head unit if there'd been a place to attach them). I'll get myself a Toyota small switch blanking plate (55539-28160) to put in the dash so the "dud Aux" is gone.

The Alpine does have a 3.5mm Aux in, and a USB in, but both are located on the faceplate. Since the whole point of getting a new head unit was to be able to move the iPod to the glovebox, I did something a little big clever, a little bit crude (3rd & 4th photo), and notched the side of the filler panel to route a USB cord from the front to the glovebox. Works great, and easy to unplug when/if anything else ever wants to go there. You can also see this in the first photo, now that you know what to look for.
Did you say you have NINE speakers running off this CDE W265 unit ? Can I run 4 speakers off the 50W x 4 internal amp and also hook up a 4 Chanel amp to run another 4 ? Thanks
 
#23 ·
The bluetooth phone mic has to go somewhere. After a little bit of thought I decided to mount it to the top of the center gauge cluster on the top of the dash. When you take it off there's a big hole that's easy to feed the mic wire through, but then, to avoid having to cut a big, ugly hole in the top of the gauge cluster (the mic on one end, and the 3.5mm plug on the other end, they're pretty big, so would need at least a 3/8 x 3/8" hole to pass through).

So, I notched the front edge of the gauge cluster lid, and opened up the circuit board assembly inside and notched the front of it too, so I could easily feed the wire through all of that, up through the center, and down to the radio. I worried that the exposed wire would look bad, but it seems to be OK.

Oh, crud, some of the photos got rotated sideways and upside down when uploaded here. You can turn your screen over to view them, I guess.

1st photo is the big hole in the dash, under the gauge cluster.
2nd photo is the notch in the circuit board assembly, inside of the gauge cluster (the hole in the center of that which I fed through from underneath is not shown, but it is open to the bottom and easy to feed the wire through).
3rd photo is the notch in the gauge cluster lid, during the test fitting.
4th and 5th photos are the "I hope this will look alright" check during assembly.
6th photo is how it looks to the world. Once the wire relaxed a little it straightened out and was not so wrinkly.

The wire is really, really long (so it could be run up the A-pillar and over the windshield header, if wanted). That location would be more invisible, but looked like a lot of work so I chose this way instead. After wrapping up the coiled up excess, it tucked nicely in behind the head unit.

Dang, there's TONS of spare room in the instrument panel. I am used to working in small cars where fitting accessories is a major chore. You could throw a cat in some of the vacant spaces in there, very nice!
 

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#24 · (Edited)
Great glad you got it in , hows does it sound compared to the stock head-unit? also i would consider replacing the factory speakers at some point (be careful not to blow the factory speakers being they have real power behind them now lol) , pretty cool on the USB to bad there isn't one from the back
 
#25 ·
The automatic AC On "feature" of the HVAC controls is annoying, so I disabled it with a dab of hot melt glue, while I had everything off.

It works like a charm!

I can turn on my own damn AC when I want it now.


Also, I hate the "clutch start switch" (a good driver NEVER leaves the transmission in gear when parked, and its so convenient to just turn the key while getting in, without having to push it down, besides which it has to be pushed ALL of the way down), so I installed a bypass switch in my lower panel (its the one with the question mark "?" in the first photo, above). It came green by accident, there's an amber one on its way to replace it and match everything else. With it on, the cruise control doesn't work, so on the few occasions when I actually will use cruise it is simple to turn off.

Let's see, what else is custom here? Oh yeah I removed the instrument cluster and pulled out the dang chime, so I won't have that binging at me while I start my car, and when I am pumping gas while jamming to the tunes with the door open (apologies to other motorists who don't like ELO).

:)

Norm
 

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#30 ·
The automatic AC On "feature" of the HVAC controls is annoying, so I disabled it with a dab of hot melt glue, while I had everything off.

It works like a charm!

I can turn on my own damn AC when I want it now.
OMG please tell me how you did this. I see the pictures but don't understand how that glob of glue changes anything... I HATE that I can't flip the temp control all the way left without the AC coming on.
 
#26 ·
Next project: hook up the Japan domestic market convex outside mirrors heaters to the rear window defroster circuit (I checked the current in the system and there's plenty of margin in the fuse, wiring and relay, to add the 5A mirror heaters to).

Convex, heated outside mirrors come highly recommended! (did the same thing to my Camry, back when they didn't come with heated mirrors). Just had to find a Japanese Toyota parts dealer who was willing to sell overseas.


N
 
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