[Glenn Goodman]

Aloha Members,

Just brought home a 2007 Manual 4x4 in Voodoo Blue. I'd like to upgrade the head unit this weekend so I'm looking for some quick advice and recommendations in case I need to order some parts.

I'd like a head unit with Wireless Carplay/Android Audio, Bluetooth phone, Sirius, Backup Cam (now or later), DVD, CD, SDcard, works with factory sub and steering wheel controls. The steering wheel has the radio controls but not the phone controls (not sure if that can be added). I'd also like to add factory look USB to blank button and the ability to return the FJ to factory head unit. Don't need Nav since I'll use Google Maps/Waze through Carplay.

The forum is chock full of information but wanted to ask as well. Not looking to create a new thread with redundant information so please point me to any must read threads. I'll use this thread to post my progress.

Thank you again, Goody

 

[Glenn Goodman]

I like the fit of the Kenwood DDX919WS with its rounded corners. Any opinions on this head unit and if its available in the US?

 

[Epic_fail]

I am in the same situation but am looking for Apple car play as well.
Are you making any progress?

 

[fidelityflip]

I like the fit of the Kenwood DDX919WS with its rounded corners. Any opinions on this head unit and if its available in the US?

I have seen it on Ebay offered from overseas. I love the fact that it fits the FJ without an adapter bezel. I have a DNX695S and a DNX892, I prefer the 695S, but both require a bezel adapter. Both are synced to the steering wheel controls with a Maestro interface. Sometimes I like to play DVDs, so the over seas Kenwoods, though they fit perfect, make this challenging due to the regional codes. There is no region 1 dvd capability for these units that I know of. If you don't care about the dvds, I'm not sure if there are any other things to worry about.

 

[FinnJ]

I ordered one (DDX919WS) from Australia.

200MM Double Din head units?

So after 12 years of FJ Cruiser ownership, I'm finally sick of the FJammer radio. All this time, I thought the FJ used a standard double din radio. I just found out that the aperture in the factory FJ radio bezel is 200mm wide so spacers are required to fill gaps when an aftermarket double din...

www.fjcruiserforums.com

 

[sssmack]

I installed one of those and it works totally fine.

 

[surfershade]

I installed one of those and it works totally fine.

I’m seriously considering ordering one of these but can only find them currently on a site out of Malaysia. It has the same model number as the one sold in Australia. Did you have any wiring issues on the one you installed? I’m hoping to determine if there will be any issues installing it in a US vehicle. One person mentioned previously there may be an issue with the steering wheel control adapter that comes with the unit. Thanks in advance!

 

[FinnJ]

I’m seriously considering ordering one of these but can only find them currently on a site out of Malaysia. It has the same model number as the one sold in Australia. Did you have any wiring issues on the one you installed? I’m hoping to determine if there will be any issues installing it in a US vehicle. One person mentioned previously there may be an issue with the steering wheel control adapter that comes with the unit. Thanks in advance!

I installed this (DDX919WS) a year ago to my 2007 FJ Cruiser. I had to change the steering wheel control plug from my earlier adapter. It was easy to do after I figured it out how to do it: Kenwood Steering Wheel Control Adapter

I have liked a lot of this, looks and works nice and sound quality is good.

 

[NMPZ]

I’m seriously considering ordering one of these but can only find them currently on a site out of Malaysia. It has the same model number as the one sold in Australia. Did you have any wiring issues on the one you installed? I’m hoping to determine if there will be any issues installing it in a US vehicle. One person mentioned previously there may be an issue with the steering wheel control adapter that comes with the unit. Thanks in advance!

I ordered one from fasmoto and just received it today. Shipped to the US in 5 days through DHL.

 

[sssmack]

I’m seriously considering ordering one of these but can only find them currently on a site out of Malaysia. It has the same model number as the one sold in Australia. Did you have any wiring issues on the one you installed? I’m hoping to determine if there will be any issues installing it in a US vehicle. One person mentioned previously there may be an issue with the steering wheel control adapter that comes with the unit. Thanks in advance!

The wires on the stock harness matched those on the radio.
Then it was plug and play. It fit perfectly and the face can mechanically tilt adjusted to compensate for the deeper inset at the bottom of the facia on the fj.
BUT, I soon discovered that the digital AM tuner is hard coded to step (land on) overseas frequencies and so it won't tune the US frequencies well,,,just get near them.
I tried a firmware upgrade to fix but I think that failed and messed up some of the other features..ugh


After all , I think that I have found the correct unit that is local, cheaper and for the US I am pretty sure. Check it out. According to its specs, for size, it is also a 6.8 screen and so fills the opening. But no tilting screen, but not a big deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-DMX4707S-Capacitive-Multimedia-Receiver/dp/B085TQDJHV

 

[surfershade]

The wires on the stock harness matched those on the radio.
Then it was plug and play. It fit perfectly and the face can mechanically tilt adjusted to compensate for the deeper inset at the bottom of the facia on the fj.
BUT, I soon discovered that the digital AM tuner is hard coded to step (land on) overseas frequencies and so it won't tune the US frequencies well,,,just get near them.
I tried a firmware upgrade to fix but I think that failed and messed up some of the other features..ugh


After all , I think that I have found the correct unit that is local, cheaper and for the US I am pretty sure. Check it out. According to its specs, for size, it is also a 6.8 screen and so fills the opening. But no tilting screen, but not a big deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-DMX4707S-Capacitive-Multimedia-Receiver/dp/B085TQDJHV

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I’ll take a look at the model you suggested. Was the FM reception a problem on the DDX919WS also or was it just AM?

 

[surfershade]

I ordered one from fasmoto and just received it today. Shipped to the US in 5 days through DHL.

Fasmoto is the website I was looking at ordering from. Did you order any wiring harnesses to go with it? From what I saw in videos from Carbon Car Systems in Australia, it appears the unit comes pre-wired to fit stock Toyota wiring harnesses. They also had tips to modify the steering wheel control harness to include the VSS. I have a 2007 and from the sounds of other comments in this thread the stock Kenwood harness is 28 pin and the one in my FJ will likely be 20(?). Either way, it’s good to hear the head unit got shipped to you so quickly.

 

[Green Alien]

After all , I think that I have found the correct unit that is local, cheaper and for the US I am pretty sure. Check it out. According to its specs, for size, it is also a 6.8 screen and so fills the opening. But no tilting screen, but not a big deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-DMX4707S-Capacitive-Multimedia-Receiver/dp/B085TQDJHV

That particular Kenwood radio you linked is not a 200mm radio like the DDX919WS. Or the newer DDX920WDABS and DMX820WS from last year. What you’re looking for is a 200mm radio, not the screen size. There really aren’t any made for the US market. Kenwood is the only major name brand manufacturer I know of that makes them for the Malaysian and Australian markets. So unfortunately while they fit the FJ perfectly, there are features that won’t work here in the US. The wiring is all the same, it’s just the hardware/software built into the radio. For example, here in the US we have HD radio, there they use DAB. Here our FM/AM bands are also different, some manufacturers can work on either, but not all. It’s typically hit or miss depending on the brand. DVD function doesn’t work because of region locking, but CD’s will work fine. XM satellite radio also isn’t available there, so those radios don’t come with built in capability/control.
What allows the 200mm Kenwood radios to have some function in the US when compared to overseas radios of years past. Is that they’re app based, and there’s no difference for apps here or there.
Overall though, it’s a very expensive investment for not all features to work, or having to do work around to try and get them to work. While I understand the draw of wanting a radio to fit the dash perfectly. Typically you’re far better off going with a radio made for the US market. Alpine, Kenwood and Pioneer all make great radios with tons of useful features for the US market.

 

[NMPZ]

Fasmoto is the website I was looking at ordering from. Did you order any wiring harnesses to go with it? From what I saw in videos from Carbon Car Systems in Australia, it appears the unit comes pre-wired to fit stock Toyota wiring harnesses. They also had tips to modify the steering wheel control harness to include the VSS. I have a 2007 and from the sounds of other comments in this thread the stock Kenwood harness is 28 pin and the one in my FJ will likely be 20(?). Either way, it’s good to hear the head unit got shipped to you so quickly.

I ordered a Metra 70-8114 for the 20pin.

 

[surfershade]

I ordered a Metra 70-8114 for the 20pin.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[Kaiju]

The wires on the stock harness matched those on the radio.
Then it was plug and play. It fit perfectly and the face can mechanically tilt adjusted to compensate for the deeper inset at the bottom of the facia on the fj.
BUT, I soon discovered that the digital AM tuner is hard coded to step (land on) overseas frequencies and so it won't tune the US frequencies well,,,just get near them.
I tried a firmware upgrade to fix but I think that failed and messed up some of the other features..ugh


After all , I think that I have found the correct unit that is local, cheaper and for the US I am pretty sure. Check it out. According to its specs, for size, it is also a 6.8 screen and so fills the opening. But no tilting screen, but not a big deal.

https://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-DMX4707S-Capacitive-Multimedia-Receiver/dp/B085TQDJHV

Is that Kenwood you linked to plug and play on a 2011 without modifying the wiring harness? How about using the OEM rear view camera input?

 

[sssmack]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I’ll take a look at the model you suggested. Was the FM reception a problem on the DDX919WS also or was it just AM?

The FM seemes fine, I've not noticed any prob getting station s. The AM gets a good number of stations but would not land on 850 which is a very strong broadcast from here in CO. So that was an eye opener. Googling reveals info on the diff in tuner stepping between US and SE asia, Europe. When in cellular range, I use the tunin app via the Android auto for AM streams.
BTW yesterday the firmware issue resolved and all features are working again. It might have been due to user error. There are so many configurable options on this thing.

I installed it last fall. The AM is not bothering such that I want replace it with the other model. I get the AM station s that I like and every other feature works great.

Also, I'm real sure that the provided wire harness plugged into the fj
-Jim

 

[sssmack]

Fasmoto is the website I was looking at ordering from. Did you order any wiring harnesses to go with it? From what I saw in videos from Carbon Car Systems in Australia, it appears the unit comes pre-wired to fit stock Toyota wiring harnesses. They also had tips to modify the steering wheel control harness to include the VSS. I have a 2007 and from the sounds of other comments in this thread the stock Kenwood harness is 28 pin and the one in my FJ will likely be 20(?). Either way, it’s good to hear the head unit got shipped to you so quickly.

I can't remember whether the provided wiring harness fit the fj. I'm very sure that it did. And I didn't get the DDX919WS from Carbon Car Systems . They refused to sell to US probably because of the AM turner stepping is not coded for US frequency .

 

[surfershade]

I can't remember whether the provided wiring harness fit the fj. I'm very sure that it did. And I didn't get the DDX919WS from Carbon Car Systems . They refused to sell to US probably because of the AM turner stepping is not coded for US frequency .

I appreciate all the info, it’s been very informative. I tried to purchase one from Carbon Car Systems previously too and they told me they don’t sell overseas, due to fraud risks. I’ll likely end up ordering one from Fasmoto.

 

[sssmack]

I appreciate all the info, it’s been very informative. I tried to purchase one from Carbon Car Systems previously too and they told me they don’t sell overseas, due to fraud risks. I’ll likely end up ordering one from Fasmoto.

I got mine from this guy.

Kenwood DDX919WS 6.8” 200mm HD AppleCarPlay AndroidAuto Bluetooth Spotify Stereo | eBay

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