Anyone with a ChimChim Double DIN Kit?
Anyone with a ChimChim Double DIN Kit?
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Discussion

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Hi Guys

Anyone got a Chimchim Double DIN kit?

I've just fitted mine, and like a complete numpty I fitted it all in before checking that the tilting screen had enough clearance to open so that I could put a DVD in......Doh!!

So, how do you get it out once you have it fitted in? Any tips?

Alpine W200Ri looks and sounds great in it though!

Cheers

Steve

devilyellowcv8

745 posts

245 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you might have a slight problem here - according to the installer who fitted mine, it's a one way job. The clips will probably snap if you try to remove it. He said the clips are, as he put it, 'very,very tight' to the point that it was touch and go as to whether or not the fascia would go in without breaking at least one of them.

Have to agree with you as to how it all looks once it's all in though, it does look the dogs nads. Mines a Kenwood 8027 DVD with Garmin Sat Nav Hard drive and Traffic master.

Steven 'Swordfishcoupe' has a Double din kit as well, he might have a different opinion as to whether it'll come out easily or not.

Paul

Edited by devilyellowcv8 on Saturday 31st March 13:53

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Thanks for the reply - I've heard from Steven as well.

So, I tried - and I now have a limited edition two-piece chimchim kit....... :-(

Mind you - the facia now opens..... :-)

It might be OK with a bit of superglue - I don't think the breaks will notice too much actually (more from hope of course.....)

Bum!

swordfishcoupe

503 posts

242 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Hi Steve,

Sorry, to hear that fella, those kits are really scary for the price !!

Fingers crossed for the glue job. But they so look really nice in the car.

Cheers
Steven

Stigmundfreud

22,454 posts

232 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
with the aftermarket head units how do they work with teh stock speakers?

DevilYellowCV8

745 posts

245 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Badly. It shows how bad they really are. They all need replacing for better ones and I can't make my mind up which ones to go for.

greens vauxhall

830 posts

231 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Dont worry about upgrading speakers and stereo etc, just drop the windows and a gear and enjoy!!

jimb0

318 posts

251 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
I've got the ChimChim kit but not fitted it yet.

devilyellowcv8 said:

Mines a Kenwood 8027 DVD with Garmin Sat Nav Hard drive and Traffic master.


This is the exact combo I want to go for, but I'm holding back until I can confirm I can get the steering wheel controls to work. Did you manage it?

Edited to say: I would really love to see pics.

Edited by jimb0 on Saturday 31st March 19:55

Stigmundfreud

22,454 posts

232 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
DevilYellowCV8 said:
Badly. It shows how bad they really are. They all need replacing for better ones and I can't make my mind up which ones to go for.

is that because standard ones aer 2ohm and the aftermarket hu is prob 4ohm? I am sure I read they are 2ohm standard

swordfishcoupe

503 posts

242 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
Hello,

Mainly the factory speakers are crap, they are 2ohm (some are labeled as 4 ohm on them but same speaker and running at 2ohms). They are very much like my old Hyundai Coupe speakers, i.e. made in Korea, paper and need replacing.

I have 2ohm Infinity Kappa speakers in my car, they sounded really good with the factory stereo (when tweaked) and sound really good with my JVC DVD player. I actually kept the factory subs though, mainly due to the Holden factory deciding to seal my rear shelf in with the window sealant - LOL.

Cheers
Steven

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
I've gone for JL Audio speakers for mine.

I've just spent all day doing the head unit which took a lot longer than I thought due to the chimchim thing (yes, my own fault for not checking everything first....but flipping annoying that you can't get it out once it's in none the less). I also found that the unit has to be quite far forward to get the facia to tilt properly (Alpine W200Ri) - I'm wondering if the chimchim kit needs a little widening to help this...

Anyway, since the head unit took all day I didn't get to fit my new speakers yet, so can say that it definitely sounds better with the new HU and original speakers - but you can perhaps hear even more clearly that the speakers need replacing - there is a real lack of high end clarity and definition.

Like Steven (swordfishcoupe) I'm leaving the original amp and subs in place (for the moment at least) and am replacing the front and rears with the JL Audio units - hopefully I'll get them done tomorrow in between World Superbike races on the box.

To the question of Steering Wheel Controls - like almost everyone else I've fitted a PAC Audio unit - the PAC-ALP (just been replaced with the PAC-JACK I think - see www.pac-audio.com for info). Seems to do the trick, even if the programming was a bit fiddly.

Looks like I'll need to be buying another chimchim kit though - unless someone knows of something different.

Steve

DevilYellowCV8

745 posts

245 months

Saturday 31st March 2007
quotequote all
jimb0 said:
I've got the ChimChim kit but not fitted it yet.

devilyellowcv8 said:

Mines a Kenwood 8027 DVD with Garmin Sat Nav Hard drive and Traffic master.


This is the exact combo I want to go for, but I'm holding back until I can confirm I can get the steering wheel controls to work. Did you manage it?

Edited to say: I would really love to see pics.

Edited by jimb0 on Saturday 31st March 19:55






This is the only pic I have hosted at the moment. Original Sat Nav was a the boot located Kenwood DVD map drive. This met with an unfortunate accident (coffee spilled out from my lunch bag en route to bucks last October). Not a sad loss really as Kenwood stopped making them, last updated disc was for 2004 and the discs still retail at nearly £200!!

And yes, my steering remotes still work. SLight lag occasionally, but you get used to it.

Agree with Greens about dropping the windows etc. but wife and kids are fed up with me doing that......

Edit: Steve, found this a bit further in to ChimChim's never ending thread on these things (longest thread I've seen to date). This is what the man himself said about fitting/removal:

"The kit just snaps in, it is super simple... Removing it is a little bit harder, but it is still pretty easy.. I use a plastic windshield tool and slide it into one side (between kit and dash trim), pop it loose then do the same on the other side, viola it is out..." Not what my stereo installer thought!!
__________________

Edited by DevilYellowCV8 on Sunday 1st April 00:01

jimb0

318 posts

251 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
DevilYellowCV8 said:
And yes, my steering remotes still work. SLight lag occasionally, but you get used to it.


Did you use pac-audio? I've been told this won't work on European Kenwood units?

DevilYellowCV8

745 posts

245 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
Er, can't remember which make mine is. My controls are rather unique compared to the other set ups being used here. I have an infra red transmitter mounted in the head lining to control the stereo (it's using the remote controls interface)other set up's are using direct wire connections to the AUX input.

No difference in reaction time. Mine was fitted by some guys who have quite a good understanding of the 'ros security and audio systems.

jimb0

318 posts

251 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
DevilYellowCV8 said:
Er, can't remember which make mine is. My controls are rather unique compared to the other set ups being used here. I have an infra red transmitter mounted in the head lining to control the stereo (it's using the remote controls interface)other set up's are using direct wire connections to the AUX input.

No difference in reaction time. Mine was fitted by some guys who have quite a good understanding of the 'ros security and audio systems.


OK, thanks. All info I can get is useful.

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
According to the Pac-Audio web site Kenwood is supported OK.

You can look here for a list of supported Kenwood Head Units...
www.pac-audio.com/swi-compatible-radios/supportedRadios.asp?manufacture=kenwood

with instructions for our car here:
www.pac-audio.com/swixprogramming/showstepbystep.asp?RadioGroupPioneer=0&InterfaceChecked=2&mmSearch=Pontiac&Submit2=Search+Vehicles&ID=296

Certainly works a treat for my Alpine.

Steve



Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 1st April 22:31

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
I thought I'd stick in a few pictures of my Alpine now that it is installed so you can see what it looks like, and the extent of the damage I caused to my chimchim kit...

I will be getting another one, but not for the moment since I know that I've got to have the unit out again soon when I install the rear video screens for the kids and I'll make sure that everything is perfect before fitting a new one!

Anyway, here you go.....

With this first pic you can just see the join at the bottom left of the trim panel. You can also see the missing piece on the far side if you look....



A little closer....



And now the painful one - this is what I see from my driving position....



I have to say that despite all this it still does look really good - and I love having my iPod back in the car properly. The kids certainly like the DVD bit as well - my daughter stayed quiet in the car all morning while I was watching my son playing football, so all in all it is a right result!!

DevilYellowCV8

745 posts

245 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
It looks good Steve and it updates the interior quite nicely. As you say, shame about the damage, but unless others knew about it, it wouldn't be noticed. The bad part is, you do and it'll bug you 'til you fix it.

I'm thinking of mounting a flip screen in the roof for the rear in the futre, but both kids seem content with it in the front as they say can both it see it well unless the sun hits it. Casino Royale today. enjoyed by everyone else except me due to having to concentrate on road...

anonymous-user

Original Poster:

76 months

Sunday 1st April 2007
quotequote all
Similar to me Paul - I'm going for a flip down roof screen - that's why I know I'm going to need the unit out again so that I can wire it up....

May also go for a Sat Nav unit which can also be driven from the touch screen head unit - but we'll see about that....




Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 1st April 23:17

jimb0

318 posts

251 months

Monday 2nd April 2007
quotequote all
gsxr750steve said:
According to the Pac-Audio web site Kenwood is supported OK.

You can look here for a list of supported Kenwood Head Units...
www.pac-audio.com/swi-compatible-radios/supportedRadios.asp?manufacture=kenwood

with instructions for our car here:
www.pac-audio.com/swixprogramming/showstepbystep.asp?RadioGroupPioneer=0&InterfaceChecked=2&mmSearch=Pontiac&Submit2=Search+Vehicles&ID=296

Certainly works a treat for my Alpine.

Steve



Edited by gsxr750steve on Sunday 1st April 22:31


Yeah - that's what I thought. But pac-audio weren't so sure and referred me to their UK guy. He was going come up with something for me, but it's all gone very quiet.