Alpine ILX-007E installed in the BRZ
 

Have had my eye on this unit since it was announced, but information seems pretty scarce out there. Still, couldn't resist when I heard the first shipment had come into Oz.

Just got it installed an hour ago by the good guys at Druery Car Stereo.

Only had the drive from their shop to my office this morning, but so far so good. Beautifully responsive screen. Managed to take a call, listen to and respond to texts, navigate to work, and listen to music all in one trip. Carplay working as advertised.

The only thing that's going to drive me crazy is the lack of physical buttons / volume knob. No 'official' wired (or otherwise) control yet. But hoping one of the alpine wireless remotes is compatible. If so I'm going to bust it apart and pair it to some physical switches in the blank where the heated seat switches would live.

Quick snap doesn't do it justice...

I'm very tempted to do this as well. The stock US head unit is simply atrocious and I've been wanting to go with a CarPlay headunit. I've been stuck between this and the Pioneer 4000NEX with a bit of a lean towards the Alpine unit.

Given that you had a shop to do the install I doubt you'll have a lot of the details, but if you could answer a few questions that would awesome!

1. Were you able to maintain the factory USB outlet? Not too concerned with the aux-in jack, but if it's possible to maintain the original USB port that would be a plus!
2. How did your shop set up the microphone?
3. What's the microphone quality like? I can't tell if the horrid voice recognition with the OEM setup in my BRZ is because of the HU or the microphone (maybe both?)
4. You mentioned lack of physical volume buttons, but is there a way to quickly mute or pause audio? That I think would be my biggest concern.

Thanks for posting! Let's hope being early adopters doesn't come back to haunt us ;)

Apple? Wouldn't use it if you gave it to me.

It's easy to retain both aux and USB.

See this page and this post.

I don't know about the iLX-007E model, but the iLX-007 does not have a lead for 'phone mute' that many other aftermarket HUs have. When you have that lead, you can simply ground it to quickly mute any sound. It's intended for archaic mobile phone kits.

Here are a few options:

Search for Alpine's marine wired remote controls (which may be what jbone was alluding to). Example: RUE-M1RF. You'll have to determine whether any are compatible with the iLX-007/E.

Search for the Axxess (Metra) RFASWC and ASWCSTALK products, which will definitely work:

* RFASWC has a small pod with SWC buttons that you strap onto your steering wheel. It transmits wirelessly to a receiver module (similar to the ASWC-1), which you connect to the aftermarket HU's rear wired remote (SWC) input.

* ASWCSTALK is a stalk with SWC buttons at the end. Mount by drilling a hole in the left or right side of the plastic shroud surrounding the steering column. The stalk connects via wires to a module similar to an ASWC-1 (which connects to your new HU as above).

Of course, you could mount either of those anywhere besides the steering wheel, and even disassemble and mount just the button pad anywhere you like, or replace with different buttons.

Or you can "roll your own" interface module using the information in this thread (on MP3car.com):

Need Alpine wired remote control pinout.

I'm interested in what they did with the microphone as well. I installed the 4000NEX recently and used the included Pioneer microphone installed in the factory spot in the headliner. Maybe it's the way I physically installed it in the headliner cover, but the sound is terrible. Siri can't understand my voice commands and people can't hear me if I'm driving more than 30 mph. The sound quality from the factory HU and mic wasn't great (according to people I called) but it was definitely useable, while my current install is not.

the pioneer mic has 2 little sound canceling cutouts. I had the same issue when I used the factor location and tried to hide the mic in there. mine works perfectly now that I instead used the little flat bit that came with the hook (it slides out) and used a tiny piece of dbl sided tape to attach it to the stock location. No one ever notices it unless I point out that the mic is there even though it sticks out a little.

@Chimera, I'm not quite picturing what you are suggesting. Can you provide pictures and/or more details?

I also stuck my pioneer 4000nex mic up in the OEM location and found it horrendous. I've moved it out of that location and to the headliner just above the rear view mirror, and it works fine now, but it would be great if it was tucked into the OEM location.

I actually never had problems with my OEM microphone. I thought it was pretty decent.
@Freetime, cool story bro.

-Z

I hate apple, but I'm a sucker for sexy interfaces... Although if you wanted a mobile platform on a head unit, maybe you should have considered CaFi's Dashlinq. Still, your setup looks very good.

I will get a photo tomorrow in the light. Rainy and cruddy outside right now.

How I did it.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I had it clipped in that area for a while, after I found the hidden spot sounded terrible. But it seemed to hang down too far for my liking, so I moved it to the headliner edge, just to the left of the center piece above the rear view mirror. The headliner is kinda thin there, so I had to pad the clip with some tape.

Seems fine now.

the clip has a insert that will separate, and leave you a flat piece, I separated them and 3m taped the flat piece to the oem location

Thanks for all this. For some reason I didn't see any of these posts until now.

I picked up the automatic traction control button unit so I can use the snow / whatever buttons as next / previous tracks. Now to figure out how to wire the bloody thing. I see a lot of profanity in my future...