k24_cm7

^ That's great to hear. I actually just decided today that I am going to get the KIV-700! I talked to someone who is an installer and well that helped me make up my mind and your reviews just finalzied it. It sucks that so many products come out all the time that people dont usually review the products any more.
And where are you ordering ? 200shipped for the kiv700 seems to be a good price ..
Im looking at 230 before shipping and thats after calling and getting a better deal, but this comes with extra steering wheel control, ipod cord, aux cable for free.

Im probably going to order all my stuff tomorrow, Since I just received my components.

Thanks again for the help natban

Natban

Yeah the pricing I'm looking at is on ebay.com. I live right by the border (as many of us do) and get all my stuff shipped to Washington state (always free ground shipping with in continental 48 states) and drive or walk down to pick it up. The only thing I don't factor in is the 12% HST I pay when I declare my goods on the way back into Canada. Just to clarify though, I wouldn't buy this way If I were not doing the install myself and it sounds like you're getting a pretty good deal.

Good luck with the KIV-700. I think you'll be very happy with it, looks like a solid unit.

k24_cm7

Yeah I always thought about getting one of those mailing boxes down in Buffalo since I am about 45 minutes away but its just too much of a hassle. And I'm actually doing a DIY , im ordering from sonicelectronix though. They ship with UPS but they claim that in the shipping price they INCLUDE brokerage so you wont get any extra fee's. Shipping is very reasonable if not "cheap" with them. I found a few good deals on ebay but shipping to canada really killed the deal. 60USD shipping on ebay vs 20 something bucks on sonicelectronix.

k24_cm7

Finally got it shipped. After ordering the product , it was processing for a good 6days before I called up the company. Turns out they were waiting on a backordered item... So I told them to remove it and they did.
Got sent out tuesday and should be here friday

If anyone wants a review on the kiv-700 just let me know and I will give you a review. The only thing is , I probably wont have it installed until the weekend of the 18th. Going to install it asap once I finish my finals along with my new amp+speakers.

jeeva86

Why do you say that you should only buy this if it's a DIY? Can you get better pricing at a shop? Btw, you can actually walk down across the border? I think we gotta use a vehicle here at niagara. I've been seeing so many great deals for residents in US on sonic, amazon. It's like about 40-50% markup up here!!

I'm still thinking about getting the x794 after comparing it with the alpine cda-105. The 5 line display is really good + the ability to control through the iphone instead of the HU. What made you go for the kiv-700? It's almost 2x the price.

colin455

Kenwood KDC-X794 . Just my opinion. Seems way more quality.

k24_cm7

I went with the kenwood because I knew they made good units. I am not a huge fan of alpine, I recently got the type-r components only because of the deal I got from them but I dont like alpine too much. The main reason I went with the kiv-700 is mainly the extra features and looks aka the screen. I dont use cd's at all so if I were to eliminate the CD on the excelon, they would be similar except one has a screen. Im not CRAZY into car audio, I wouldnt use the 794 to its full potential anyways and for an extra $70 bucks I got a great looking head unit with a really nice screen. I knew if I got the 794 I would always ask my self what it would be like if I got the kiv700.. The way I see it , I got the kiv-700 for 250 , best buy has it for 400, I could easily flip it and get my 250 back and get the 794 for ~$175 if I really didnt like it.

My kiv comes in tomorrow Im excited, just came back from the post office with my new ipod 4, t400-2 amp, and just tested it with my type-r's in my living room. I cant wait for finals to be over

Natban

The KIV units have great audio features, I've got the bt900 installed and tuned now and it sounds great. The display on the KIV unit is beautiful for ipods, especially for a single din unit. As far as audio features I don't know if the kdc-x has anything more than the kiv's and the kiv's have dual zone audio output and video output for rear monitors etc.

I guess you could buy it online and then pay a shop to install it but that kind of stuff gets messy. The shop will warranty their work but not your product. Take it for me as an electrical contractor, with big companies/costumers wanting to save a couple bucks by buying their own materials for us to install, in the end it always costs more.

If you buy it from a local shop and have them install it, provided they are a good shop, they'll take care of everything and you will be very happy. It will be a little more expensive but could very well be worth the extra money.

Yes, we can park on the Canadian side and walk across, of course we still check in with US customs.

jeeva86

Just came across this: http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/1050672-post65.html

I guess if you're too into the audio, it's no biggie, but I think I'm set on the x794! Now where were u able to get them for $175 if you wanted to?

jeeva86

True about the warranty, but I notice that certain shops don't seem to carry certain brands or certain models of a particular brand. e.g. Alpine products or Kenwood decks. Maybe they could order it in? I guess I'll need to compare prices to see how much I could save.