buttnekkid

I'm in the process of upgrading my OEM stereo.........but when I took out the OEM stereo the Metra Toyota harness did not match up with the harness going into the OEM stereo.........

My second Metra harness fit the output of the stereo amp perfectly but not from the stereo???

Can anyone help? I have the stock Pioneer stereo! I'm really sorry its blurry, I only had my camera phone with me.........

JeffTsai

iTrader: (1)

So you're trying to get rid of the OEM headunit correct? If so, the metra wiring kit will plug in where the factory amp is at, not at the headunit location. The way I have mine setup is so I have my own amp driving the speakers directly, eliminating the factory amp alltogether. Or you can have the headunit directly drive the speakers if you want. The thrid option will be to find the correct wires for the headunit to drive the stock amp properly.

istundra

iTrader: (2)

Actually... according to BananaGS, he states that the Stock HU and Stock AMP utilizes multiplexing to transmit signals between units for Audio. Since none of the aftermarket HU out there utilize multiplexing, it is virtually impossible to use a aftermarket HU to drive OEM AMP for the 2GS.

wildcat767

So if I have the Pioneer stock head unit WITH NAV, is there a way to add a sub or a better amp or anything or are you saying you have to replace everything? I'm confused, I'm sorry. Thanks for any advice, used to have the Nakamichi in my last GS400 and this one just sucks compared....

flipicanez

iTrader: (1)

The Toyota adapter harness will need to be extended to behind the dash and will eventually plug into the harness that will be disconnected from the amp. istundra is right, you will not be able to use the factory amp, and therefore you will only be able to use the aftermarket HU's or aftermarket amp's power for the 4 speakers. The factory sub will be useless unless you can find a small amp that can run like 100watts at 2ohms. I personally can't seem to find that and infinite baffles suck anyways.

Keep in mind this was for converting from the standard Pioneer "Premium Sound" HU:

Since the wiring is not in usual Toyota orientation, you will have to re-arrange the wires in the aftermarket harness by using a needle to get out the pins and then compare, match and reinsert the pinned wires according to this site:

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...tail/1279.html

Also the red wire needs to be hooked up from behind the headunit and the ground will have to be chassis bolted, I couldn't find the ground wire anywhere behind the dash of the car.

So far the only mod, an Alpine HU. I also made that little pocket on the right top side of the glove box a space to hook up the IPod, nice and out of the way.

And yes I forever kick myself in the rear for not taking pictures of that work.

Good luck on the install.

wildcat767

Can the stock HU be kept and new speakers or new amp be added? I'd also like to add my IPOD in somehow too. Did you have to activate some AUX function in the stock deck or are you saying you replaced the HU and it connects to the IPOD?

Thanks for the quick reply!

Tank

iTrader: (19)

If you have the STOCK NAV HEAD UNIT you can replace the drop in sub for a better one, if your car didn't come with the sub you can drop one in the rear deck the hole for it will should still be cut out, I'm pretty sure the wiring is there too. just get your hands on some of the electrical scematics. however, you might experience fade out (or what ever u call it) with the sub because it will draw more power from you stock amp causing it to overheat.. I have the NAK stock system in mine and I have to keep the bass adjustment at mid level because if I turn it up the amp overheats and cuts out, and of course that's unacceptable so I'm in the process of changing out my system, planning to drop in a D3 with a 500RMS sub, 4 channel amp for the door speakers and a seperate amp for the sub w/ a 1 or a 1.5 farad cap.

flipicanez

iTrader: (1)

One of the sponsors of this site sells an ipod adapter for the stock nav. Not sure for this generation of GS. VAIS I think, you will see it on the top of this page advertising. You can always upgrade the speakers and amps, just takes the proper connections.

wildcat767

Thank you for the great replies!

In my experience the factory amp is usually the weakest link and a new amp could give me all the extra sound I need without having to replace all the door speakers I'm hoping. I have a new sub from my other car, maybe I'll try that and swap it for the stock sub. Guess I'll need two amps now, a 4 channel, and my old sub amp from the other car. The fun begins!

flipicanez

iTrader: (1)

Also try to remove the factory sub, it will give you a little more room for a box,

Tank

iTrader: (19)

I like the SUB drop in u can still get that punch a box has with the right sub but definately get rid of that factory amp. as far as changing the door speakers you don't have to if you don't want to, there pretty good infact there very good, I went thru the whole 9 yards on my LS and changed the speakers and wiring for nothing cause I ended up using the stock door speakers anyway and they sounded nice and crispy with a 4 channel amp.

wildcat767

From another post I found here it seems that I can get into the diagnostics mode and adjust the gains for the woofer and speakers. Everyone was saying it was amazing and free! I guess most just turned up the sub but you can turn up the highs of you wanted it more crisp. I may try this first before the 4 channel amp. But I think I will drop in my sub since I have it and see....

Thanks guys!

Nilesh

Hey Wildcat,
You are right there too much information and sometimes too confusing. I been doing research for about six months on what to do and how to do upgrade my system. If you dont want to upgrade your factory deck, here is one option which might work for your car. Go to crutchfield.com and enter information about your car and it will show a special plug made by blaupankt which will let you add special aftermarket amp, Also you can upgrade your speakers at same time. If you dont want to remove the factory speaker pods, then keep them but change the speaker with new 4 inch speakers. as for your ipod, search on ebay, also seen on where it removes your changer and adds ipod connection.

http://ipodcarparts.com/lexus-ipod-i...put-p-233.html

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/USA-S...spagenameZWDVW

I hope this helps.

kit cat

iTrader: (6)

if you have a 99, i'm pretty sure the VAIS won't work. You can add an AUX in is with the thread "puredrifter" made in the audio section.