ZTM

Hello All,

First post here! Early this year, I purchased my IS250 and have been missing the Sirius Sat. Radio that I had installed on my old car. In my previous Acura, I had a Sportster receiver that I didn't want to put in my Lexus, as it seemed to detract from the beautiful interior.

Anyway, I just contacted a group called VAIS technology, for which I have seen several ads here at Club Lexus. They told me that, since I already have the Sportster receiver, all I need to to is buy their SoundLinQ kit for $300, and I can have Satellite radio integrated into my nav system.

I was hoping that you folks here could a) confirm that this is everything I need to have full integration and, b) let me know how much you would estimate for professional installation. One last thing, I just want to make sure that I'm not going to have to have the receiver sticking out somewhere in the interior, I'm looking to have the whole thing kind of hidden.

Thanks a ton!

ZTM

Just FYI, I took a gander at the "merged SIRIUS" thread, and sort of drowned. I have an aversion to all things technical, and know next to nothing about cars, so hopefully someone can explain this to me like I'm a 4 year old lol

IS350MD

I'm having all sorts of problems with the VAIS Sirius setup. back to the installer on Saturday.

-low volumes
-no drop down songs when changing songs from steering wheel
-unit just says "loading" no sound at all

kaslead

I don't think your first two problems are from a malfunctioning unit. I had those exact same problems when I had the VAIS unit installed.

IS350MD

"had"?

did you get rid of your unit?

Kepeli

I wanted to put the Vais in my Honda Ridgeline but when I called they said there are no installers in my area.

IS350MD

how do you like the XM in your IS? any volume, button issues?

thinking of switching...

ZTM

Thanks for the answers guys! I'll give it some thought. Wanted to avoid XM since I liked Sirius so much when I had it, but I may have to reconsider.

kaslead

Yes, I did. If you read through the "merged Sirius thread" you'll get the whole story. The summary is that I bought the Vais unit through the dealer when I bought the car. After comparing to KCCraash's Sirius unit from lexus-parts.com, I realized the Vais unit was lacking. Explained it to my dealer, they took it back and gave me a refund. Installed the other unit and have been quite pleased with it. The Vais unit works, don't get me wrong. But, I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and the installer couldn't fix the "problems" - low volume, no station name drop-down on the NAV screen when changing channels, no SAT3 presets, etc.

kaslead

Several of us here on CL can confirm that the Sirius unit sold by Sewell Lexus (lexus-parts.com) works 100% with the 06-07 ISx50. You can install yourself if you feel a bit apt, or you can buy the unit and probably have your local dealer do it for labor charges only. Otherwise an aftermarket audio shop can likely do it. The only tricky part is the antenna - if you have an '07 you can use the sharkfin by modifying it. Or, you can just add a regular car-kit antenna on you trunk lid or in the back window on the package shelf. I have NAV and ML, but I believe Sewell sells another kit if you don't have ML (NAV doesn't matter, I think).

Good luck, and stick with Sirius if you can!

livinitup7

Check out the vaistech forums on their website, it will answer a lot of your questions.