I did a little research into the standard Pioneer audio system in my 98 GS400 after being inspired by some of the posts on putting video on the NAV screen and after trying to improve the stock speakers. What struck me was that the front door bass reflex enclosure was very carefully designed all the way down to the grill that redirects medium frequencies and the ducted bass port sealed to the door. Lexus has put a lot of acoustic intelligence into even the standard audio system despite the “transistor radio” comments here ( I used to work in broadcast audio studios) . The replacement 4 inch speakers I bought had much smaller magnets and seamed to be similar quality, tarted up with glossy cones and little additional quality so I left the original in place for now after hours of experimentation. I’ll probably change them later, but I decided to focus on the electronics first.

I had hacked the Pioneer amp about 4 years ago (not recommended) to increase Bass gain and replaced the woofer for a Boston Acoustics high efficiency woofer with a cast frame. Despite my adjustments I was never happy with bass response and had the EQ set to near max with as a poor compromise to get more sub bass yet over-drive the door speakers.

Getting to the point, I researched the amplifier and came across the service mode for the Pioneer amp via the NAV system – there is a similar adjustment for the non NAV cars. Here’s what you do:

Get into the NAV diagnostics mode (covered in these forums before) - hold the Climate and Audio controls while switching the parking lights on and off 3 or 4 times. This must be done immediately after tuning the key on. The new step is:

• Once the diagnostics auto test completes, press the menu key on the touch screen, then hold the AM button for 5 second until it beeps.

• The display will now show “Audio”

• The TAPE button toggles through F, R and W for Front, Rear and Woofer. The UP DOWN button can set these from 0 to -80 dBs.

• The FM button toggles between P1, P2 and L, where P1 and P2 are equalizer frequency settings and L is the overall level from 0 to -20 dBs. I haven’t figure out what the equalizer setting do exactly.

• The setting appears to be non volatile so switching the ignition off keeps the values. I now have a system that is much closer to my preferences with the controls flat – always a good place to be. Happy tweaking.

For non NAV cars it appears that the diagnostic mode is set by pressing the CD key 3 times while holding down channel 1 or 6. Auto level or ASL must be on first. Then press the AM button for a few seconds or LW/MW button on some non US cars to get into the amplifier DSP mode. Note that I have no way to test this.

I also have no idea what happens with a DVD NAV car.

Of additional note is that the audio system has alls sort of features not used including MD, DAT, rear seat TV, rear control and adjustable length antenna depending on what FM frequency is used! These appear to be for non US markets. UK cars have a telescopic antenna.

 

That was a very informational post. Do you know what spund changes you can get by changing the decible levels you talked about

Keith

 

I just found out a couple of days ago and I have not done much experimenting. What I did do was to set the Woofer to 0 (everything was found to be at 0). I then set the front at -8 and the rear to -6. That gets the woofer to main balance about right to my ears and is equivalent of an 8 dB woofer boost. I need to do more experimenting. I may also move all the gains down as only 50% of the volume control is used a very high volumes and most of the time it is moved about 20%. I’m not sure what this will do for noise or headroom.

The feedback is not instant as you have to switch the ignition off and listen then go back to diagnostics mode which is silent. The explanations I saw are fairly literal Japanese translations so it is not clear exactly what is intended here.

Another random observation is that the auto level control has a microphone monitoring cabin noise around 7 Hz.

 

Thanks for this post girvan! I just want to make it clear how to get into the settings on a NON NAV GS. I have the pioneer premium radio in my GS3. To get into the settings you need to press the CD button 3 times WHILE holding down buttons 1 AND 6. ( you can let go of buttons 1 & 6 now) Then you have to hold down the AM button for about 4 seconds. and you will get "AUDIO" on the display. Then you can just hit the tape button to toggle through F, R, W and just like girvan said now you can use the up/down button to change these settings. I just wanted to let everyone know that this does work. Thanks again girvan!

 

thanks for the tips.

I got the diagostic mode and audio stuff to work. Now just need to play with the settings.

 

FYI - for my listening tastes, I put these settings:

F=13
R=13
W=0

Sounds great!

Anyone else try this??

 

Wow...sounds cool...good find....i guess i got something to fiddle with this weekend.

Thanks for sharing.

 

Hey I tried this but when I get to the Diagnostics screen its in Japanease

I have an 02 430 w/ Nav.

What do I do to get around this, or did you guys work with the Japanease and change the setting?


Thanks!

 

Any of this stuff work for cars with a Nak. system?



-edit- saw this in another thread, trying to do a advanced search to find it, any link?




-Taran

 

I adjusted settings F 2 , R 2, W 0,

but what will happen if I changed p1, p2

is there a website where we can get this info - is it in a lexus manual somewhere ?

 

Thanks! Will try this tonight

 

I did it and its awesome! Car shaked like crazy!

Setting:

CLICK ON TAPE
F: 13
R: 13
W: 0

CLICK ON FM1/2
P1: 5
P2: 5
L: 0

 

Just wondering does anyone know what the p1 and p2 do? My setting where reset after a emission test and I am going to redo the setting but was wondering is anyone knew that they do? I had kept them on 5 (setting in the above post)

Thanks

 

I will confirm this works on the LS. (yeah I noticed its an old thread).

However, before you press AM and hold it for a few seconds, the radio screen displays 1-190, I can also toggle between two different ones, wonder what they are for?

Also, what are P1, P2 and L stand for?

 

I just tried this on my 99 GS with the Nakamichi system and was unable to get into the menu. Anyone know the combination for these systems?