Stealther

I've spent the past hour looking thru threads to try and gleen some information, but have some questions that might be unanswered. So here goes! For reference, I've got a 1999 GS400 with the stock Premium (non-Nak, non-nav) stereo system.

I have the following aftermarket equipment:
Rockford Fosgate 4080 DSM (4x65 I think) Amp
JL Audio 500/1 amp

Here are my goals:
a. Better sound quality across the board
b. More bass, better base response and accuracy
c. More midbass

Here are my limitations:
a. Factory head unit stays (want to do that right at a later date as funds allow)
b. No cutting! Cutting is a very very very last resort
c. Stealth install (see above) I'd prefer no signs of any aftermarket equipment from a casual eye.
d. Keep as much trunk space as possible. This is a daily driver and kid hauler so I gotta put strollers etc. in the back still.
e. Spare tire stays I've gone thru my fix-a-flat days and refuse to use the stuff anymore.

I'm going to go listen to some speakers at my local stereo shop (Custom Sounds) to find something that suits my ears. The problem usually comes when those speakers are installed and I loose the midbass that the factory speakers gave me. This is most likely because of the crossovers they come with, any way around that?

I don't care about the rear passengers that much as far as SQ goes. They will probably be given a back massage and have a lot more bass anyway! Hmm, maybe I should keep the bass down when my 18mo old is in the back seat!

Can mid-bass drivers be installed in the rear doors in place of full range speakers to give me better mid-bass response, or would those frequencies be too directional and sound really wierd coming from BEHIND me?

Amps, The Rockford is an oldie I had from 2 cars ago, still in good shape but I always used it as a sub amp. Speaking of subs, from what I've read the most accurate sub enclosure setup seems to be with the subs facing the rear seats and there is some debate over a sealed or ported (and where the ports are directed) enclosure. I'm thinking of running two 10s, or two 12s (if they don't take up too much space - see limitation "D") Any sub recomendations? I listen to everything from rock to opera, boom is ok when it's supposed to, but when it's not supposed to boom, my system shouldnt!

I was going to try using the Rockford amp for my mids and highs to see how they worked out, but the last stereo I had it in had a nasty turn on thump when wired to the factory head-unit, this was running subs so it wasn't too bad. However with this running mids/highs I'm not sure if that thump would damage them. Is there anyway around that thump? I guess this would depend if I can get a low-level signal from the head unit, or if I have to run off speaker-inputs. Has anyone tried a product like the PAC OEM2? <<LINK>>

Thats all for now, any help would be most appreciated!

Pianoman72

I think you should be able to run off the low-level signal. Do you have a wiring diagram yet? Hopefully you can grab the pre-amp signals from the input on that stock amp I assume you are removing.

If your last system used the speaker-level inputs that might have caused that thump you disliked. If that was being caused by the amp itself I guess you will just have to try it and see.

Sounds like you got it pretty much figured out. Funny because I am planning on doing the same thing in a '93 GS. Shhh don't tell anyone. I don't know why but I'm all about the "stealth" look.

Let us know what speakers you like and I'm obviously personally interested in how it all goes because I would like to do the same thing this summer except I'll be starting from scratch.

Can't answer your sub questions. i'm just going to do free-air so I don't have to build a box.

Good luck.

Stealther

Well I went to listen to speakers today and had the guy remove all the price tags from the speakers before I listened to them. The two speaker sets I liked the best were a $1000 pair of Focals and a $200 pair of Alpine Type-R (SPR-176A). I did Iike the sound of the Focal's better, but the difference was not that great to my ears to justify such a cost difference. Walked out today with the Alpines.

I'm really glad that I ended up liking the cheaper speakers almost as well as the high dollar ones, it has never ended up that way for me before.

Regarding subwoofers, I was looking at some Type-R Alpines, but the guy that was helping me said that they would require more mounting depth than I was willing to give up in my trunk (want to keep everything in the little shelf above the main trunk area). He recommended some a pair of JL Audio W3v2's because they would fit better and did not require a lot of power to run them. What do you guys think?

The guy said that my Rockford 4080 DSM would work great and he didnt think I needed to worry about getting another amp for my mids and highs. He mentioned that the older Rockfords were much better than most of the currently produced Rockfords. Not sure if he was just stroking me, but at least I didn't have to spend more in that area.

Can the installer splice into the low-level outputs from my stock stereo and just put RCA ends on them to run to my aftermarket amps?

TimDimman

I have a '99 GS w/ NAV, and I'm looking into this now.

I'm getting worried that the CD Changer and the HU are actually 2 different sources in the eyes of the amp, and that the switching is done in the amp. If this were the case, you'd lose one of these sources if you went with a line level signal (one or the other).

If you plan to do the HU later, you might just want to do an LLC as a temp solution for now.

The IS folk posted up an amp modification that pulls the low level signal after the switching has occured. I'm going to try and pull apart my amp to see if that can be done...???

Would you happen to know what the impedance of the front speakers are? Can we do a direct swap out?

Tim

Pianoman72

Tim, i think you're right I remember reading that somewhere. That is a BIG problem. You guys should really get a EWD from a dealer before you continue. There might be a way to hack it (possibly multiple ways) but that diagram will tell us what is going on.

Either keep the amp or get the EWD and post it up here so maybe we can have a look-see and brainstorm some ideas.

Stealther

Is this just with NAV equipped Lexus or all Lexus sound systems?

Pianoman72

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...threadid=61265

tim, here's the thread you were talking about. The switching is done in the amp for the CD.

BananaGS has a wiring diagram on his site. He used the factory amp but used an equalizer's inputs to add a DVD player and then ran that EQ to a new amp. It's all detailed on his site, also on that thread.