massshelti

Reading the Satellite Radio thread, I'm guessing that the Levinson sound system has the ability to interface with the satellite radio box, as well as accept high quality audio from this module. It would be way-cool to be able to interface an IPOD with the Levinson audio system.

Do we have any major technogeeks who might be interested in looking into this? It would be great to be able to access the IPOD menues via the Nav screen.

Wonder if Lexus posts info on the interface to the satellite box?

Chris

LS007

IPod, portable MP3 player or XM radio direct connection is normaly done thru a CD changer adapter. The problem is no one has a CD changer adapter for the Lexus Mark Levinson system. I heard www.autotoys.com was working on one, but also had problem with other Lexus adapter(s). An audio shop called Laguna Audio (I think) has done a couple direct connections into a ML system. So how do they do it? Well, I'm looking at the wiring diagrams for ML systems on a LS430 and can tell you both the dash mounted Tape/CD changer unit and trunk mounted hidden AM/FM tuner have seperate low level L+R audio wires going into the amplifier. I would think a simple interception of one set of these wires would allow you to plug in a new low level source that had adjustable volume. Of course it would need to be switchable back to the original wiring using a DPDT relay or something.

massshelti

I'm wondering if the Satellite radio has a separate set of audio lines that plugs into the Lev, or if the splice into the lines that are already there.

Wonder if Levinson would know?

massshelti

I just called Levinson. They refer everyone to Lexus. I called Lexus, and their customer service people referred me to the dealer. The dealer knew how to plug in connectors, but had no idea what was going on within the system itself. A call back to Lexus prompted a referral to the materials distribution center. They knew even less about the whole situation.

LS430inTX

Yeah, I would be surprised if Lexus was of *any* help here. When I first got my '03 I was researching a way to add XM. I spoke with Levinson and Lexus several times, all completely fruitless, and their response was go to the dealer. It's a "cop-out" answer. Lexus really doesn't want you messing around with their systems and certainly won't give you any information that might help you to figure it all out. But they are too "customer focused" and don't want you to go away mad. They just want you to go away. So what do they do? Send you to the dealer knowing full well that they are completely clueless.

Mandingo

I have been trying low tech solutions for this - I tried an iPod FM transmitter solution and the quality was terrible, you had to move the unit about to get a signal and it was never free of hisses and crackles.

The quality was too bad to be usable and I returned it.

Today I tried a Sony cassette adapter and the results were surprisingly good - not quite CD quality but not far off it.

Sony cassette adapter

The color (black) and size (thin) of the small wire allow it to be hidden away easily behind the wood on the dash without hardly any outward signs and the iPod sits hidden in my storage unit (smokeless kit) with the lid closed.

Storage kit

I have a Belkin iPod car charger that goes in the storage unit also and I am set - to play the iPod I just press the "Tape" button on the Mark Levinson and control the music from the iPod sitting next to me.

Until someone finds out how to wire an AUX connector this solution will keep me going in the meantime.

OneOfOne

try these guys out. I care a lot more about directly connecting xm satellite that some crappy mp3 player but thats just me.



http://www.vaistech.com/home.html

Mandingo

Thanks for the tip - have you actually used these guys?

I live in Washington state and these guys are in Colorado - how would I get a professional installation done locally? I'd probably get both the iPod interface and an XM radio installation done.

As for the "crappy MP3 player" I am somewhere inbetween on the iPod - the "incredible Apple iPod user interface" actually sucks - the buttons have no feedback, they are super sensitive to accidental touches (which is why they had to add a "lock" button) and the scrolling backwards and forwards through the display screens gets old pretty quick. The latest generation iPods might be better.

On the other hand, the form factor is wonderful and the ability to carry my entire CD collection in my LS430 in a box the size of a pack of cigarettes is priceless - XM radio won't be able to reproduce that any time soon.

Additionally I have digital copies of 300 NPR "This American Life" radio shows from the last 7 years on my iPod - the ability to play those at high quality through the Mark Levinson makes every journey enjoyable. XM radio doesn't do that either.

So, yes the "iPod experience" is somewhat overrated but 20GB of digital storage in a tiny form factor is priceless.