I have a 2001 LS430 Mark Levinson with nav and am thinking of replacing the radio.
What aftermarket radio/cd player have you purchased and how do you like it?

 

i use the beat sonic kit with a pioneer 4400 and it sound ok until i change all the speaker to hertz component and alpine amp, it sound amazing after fine tuning

 

The beat sonic kit seems high priced. Almost as much as a new radio/cd player.
Do you have the factory nav and if so does it still work?

 

yes the nav works, cept for the steering control. the beat sonic does cost alot. i bought the kit from beat sonic but kyoie i think sells it for 50bucks cheaper, kinda pimp slap myself when i found that out. you can have a shop or yourslef do a custom fab on the factory deck with a single din. im pretty sure the shop will charge a grip for the work.

 

go with a DDIN

nothing like two screens, might be overkill for you though

 

It does look like it belongs when you use the beat sonic kit.

DDIN would be overkill as you mentioned. Just a single DIN that will get fm, and play CD's is what I am looking for.

 

I am thinking getting DDIN myself, what kit is best to use for DDIN beside the beat sonic kit? Thanx

 

I think this is a good question...I'm going to need to replace my radio as well. Two things are important to me--(1) how it sounds (2) how it looks. Any information or experience would be appreciated.

 

There is a photo somewhere on ClubLexus that is labeled something like The Perfect Car Radio. It shows a blank face plate with a 3.5mm aux-in right in the middle of it - no radio dial, no buttonss, no volume control, etc.

CD's? They may go the way of cassette tapes over the next few years. I've got six CD's in my CD changer but I have the same music and a lot more stored on my phone and it sounds just as good. When I don't want to listen to that, I stream music from services like Pandora and Slacker.

FM radio? When were up to 200 miles away from home last weekend and couldn't receive the back home radio station my wife wanted to listen to, I streamed the same radio station from the Tunein Internet app on my phone into the aux-in of the car radio. Perfect sound. We don't need no stinkin' FM. (or badges, eh?)

I could be wrong but at least I won the bet I made in the early 80's about CD's essentially replacing vinyl records. I think we are on the verge of a revolution on how we listen to audio in our cars. And, no, Sirius/XM is not in the picture at all.

I've come to the conclusion that all I really need is an aux-in.

 

the price of a single or double is not far in price but the ddin has more adjustment. my 4400 cost 325$. keep in mind that if u change the factory deck. u will need to adjust the sound of the new deck and the factory amp (sound switch on steering wheel) since the new deck has a built in amp, meaning u got both amp powering yur speakers. the sound will be off and sound distorted if u dont adjust them. After adjustments, sound will be good but not WOW, ML speaker is still stock. As for how does the new ddin look in the car. it look very nice. the face plate that came with the kit matches the factory trim. alot of my friend liked how it look . as for FM signals, i seem to get more signal with the ddin then the stock deck, dunno why but it does hehe

Honestly, keep yur deck if its not broken. the ML sound balance and ok, but thats about it. i wanted more mids and bass thats why i change my deck and everything esle hehe. i even tried vaistech ipod adapterbefore and that didnt do it for me. it all comes down to preference, how do u want yur beatz to sound. i love driving in the LS listening to music that why i spend alot of mula on my system.

 

Can you post some pics of what it looks like?

 

I replaced my radio/ cd player with an inexpensive double Din radio/ cd player that has a USB slot on the front.
I use a flash drive that I load from my computer with whatever music I want.
All I am using is the flash drive for now.
The adapter/ faceplate cost more then the radio.
I used the beat sonic kit and it was an easy replacement involving just a few soldered wires and plugs that fit perfectly.