Ls430 stereo upgrade

[BMCWP]

I won't be spending any more money now and thankfully my hearing is still good even though I am knocking on the door of 60. From the early days of recording and live gigs we used hearing protection - from the humble foam earplugs up to the new noise cancelling headsets (that I am glad I am not paying for!) but like all things in life as we get older our hearing deteriorates anyway so new systems are not on the radar. I have a 15 year old Sony surround system at home and have no intention of changing it unless it breaks down. And I also tend to stick to high end headphones for home use (Sennheiser mostly)
I often tell my friends when in the car its not how loud it is but the clarity. Yes you can spend thousands (and I know quite a few that did) and have the loudest window shattering system in your car but the novelty soon wears off and just because its loud does not mean its good. I suppose also I have been lucky enough to experience sound systems in various high end cars (Jaguar, Range Rover etc) and this car is by far and away the best I have heard. Especially when using genuine CD's there is a major difference with the "home recorded" ones both in level and sound "space". It's not obviously a home system by any means but certainly it stands out even now some 16 odd years later (a true testament to the build quality if you ask me)  
Oh.. btw the cassette test will have to wait I received the new Gary Numan CD in the post this morning and its getting played to death 🤣 🎹 

[skyway]

I fitted in the blue music mod using the Y cabling, I think it might have been the easiest job I have ever done on my car.

Happy it fitted my sony mini disc player.

Works a treat, crazy I didnt do it years ago. 

[rich1068]

17 hours ago, skyway said:

my sony mini disc player.

[Exdee]

Glad this has helped some of you 

[jenkiadr]

I’ve gone with a Grom Audio unit, which is designed to fit seamlessly with the OEM equipment using the second CD source slot available https://www.gromaudio.co.uk/

I now have apple CarPlay through the system with full Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity (although I prefer using a lead as the sound quality is better). It also offers Android Auto.

It’s like having a brand-new head unit. Cost was £500 plus another £300 for fitting.

Looked into upgrading all of the speakers and amplification, but the tweeters are built into the dashboard and hence a lot of work to take all of that out – I was quoted about £3000 for a full system which doesn’t make sense on a car that’s not worth a lot more.

I’m really impressed with the unit and even the in car hi-fi specialist I took it to was surprised at how easy it was to integrate and the functionality it provides. Hope of some use.

[MaximusPrime]

On 6/28/2022 at 8:05 AM, jenkiadr said:

I’ve gone with a Grom Audio unit, which is designed to fit seamlessly with the OEM equipment using the second CD source slot available https://www.gromaudio.co.uk/

I now have Apple CarPlay through the system with full Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity (although I prefer using a lead as the sound quality is better). It also offers Android Auto.

It’s like having a brand-new head unit. Cost was £500 plus another £300 for fitting.

Looked into upgrading all of the speakers and amplification, but the tweeters are built into the dashboard and hence a lot of work to take all of that out – I was quoted about £3000 for a full system which doesn’t make sense on a car that’s not worth a lot more.

I’m really impressed with the unit and even the in car hi-fi specialist I took it to was surprised at how easy it was to integrate and the functionality it provides. Hope of some use.

Hi Adrian, what is the Grom model you had installed on your Lexus please? I really like the integration with the OEM unit you have mentioned, and am seriously considering making the switch to Grom myself.

[jenkiadr]

It’s the LEX4VL2. The guys at Grom UK were really helpful. I phoned them up to have a chat before purchasing and they insisted that I sent them a photo of the car and the head unit to make sure that I was buying the correct model. From memory, the facelift LS 430 takes a different unit to pre-facelift model.

[MaximusPrime]

17 minutes ago, jenkiadr said:

It’s the LEX4VL2. The guys at Grom UK were really helpful. I phoned them up to have a chat before purchasing and they insisted that I sent them a photo of the car and the head unit to make sure that I was buying the correct model. From memory, the facelift LS 430 takes a different unit to pre-facelift model.

Thank you for the prompt reply Adrian 🙂 Mine is a facelift model, same as yours, so I will be on a lookout for LEX4VL2 soon, I really like how seamlessly it appears to integrate with the stock system.