Ipod Control Solution For Oem Stereo Is200/300 Finally Found

Sonnet · November 22, 2007

Hi,

first of all thank you very much for this fantastic page :) . I’m really impressed about the discussions and the solution I saw over the last few years. But the often asked questions were not really answered for me yet.

Is it possible to connect an iPOD directly on the OEM stereo, without opening and modifying the radio?

And is it possible to control the iPOD over the OEM stereo, while the POD is remaining in the glove box?

Since Monday of this week I can say:

It is possible, the sound is great, the control works perfect and the iPOD charge while connected!!!!

I found the solution in the American LOC. There is a little company in California called Grom Audio. They produce like Dension (ice link) AUX and iPOD adapter for OEM stereos. You can imagine that couldn’t believe my eyes when I was checking the compatibility list and found the IS300 from 1999 – 2005 on it.

http://gromaudio.com/index.html

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Toyota / Scion / Lexus GROM for iPod interface(GROM-IPOD-TOY)

-Original harness to connect to iPod (dock in cable)

-Original harness to connect to the back of the stereo

-Direct connection to the car stereo. CD quality sound

-Full control from car stereo or steering wheel

-Charge iPod while operating

-Most Toyotas, Lexus and Scions supported (year 98+)

-In-dash 6-CD will remain working !

It provides direct audio interface to a car stereo via the CD changer port. GROM Audio interface insures CD quality sound from iPod to car stereo speakers. It allow to "fool" your stereo into thinking that fully featured CD changer is plugged in. This way you can have thousands of tracks divided into playlists or full shuffle mode if you wish. Endless amount of music !

- Direct connection from iPod to car stereo provides CD quality sound

- GROM Audio translates button presses from your car stereo or steering wheel to the particular command iPod can understand

- Enables easy integration into the car system. Place it anywhere, control from the car stereo

- Charges iPod while connected

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Main distributor for the grom audio adapter is

http://indashpc.org/new/index.html

where you can order the iPOD interface (Toyota / Scion / Lexus GROM for iPod interface(GROM-IPOD-TOY) for just $ 79.

http://indashpc.org/new/ipod_adapters/grom-ipod-toy.html

The product details are as follow:

Direct audio connection will ensure the best sound quality non compromised by FM transmitter or cassette adapter. Just plug the adapter into the back of your stereo (or in the trunk), connect it to your iPod and enjoy crystal clear sound and full control ! Ultimate iPod integration solution will provide the following features:

- Integrate your iPod into car audio system easily

- Get CD quality sound from the iPod through existing car stereo

- Control and operate your iPod with car stereo buttons or steering wheel controls

- Convert iPod into virtual CD changer

- Disk 1 allow to control iPod from its clicking wheel. Select your music from iPod and have it played. Stereo will control iPod

- Disk 2-6 mapped to playlists you create on iPod. Full control from car stereo. The following information is displayed: Disk #, Track #, time etc

- MIX, REPEAT work as usual

- SCAN allow to skip +-10 tracks for faster navigation

- Playlist positions are preserved for fast operation

- Shuffle songs, switch between tracks, playlists and adjust volume - all by using head unit controls

- Have your iPod charged

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My package was delivered about one week after ordering. For $79,99 the package contents:

- Car stereo adapter in plastic enclosure

- OEM compatible harness to connect to the back of the car stereo

- iPod dock in cable (gen 4 and up iPods)

- Installation manual

I installed it in just one hour due to the OEM compatible harness an it just works!!!!!

The OEM stereo knows right now the following things:

FM button -> regular Radio
Tape button -> Tape
Disk button (first time pressing) -> internal CD-Changer (on the left side of the display you will see then “CD”)
Disk button (second time pressing) -> external CD-Changer -> Grom Audio iPOD interface (on the left side of the display you will see then “CD1”)

Even if your internal CD changer has an ERR3 fault it should run because the solution activate the EXTERNAL CD Changer control.

iPOD in use

One special thing is maybe interesting for people who are planning to buy an iPOD but do not own one so far. They can also order the IPOD interface from Grom Audio and and add an extra cable called (AUX RCA cable + 3.5 mm phone jack (Cable-AUX-C)) for only $4.99

http://indashpc.org/new/accessories/cable-aux-c.html

This cable can be plugged into the iPOD interface box – instead of the iPod dock in cable – and allows you to listen to music from your regular mp3 player (without control from OEM stero for sure).

OK, let me show you some photos:

GromAudio Interface Car side

iPOD side

Car specific plug 'n play cable

relevant harnes on Lexus OEM stereo #1(marked)

relevant harnes on Lexus OEM stereo #2(marked)

Beside of the photos you can find the harness compatibility list.

Harness_Compatibility.pdf

I hope this helps you to get mp3 in you car without loosing the original design inside of the car. If you have further questions, please ask.

Best Regards from Berlin

Sonnet

P.S. My Car has a 9 speaker Stereo with satnav and nav seems to work with this solution :-))

Parthiban · November 22, 2007

Does your car have satnav? Do you know if this device works on cars with satnav?

This has always been the pitfall in the past for this type of solution, as the extra slot (for the MD player) that is used by these devices is taken up by the navigation input..........

I might have to drop them an email as that is a very attractive price :)

Sonnet · November 22, 2007

Hi,

yes my car has satnav!! I have a fully equiped IS300 Sportcross. The Stereo has the OEM external Amp and 9 spakers. And the GromAudio Interface integrates perfect - no Y-connector needed.

While I was looking for a possibility to connect my MP3 Player on the OEM Stereo, I rebuild the stereo and found out, that only one harness was equiped with a plug.

The relevant 12 line plug for all external CD Changer and Audio stuff (marked red on my pictures) was empty. So it was easy to plug the grom adapter inside and it just works!!!

I will add some photos of different radio versions. You will see that all the radios have this place to connect.

Best Regards

Sonnet

My stereo (originally only the not marked one is connected with the car electric)

My stereo (with my old selfmade connector)

Some other Radios

Russdx · November 23, 2007

ooooooooooo will this work on a 99 stereo

might plug my old one back in if so

Hando · November 23, 2007

Sonnet,

that was a great post (so great it almost sounded as if you were on comission ;) )

But it's come at the right time for me - I've got err3 and hate tape/fm adapters for ipod but love the stock headunit look.

I've gone ahead and ordered one.

I have sat nav so will report back when I get it and let all know how it goes.

Vyker · November 23, 2007

that seems.... well.. brilliant!!

works out to about £50, which is a little on the high side, but if it works like it say it does, not a bad price.

let us know when you get it Hando, and how well it works.

what i want to know is, if i hit the "next track" button on the unit, will it actually work?

Hando · November 23, 2007

that seems.... well.. brilliant!!
works out to about £50, which is a little on the high side, but if it works like it say it does, not a bad price.

let us know when you get it Hando, and how well it works.

what i want to know is, if i hit the "next track" button on the unit, will it actually work?

Allegedly - if you have a 4th gen ipod or higher - not only that'll work but selecting Disc 2-6 will cycle thru your first 5 playlists.

Vyker · November 23, 2007

Allegedly - if you have a 4th gen ipod or higher - not only that'll work but selecting Disc 2-6 will cycle thru your first 5 playlists.

:o thats very cool!!! i might start saving up for this one! my current solution, a mixture of both a tape adaptor and an FM transmitter [one for london, one for north country] is starting to frustrate me!

MrADeveci · November 23, 2007

This is a very informative post Sonet - Thanks.

Once this has been tried / tested in the UK can someone let me know so I can pin this topic for future use.

Cheers.

Hando · November 23, 2007

This is a very informative post Sonet - Thanks.
Once this has been tried / tested in the UK can someone let me know so I can pin this topic for future use.

Cheers.

Willdo - part has been ordered - will report back how it goes with a 2002 IS300 stereo with sat nav and err3 (if it'll work with that it should work with anything)

mAltezza · November 24, 2007

hi just orded mine 2, hope it works on the Altezza, anyone know how long the delivery would be to uk?

Unregistered_User · November 24, 2007

Congratulations on a successful post, Sonnet - looks like you've found something we've all been after, including me :D

All the best and thanks,

Jamie

swfcdan · November 24, 2007

will be interested to hear about this, i too am one who has the sat nav, and Err3 looming! i also have the older stereo with the bottom loading CD player.

could someone let me know if you lose the audio from the sat nav once you've tried it.

maybe we could do a group buy as it may prove to be very popular

Sonnet · November 24, 2007

Hi all,

thank you very much for all the replies :D

I can affirm you that I’m not on commission of Grom audio. Since all of you I was only looking for month to a suitable solution to bring mp3 in my car and keep the original design. So I'm just a satisfied customer!

Right now after almost one week of testing I can say it’s the ultimate solution for me:

Original design, no cables hanging around, almost full control of my iPOD nano 8GB third generation which I charged while connected and….a really cool sound!!!!

I have a few things that I would like to add. I hope they will be helpful for you:

After I found out that the Grom box was working fine the next challenge was to find a place were I can store it. After searching an testing a little bit I remounted the OEM stereo, lifted a little bit up and stored the box in the empty room o the right hand side inside of the middle console (on a RHD car it might be on the left hand side). The place is perfect because it's close to the glove box where the player is stored and you can grab from the passenger side behind the middle console and change the iPOD cable against the regular AUX one if needed.

The second thing is that if your using the interface in the simple mode (disk 1) – in advanced mode you can surf with your stereo thru the play lists 1-8 - you can select manually on your iPOD every other play list over #8 for example play list 18 and navigate then with your stereo controls (track back and forwards) thru the tracks.

And the last thing is more iPOD nano 3. Generation specific. I’m an absolute electronic music fan. Due to this reason it was always a pain to listen to gapless mixed electronic sampler in mp3, because you hear a short break after each track. Right now with my new nano gapless play is POSSIBLE :D

So electronic beats, gapless played for hours in my Lex with full control……could it be better?

Best Regards from Berlin

Sonnet

Sonnet · November 24, 2007

Hi,

about the ERR3 problem, I can tell you how I deal with the problem.

I do NOT load any CDs in the internal CD changer. If I press in radio moder than the "Disc" button on the OEM stereo, the radio goes DIRECTLY tho the EXTERNAL CD changer mode "CD1". Due to this reason, it seem that you dont have to care about problems with your internal cd changer. Just dont fill it with CDs.

If you use the Grom adapter there is no need of a CD inside of the stereo to listen to your external music source.

I hope this information will helb everybody with a faulty original stereo.

Best Regards

Sonnet

Russdx · November 25, 2007

iv actually removed the cd player unit from my stereo and the tape player do you think this will still work as the main stereo seams to have a pretty big mother board wich seams to control all the switch moding and has the amp

so plugging this device in should work ?

Parthiban · November 25, 2007

I'm definitely interested in this, just one question though, does it have a phone mute built in too like Geoffers one did? If not, is there another way to get a phone mute into the car (or is this not possible for cars with satnav)?

@ Hando: I'm surprised you've got ERR3 in an IS300, have you got the top slot CD player? I'm not sure if I've heard of an ERR3 case with the top slot players.........bit worried about mine now, gotta be a bit more careful!

Sonnet · November 25, 2007

I had the ERR3 in my ERR3 in my stereo with top slot CD player a few month ago too, but I was able tho change the stereo over the warrenty which is only for the radio extended up to 5 years :)

Right now the stereo has no ERR3 fault, but keeping in mind it could happen, I will not put in any CDs anymore. Luckyly there is anothe way to get music from an external surce in the speakers.

@Russdx

I have no Idea if it will work in your case. There was a post of someone in the german LOC board who removed everything like you and was wondering, that the radio was still able to play and to control with just the mainboad inside. Best thing would be, just to order it, test it and if it's not working in your special case sell it to somebody with a complete radio.

@Parthiban

Sorry I have no experiance with telefon mute in the LEX. But I'm interested to. So if anybody knows more....

Hando · November 25, 2007

I'm definitely interested in this, just one question though, does it have a phone mute built in too like Geoffers one did? If not, is there another way to get a phone mute into the car (or is this not possible for cars with satnav)?
@ Hando: I'm surprised you've got ERR3 in an IS300, have you got the top slot CD player? I'm not sure if I've heard of an ERR3 case with the top slot players.........bit worried about mine now, gotta be a bit more careful!

AFAIK it doesn't have phone mute but then Geoffers' one didn't allow pod-control via headunit controls. For the phone mute I'm using the autoleads part that FlashBastd listed here. This lead plugs into the amp whereas the Ipod control plugs into headunit so they shouldn't interfere with one another.

And yeah, Parth - my 2001 top-loading IS300 CD player Err3'ed. :(

It had started doing Err1 all the time - and as I was cycling from disc to disc to find one it would play it eventually gave up the ghost and went Err3 with lots of whirring and gurning. I removed the fuse and replaced to reset the stereo and now it thinks it doesn't have any CD's in it but when you press "load" it just whirrs for a while saying "Wait Disc".

When I take the headunit out to fit the ipod thingy I'll have a poke around to see if anything has fallen out of place (and see if I can rescue my discs).

Moffet · November 25, 2007

@ Hando: I'm surprised you've got ERR3 in an IS300, have you got the top slot CD player? I'm not sure if I've heard of an ERR3 case with the top slot players.........bit worried about mine now, gotta be a bit more careful!

I've had an ERR3 on my top slot player too...

KnightUnit · November 25, 2007

This is truly awesome find!

A couple of quick questions of anyone can advise? I have the 99' stero will it work with this?

Also I have err3 and the player thinks there are 6 discs in there, even though I know there is none, will this effect it?

Hando · November 25, 2007

This is truly awesome find!
A couple of quick questions of anyone can advise? I have the 99' stero will it work with this?

Also I have err3 and the player thinks there are 6 discs in there, even though I know there is none, will this effect it?

I don't know the answer to this - but it sounds like it should work - I'll report back when I get mine next week.

BTW have you tried taking the stereo fuse out of yours? It should reboot the headunit and get it to rescan for discs? - probably won't fix the err3 but at least might have it showing no discs.

Vyker · November 25, 2007

How do you take the fuse out Hando?

more over, where is the fuse?

Vyker · November 25, 2007

maybe we could do a group buy as it may prove to be very popular

I like this idea Dan, do you want to take charge of that?, round up the numbers and maybe get in contact with Grom or their distributors?

Thanks

KnightUnit · November 25, 2007

This is truly awesome find!
A couple of quick questions of anyone can advise? I have the 99' stero will it work with this?

Also I have err3 and the player thinks there are 6 discs in there, even though I know there is none, will this effect it?

I don't know the answer to this - but it sounds like it should work - I'll report back when I get mine next week.

BTW have you tried taking the stereo fuse out of yours? It should reboot the headunit and get it to rescan for discs? - probably won't fix the err3 but at least might have it showing no discs.

I take it that would be the same as taking the stero out? Which I have tried.. Still shows 6 discs :(