msekanha

^^^ The title says it all..

I'm looking to put out more juice out of my factory non ML radio without installing an ugly aftermarket deck...

Is there any way I can install an aftermarket 4-channel amplifier and have it correlate with the factory radio and steering wheel controls?

I'm not looking to be heard 4 miles down the street, but would love to have a little more push out of the speakers

I love the stock look of this car and would hate ruin it with an aftermarket deck..

Any advice? Thanks!

5ltrbeater

Crutchfield makes a plug and play cable for the es300 that plugs right into the back of your factory deck and enables you to keep the factory stereo but have a signal wire to go to an aftermarket amplifier. i believe its about $150 and they may have the cable advertised for the toyota camry but if you read the customer reviews section, many have used it for their es300 without a problem. Crutchfield should be able to answer any questions you have if you give them a call too.

msekanha

Hey thanks for the reply.

Man, $150 dollars is a rather bit steep for a strip of copper...

I went on the website and found some harnesses ranging from $60-$100 dollars.

Do you know exactly what this part would be called? Most of the harnesses are called 'helix', and I have no idea what that is.

5ltrbeater

hmmmm....upon doing a bit of research it looks like Crutchfield discontinued that cable, which sucks because that's the route i was gonna take as well.
upon doing some more research, i found this link that someone else with an LS400 was trying to add an amp to the factory radio:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls4...ory-radio.html

obviously there might be some differences in wiring but i would imagine the concept is the same. ill keep looking at this for you

5ltrbeater

also check out this gismo, is disconnects the rear speakers and converts it to a signal wire for an aftermarket amplifier.

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/viewi...d=330613452019

i would message the seller and ask more details about it.

also check out this article that tells you what type of amp to look for when adding an aftermarket amp to oem radio.

http://www.edmunds.com/car-technolog...-upgrades.html

5ltrbeater

also check out these guys! they might sell the interface cable that Crutchfield discontinued :


http://www.pie.net/

Power6

You may have to get a little more custom and make your own harness here. You could get the Metra parts (I assumed 2005 ES300 looking at your sig) for "forward" and "reverse" harnesses for the radio. You can solder together to pass everything through but break out the speaker outputs.

http://www.metraonline.com/part/70-8113
http://www.metraonline.com/part/71-8113

You'll need to pick up the speaker wires after the factory amp for your amp outputs, where you would need another set of plugs to make it a plug in affair. You might have to do some investigation for this, but maybe possible to find the plugs. I found a couple metra plugs that worked for my 01 ES300 to make a pass through harness for the amp, where I could grab power and ground for my JDM mirror install, and leaves the future open for me to wire in an aftermarket amp.

You'll need a 5 channel amp to run all the stock speakers (4 doors + subwoofer). Also you need to check the impedance (Ohms) of the stock speakers make sure they are compatible with whatever amp you pick.

msekanha

Hey guys, thanks for all the info. Very insightful information..

And yes, i am looking to do this with my 2005.

But GEEZ, that seems like so much work, time, and money for just a little more push out of the speakers...

I was hoping to just find a simple plug and play wiring harness somewhere...

I really do hate the idea of cutting and splicing a whole bunch of wires..

Looking at a few websites you guys recommended, it looks these two things would would be my best bet
for "plug and play":

"Pie.net"
PIE TOY03-AUX2
Auxiliary RCA audio input for select 2003-2010 Toyota Group vehicles with 12-pin mini connector.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/330613452019

^^ Which one of the two do you guys think would be my best bet? I'm assuming the interface from pie.net, considering it looks to be more "Heavy duty"

I've also considered upgrading my factory amp and speakers to the Mark Levinson factory system, but would that work with my factory radio?

vanges300

I did mine the other day. Save myself the headache and bought aftermarket stereo and the smallest Kicker amp and retrofit it into the stock location. I hate to run wires to the back and have an amp exposed to thief. But $150 does sound a bit high for the cable. Anyway, if anyone wants a stock amp out of 2002 ES300, PM me :-)

msekanha

Is that stock amp a Mark L? I may be in the market for one..

Power6

You gotta do some research to swap stereo options around like that. My Nakamichi swap would be nothing like your but check it out it gives you an idea what needs to be done, I had to swap deck, amp and changer as well was make some wiring to swap Pioneer to Nakamichi option: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=643641

msekanha

Yeah, after i've seen the prices for an Mark L amplifier and ONE door speaker on ebay ($800+), I come to realize I can just put in a sick in-dash tv with a good aftermarket amplifier for the same price.

I would love to install the factory navigation unit in this car, but for the navigation receiver, factory amplifier and all five speakers, that would be close to $3k..

I just want more speaker bump with the factory look