DIY Aftermarket amp in ML & NAV 2003 gs300
05-08-13, 10:24 AM
#1
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DIY Aftermarket amp in ML & NAV 2003 gs300
OK so after my ML amp took a dump i was searching for a way to wire in a infinity 4 channel amp i had laying around. I got the amp for $100 and the fleebay ML unit is $600 so i decided to take the time and do it correct. My ML amp internally shorted and although i could change stations the fade/balance controls had been knocked out and there was no sound. I replaced the fuse for the Amp and it would immediately blow. I ran a voltage drop/continutiy test on the wires to the amp and they were ok so that left one thing, the amp. I am not responsibe if you injure yourself or worse your car. This is what worked in my case. My car is a 2003 gs300 with ML & NAV so the amp was in the trunk. WARNING- you can only have radio or cd player. The aftermarket amp will not know how to choose between the two siganlas. I dont use my cd player so i got a tape adapter for my ipod and was good to go. Its all quite simple except for the multiple speakers needed to be put into the same outputs, changing the input signal for speaker wire to rca, and wiring through the nav voice.
To get the signal from the radio to the aftermarket amp you will need to convert the signal from regular wire to rcas. Just go to best buy or radio shack and get a signal converter. I attached a picture of the one i got. i also pig tailed my input to the ront and rear outputs. Its just an rca that converts one rca side into 2 rca sides.
Signal from radio to amplifier
Left + Black PIN s15-12
Left - White PIN s15-24
Right + Red PIN s15-11
Right - Green s15-23
These will be your inputs into the siganl converter, they will be changed into rcas.
Power PIN s14-7 and s14-6
Blue/ellow wire (its a big wire, there are actullay 2 and you can use either one)
Just take your volmeter or jump light and with the key off it will have power
Ground- there is a large group of Black/white grounds on the right hand side of the trunk that you can trace to the connecter s15 on the amp, use any of these for ground or make your own.
Signal
Gray PIN s15-20
Now you have your inputs and the ability to turn on the amp, your almost there.
I eliminated the middle speaker in the dash and the beat stock subwoofer. I also grouped the front tweeters with their associated door speakers.
You should be able to read from the image which speaker wires come from where, if not i will post them individually.
The left front speaker goes through the nav unit so in order to have the nav voice you need to pick up the signal before it goes into the nav.
Left front + Blue/black PIN s14-2
Left front - Blue/red PIN s14-9.
I after doing all this went all out and did a whole system for under $600 bucks but its up to you how far you go. I am doing this at work and will clean it up later. Any questions just post them up, sorry for lack of pics. I was more worried about getting it done
To get the signal from the radio to the aftermarket amp you will need to convert the signal from regular wire to rcas. Just go to best buy or radio shack and get a signal converter. I attached a picture of the one i got. i also pig tailed my input to the ront and rear outputs. Its just an rca that converts one rca side into 2 rca sides.
Signal from radio to amplifier
Left + Black PIN s15-12
Left - White PIN s15-24
Right + Red PIN s15-11
Right - Green s15-23
These will be your inputs into the siganl converter, they will be changed into rcas.
Power PIN s14-7 and s14-6
Blue/ellow wire (its a big wire, there are actullay 2 and you can use either one)
Just take your volmeter or jump light and with the key off it will have power
Ground- there is a large group of Black/white grounds on the right hand side of the trunk that you can trace to the connecter s15 on the amp, use any of these for ground or make your own.
Signal
Gray PIN s15-20
Now you have your inputs and the ability to turn on the amp, your almost there.
I eliminated the middle speaker in the dash and the beat stock subwoofer. I also grouped the front tweeters with their associated door speakers.
You should be able to read from the image which speaker wires come from where, if not i will post them individually.
The left front speaker goes through the nav unit so in order to have the nav voice you need to pick up the signal before it goes into the nav.
Left front + Blue/black PIN s14-2
Left front - Blue/red PIN s14-9.
I after doing all this went all out and did a whole system for under $600 bucks but its up to you how far you go. I am doing this at work and will clean it up later. Any questions just post them up, sorry for lack of pics. I was more worried about getting it done
05-09-13, 05:35 AM
#5
OK so after my ML amp took a dump i was searching for a way to wire in a infinity 4 channel amp i had laying around. I got the amp for $100 and the fleebay ML unit is $600 so i decided to take the time and do it correct. My ML amp internally shorted and although i could change stations the fade/balance controls had been knocked out and there was no sound. I replaced the fuse for the Amp and it would immediately blow. I ran a voltage drop/continutiy test on the wires to the amp and they were ok so that left one thing, the amp. I am not responsibe if you injure yourself or worse your car. This is what worked in my case. My car is a 2003 gs300 with ML & NAV so the amp was in the trunk. WARNING- you can only have radio or cd player. The aftermarket amp will not know how to choose between the two siganlas. I dont use my cd player so i got a tape adapter for my ipod and was good to go. Its all quite simple except for the multiple speakers needed to be put into the same outputs, changing the input signal for speaker wire to rca, and wiring through the nav voice.
To get the signal from the radio to the aftermarket amp you will need to convert the signal from regular wire to rcas. Just go to best buy or radio shack and get a signal converter. I attached a picture of the one i got. i also pig tailed my input to the ront and rear outputs. Its just an rca that converts one rca side into 2 rca sides.
Signal from radio to amplifier
Left + Black PIN s15-12
Left - White PIN s15-24
Right + Red PIN s15-11
Right - Green s15-23
These will be your inputs into the siganl converter, they will be changed into rcas.
Power PIN s14-7 and s14-6
Blue/ellow wire (its a big wire, there are actullay 2 and you can use either one)
Just take your volmeter or jump light and with the key off it will have power
Ground- there is a large group of Black/white grounds on the right hand side of the trunk that you can trace to the connecter s15 on the amp, use any of these for ground or make your own.
Signal
Gray PIN s15-20
Now you have your inputs and the ability to turn on the amp, your almost there.
I eliminated the middle speaker in the dash and the beat stock subwoofer. I also grouped the front tweeters with their associated door speakers.
You should be able to read from the image which speaker wires come from where, if not i will post them individually.
The left front speaker goes through the nav unit so in order to have the nav voice you need to pick up the signal before it goes into the nav.
Left front + Blue/black PIN s14-2
Left front - Blue/red PIN s14-9.
I after doing all this went all out and did a whole system for under $600 bucks but its up to you how far you go. I am doing this at work and will clean it up later. Any questions just post them up, sorry for lack of pics. I was more worried about getting it done
To get the signal from the radio to the aftermarket amp you will need to convert the signal from regular wire to rcas. Just go to best buy or radio shack and get a signal converter. I attached a picture of the one i got. i also pig tailed my input to the ront and rear outputs. Its just an rca that converts one rca side into 2 rca sides.
Signal from radio to amplifier
Left + Black PIN s15-12
Left - White PIN s15-24
Right + Red PIN s15-11
Right - Green s15-23
These will be your inputs into the siganl converter, they will be changed into rcas.
Power PIN s14-7 and s14-6
Blue/ellow wire (its a big wire, there are actullay 2 and you can use either one)
Just take your volmeter or jump light and with the key off it will have power
Ground- there is a large group of Black/white grounds on the right hand side of the trunk that you can trace to the connecter s15 on the amp, use any of these for ground or make your own.
Signal
Gray PIN s15-20
Now you have your inputs and the ability to turn on the amp, your almost there.
I eliminated the middle speaker in the dash and the beat stock subwoofer. I also grouped the front tweeters with their associated door speakers.
You should be able to read from the image which speaker wires come from where, if not i will post them individually.
The left front speaker goes through the nav unit so in order to have the nav voice you need to pick up the signal before it goes into the nav.
Left front + Blue/black PIN s14-2
Left front - Blue/red PIN s14-9.
I after doing all this went all out and did a whole system for under $600 bucks but its up to you how far you go. I am doing this at work and will clean it up later. Any questions just post them up, sorry for lack of pics. I was more worried about getting it done
05-09-13, 07:18 AM
#6
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hmm, so you want the cd player and radio? Possibly put the cd player ground on a toggle switch and when you want to use the cd player turn the head unit to cd player and put the toggle switch to the on position. i am not sure if this will eliminate the radio input. Brian, (sakataj) may have a good input on this.
05-09-13, 07:59 AM
#7
hmm, so you want the cd player and radio? Possibly put the cd player ground on a toggle switch and when you want to use the cd player turn the head unit to cd player and put the toggle switch to the on position. i am not sure if this will eliminate the radio input. Brian, (sakataj) may have a good input on this.
i think in my case, I won't have much an issue as I'll just be tapping into the remote wire and audio signal right before it hits the ML amp and then running it directly to the aftermarket amp and sub i'm installing. pretty much bypassing the ML amp of the sub output and feeding everything directly to the aftermarket setup.
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05-09-13, 09:03 AM
#8
my incite would be to do what i finally did after 3 years of trying to integrat the OEM nav and everything into one easy thing...
completely remove the ML amp, radio, tape player,cd changer and add some non nav climate controls and a aftermarket amp with a aftermarket radio.....problem solved
i wish i had my car with me i would snap a pic....i just got my Avic finally flushed in
i found no way to keep the CD player and although the tape player was there and lit up (as it had to be used with the ML system) i dunno if it was functional.....i mean besides those junky tape adapters who still has tapes? some members on here have never owned a tape 
completely remove the ML amp, radio, tape player,cd changer and add some non nav climate controls and a aftermarket amp with a aftermarket radio.....problem solved
i wish i had my car with me i would snap a pic....i just got my Avic finally flushed in
Last edited by sakataj; 05-09-13 at 09:09 AM.
05-09-13, 10:24 AM
#11
my incite would be to do what i finally did after 3 years of trying to integrat the OEM nav and everything into one easy thing...
completely remove the ML amp, radio, tape player,cd changer and add some non nav climate controls and a aftermarket amp with a aftermarket radio.....problem solved
i wish i had my car with me i would snap a pic....i just got my Avic finally flushed in
i found no way to keep the CD player and although the tape player was there and lit up (as it had to be used with the ML system) i dunno if it was functional.....i mean besides those junky tape adapters who still has tapes? some members on here have never owned a tape
completely remove the ML amp, radio, tape player,cd changer and add some non nav climate controls and a aftermarket amp with a aftermarket radio.....problem solved
i wish i had my car with me i would snap a pic....i just got my Avic finally flushed in
i found no way to keep the CD player and although the tape player was there and lit up (as it had to be used with the ML system) i dunno if it was functional.....i mean besides those junky tape adapters who still has tapes? some members on here have never owned a tape
would this also include just a sub upgrade...sucks if it does! i was thinking the loss of the cd was due to running all audio signal through an aftermarket amp, not just the sub output
05-09-13, 11:15 AM
#12
i dunno. i found no capabilities to keep it. no ones equipment would adapt to it so i scrapped it all. im running aftermarket F/R R/L speakers + a sub....sirius, navagation,backup camera,cd player, usb port if i wanna upload something from a smart drive on my sub amp and a component amp
Last edited by sakataj; 05-09-13 at 11:19 AM.
05-09-13, 11:27 AM
#13
OP thanks for the educational post. I am sure as more of these un-reliable units start dying off this will be useful.
Last edited by GSJake; 05-09-13 at 11:35 AM.
05-09-13, 11:40 AM
#14
i dunno. i found no capabilities to keep it. no ones equipment would adapt to it so i scrapped it all. im running aftermarket F/R R/L speakers + a sub....sirius, navagation,backup camera,cd player, usb port if i wanna upload something from a smart drive on my sub amp and a component amp
also using a free-air sub...I purchased one of JL's marine subs which is a free-air application along with their new HD series amp to power it, should do the trick for that added bump i'm looking for.
05-09-13, 12:41 PM
#15
thanks, the current rebuild (im on my 3rd now) is even better
