aceMueller

I bought a 2001 GS430 recently with one little deficiency - the ML sound is dead. While I haven't been through quite all of the ideas I'm finding on this and other forums, I'm getting there. It looks like the amp. I don't need much sound. All I really want to listen to is AM talk radio. So the entire ML system is an overkill, as is spending $1000 on a new amp.

What surprises me is that amidst all of the observations of how many of those amps broke, and how expensive they are, I'm just not finding many alternatives. Are there any?

Specifically, the only thing I really want is to NOT jack up the basic dash board. Is there any known approach to use some other amp to catch the feeds from the head - at least the tuner output (if the tuner is in the head) because I can live without any of the other functions - amplify it, and send it to at least some of the speakers?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks! Thomas.

sakataj

iTrader: (182)

had u searched man, u would see that we have gone over what can and cannot be done with them also all the solutions to this problem

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

relax sak....

sakataj

iTrader: (182)

i am relaxed...just tired of the people "just passing through" every week who pop up and start a NEW thread on something we have discussed a million times.

thomas (OP) this isnt specifically aimed at you but the YOUNGEST 2nd gs is 5 years old and the oldest is 21 years old! NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING by now has happened to them that we haven't discussed at one point. no mod hasnt been tried (with the exception of some compound chargers). there is absolutely nothing we havent talked about atleast once on here or that someone has done. SERIOUSLY NOTHING.... our board is SOOOOOOOO cluttered with these weekly threads man when all someone has to do is search and find it.

welcome to the club though OP....

aceMueller

I apologize for wasting your time. I have searched, both here and outside of here. I'll keep searching. After several days, I thought maybe I was missing something. What I haven't found is any meaningful alternative other than get the replacement on ebay or get it at the dealer. I'll look again, but I don't recall seeing anything about how to replace that amp with something else. I see implications that it and the head are intimately tied together, but nothing as clear as saying that there is no alternative. I've seen on some electronics forums just enough hint that there is a way around it, that I thought I'd ask.

habeeb89

iTrader: (3)

SEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND! But anyways, there are numerous threads on this topic, such as this one:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gs-...placement.html

Check post #14, talks about comparable replacement to the ML unit.

aceMueller

Thanks. I read that one last night. Post 14 appears to be talking about adding an external amp just for the sub. Different problem. There are several posts about my problem. Some have wiring charts (lists of wire colors/functions) which are helpful. Most seem to resolve the issue with a new ML amp. Maybe that is the only available answer. I haven't seen that written down. But on the other hand, I haven't seen anyone say that they found a way to "downsize" their sound system to something far cheaper (granted, with far less sound quality - that's OK for listening to ESPN. (When I was a kid, we used to make tapes pretending to be broadcasters, and actually used radio static as the crowd noise - I can live with less quality when I'm listening to the ballgame.)

Thanks again, and I'll continue to search here and elsewhere. Meanwhile, if someone has a GS430 that used to have the ML amp and now does not have an ML amp - I'd love to know what you did.

excluesive

iTrader: (10)

ace, quick question, do you have navigation? Main reason why I ask is because even though my ML amp is dead (no audio output), many things are still tied in to it and will not work if it removed completely. I am having work done to my system since my ML amp died, but some of my ideas may be able to help, well, when they are confirmed/denied this weekend when the final wiring comes in to place. Ultimately, though you are stuck "dumbing down" a nice factory system without a replacement ML amp.

Big Mack

iTrader: (1)

What are you having done? I've not seen nor heard of anything that can decipher the CAN bus signals (well, nothing other than equipment that isn't being sold). I don't see any alternatives short of replacing the ML amp and getting the signal from the wires after the DSP. Interesting...

Big Mack

habeeb89

iTrader: (3)

I thought the ML only came with the Nav?

sakataj

iTrader: (182)

nope, it was rare but you could indeed get the ML WITHOUT the nav

GSJake

iTrader: (21)

excluesive.. any updates?

My ML amp is on the fritz (surprise) . The whole drivers side door is fading in and out.. Super annoying as one ear gets info then the other wont and then it will..