u2andpj

I thought I'd share my experience with replacing the stereo in my wife's 2006 RX400h with Navigation and Mark Levinson Audio. I'd like to thank members of this forum and specifically Carver for being trail blazers in this arena and giving me the confidence to go for it. My main reason for doing it is that the built in navigation system is really grainy and has very poor resolution and doesn't even have traffic alerts. This is really important for my wife since she drives interstate highways during rush hour strife with construction and accidents for over an hour each way (just 3 times a week though).

I ordered a Beat Sonic RX82 adapter/harness, a Kenwood DNX6190HD, an Axxess steering wheel adapter, a parking brake bypass adapter, and an Kenwood ipod/iphone cable. I finally received all the stuff last Monday and started the install process on Tuesday. I stumbled upon several Youtube videos on how to remove the factory stereo and it seemed pretty easy so I decided to do it myself with help from a friend.

First of all, the Beat Sonic instructions are not the greatest - pretty grainy and hard to read. But we eventually got all the wires connected from aftermarket stereo to the Beat Sonic adapter and the parking brake bypass to the aftermarket stereo. We decided not to install the Axxess steering wheel control because I was afraid it would interfere with the Beat Sonic adapter. Besides, the Beat Sonic adapter allowed for volume control and the display button to retain function on the steering wheel. Then we ran the bluetooth microphone (placed near the rear view mirror driver's side) wire and the GPS antenna (placed near the right front speaker) wire via the passenger side anterior front door panel and then under the glove box to the center console area. The wires easily went in the creases of the front door panel (without deploying the airbag). We did have to remove a couple of panels under the glove box and center console but it wasn't a problem.

Then we decided to test out the radio. Everything worked great....except the sound was distorted and horrible at high volumes and not really loud. The climate control worked, the bluetooth worked, the GPS was extremely quick to find satellites, the ipod connector (which was run to the glove box) worked but the radio sounded like crap at high volumes. It was almost like the amplifier wasn't engaging. Then the built in navigation screen crapped out and then the aftermarket radio went out - it was like we blew a fuse. I couldn't even start the Lexus. The center display near the odometer said something like check VSC. I was thinking I had bricked the Lexus - maybe the Beat Sonic adapter fried the Lexus's computer. It was getting pretty dark so it was time to call it a day. The lights inside the Lexus were getting pretty dim so I plugged in my trickle charger to the battery. We had a trickle charger installed a while ago because we had left the Lexus garaged for extended periods and the battery died prematurely.

The next day after a frantic call to Beat Sonic, we got back to work. BeatSonic couldn't explain why the Lexus fizzled out on us or why it sounded like crap at high volumes. They said try putting the factory stereo back in to see if it worked after checking to see if the fuses were ok and the wiring to the Beat Sonic Adapter was wired correctly. Well we unplugged the aftermarket stereo and checked the wiring. We even disconnected the parking brake bypass adapter thinking maybe it shorted the Lexus. There were no wiring problems. Then we checked all the fuses and everything was ok - none were blown. We tried starting the car and viola - it started no problem. The battery had died the day before because we had the doors open for too long when we were running all the wires and installing the radio. We tried the aftermarket stereo and the factory stereo again and had the same problem - very poor distortion at high volumes (although not very loud). The factory radio sounded much better and much louder distortion free. I had a choice - install the new radio with distorted sound at higher volumes but with a traffic GPS or keep the distortion free factory radio with an ugly free standing traffic GPS like we were already doing. Well it was getting dark again so we called it a day.

The next day I couldn't do much as I had to work late. I finally had some time Friday to call Beat Sonic again and ask to see if they could think of why it sounded so bad at the high volume setting. Sam, who now knew my voice pretty well now, recommended I try reinstalling the factory stereo and reset everything to neutral (zeros for everything and the volume at the midpoint) to try to reset the factory amplifier. He also said to leave the volume setting on the aftermarket stereo at about 1/3 of max and try to change the volume with the steering wheel buttons. I did all of this and it worked! I didn't realize the amplifier was being controlled by the steering wheel volume control and not the aftermarket stereo volume control. I bet it would have worked even without redoing the factory radio at neutral values. But then the car battery started going out on me so I gave up on doing the final install until the next day after the trickle charger would recharge the battery. It may be time to replace the car battery I'm thinking. I finally did the final install yesterday and updated the firmware without problems. It's running awesome now and here are the before and after pics. A big thanks to Sam at Beat Sonic for being so patient and helpful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/3572699...in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/3572699...in/photostream

Carver

Congratulations! A harrowing tale indeed Glad it finally came together, it looks like a space ship in there now!

1koolfella

iTrader: (1)

Thanks u2andpj for sharing you project with us also including the before and after pictures. I have an Rx350 w/o ML and considering doing something similar.

If you don't mind I have a few questions?

Did you cut any wires or was this mainly plug in play?

Did you replace any of the factory items such as the blue tooth mic that is up by the front light, or the rear back up camera or did you just tap into the wire?

Did you also add the rear view capability to the new unit or just kept it on the top.

Does the mode button on your steering wheel also change the inputs of your stereo?

Is the blue tooth information such as the phone it's connected to, phone #s and address book, that is now on the new unit? or if you click info on the factory monitor that information is there?

u2andpj

Did you cut any wires or was this mainly plug in play?

The Beat Sonic adapter is plug and play to the Lexus connectors. You do have to strip and connect wires from the Beat Sonic adapter to the aftermarket stereo.

Did you replace any of the factory items such as the blue tooth mic that is up by the front light, or the rear back up camera or did you just tap into the wire?

I did not replace the blue tooth mic or the rear back up camera although I did install the bluetooth mic that came with the aftermarket stereo since it has a much more advanced bluetooth chip to connect to newer phones.

Did you also add the rear view capability to the new unit or just kept it on the top.

I just kept it on top

Does the mode button on your steering wheel also change the inputs of your stereo?

The mode button doesn't work anymore

Is the blue tooth information such as the phone it's connected to, phone #s and address book, that is now on the new unit? or if you click info on the factory monitor that information is there?

Each phone that is connected pulls up on just the Kenwood DNX6190HD screen - address book, recent calls, but not your phone's favorites (you can set up to 3). I don't connect my phone to Lexus bluetooth connection anymore so it doesn't show up on the top Lexus screen.


It wasn't a hard job doing it - it was just a little harrowing in that the instructions weren't the greatest.

Carver

Kool, on your car the Axxess wheel controller will work perfectly in replacing all the factory functions. I understand that on the Hybrid there are unique functions on the wheel and I do not know if there are any problems.

Maybe U2 can expand on his decision not to use it.

MC5Wes

Dont happen to have the Rear Entertainment system in your car?

u2andpj

I do have rear entertainment in my car - it is an after market Rosen that was already installed when I bought it. It works through tuning the radio on a preset station.

As for the Axxess device - the main reason I didn't use it is because I would have had to splice the Lexus pin connectors or open the Beat Sonic pin connector to connect into the Lexus. Carver, I think the Beat Sonic adapter is a new universal one now that works on all second gen Rx models and has 3 total pin connectors versus the two pin connectors yours may have.

1koolfella

iTrader: (1)

Thanks u2andpj and Carver.

I also plan to make the change, but not now, some time in the near future I hope. Right now I need new tires, these NYC roads are murder on tires. Carver's post also inspired me because it's 2012 and I'm tired of looking at a cassette deck in this vehicle. You look around the cabin, oooooooo nice **** pit design instrument panel, aaaaaaaah heated leather seats and then huh!!!!! a cassette deck??

I was thinking about ordering the parts myself and then taking it to an installer. But after u2andpj created this thread, I may take a crack at it myself along with some help. I would still like to keep the vehicle clean and close to the OEM look without having other stuff sticking out everywhere. Although an iPod adapter is fine I prefer bluetooth streaming, I can use my phone as a wireless hotspot, so internet radio would be better for me instead of satellite radio. A dvd would be nice so the kids can watch something while the car is in motion, right now all they see are maps and the back up cameras.

MC5Wes

Was wondering if it worked with the Lexus RSES.

Any other problems. A/C, Air Bags?

bcspeed24

Thanks u2andpj for sharing!

In 2013 I was able to use your instructions to replace my non-nav unit on my 2006 RX400h with an Alpine INE-S920HD with the BeatSonic SLX-82A kit, and overall the installation and performance turned out very nice. Note: this Alpine unit has been working well for over 3 years now, although it takes a bit of patience since the touch controls are rather slow-to-respond.

The only problem I've had has been the loss of fade-control of the audio to the rear speakers. I was informed by Sam of BeatSonic that the rear audio wiring wasn't needed since "by connecting Front Left & Right speaker wires to your new head unit, SLA-82A will configure and distribute sounds to all your speakers. You will still have control over the Left & Right fader, but you will permanently lose control over the Front & Rear fader for this reason."

While I thought I wasn't getting any sound from the rear, I think the fact that I cannot control the fade any longer, and that the rear speakers in the back doors are very small makes the sound appear to come from the front. Has anyone made a similar installation and had a similar issue with the rear speakers? or if "working fine", do you have any suggestions for resolving the rear audio issue? I took another look at the wiring behind the Alpine unit and the SLA82A today, and do see the unused 20-pin Lexus connector with 4 wires: Red, Green, Purple in a row, and then Lt. Blue by itself (likely to the rear speakers, although I haven't traced them yet). I was hoping this site (modifiedlife dot com slash 2006-lexus-rx330-car-radio-wiring-guide) would have the wiring diagram for my vehicle, but has just about every other lexus ... I've sent them a request to see if they have the 400h wiring.

Does anyone have recommendations for replacing the Lexus factory speakers, either the front or the rear pair, and any pointers on making this installation?
I did find some good information from this related thread: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-...a-dnx6960.html

Finally, I'm thinking about adding a rear camera and/or a device to re-enable the steering wheel controls. Any suggestions or recommendations for either of these?

humblelove

Hi Guys,

I am pretty new on this forum and not sure how to start a thread,i kindly need all your help
I have Lexus RX400H 2006 withnout navi,and 8 speakers.....i have got SLX-82A herness from beatsonic to change the factory stereo,i also have pioneer AVH-X490BS

I joined the cables from the beatsonic adapter to the stereo cables,i a sure everything was correct,when i installed it in my car,it has power-the radio didnt work,i tried with blueetooth and only the 2 speakers on the dash that work with faint tinny sound coming out without bass or good sound,i don't know what the problem might be,i grounded both ground cables from the SLX adapter and the aftermarket stereo although there was nowhere on the stereo cables to connect the antenna remove to,the blue cable

Please has anyone come across this problem? i am very sure it's a minor problem,kindly let me know what i can do please