ecp23

HI there,

I recently had a dealer upgrade my Mark Levinson head unit on my 2002 SC430.

He installed a Kenwood DDX790, using a Beat-Sonic MVA-12L interface unit.
The Kenwood DDX790 is nice. I added a rear view camera and XM radio kit.

Despite mostly positive reviews of the Beat-Sonic interface unit, I have had problems.

And I wonder if others have too?

Problems are
1. Steering Wheel volume up button will only increase the volume to a certain limit, and then it stops. This limit is not loud enough.
2. The channel change buttons on the steering wheel do nothing, in any receiver mode.
3. Mode button does nothing either, but I expected that, having seen that report other places.
4. The rear speakers are merged with the front speakers, so i lose any fade control if I want to put more music coming out the rear speakers.

So really, the only button that works on the oem steering wheel controls is the volume down.

And the problem with losing the separate rear speakers.

Anyone else seen these issues?

Anyone have any suggestions?

I would really appreciate any help.

Thank you.

-- Ed

kjcole

It is important that during install (before removing the OEM head unit) that the volume, fade, and left-right channel controls are all set to their midpoints (this must leave the power amp settings in non-extreme settings). I don't know if this could be causing your issues with the loss of the rear speaker independence. For volume control, set the new head unit to its mid-range volume setting and then use the steering wheel control for volume.

No, you can't use the steering wheel controls to select different media (FM vs CD etc).

texsexlex

iTrader: (3)

...also you may need to ask the installer, if they wired the radio properly for the fade controls. If the radio has a 4 channel hookup or wiring harness, each speaker should be wired directly to them & this would keep all fade/balance controls to each speaker. If the radio does not have this wiring scheme & only 2 channels, they may have used 1 channel/side to run all the speakers(6x9's & 4in) & the other channel/side to run the woofer/sub.One last thing, the Beatsonic adapter may be preventing you from all the functions of the fade/balance also...just a thought

ecp23

Thanks so much for the reply. I think the BeatSonic handles all the speaker connections, so I guess the problem is in that interface.

What does not make sense is I have seen other reviews of the BeatSonic SC430 interface, and no one mentions the problem with losing the fading control with the rear speakers.

Or the volume limit problem.

irfan197

i should have come to this forum before i got the beat sonic kit, i just had it installed today and had the same problem the rear speakers are way too low but the fronts sound perfect i also set the volume up and all the treble balance fader to there mid position but no difference did you manage to get around the problem?

ShawnOk

iTrader: (1)

Irfan, I know it's not exactly the answer you're looking for but you could switch the rear speakers to 4ohm. Since the OEM rating is 8ohm, using a 4ohm will double the power to the speaker and give a lot more sound. I switched my ML 8ohm 5" for *Rockford Fosgate 4ohm 4" speakers* and there's a lot more sound coming out of them now. There's always a chance that the amp could have problems in the future, but from everything I've read here on the forum running only 1 pair of 4 ohm speakers won't hurt your system. If you were to change all the speakers to 4ohm then you're in greater risk of damaging the system. Just my thoughts on your problem.

EDIT: I originally wrote "Rockford Fosgate 8ohm 4" speakers" when I meant to write "Rockford Fosgate 4ohm 4" speakers"

kjcole

Have you tried the Mode buttons on the steering wheel to adjust the fade?? I'm guessing that you are faded too far front via the Mode/Beatsonic route. push the down button and I'm guessing you'll be happier. Funky interactions on the fade for sure.

robertrios

iTrader: (11)

my guess is not everything was set to 0 and equal before the OEM head unit was taken out. I have the beat sonic interface and it works great other than I never got the OEM nav screen plug to work, luckily I have a nav tool so I used that instead to send signal up to the top screen.

Moondog

I too installed the Beatsonic interface in my 2002 SC430. It also has the problems with the sound on the up/down volume. It is kind of weird, because at times, it works...other times it doesn't. The switch between doesn't work either. I have not recognized the fad, but I will check that out. Now, having said all of that...I am extremely grateful for what it does do. The sound was terrible before. There was no possibility of satellite radio, back-up camera, iPod hook up, bluetooth capability....so, I guess all in all, I am a VERY happy customer with the interface.

kjcole

Interestingly I can't get the Nav screen to receive video as well, and I just assumed it was a loose RCA connector. No matter - I don't have a back-up camera and the Pioneer screen is better anyway.

As far as the Beatsonic goes:

In the install instructions for the Beatsonic they note to set the volume, fader, and balance controls on the OEM radio to the middle for each before you pull it. I assumed it set a pre-amp or amp in the ML system. My steering wheel volume control is the only way I change volume (leave the head unit set to the middle - on my Pioneer that's about a 20). The 'set' button works like OEM (retains a volume setting that you select). The mode button on my steering wheel controls the fade quite reliably. If something wasn't working properly and the connections were not made with soldering, I'd be worried that a connector loosened up. There are a lot of wires in the Beatsonic/Head unit connections, and so I soldered all the connections and used heat-shrink tubing to insulate. I just don't trust crimp or other connectors with all the vibration and bumps - lesson learned from my motorcycles.

Kelly

Moondog

Not being able to see the video on the Nav screen is probably something that was missed in the hook up of the interface. I can (I haven't done it since testing it) put a DVD in the player and it will show on both screens at the same time.

parijss

Since my upgrade to the Beatsonic kit, my pioneer c940bt works great but the installer told me my factory antenna will no longer work. Anybody else run into that problem?

parijss

If you really want to trip people out, download all the latest music videos to an ipod and watch them on the top screen while using the bottom screen for navigation. Sweet

BeatSonic

Dear All,

I apologize for responding late to this. We should have noticed this thread earlier.

Fading Controls
To alleviate the Fading Control issue, first as some of you mentioned above, all the controls including volume, fading, left/right, bass, and treble needs to be at mid point with the OEM headunit while the car is turned on before removing it. The OEM amplifier tends to memorize the last setting and can cause problems after the new headunit is installed along with our interface.

In addition, the fading controls are done on the top and bottom arrows next to the mode button. Instead of pressing and holding the arrow buttons, you have to tap it. Here is the instruction on how to operate the steering wheel controls:
Appendix A Operation Manual

Volume Controls:
We recommend our customers to use either only steering wheel volume control or the aftermarket headunit volume controls, but not both.

To make sure that there are no clipping or distortion, start by setting the volume at 50% of max of new aftermarket headunit (usually at 20, but depends on the aftermarket headunit). Then, use the steering wheel volume control to achieve desired listening volume level. From here, only use either the steering wheel control volume or the aftermarket headunit volume. By losing the medium on either the aftermarket headunit or the steering wheel control volume, which controls the OEM Amplifier can cause clipping, distortion or low volume.

Video Input Function.
If the video cable was connected correctly, the mode button will engage the video input option to your factory OEM screen. You must however engage the parking brake to enable this function before pressing the mode button due to safety features from the Lexus factory.

Please let me know if you still encounter any issues, I can help all of you individually.

Thanks!

kjcole

I can attest that everything described in the post from Beatsonic works as advertised (my problem with the video display feature was due to a bad RCA connector on the cable I chose to use).

As for clipping/distortion - one day my son borrowed the car and the next day when I used it the sound was distorting badly. Since he didn't know about the steering wheel volume controls (and I had turned down the volume at the steering wheel before he used the car) he cranked the volume control at the head unit, as would anyone. When the car came back the clipping and distortion was so bad I thought he blew the speakers. I finally thought to check the volume level on the head unit, and sure enough he had it maxed out there. I returned the head unit volume to 20, turned up the volume with the steering wheel control and voila, no distortion.