SC300 Headunit Install
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
SC300 Headunit Install
Does anyone have any links to post that might help me find proper harnesses and fit kit for my 95 SC300.
I have the pioneer system and would like to replace only the headunit and keep the factory speakers/sub.
I did a search and didn't really find what I was looking for. Any info will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jason.
I have the pioneer system and would like to replace only the headunit and keep the factory speakers/sub.
I did a search and didn't really find what I was looking for. Any info will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Jason.
Lexus Champion
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 2,219
Likes: 1
From: Texas
take it to a professional audio installation place. I promise you its worth the time and money. Unless you have the material and skills your self which would be awsome. There use to be one website owned by emerald that sold that stuff. but i think the site has been down for almost a year now.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,497
Likes: 1
From: Texas
You need a 15-pin harness connector and a 10-pin harness connector. Go to Car-toys or a similar place and see what they have for Toyota/Lexus. If it has 15 or 10, buy it and it will probably fit. If not, retun. Worth a try. Otherwise hack it up. Pm me your email if you want the EWD. You will have the wire colors for whatever you decide to use from the stock wiring.
1 prob will be that the speaker outs from your factory headunit are low-level, not speaker-level, because you have factory amps. So you would also have to bypass the speaker amp or use a headunit with a line out. You know what I am saying? I would bypass/remove the stock speaker amp and try to use the stock woofer amp.
It's not that complicated that I would go to a shop; just study the wiring diagram for a few days and get your questions answered here before you start.
1 prob will be that the speaker outs from your factory headunit are low-level, not speaker-level, because you have factory amps. So you would also have to bypass the speaker amp or use a headunit with a line out. You know what I am saying? I would bypass/remove the stock speaker amp and try to use the stock woofer amp.
It's not that complicated that I would go to a shop; just study the wiring diagram for a few days and get your questions answered here before you start.
I just installed an aftermarket head unit in my sc..... and it was deffinatly no fun at all. they dont make a harness kit for the car i would strongly suggest taking it some where to have it done it will be well worth it.
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,468
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From: California
read my post in the faw at the top of the page
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...5&pagenumber=2
That is what you need to power the headunit. As for the speakers, to ease installation i ran new speaker wires so i didnt have to deal with tracing wires to the amp and back and dealing with wire color changes at the amp. The hardest part of the installation is taken care of in my post. Use wiretaps to tap into the power wires and tun an external ground. Also, please verify all wire connections before tapping into them just to be sure they are right.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...5&pagenumber=2
That is what you need to power the headunit. As for the speakers, to ease installation i ran new speaker wires so i didnt have to deal with tracing wires to the amp and back and dealing with wire color changes at the amp. The hardest part of the installation is taken care of in my post. Use wiretaps to tap into the power wires and tun an external ground. Also, please verify all wire connections before tapping into them just to be sure they are right.
Last edited by rscott; Sep 9, 2004 at 10:24 AM.
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 137
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From: Pennsylvania
Thanks for the info everyone! Would a line level converter work with the factory amp. I used one of these in another vehicle to install an aftermarket amp to a factory headunit. Could that work in reverse and be wired into the line level wires to switch them into RCA's to be plugged into the new headunit???
Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,468
Likes: 0
From: California
doubtful.
RCA is a dry signal. Theres no power to them, just the waveform. At least not enough power to drive the speaker. The stock amp will most likely put out less power than your new headunit anyway. would probably be best to just bypass it, remove it and sell it. Profit from it should help cover the cost of your new setup.
RCA is a dry signal. Theres no power to them, just the waveform. At least not enough power to drive the speaker. The stock amp will most likely put out less power than your new headunit anyway. would probably be best to just bypass it, remove it and sell it. Profit from it should help cover the cost of your new setup.
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Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,497
Likes: 1
From: Texas
Yeah I agree with rscott I don't think your idea is going to sound good. Does your new HU just have speaker - level outs? No front/rear RCAs, right? Does it have a seperate sub output? Let us know because I think that will help with the suggestions.
Originally posted by jrmoskal
Thanks for the info everyone! Would a line level converter work with the factory amp. I used one of these in another vehicle to install an aftermarket amp to a factory headunit. Could that work in reverse and be wired into the line level wires to switch them into RCA's to be plugged into the new headunit???
Thanks for the info everyone! Would a line level converter work with the factory amp. I used one of these in another vehicle to install an aftermarket amp to a factory headunit. Could that work in reverse and be wired into the line level wires to switch them into RCA's to be plugged into the new headunit???
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Lexus Test Driver
Joined: Nov 2003
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From: California
IF you can find which wires that go to the amp are the RCA inputs, as far as ground and signal, then you can use the RCAs off the headunit, use the stock amp, and have working speakers, but im not sure if anyone has ever done it. Also, that does not take care of signalling the amp to turn on and off and whatever else was controlled by the oem headunit. I think the best (as well as easiest) thing to do would be to ditch the stock amp and run new wires. As for the subwoofer, there are a few IB (infinite baffle) subs that will fit into the stock location that you can power with an amp. The amp shouldnt be too expensive. Ill see if i can get a friend to chime in on that subject who has done it before.
Driver
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 138
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From: New York
i just did mine
two mtx 12's in the trunk also, kenwood interiors, kenwood twetters. mtx amp
heres some pics of my head unit install
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20048.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20045.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20046.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20047.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20043.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20044.jpg
good luck on the install
two mtx 12's in the trunk also, kenwood interiors, kenwood twetters. mtx amp
heres some pics of my head unit install
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20048.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20045.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20046.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20047.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20043.jpg
http://upload.krazywulph.net/userfil...ommy%20044.jpg
good luck on the install
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
So here is what I have decided to do with the headunit install.
I will use a single din unit,
I am going to tap into the power wires and the power antenna wire
I will use an external ground
I am going to install an aftermarket 4 channel amp in the trunk mounted to the divider in front of the fuel tank. I will run 2 sets RCA on passenger side and Power/Turn on Wire on drivers side.
The only thing I am still unsure of is how I will make the headunit fit properly in the odd opening.
Does anyone make a decent kit to fill the gap?
I would like to mount my Delphi Skyfi XM unit below the headunit instead of on the dash where it is now.
I will use a single din unit,
I am going to tap into the power wires and the power antenna wire
I will use an external ground
I am going to install an aftermarket 4 channel amp in the trunk mounted to the divider in front of the fuel tank. I will run 2 sets RCA on passenger side and Power/Turn on Wire on drivers side.
The only thing I am still unsure of is how I will make the headunit fit properly in the odd opening.
Does anyone make a decent kit to fill the gap?
I would like to mount my Delphi Skyfi XM unit below the headunit instead of on the dash where it is now.
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
I got the headunit in last night. Wiring was fairly simple since I had all the factory diagrams. The Aftermarket amp wired into the speaker outputs of the factory amp very easily each speaker's positive and negative output were even braided together on the harness to separate them! Lexus gave me many possibilitys in hiding the RCA's and power wires in the cabin too. Lots of extra room under the carpet. The Headunit itself bolted right up to where the top half of the stock one was. I just need to make some sort of filler piece to close the 4" long gap below the new radio. Sound Quality is much improved though I think the stock pioneer speakers are good just the factory amp is not powerful enough to make them sound good. Thanks everyone for all the help with this project!
Pole Position
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 254
Likes: 0
From: VA
Originally posted by jrmoskal
I got the headunit in last night. Wiring was fairly simple since I had all the factory diagrams. The Aftermarket amp wired into the speaker outputs of the factory amp very easily each speaker's positive and negative output were even braided together on the harness to separate them! Lexus gave me many possibilitys in hiding the RCA's and power wires in the cabin too. Lots of extra room under the carpet. The Headunit itself bolted right up to where the top half of the stock one was. I just need to make some sort of filler piece to close the 4" long gap below the new radio. Sound Quality is much improved though I think the stock pioneer speakers are good just the factory amp is not powerful enough to make them sound good. Thanks everyone for all the help with this project!
I got the headunit in last night. Wiring was fairly simple since I had all the factory diagrams. The Aftermarket amp wired into the speaker outputs of the factory amp very easily each speaker's positive and negative output were even braided together on the harness to separate them! Lexus gave me many possibilitys in hiding the RCA's and power wires in the cabin too. Lots of extra room under the carpet. The Headunit itself bolted right up to where the top half of the stock one was. I just need to make some sort of filler piece to close the 4" long gap below the new radio. Sound Quality is much improved though I think the stock pioneer speakers are good just the factory amp is not powerful enough to make them sound good. Thanks everyone for all the help with this project!
My plan was to steal input from the input harness to the stock amp, splice into those and run to the inputs on my new amp, and then connect the output to the stock output harness. I can still do the outputs (after I verify that the braided pairs are indeed the right pairs), but with only + terminals in the input harness I am at a loss. I guess I could wait till I get some more $$ and buy my Alpine HU which has 3 seperate RCAs for the front, rear and subs and use the RCA inputs on my amp
Sorry about the long post, but...please help!!! Edit: Also, how did you manage to mount your new amp on the divider. My amp is an infinty reference, it's friggin' huge and I don't see any way of mounting it back there behind the carpeting.
Last edited by sc300n00b; Sep 14, 2004 at 06:31 PM.
Thread Starter
Driver
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 137
Likes: 0
From: Pennsylvania
I used an aftermarket amp and aftermarket headunit. I ran 2 sets of RCA's up the passenger side under the carpet and ran the power up the drivers side. The only wires I needed to use from the stock amp harness were for the 4 speakers. the braided sets of wires do match up. each set is for one speaker. you just need the schematic to figure out which colors go to which speaker.
I mounted the Amp to the divider by installing a piece of 1/2 MDF behind the divider to make it stronger and using wood screws to attatch the amp.
I mounted the Amp to the divider by installing a piece of 1/2 MDF behind the divider to make it stronger and using wood screws to attatch the amp.
Last edited by jrmoskal; Sep 16, 2004 at 05:21 PM.