I have a 99 GS400 with the Nakamichi sound system.

I want to upgrade my system but keep the head unit. So I would consider upgrading the amplifer and subs and whatever you experts suggest I do.

Please give me some advice on how to do this (meaning what I need to upgrade) and if I can do it in stages.

Thanks guys!

 

upgrade speakers first. there are tons of info on that here

 

If your in a gs 400 than I suggest you go for clarity. Really good components would be Focal, MB Quart, Diamond Audio, Boston Acoustics, and a few others. And to push your kick a** components you will need a class a/b amp (cleaner power than reg amps). I went with A/D/S/, you could go with pheonix gold, or diamonds D7 series of amps, xtant, or just what ever you prefer. But please make sure it's all good quality stuff to YOUR liking. Everyone has different tastes so to ask such an open ended question would get a lot of different responses. Also, look into sound dampning with dynamat or whatever you enjoy, it is a great investment. I myself am running a set of diamond audio's hex s600s series components and a set of d/a m3 6x9's. My source unit is a 7995 Alpine cd/mp3 player with loads of s/q stuff like time correction and a media expander etc... As far as subs, your on your own. I am running a mmats d100hc and a juggernaut. This is definatly not for s/q. I really enjoy the loud bass but would NOT recommend this for a lexus. I just have it because at the time I purchased it thats what I wanted ( this sub is a freak of nature. Its about 60 lbs.). Just go for what you want and you can't go wrong. One more thing, as far as multimedia goes, the excelon is better than the pioneer in my opinion and so is alpine's new dvd mult. unit. They are a little more in price but you having a gs 400 makes me think that a few hundred bucks isn't a big sacrifice to you, or is it??? Hope this helps

 

Yes that definitely helps - to summarize, replace amp with a good quality amp like the A/D/S and replace stock speakers with quality speakers as you mentioned.

Definitely my next mod!