Hello all,

I am new here and have only had my first Lexus (1996 SC300) a couple of months. I must say I have found an awful lot of good information here already. There seems to be someone here who knows something about everything..

Question - Does anyone know if the wiring (plugs, etc.) are the same for the Lexus Premium stereo and the Nakamichi? Also, as far as quality of sound, would upgrading from the Premium stereo to the Nakamichi be worth while? I may have the opportunity to get some Nakamichi parts and I was wondering if it's worth it. I'm not necessarily looking for the "super boom" and would like to keep the stock look so I'm not looking to upgrade to an aftermarket.

Thanks

 

Run a search on this site and I promise you will find the diagrams for both the NAK and the standard SC wiring. If not let me know. I have posted the links several times for others but I don't have it anymore.

You have to get all the parts if you want to do the full conversion - I'm not even sure the wiring harness is the same. Of course with the wiring diagram you can take the headunit and do aftermarket amps if you know what you're doing. Basically everything is different, even the speakers have a different ohm rating so no matter what all your pioneer stuff has to go.

 

While it may be worth upgrading your head unit to the Nakamichi, wiring issues aside (I don't know, for your year/model, if the cd changer is routed to headunit or amp - check diags) - it is not worth upgrading to the Nakamichi speakers. Just put in good quality aftermarket speakers and you'll be doing better. There's nothing magic about the Nak speakers, most good aftermarket stuff will eat them for lunch. The 96 SC apparently had a decent quality Nak amp and subwoofer, better than the Nak amp/sub combo in more recent models. You'll have to do your homework on the swap-out connections.

 

Had the Nak system in my 99 LS 400, was very good. Have the premium system in my 2003 ES 300, and in fact, like it better!