Can't you just use the stock headunit? What is the diff. I mean you have a different amp powering the subs anyway. Personally i think a aftermarket unit doesn't look right in a sc. It looks out of place. Does aftermarket headunits sound better?

 

Yep. the aftermarket stuff looks like crap in the SC. I spent nearly $1000 on my headunit, and I hate the look of it.

But then again, I didn't have a CD player at all in mine, so i sorta had to...

 

yea. it looks fine on other cars like supras but not on a luxury car.

 

mrshabo you will find the woe's of the lexus gremlins soon enough.

 

My most important reason for wanting to change the stock head unit is fuctionality. Personally I HATE CD changers. My taste in music is so exspansive and random, that at any given moment, the song or band I want to hear may not be one of the 12 discs in the changer. So then you have to either pull over to change discs, or wait. I like the fuctionality of having an in dash CD unit.

 

What he said above, the marginal sound quality of a stock system (esp. after years on the speakers), and the limited amount of power being pushed by the stock system. I changed my whole deal and I am happier with it. It not only sounds better, but looks good too.
It not only tastes great but it's low in fat! hehe, sounds like a commercial

 

If you like 'music' then the stock unit wont cut it for long.
If you like speed then you're gonna modify your car after a while.


It depends on what headunit you use and how its installed.

IMHO, London Bill has the nicest aftermarket deck. It really blends in with the stock stuff

Hi-psi: I hear ya!! May wanna look into MP3's or sum sort of a 'Hard drive' based unit

 

The best "aftermarket" system I have ever seen in an SC is in Doug's (sportythief79) I'll try to find some pics later.

 

Here are some pics of Doug's system:

 

2nd pic:
The keyboard that you see is how he changed the music. He had the moniter hooked up to a comp. (see in pic one) that had a crap load of songs downloaded to it. He was in the process of having a way to search through them by category, artist name, etc. And his music won't skip like CD's, can download any song that you want onto it easily (just disconnect the comp. in the trunk and hook it up to a moniter at your house.

I also remember him having Lexus Premium system come up when he turned the comp. on. It was really cool.

 

Here just a pic of his SC for reference (sp?)


*Since this pic has been taken, Doug has sold his SC

 

Oh ya I remmeber his set up. Very nice and blended much better than any aftermarket head unit. I was considering doing something similar like that but dont have the time or cash for it. Wasnt he also saying he was going to get rid of the whole keyboard and just have buttons to make the song go to the next track stop back up a track and pause? I think that was one of the coolest set ups I've ever seen. Blended nicely.

 

In my last SC I tried to keep the stock HU and upgrade the system. Wired the HU to some Pheonix Gold amps and aftermarket speakers. It was nice for a while but the sound quality was not as good as it should have been. Unfortunately, I wrecked it before I had a chance to add an aftermarket HU.

BTW, that is a very nice set up. Did he do that himself?

 

I did the dash LcD thing already...a few years ago...It's clean, but I was talking about the best looking aftermarket deck.

Maybe London Bill will see this thread and post his dash pix...I dont have any pictures of his install

 

True that, went aftermarket a month ago......