maarnold

i have been struggling with this process. many answers, but i want to hear from someone who had actually done this. i am an audiophile and once this is accomplished i will upgrade the (now above average) speakers. i have looked in to the vais products, but have not found anyone who has actually done this. went to a few car stereo places and i am really not interested in a new head-unit to watch movies on. i travel with this car frequently and am anxious to upgrade, relatively affordably. i have been a Mercedes owner for the past 20 years, and although you need to find someone who understands the usual wiring problems associated with Mercs, its a pretty easy process to upgrade and keep the look of the car. Seems to me this ML system wasnt concerned with future upgrades

I am not trying to make some show car, just want a functioning vehicle sound system. help!

live in Manhasset NY in the summers and here in the Beaufort/Savannah area in the winters.

vredniykot

I've installed this in my 06 LS430 ML/NAV and it works wonderful. I did not hook up the mic that comes with it, too lazy to run that wire since phone connects to the stock unit and I have hands free calling that way anyway. It plugs into stock harness piggybacked into the CD charger plug, no cutting stock harness required, stock CD changer still works just fine, to access the bluetooth adapter input you hit the "cd" button twice and you will have a "cd2" come up on the screen. All stock control buttons work just like they should, including steering wheel controls. Displays track/title info on the stock display as well.

Took out the cig lighter in the ashtray and replaced it with this and I have a USB charger and AUX port for the system if I ever need one as well.
no modification needed for stock cig ligter hole, it was a tight fit but it's nice and snug

all DIY took about an hour, there are vids on YouTube on how to take the dash apart. Use of plastic pry tools is strongly recommend.

maarnold

how does this help my 01 LS430?

vredniykot

well, if you are looking for a functioning audio system with bluetooth adapter then the one i described works good and is an option for your 01 LS430

or are you looking for someone who has VAIS adapter installed?

ETA: for what it's worth, USA Spec adapter is $130 with 4.5 star rating on Amazon, VAIS adapter is $230 with 3.5 stars. As far as i can tell they both have same functions...

jainla

I have an old VAIS unit in my LS430 (it's the SLi-1) and it's worked flawlessly with an 30gb iPod 5th gen for about 13 years. I have the MML unit in my LS 600h L and it also works perfectly; both cars have iPods that more or less permanently live inside the car. The LS430 sees the ipod as a Minidisc player and the 600h sees it as a CD changer (in MP3 mode). They respond to steering wheel and radio (but not the rear seat) controls.

It takes about an hour to pull the CD changer out and plug the boxes in series; in the 430 i put the box in the lower glove box and ran the cables through the slot in the side of the glove box door; and there is a little plinth covered in black felt that the Vais box lives under and the ipod sits on top.

In the 600h I put the box on the transmission tunnel under the carpet and rewired a 2010 USB/Aux port to replace the 2008 usb aux port.

Both installs look and function pretty factory-like and you'd never know the iPod was in there as they are hidden out of sight in the center console and glove box. I had to add a separate Parrot 3200LS kit for Bluetooth calling in the 430; that post is around here somewhere and on lexusownersclub.com if you want the hairy details. Because of the way the 2001 sound system is set up I don't think you'll be able to get an all-in-one solution to handle both calling and streaming without some custom wiring. I did an all in one solution on my SC400 with the Parrot Asteroid Mini and honestly I prefer the setup in the other two cars as it's easier to use while the car is moving and more reliable than the Mini.

I would look for the MML1 which should work with the 430; its' OOS on the Vaistech site but may still be available through other channels:

https://www.vaistech.com/product/mml-l1/

The bluetooth equivalent would be the SLB:

https://www.vaistech.com/product/sl3b-l/

I would guess either one works similarly but the MML adds the ability to charge the phone as well.