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Hi. Great work my man. I am attempting the same and it would be really helpful if you could share the amp witing colours going into the amp.
Thanks in advance.
@dparpotta Let me go find my notes and put them in here. I can update the thread and add a couple of thoughts after having the system installed now for a few months. Give me a day to get that together and I'll add it here. Feel free to reach out to me separately if you run into issues along the way - like anything, it would be much easier the second time around, so if I can help your learning curve, happy to help.
@dparpotta Let me go find my notes and put them in here. I can update the thread and add a couple of thoughts after having the system installed now for a few months. Give me a day to get that together and I'll add it here. Feel free to reach out to me separately if you run into issues along the way - like anything, it would be much easier the second time around, so if I can help your learning curve, happy to help.
-- Matt
thank you so much Matt. I will
await your post. I used to install systems back in the day. Excited to get started!
If you already know about audio stuff this should be pretty easy - the hardest part was just finding the information needed. I'll put the info below as well as the lexus schematic for the audio system. Mine is a 2002, the schematics are 2006, but were identical for everything I needed. I've received a few private messages with questions, so I'll go ahead and add a few details after having the system in for a little while.
I also have a picture of my final installation placement of the amp. It sits very nicely in the right cubby and I screwed it down to the carpeted plastic. You can't see it very well, but I used a hole saw to cut a 2" hole on for all the signal wires and another 1" hole a bit farther away for the power/ground/B+ wire. All the wires tuck nicely into the cubby below the amp. I like that it doesn't interfere with the tool tray or the cargo net. I could have mounted it under the rear carpet shell, but I wanted access to be able to tune it and keep it cool.
First: Wiring colors. (See schematic below). Here's what I used:
I looked long and far for matching connectors to the Lexus amp that I could use and keep the factory harness. Didn't find anything so I just clipped each wire pair and crimped them to new speaker wire that I ran to the new amplifier. If I recall correctly, each speaker set of wires was twisted together making it easy to figure out which two go together. The pairs are matched up above/below each other in the connector. Peel back the tape from the Lexus harness a few inches and you'll easily be able to figure out the twisted pairs.
I did NOT use the front upper tweeters because I didn't have 2 more channels in my amplifier. The factory tweeters are two speakers in parallel for each left and right. These are the two small speakers up next to the windows in the front. The sound is good without them, but I did extend their wires to my new amp in case I wanted to add another amplifier for them in the future. I've located a very small 2 channel audio amp that I may hook into the system to get the uppers running. The sound is really good without them, but wondering if it would sound even better with them.
Speaker Wires from the back amp connectors. One is "a" and one is "b" on the Toyota diagrams. Connector "C" has the signals and power.
Sub Woofer - These are the correct pinouts I used, but I didn't write down the colors. The Toyota diagram colors are noted here. I vaguely recall that there were really only two wires running to the sub, not four, which was fine since my amp only had one channel for the sub anyway. RT: (-) 14A "L-B" (+) 5A "L-R" LEFT: (-) 15A "R-B" (+) 8A "R-L"
Accessory Power: ACC: C11 Grey GND C20 W-Blk POWER C1 W-Red ILLUM Green
At the head unit, here's what I pulled from the factory harness. Again, didn't have a pigtail, so I clipped the wires from the factory harness and then crimped to the new radio harness: GROUND: White-Black BATTERY: White-Red ACC: grey ILLUM: Green (used when you turn on the headlamps to dim the head unit)
Sc430 Radio and Amp wiring diagram
Best of luck - let me know how it goes! It was a fun project when all was done. Aside from fishing that @#$@# power wire behind the dash, it was relatively straightforward, just time consuming to do it right.
Last edited by MattInLex; 01-07-22 at 01:29 PM.
Reason: Minor edit...
Here's a follow up after a few months with the system. A bit of a review, and a bit of what I'd do differently:
First, the things I'd do differently:
I would have wired the camera's power on to accessory power instead of the brake light. You still have to wire the brake light up to the head unit to indicate you're going in reverse to turn on the video channel. This head unit also allows you to just look at the camera. But unless I'm in reverse, the camera doesn't get power, so nothing shows up. Not a big deal, just a nagging detail.
USB / HDMI Socket: I would put the adapter into the ash-tray lighter socket instead of the arm rest. Why? Because the lid to the arm rest is a tight fit and the cable gets pinched. Not a problem for the thin Apple iPhone stock cable, but an aftermarket one is thick enough to cause an issue closing the lid. I may go back and move it in the future. Also, the HDMI cable would never fit through the arm rest so you could only connect to HDMI with the arm rest open. The other alternative would be to drill a 1" hole somewhere in the dashboard finish for the socket. I don't think that would look good, but that's an option.
Review of the system:
The Sony XAV-AX5600 unit: It is OK. Sounds great, but UI is meh. I'd give it a "B-"
The on-paper specs are good, but the features lack a bit of polish. For the price of the unit, I expected a bit better user experience.
First: the unit I bought would not connect to CarPlay on the first attempt. 100% repeatable - I would unplug and replug the phone and it worked. After a few different calls to Sony, they swapped my unit for a new one of the same model. The new unit works perfectly with CarPlay reliably and slick. So that's good.
The screen tends to get washed out in bright sun. The original unit was terrible, could barely read the screen any time except past dusk. Their replacement unit is much better but still gets washed out when the sun hits it straight on. I'm guessing they made a change in production.
The Sony UI for phone calls is barely passable. First: to make a call, you have to swipe to a second screen. I can't make a phone call over Bluetooth without swiping to a second screen. It's one of the primary uses of a head unit but relegated to a second page. Then, there's no way to mute the mic from the head screen. When you're in a call, the only option on the touch screen is to hang up. Muting is really important in a car. Apparently Sony doesn't think so. Even my 2013 Ford stock radio has a much better phone UI.
The SiriusXM implementation is so-so. For example, there is no cover art on music. Channel names are not displayed on presets. The "Up" and "Down" steering controls go +/- one station, not +/- one preset. (But in FM radio mode, the Up/Down go to the next/previous preset - why is this different for SiriusXM?) Again, sadly my 2013 Ford has a better SiriusXM implementation.
The Sony settings have the option to customize the steering controls. But there's no way to map one of those buttons to the Siri command. So whenever I want to summon Siri, I have to use one of the physical buttons on the head unit.
Rockford Fosgate Amp: Works great. Nothing to say other than, works great, sounds great.
Overall, the system has been really reliable and sounds good. If I had it to do again, I might reconsider the Sony head unit. But it really does sound good and having CarPlay for maps, music, podcasts, etc... is soooooo nice.
I am so thankful. So much detail and this will
help me and many others.
i live in Dubai and funnily enough I have a model with no nav, which means it’s impossible to get a cable from beatsonic. Only option is to go for the full replacement.
will keep you updated on my progress. Really appreciate your time.
Happy to help. Not having NAV is probably a plus anyway ... it simplifies the system. The Beatsonic implementation is expensive and doesn't buy much in my opinion except saving the ML amp. For the cost of the Beatsonic unit ($400), you can buy a decent aftermarket amp and get a new lease on life. If you google a bit, you'll find that the ML amps all tend to die eventually so if you're going to keep the car for a while, even a car with the NAV might as well bite the bullet. The only "plus" on the ML amp is that it has built in tuning specific to the *Factory* speakers of the car and changes the tuning if the roof is open or closed. Meh.
I also hope you're going to replace the speakers. The factory ones all dry rot eventually.
Good luck! Send a pic or two when you're done. And again, if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to try to help.
So finally finished today. So happy with the results. Purchased a JVC M560BT as the replacement head unit. Loved the idea of having Apple Car Play. I decided to ditch the stereo motorised door and went for a direct installation. I think it looks pretty good and the stereo surround is a good match to the original silver trim.
Running the front pioneer 6x9’s is a pioneer 4 channel amp. I bridged the rear 2 channels to a Boss Audio dual voice coil 8 inch sub. I managed to drill some holes in the mounting bracket, and rewired the sub to the amp. For the front 6x9’s I used the existing cables. Amp fits in original location.
I followed the writing diagrams from this post. Thanks again. It was so helpful.
Thanks man. Yes I was surprised when I bought it also. Very rare indeed. I was put off at first but I thought to myself that the nav is useless now so what the hell?
Thanks man. Yes I was surprised when I bought it also. Very rare indeed. I was put off at first but I thought to myself that the nav is useless now so what the hell?
agreed, the screen is only for a backup camera these days…my cell with ways is the NAV unless I put it on the radio screen
01-06-22, 05:58 AM
