warhummer1 Posted September 12, 2006 Share Posted September 12, 2006 Well it looks like that Lexus has totally dropped SIRIUS from its entire 2007 line-up. An email to the customer service people resulted in the patronizingly ambiguous response of: "I apologize that the Sirius Radio is not available at this time. After introducing Sirius Radio, we received feedback from some customers that the product wasn’t operating to their expectations. It was appropriate to re-evaluate the Sirius Radio product to ensure it continues to meet quality standards." This was after asking to not give me such a vague answer in the first place. So, I wanted to run a couple of questions by those who might be more familiar with the audio system before I go digging too much deeper into this. 1) Is the normal audio/nav system equipped with a Pioneer head unit? 2) If so, would an aftermarket SIRIUS tuner made for Pioneer head units drop into the existing set up? (I haven't delved into this one with anyone yet) My plan is to procure the new sharkfin antenna and either proceed with the SIRIUS install, or say f@#k it and buy the ready-made XM tuner instead. Hopefully the different satellite tuners can use the same antenna gain pattern that the shark-fin gives you. Sidenote: Toyota is still offering SIRIUS as an option on their car line. Any thoughts on the interopability of the Toyota SIRIUS tuner with the Lexus? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David S Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 I paid $1000 on 2/1/06 for a Sirius receiver when I bought my IS350, so like many others I was disappointed to find out that - after several commitments not honored to release the units - Lexus was not going to be able to offer Sirius with the IS350. A week ago my sales manager told me that the problem was that the Audiovox Sirius receiver that was being developed was not reliable enough for Lexus to stand behind the product. He estimated that about 40% of the units were being returned with problems during development. I understand and agree with Lexus's position on this. They don't want a lot of unsatisfied customers, and I certainly wouldn't want the frustration of having to go back to Lexus for them to service or replace my receiver, even if it's covered by warranty. Today I received a call from my sales manager who was happy to report that Vais Technology has a Sirius head unit that will work with the IS350 nav system, so I guess I'll be in the first group of IS350 owners to try it out. I'll post again in a few weeks after it's been installed and I've tried it out for a while. I'm not sure if the below is the correct link for the Vais Technology Sirius receiver; perhaps others can shed more light on this. http://www.vaistech.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68 -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David S Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Another link from Vais Technology showing the model SLS with the IS350... http://www.vaistech.com/sls.html From the above: The SoundLinq with Sirius Radio interface adapter (SLS) is a direct plug-n-play input which adds two Audio AUX inputs to your Toyota/Lexus vehicle. The first AUX input is dedicated for a Sirius Satellite Radio, and the second AUX input is universal. The SLS allows you to receive digital Sirius Satellite Radio directly through the OEM head unit. It seamlessly integrates Sirius Receiver into '05-'07 Toyota/Lexus OEM audio system. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhummer1 Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 Thanks, I was looking at the Vais product too. The budget side of me is looking at the $299 price tag, plus another $99 bucks for a Sirius receiver and wondering if I might just say to hell with it and get the XM for $299. I wanted to try and get my hands on a shark-fin antenna and do the install myself. I haven't dug too deeply into the parts availability for an antenna from the 07 line. Let me know how the install goes and how you handled the antenna. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
05IS300 Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 The shark fin antenna is available, bit not readily available depending on color.I did receive 2 in for a customer that does research on new parts so you can get them.They took me about 1 week to get instead of overnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhummer1 Posted October 8, 2006 Author Share Posted October 8, 2006 The shark fin antenna is available, bit not readily available depending on color.I did receive 2 in for a customer that does research on new parts so you can get them.They took me about 1 week to get instead of overnight. I would be looking for one in the 06 Blue Onyx Pearl. I believe it's now called Black Sapphire Pearl for 2007. I also haven't checked the Lexus Tech Site yet for repair/installation instructions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piblo Posted October 8, 2006 Share Posted October 8, 2006 The shark fin antenna is available, bit not readily available depending on color.I did receive 2 in for a customer that does research on new parts so you can get them.They took me about 1 week to get instead of overnight. I would be looking for one in the 06 Blue Onyx Pearl. I believe it's now called Black Sapphire Pearl for 2007. I also haven't checked the Lexus Tech Site yet for repair/installation instructions. If you already have a sharkfin for XM radio, do you need a different one for Sirrius? or will it work for both? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhummer1 Posted October 9, 2006 Author Share Posted October 9, 2006 If you already have a sharkfin for XM radio, do you need a different one for Sirrius? or will it work for both? While I'm not 100% sure, the connectors should be the same (easy fix if they're not), and the gain pattern for the antenna should be sufficient for both satellite frequencies (XM and Sirius). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David S Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 OK, I got the Vais Technology Sirius satellite radio installed in my blue onyx IS350. The antenna is roof mounted next to the rear window. It's small, black plastic and about 1.5 inch square and only about 3/16 inch high. Too bad it doesn't come color matched to my car, but like I said, it's small. The radio integrates nicely into my nav system. If I'm in map mode and I change satellite channels, the station doesn't come up at the top of the screen like it does when I change FM stations. Too bad. There are 2 SAT screens similar to FM1 and FM2 so you can preset 16 stations. There is a SAT3 screen, too, that can probably be used to preset more stations, but I haven't tried. I do know that 2 of the presets on SAT3 are used for Satellite level and Aux level (don't know how/why I'd use Aux level). With regard to the Satellite level, my biggest beef right now is that even with the Satellite level set as high as it goes (level 31), I still have to increase the volume 10-15 levels when going from FM to Satellite. Then if I go back from SAT to FM I get blasted. Not good. I took this back to my Lexus-outsourced installer today and waited for 2 hours while they tried to troubleshoot the problem. They replaced all my components while performing diagnostics and still couldn't change the level. They also tried adding a line booster, but this added to much noise. So I still have this problem . The installers have a call into the Sirius Techs. I am completely confident that the folks at Sirius will be of absolutely no help. I would appreciate it if others could share their experience with the SAT vs FM (and CD?) volume levels. Oh, one other thing. A friend of mine called the Lexus Service Center and they said they could get Sirius installed for $465. I told my Sales Manager about this and reminded him I was charged $1000 in February. He said that the $465 was a mis-quote and there is no way the installer actually had any Sirius radios to sell. So also please tell me if Lexus is selling you the radio for significantly less than $1000 so I can try and get some of my money back. Thanks, David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
warhummer1 Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 Thanks for the update. The only thing I have volume problems with is through the AUX input. I plug my Ipod in there occasionally and I have to significantly increase the stereo volume, even after maxing out the Ipod's volume control. I have not tried it out with any other audio device though. It might be an issue with the Lexus audio unit rather than a Sirius one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David S Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 warhummer1, The issue with the aux (ipod) volume has been documented before. The recommendation is to turn your ipod volume up to max. Hope this helps. -David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Achwang Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 Hmm... If you get a Sirius tuner by Eclipse (not pioneer) I don't see why the volume output is not similar to true digital quality. But as for the Aux input in the center console, If you want true digital sound from your ipod, you have to get a ipod integration tuner. Its basically a module that goes into the back of your unit and at the other end, it is the ipod connection (the flat connection cable) so it will even charge your ipod when connected. BUT... I don't know if such a product exists for the new IS250/350 YET. But I will post as soon as i find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikehasalexus? Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Along these same lines, does anyone have a how-to on installing a satellite receiver, i.e. how to route the antenna wire from the rear of the vehicle to the dash. I want to install a plug and play Sirius unit (in the ashtray under the radio) but I want to correctly place the antenna on the truck and hard wire everything else into the arm rest AUX and power ports. I will have to probably remove the rear seats and plastic door sills to get there. To that end, has anyone taken apart the counsel and radio portion of the dash yet? Anyone have a how-to schematic of that? Any help would be appreciated and I will be sure to post pics if I get it work. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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