Help With '03 Es300 Audio

[jordn613]

It looks like I'll be inheriting my dad's 2003 ES300. The car has the 6 cd changer, but not the Mark Levinson system. I'm really interested in having a head unit with aux in and a usb slot, but thus far my search has turned up no easy way to make this happen. For the time being, I would settle for some kind of auxiliary or rca hookup to the stock amp. Are there extra rca jacks on the stock system that I could plug an mp3 player into? Next, I'm wondering how much I'd need to spend on a new amp and speakers to significantly upgrade the sound from the factory system. For $300-400 would I see an improvement? Any and all help is appreciated! Thanks!

Also, the cd changer will play burned CD-Rs, I hope?

On second thought, I'd probably be content simply adding a line-in somehow to the stock system, so I could plug my mp3 player directly into the amp. I really don't want to go the FM transmitter route, as it degrades the sound quality too much for my liking. Anyone know if this is not too difficult?

[oslo]

It's not too difficult adding a new head unit, just a bit time consuming. If you want an upgrade in sound quality without spending too much, you can bypass the factory amp and make a simple wiring harness that reaches from the factory amp location up to the stereo location. If you get a wiring harness for a stock toyota stereo, it will plug into the wiring harness going into the factory amp. Just extend this wiring harness by soldering extra wire length to the wires, wrap it up nicely, and run it to the new stereo. I did this in my '98 LS400 and noticed a nice upgrade in sound quality. If you take this route, though, you will lose the sub unless you install something aftermarket. You could also just use the RCA outputs of the new head unit and connect them to the audio-in of the factory amp, but you probably won't notice much difference in sound, although this way you get to keep the factory sub.