Wire Harness 1998 Ls400

[Jay-are]

My car is the 1998 LS400 and it has the Nakamichi premium sound system which I strongly believe is the best sounding system I have heard in a car of that age.

I want to replace it with a Pioneer or a Kenwood touch screen double din unit but I am unable to locate a wire harness that will be compatible with the aftermarket unti I intend to install because I wish to keep my speakers and my amplifier. Every audio technician I speak with about my plan have tried to encourage me to install a new amplifier.

I will be grateful if anyone who has knowledge about this Nakamichi premium sound system and the associated amplifier to contact me via this medium. Again, let me emphasize that I wish to retain the use of the existing 6 speakers plus subwoofer and the amplifier that now reside in my car.

[1990LS400]

A Best Buy installer replaced the Nakamichi head unit in the 2000 LS400 I sold last year with a double DIN Kenwood. The Kenwood worked great with the Nakamichi amp and all the Nakamichi speakers including the subwoofer. In 2013 the total cost for the Kenwood, installation and all parts needed was $500. I bought the dash kit on Amazon for about $15 and provided it to the installer.

The installer hardwired the Kenwood into the car's harnesses using special pin connectors that might have included resisters. Not a single wire was cut and the Nakamichi head unit could have been reinstalled in just a few minutes.

Your 98 has exactly the same Nakamichi system as my 2000 so there is no reason it can't be done.

The Kenwood has a more "digital" sound than the Nakamichi and not quite as much bass but it still sounded very nice.

[Jay-are]

Thank you for such a speedy response to my post. I would hate to lose the quality of the sound coming from my subwoofer. According to what you said, I will lose the quality of the bass if I install a Kenwood double din unit. Do you think that the Pioneer AVIC-8000 could be installed with the existing amplifier on the 1998 LS400?

Please confirm which model of the Kenwood unit that the Best Buy guys hooked up to the Nakamichi amplifier. My car has 7 speakers including the subwoofer. If there is anyone who can provide information about how to install an aftermarket double din touch screen unit in place of my Nakamichi Premium sound unit without having to abandon the existing amplifier and speakers, yet retaining the same quality of the sound or better, please respond. I am willing to meet with anyone who can help if he/she is in the vicinity of Fort Lee, Englewood or let's just say North Bergen. Have a great day everyone, and drive safely.

[sha4000]

1990LS400 is the most knowledgeable on this subject IMO. There was another guy that gave good instructions though.

So like I promised, here's how to get the factory sub and all 4 doors speaker to work with an aftermarket HU

This is the wiring I did, I used a 6 pin harness for everything but the speakers wires for easy servicing, for the speakers I used an RCA cable that I've cut in half and soldered to the 8 wires (make sure you respect polarity) on the B plug

Battery 12v (B+ Cyan_Blue/Yellow on C1)

Accessory (ACC grey on C6)

Ground (GND2 brown on C14)

Power Antenna (ANT+ Black/Red on C12)

Amp remote (AMP+ Pink/Cyan on B11)

FL Speaker (+) BLACK (B2) to RCA

FL Speaker (-) WHITE (B7) to RCA

FR Speaker (+) WHITE (B1) to RCA

FR Speaker (-) RED (B6) to RCA

RL Speaker (+) RED (B5) to RCA

RL Speaker (-) GREEN (B14) to RCA

RR Speaker (+) YELLOW (B4) to RCA

RR Speaker (-) GREEN (B13) to RCA

Wait... where's the sub signal??? There's none, everything is happening at the amp.

The amp is using the signal from FL,FR,RL,RR and feed the sub with it, but the way it work is that it high pass the signal for the doors (~100Hz) and low pass the signal for the sub.

When I started the system after replacing the HU in mine, I didn't have any sub. Went into my deck settings and removed the HPF (High pass filter) that was set at 120Hz. Bam! I can hear the sub, go into my EQ and boost 60Hz and the car is shaking.

Basically all the bass knob on the deck was doing is to boost or lower the lower frequency and only the sub is affected because of the LPF and HPF that is set in the amp.

Now for those who want more punch out of their system, you need to bypass the the nak amp before replacing speakers in your doors. Since there's an HPF set in the Nak amp, even if you put 8" in your doors you wont get much more midbass out of them.

If you already did this and you can't hear your sub, here's some things to check. First make sure your RCA output are set to fullrange (no HPF) in your headunit. Some HU will automatically set an HPF if the sub is enable so check that too.

Next, check that you respected the polarity on all RCA, if you have one inverted it will cancel out (phase inverted) the sub since all channels go to one speaker. To see if that's your problem, simply set the balance to one side and do the same for the fader so that only one speaker play. Crank the lowest EQ settings you have (ideally 80Hz or less) and you should hear the sub.

HTH

[Jay-are]

I do appreciate this detailed information. I am going to send it to my audio technician because he has been telling me I need to bypass the Nakamichi amp and purchase a new amp plus crossovers to get the use of my existing door speakers but not the subwoofer. I never intended to give in to that option because I believed that God has blessed some of us with the ability to be excellent audio technicians and other are blessed to be excellent sales representatives. We all have out blessings. So thank you so much for blessing me with this information. Now I can only hope that my audio technician can follow the instructions and get good results.

One final question: you said ..... to get all 4 door speakers and the factory sub...

What about the two tweeters?

[Exhaustgases]

I would just love to have the manuals for the Older Gen 1 systems, that is the only way to be able to fix em. How do the audio guys get the info?

[1990LS400]

I do appreciate this detailed information. I am going to send it to my audio technician because he has been telling me I need to bypass the Nakamichi amp and purchase a new amp plus crossovers to get the use of my existing door speakers but not the subwoofer. I never intended to give in to that option because I believed that God has blessed some of us with the ability to be excellent audio technicians and other are blessed to be excellent sales representatives. We all have out blessings. So thank you so much for blessing me with this information. Now I can only hope that my audio technician can follow the instructions and get good results.

One final question: you said ..... to get all 4 door speakers and the factory sub...

What about the two tweeters?

All speakers including the tweeters and the subwoofer worked with the Kenwood DDX470 that Best Buy installed using the Nakamichi amp. The bass from the subwoofer was a little less "thumpy" than from the Nakamichi headunit but it was still plenty.

[Jay-are]

1990LS400 is the most knowledgeable on this subject IMO. There was another guy that gave good instructions though.

So like I promised, here's how to get the factory sub and all 4 doors speaker to work with an aftermarket HU

This is the wiring I did, I used a 6 pin harness for everything but the speakers wires for easy servicing, for the speakers I used an RCA cable that I've cut in half and soldered to the 8 wires (make sure you respect polarity) on the B plug

Battery 12v (B+ Cyan_Blue/Yellow on C1)

Accessory (ACC grey on C6)

Ground (GND2 brown on C14)

Power Antenna (ANT+ Black/Red on C12)

Amp remote (AMP+ Pink/Cyan on B11)

FL Speaker (+) BLACK (B2) to RCA

FL Speaker (-) WHITE (B7) to RCA

FR Speaker (+) WHITE (B1) to RCA

FR Speaker (-) RED (B6) to RCA

RL Speaker (+) RED (B5) to RCA

RL Speaker (-) GREEN (B14) to RCA

RR Speaker (+) YELLOW (B4) to RCA

RR Speaker (-) GREEN (B13) to RCA

Wait... where's the sub signal??? There's none, everything is happening at the amp.

The amp is using the signal from FL,FR,RL,RR and feed the sub with it, but the way it work is that it high pass the signal for the doors (~100Hz) and low pass the signal for the sub.

When I started the system after replacing the HU in mine, I didn't have any sub. Went into my deck settings and removed the HPF (High pass filter) that was set at 120Hz. Bam! I can hear the sub, go into my EQ and boost 60Hz and the car is shaking.

Basically all the bass knob on the deck was doing is to boost or lower the lower frequency and only the sub is affected because of the LPF and HPF that is set in the amp.

Now for those who want more punch out of their system, you need to bypass the the nak amp before replacing speakers in your doors. Since there's an HPF set in the Nak amp, even if you put 8" in your doors you wont get much more midbass out of them.

If you already did this and you can't hear your sub, here's some things to check. First make sure your RCA output are set to fullrange (no HPF) in your headunit. Some HU will automatically set an HPF if the sub is enable so check that too.

Next, check that you respected the polarity on all RCA, if you have one inverted it will cancel out (phase inverted) the sub since all channels go to one speaker. To see if that's your problem, simply set the balance to one side and do the same for the fader so that only one speaker play. Crank the lowest EQ settings you have (ideally 80Hz or less) and you should hear the sub.

HTH

This is remarkable! Thank you very much for this detailed information. So now I won't have to change my amplifier and my speakers. I did not see any procedure for the two tweeters. Did they work?

[sha4000]

I believe the door speakers power the tweeters so they should work in unison.

[Jay-are]

Is anyone willing to help? I want to install a multiple media system with backup camera, front and rear sensors, navigation, etc. I am in Bergen County, Englewood. These auto installers are confusing me with too much talk. I need an honest and reasonable installer. I want to keep my Nakamichi amplifier and speakers. I am thinking about a Kenwood or a Pioneer unit.

[1990LS400]

Is anyone willing to help? I want to install a multiple media system with backup camera, front and rear sensors, navigation, etc. I am in Bergen County, Englewood. These auto installers are confusing me with too much talk. I need an honest and reasonable installer. I want to keep my Nakamichi amplifier and speakers. I am thinking about a Kenwood or a Pioneer unit.

I can only tell you that an installer named "Brad" at Best Buy in Overland Park, Kansas installed a double DIN Kenwood in the 2000 LS400 I used to have without cutting or splicing a single wire. He used the Nakamichi amplifier and all the Nakamichi speakers worked fine. The Kenwood had a more "precise" digital sound than the Nakamichi head unit and the subwoofer a little less bass but it sounded great ... and I am very particular.

Here is a post on Club Lexus about the install: http://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls400/362386-ls400-audio-setup-thread-22.html#post8219167

I'm pretty sure that there is not just one installer in the world who has the knowledge and experience to do what my installer did.

The attached diagram is for your Nakamichi system and "should" make it possible for a competent installer to understand how to install an aftermarket head unit while using your Nakamichi amp and all your Nakamichi speakers. My installer spent only a few minutes looking at the diagram before he told me that he was certain that he could do the task.

1998-2000 LS400 Nakamichi audio system diagram.pdf

[pj8708]

Is anyone willing to help? I want to install a multiple media system with backup camera, front and rear sensors, navigation, etc. I am in Bergen County, Englewood. These auto installers are confusing me with too much talk. I need an honest and reasonable installer. I want to keep my Nakamichi amplifier and speakers. I am thinking about a Kenwood or a Pioneer unit.

Hi Jude,

In visiting with our LOC owner/founder who lives in the UK, the biggest problem with this type of retro-fit, is finding the right parts for the UK and European cars. For example, as you look at your Lexus it looks like any other LS, but the cars name might instead be "Royal" or some thing else. The cars across the pond are not just cookie cutters of the US production. But as Jim said, any experienced auto sound shop should be able to take care of you.

Here is "Steve B," user ID. Send him a PM and see if he can help pull together the strings here and answer your questions.

lexusoc@gmail.com

Let us know how thing's are going.

Paul

[Jay-are]

Is anyone willing to help? I want to install a multiple media system with backup camera, front and rear sensors, navigation, etc. I am in Bergen County, Englewood. These auto installers are confusing me with too much talk. I need an honest and reasonable installer. I want to keep my Nakamichi amplifier and speakers. I am thinking about a Kenwood or a Pioneer unit.

Hi Jude,

In visiting with our LOC owner/founder who lives in the UK, the biggest problem with this type of retro-fit, is finding the right parts for the UK and European cars. For example, as you look at your Lexus it looks like any other LS, but the cars name might instead be "Royal" or some thing else. The cars across the pond are not just cookie cutters of the US production. But as Jim said, any experienced auto sound shop should be able to take care of you.

Here is "Steve B," user ID. Send him a PM and see if he can help pull together the strings here and answer your questions.

lexusoc@gmail.com

Let us know how thing's are going.

Paul

Hello Paul,

Thank you very much for touching base and reaching out. I sent Steve a message, so as soon as I am convinced that he found someone who can assist me, I will touch base with you again.

Regards,

Jude