Obeah Man

I'd be the first to admit that my knowledge of car audio is basic at best in the technical departement, but I know what sounds good. Once you put in a good amp and sub, you will soon have the problem that the factory (I have the mark levinson on a 2002 GS430) speakers no longer sound as good as you once thought. Obviously before you replace them, you need a new head unit. In my opinion, it's a dumb idea to get rid of the factory head, because you paid the big bucks for the touch screen, Nav etc. What you can do is by an Alpine Hub, which will allow you to operate third party peripherals through your touch screen (ie. you can control your iPod, add a DVD player etc. on your screen). I believe that you should then be able to change your head unit set up by running it through the Hub and still keep the factory screen and the classy look of the cabin. Now I havent done all of this yet, but that's my plan for this summer. Has anyone elese had any experience with alpine's Hub system? -Obeah Man

You can't argue that 20's will always look better. The problem is how you drive your car. I'm from Winnipeg, Canada, and I recently got 18's, although it broke my heart not to get 20's. If you have harsh winter's, just one pothole in spring is enough to mash up your 20's. Even hitting railroad tracks too hard can be a problem. In my opinion, the GS 430 is built for people who love to drive, so if I put 20's, I wouldn't be able to take the long (and fast) road trips that I can (worry free) with my 18's. This is also my everyday work car, so it has to stand up to our crappy road conditions. Also you pay big bucks for a heavy, smooth and quiet luxury car. If you're rubber is too thin, you loose alot of that. 19'' is an OK compromise, giving you a slightly nicer look with a smoother and more absorbant ride. Unfortunatly it's a strange size, and you really limit your selection of both rim and rubber. If, however, you're from some warm southern state with roads as smooth as glass, just get the 20's. -Obeah Man

Hello. Just joined this fourm. The Mark Levinson stereo is definately supirior, no questions asked. It does depend on what kind of sound you want. If you're a real audiophile interested in top quality sound, you will never get that out of any factory equipment, dosent matter what kind of car you drive. I got the Mark Levinson, but added a 12'' alpine type X in the trunk, and used the sub that was factory for a mid. If you want to really go all out, then you will need to replace the factory head unit (ie. the CD player) as well. If you're interested in that, here's the dilema - why would you pay so much for a car like the 430 to then go and bugger up the apperence of the inner console, expecialy if you have the touch screen upgrade (definatly worth it by the way.) Here's the solution - you can something called a hub thru Alpine which will allow you to keep all your factory interior, but run whatever third party extras (CD, iPod, DVD, Playstation etc.) through the same touch screen. THis way you can put in a much better CD player with a completely seperate amp for your cabin speakers. Then you can go ahead and upgrade all the mid range and tweeters that are in your cabin. You can even control your iPod through the touch screen, and never have to take it out of wherever you have it mounted. So to make a long story short, get the ML system, get the Nav system, and then upgrade from there, until you have better sound quality than your home theater. -Obeah Man