LX470 Stereo Upgrade with Nakamichi (1 Viewer)

[PabloCruise]

Hey folks, I need some help with my new HU.
I can't figure out some of the connections. Like, why 2 illumination wires, or what is Back in...
See the picture below and comment. Thank you

View attachment 1640330

Did you figure out the illumination wires?

 

[Leandro]

Did you figure out the illumination wires?

Left them disconnected.

 

[PabloCruise]

Thought I would post up my recent upgrade to a Pioneer FXH-720-BT in my '99 LX470. The factory radio with Nakamichi was giving the famous Err3 code, cd's not ejecting and/or playing. Tried removing fuse & holding down eject button for 27 minutes but no luck. Went thru a ton of old threads here but this one was to me the most important!
Stereo Wiring: Land Cruiser / LX 470 (1998-02)
As of today (12/20/14) there is not a harness available to adapt the 22-pin Nakamichi radio plug. YES, YOU HAVE TO SPLICE INTO THE FACTORY HARNESS!!!
Overall, the install went well, start to finish 2 hours. I spent the extra $ and bought the special Lexus trim panel by the link below:
Beat-Sonic SLA-100fb
I bought the Pioneer deck because I wanted Bluetooth & iPhone compatibility for things like Pandora, don't have a need for DVD or Navigation. The deck is super user friendly, works better than my Ford Fusion with Sinc technology IMO. Bought off Amazon for $125 shipped to my door!

Did this head unit have pre-amp outputs? Sometimes they are RCA plugs?

It looks like you wired the speaker out from the stereo straight to the LX speaker wires going to the amp? How did you treat the individual grounds for each speaker the LX has? Did your head unit have individual speaker grounds? I am guessing it did.

Thank you!

 

[PabloCruise]

You can buy male and female 20 pin toyota adapters, so could you repin the lexus 22pin male plug into the 20pin toyota plug to be able to use the toyota adapters for aftermarket radio? It looks like 18 of the 22 holes have pins in them
Stereo Wiring: Land Cruiser / LX 470 (1998-02)

I cross referenced them and the 22 pin has an extra illumination wire at pin #13 and pins #17, #19, #21, and #22 don't directly correlate to the 20pin plug as they are individual speaker ground wires and the 20pin plug has one pin #16 to ground. I'm guessing that the two illumination pins #4 and #13 on the 22pin plug could be combined into pin #2 on the 20 pin plug and the individual speaker grounds (#s17,19,21,22) on the 22 pin plug could be combined to pin #16 on the 20pin plug. Very doable

I bought a standard ISO connector to repin an android radio for a GM truck last year, so its not hard to do with a small flathead screwdriver.
Car Radio Stereo Wire Wiring Harness Combo for select 2000-up Toyota Lexus

That is brilliant! Re-pin the Nakamichi 22 pin connector so you can use the 20 pin LC harness referenced above and plug that into your aftermarket deck! I like that. I realize it is probably not rational to want to avoid cutting my LX harness, but I am.

When I look at the differences between the Nakamichi 22 pin and the '98-'02 LC 20 pin connectors, I see the following:

• LC 20 pin uses 13 actual wires
• Nakamichi 22 pin uses 18 actual wires
• LC 20 pin has wire for Signal Ground & Ground
• Nakamichi has E Ground (?) as well as separate conductors for FR-, FL-, RR-, RL-

I wonder why the 2 different Illumination conductors in the Nakamichi harness, but I am with you, combine the 2. Or if I wanted to take a really long time, I could try the 2 different Illumination pins (#4 & #13) and see what happens.

Last thought/question... This would tie the head unit into the amp, yes? So I would want a pre-amp signal out to the Nakamichi amp, which might require use of RCA cables, yes? In which case I wonder if the Metra harness from Crutchfield would be a good idea? Metra 70-8112 Receiver Wiring Harness
This Metra harness uses 14 conductors though, vs the 13 (of 20) in the LC harness. What up with that?

And, would tying together the individual speaker grounds in the Nak/LX harness do bad things to the factory amp?

Thanks for this idea - I love it!

I am still thinking about this approach.

Can anyone tell me if there is any value in having individual grounds for each speaker vs having the one single ground that the LC connector provides for?

 

[LBridges]

I am still thinking about this approach.

Can anyone tell me if there is any value in having individual grounds for each speaker vs having the one single ground that the LC connector provides for?

For most car stereo systems - yes to separate grounds. For most home stereo systems no.

If an amplifier has a single-ended output (most home stereos) all the music signal is on the + terminal and the - terminal as the reference or ground (usually tied together inside the chassis. A differential amp like in most car radios outputs signal on both terminals; the signal on (+) and its inverse on (-).

Said another way, for the single-ended system all the power is on the plus side with a sort of "true" ground. For the differential system half the power is on the plus side and half on the negative. As such stereo signals would get screwed up using a common ground. Now if you were running a car mono system...

If the LC uses a single ground then the OEM amp must be a single ended system. If you are going aftermarket they almost certainly won't be following the same system design.

Caveat: I changed out my headunit, amp and speakers so I never even tried any other connection scheme. All the above is a bit of general knowledge, not because I have insight into the factory system.

 

[PabloCruise]

For most car stereo systems - yes to separate grounds. For most home stereo systems no.

If an amplifier has a single-ended output (most home stereos) all the music signal is on the + terminal and the - terminal as the reference or ground (usually tied together inside the chassis. A differential amp like in most car radios outputs signal on both terminals; the signal on (+) and its inverse on (-).

Said another way, for the single-ended system all the power is on the plus side with a sort of "true" ground. For the differential system half the power is on the plus side and half on the negative. As such stereo signals would get screwed up using a common ground. Now if you were running a car mono system...

If the LC uses a single ground then the OEM amp must be a single ended system. If you are going aftermarket they almost certainly won't be following the same system design.

Caveat: I changed out my headunit, amp and speakers so I never even tried any other connection scheme. All the above is a bit of general knowledge, not because I have insight into the factory system.

Thanks. I am guessing the LC has a different amp design than the LX Nakamichi, since the LX has individual (-) wires going from the head unit to the amp.

I have been kicking around the idea of re-pinning the LX connector so I could run the LC connector that is readily available, but when I look at this option, I think they are only running the (+) signal from the pre-amp output of the aftermarket head unit to the amp.

I think if I want to try the LC connector idea, I would have to figure out how to get the individual (-) signals back into the LX wiring...

 

[PabloCruise]

Has anyone figured out the difference between the illumination wire at pin # 4 vs. the other illumination wire at pin # 13?

Assuming one of them is dimmer controlled...

 

[PabloCruise]

Also, the above shows pin # 12 as blank. My LX 470 connector has a brown/white wire in that position.

Can anyone tell me what the brown/white wire is for?

 

[DanInDenver]

If memory serves me I found the same and left that disconnected (#12).

For illumination I went back and forth, and yes it was for dimming. I would need to search my posts on which I ended up using. It works just OK. Slow to respond and sometimes I have to max dim to get it to respond then adjust dim to where I want.

 

[Matthew Funk]

First post, thought I'd share my experience. '99 LX470 with the Nakamichi head unit and ERR300 code (which is French for "toss it in the garbage"). After taking it out I can see that it has been repaired once already. 13 year old daughter is currently dissecting it now to see what cd's the PO lost.

After consulting this thread and doing some research I purchased a Pioneer FH-S701BS cd player head unit. I chose this unit for 2 reasons: first, the common consensus is that Pioneers are nearly a "drop in" unit and second, it had 4v amp pre-outs. Installation was very easy. Hook up B+, ground, and ACC as directed. Hooked the amp on signal wire and power antenna wire to the power antenna lead for the Pioneer. Hooked the green illumination wire (pin 4) to the Pioneer illumination lead. Wired RCA plugs to the speaker outputs. The factory mounting brackets bolt right on and fit perfectly. Bought a trim bezel from Amazon (because I had credit there). Solder everything together, cap off the wires you don't need, glue the trim bezel to the radio trim panel / climate control panel, and we've got kickin' tunes. Volume level is perfectly matched with the factory amp -- at "40" yours ears commence bleeding. Awesome.

The worst part honestly was running the phone mic wire through the dash and headliner. That took longer than installing the stereo.

I've had some nice car stereos in other rigs and this upgrade is fantastic. Unbeatable for the money. I ran a Pink Floyd track from the Pulse cd through bluethooth to set the EQ and you can hear every detail of David Gilmour's guitar playing and voice. Played a track from Brian Setzer and you can literally hear the winding on the strings on the doghouse bass.

 

[PabloCruise]

First post, thought I'd share my experience. '99 LX470 with the Nakamichi head unit and ERR300 code (which is French for "toss it in the garbage"). After taking it out I can see that it has been repaired once already. 13 year old daughter is currently dissecting it now to see what cd's the PO lost.

After consulting this thread and doing some research I purchased a Pioneer FH-S701BS cd player head unit. I chose this unit for 2 reasons: first, the common consensus is that Pioneers are nearly a "drop in" unit and second, it had 4v amp pre-outs. Installation was very easy. Hook up B+, ground, and ACC as directed. Hooked the amp on signal wire and power antenna wire to the power antenna lead for the Pioneer. Hooked the green illumination wire (pin 4) to the Pioneer illumination lead. Wired RCA plugs to the speaker outputs. The factory mounting brackets bolt right on and fit perfectly. Bought a trim bezel from Amazon (because I had credit there). Solder everything together, cap off the wires you don't need, glue the trim bezel to the radio trim panel / climate control panel, and we've got kickin' tunes. Volume level is perfectly matched with the factory amp -- at "40" yours ears commence bleeding. Awesome.

The worst part honestly was running the phone mic wire through the dash and headliner. That took longer than installing the stereo.

I've had some nice car stereos in other rigs and this upgrade is fantastic. Unbeatable for the money. I ran a Pink Floyd track from the Pulse cd through bluethooth to set the EQ and you can hear every detail of David Gilmour's guitar playing and voice. Played a track from Brian Setzer and you can literally hear the winding on the strings on the doghouse bass.

When you say B+ for power, you mean Pin 1, yes?
I wonder why the Nakamichi has 2 B+ pins, and then an ACC pin...

Did you try the illumination at Pin 13?

 

[Matthew Funk]

When you say B+ for power, you mean Pin 1, yes?
I wonder why the Nakamichi has 2 B+ pins, and then an ACC pin...

Did you try the illumination at Pin 13?

I used pin 1, pin 2 might go to a different fuse or be "clean" power. I cut off pin 13, I suspect that it might be a separate ground, it's definitely not a power or signal lead. Since the head unit isn't doing any amplification I wasn't worried about getting sufficient amperage to it.

 

[PabloCruise]

I used pin 1, pin 2 might go to a different fuse or be "clean" power. I cut off pin 13, I suspect that it might be a separate ground, it's definitely not a power or signal lead. Since the head unit isn't doing any amplification I wasn't worried about getting sufficient amperage to it.

13 is labeled as illumination, not sure what the difference is between pin 13 and pin 4. Maybe one dims with the dash dimmer controls?

 

[PabloCruise]

Just realized I never added my aggregation of all I learned here:

Nakamichi Update - '99 LX 470

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[GoldLX2000]

So what i chose to do was cut the factory wiring about 1" away from the plug. Just in case I ever had to re-use the plug, I'd have something left to work with. Start with the main, most important wires (1,4,5,10,11,14) You can share 10&14 which is your keyed power ON switch (usually red wire on new deck harness)
After that, then concentrate on your speaker wires. I made 2 bundles separating each as I did above.

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sk8salomon, do you have a clearer picture of the wiring? I’m also trying to install a pioneer Head unit but it’s just not working. Can I please give you a call? Thank you very much in advance.

 

[ouzo12]

Sorry to highjack here but I have a new Kenwood headunit installed in my 2000 with the Nakamichi. Ill have the door panels off anyway for another project and figured I could change out the front speakers. Will i have to find 2ohm speakers to match the factory wiring or is it plug and play?

 

[PabloCruise]

Sorry to highjack here but I have a new Kenwood headunit installed in my 2000 with the Nakamichi. Ill have the door panels off anyway for another project and figured I could change out the front speakers. Will i have to find 2ohm speakers to match the factory wiring or is it plug and play?

I would think your best bet is matching the impedance, unless you are changing out the amp.

 

[yj668]

-

 

[yj668]

So, now the nitty gritty. Don't be afraid to cut into the factory wiring. Yes, not my favorite thing to do but don't be afraid young skywalker!
This is your best friend! Items in yellow are all you need to worry about.

View attachment 1007530

Anyone knows if wire 14 is also black/red on the end that gets wired into the stock amp?

 

[Agent T]

Great write up Sk8salomon, I just installed a pioneer x4800bt in my 99 470 along with my cobra CB, everything works great. I have seen a few questions on here about the factory connections, I kept all my stock speakers/amp and subs and it sounds really good (way better than stock) so I figure I will outline the connections as I made/understand them. I will not list speaker wires for brevity but for speakers I only had to connect the eight wires (left/right/front/back/+/-) and did nothing funny (bypass etc.) with amp or sub. I had the 22 pin connector so no available harness, soldering in the car wasn't too bad.....when you get buddies to do it, or lacking that crimp the heck out of it.

Lexus -> aftermarket deck
1) +b (constant power) -> 12v constant
2) +b2 (constant power) -> tape off/leave in plug
4) illumination -> leave in plug (my deck did not have illumination wire, some do)
5) antenna -> power antenna
10) acc + (accessory power) AND 14) amplifier -> 12v ignition power
11) ground -> ground (or actually ground it)
14) amplifier - see 10
15) mute -> leave in plug
16) beep -> leave in plug

For my CB I grabbed power from one of the 12v cig lighters/ports in the lower portion of the dash. I will try and get picks soon, thinking about making a custom bezel or getting the knock off, not into spending 120 on that. I ran my blue tooth mic to just behind the steering wheel, looks very clean.

I'm working on my 2000 LX470 replacing the Nakamichi head unit and keeping the factory amp. I have all the parts to build the 22-pin connector and plug into the factory wiring harness. But, the first thing I noticed is that it's really difficult to remove a pin once it's installed. So, I don't want to make any more mistakes. I chose the Alpine iLX-W650 head unit and will be using the RCA pre-outs to connect to the stock amp for the speaker output.

But the connection that I'm not sure about it the "remote" lead from the Alpine unit that Alpine indicates should be connected to the amp. I think if you are using an aftermarket amp, then this lead triggers the amp to power up. However, as I'm using the factory amp, I'm not sure if I need to connect it or not. To complicate things, I'm installing a microbypass to avoid having to connect the Alpine unit to the parking brake for the safety requirements. Above, in Nathan's post he indicated he connected pin #10 (acc +) and pin #14 (Amp +) together and I'm not sure why. My Alpine iLX-W650 has an separate leads for ACC, Amplifier "remote", Batt, and Antenna.

Any help is greatly appreciated.