It Is Shame These Guys Don't Do Anything For Lexus

[Skraggy_uk]

Witson Electronics

They make OEM shaped headunits with modern features like bluetooth/nav/steering wheel control/can-bus for a damned site less than standard factory replacements. there is a A company in Liverpool who sells them.

And the beauty is they don't need tacky surround adaptors, and if you have a non-iso harness (like quadlock canbus, or factory harnesses) they plug and play ones just fit and match the original dash colours.

I don't suppose any other Toyota units are the same physical shape as that in the IS200 are there?

[Steviewevie]

Hmm, these seem like the dodgy no-name all-singing/all-dancing head units you can get off eBay, which turn out to have terrible sound quality. Or am I wrong ?

[johnboy]

Hmm, these seem like the dodgy no-name all-singing/all-dancing head units you can get off eBay, which turn out to have terrible sound quality. Or am I wrong ?

Yes they are those dodgy stereos sold on e.bay, i wouldnt buy another one, they might look good, but thats about it. Im glad they dont do one to fit the Lexus

[sparkystav]

Must agree thats what they look like so i wouldnt recommend them either.

And the surrounds can look good with a little work

[Kazi]

Witson Electronics

They make OEM shaped headunits with modern features like bluetooth/nav/steering wheel control/can-bus for a damned site less than standard factory replacements. there is a A company in Liverpool who sells them.

And the beauty is they don't need tacky surround adaptors, and if you have a non-iso harness (like quadlock canbus, or factory harnesses) they plug and play ones just fit and match the original dash colours.

I don't suppose any other Toyota units are the same physical shape as that in the IS200 are there?

Yep, the Altezza.

[Skraggy_uk]

The people I know from the Briskoda forum who have fitted the VAG fitting ones (VW was available before Skoda branded ones) have said the sound quality was at least as good as the factory fitted ones even the better end stuff. The downside seemed to be the control interface which was pretty rudimentary once you got past the front ends, although each generation they brought out improved that, and as they were running on Windows mobile/WinCE 5 some of the Skoda owners figured there might be somewhere to hack the OS rom, like a lot the windows mobile based phone user groups do to make custom roms with interfaces that were.

I know they wouldn't be upto the quality of a Lexus premium system, but when the standard system starts throwing £1000 worth of CD errors, something that fits into the custom space without a facia adaptor is always a good option to have.

[Skraggy_uk]

Witson Electronics

They make OEM shaped headunits with modern features like bluetooth/nav/steering wheel control/can-bus for a damned site less than standard factory replacements. there is a A company in Liverpool who sells them.

And the beauty is they don't need tacky surround adaptors, and if you have a non-iso harness (like quadlock canbus, or factory harnesses) they plug and play ones just fit and match the original dash colours.

I don't suppose any other Toyota units are the same physical shape as that in the IS200 are there?

Yep, the Altezza.

I was thinking something more mainstream like an MR2 or Corolla of a similar age, or maybe even from a newer model that used up left over lexus tooling when the moulds changed at some point.

[Steviewevie]

I know they wouldn't be upto the quality of a Lexus premium system, but when the standard system starts throwing £1000 worth of CD errors, something that fits into the custom space without a facia adaptor is always a good option to have.

Not sure I understand. The fascia adapter doesn't cost very much and gives you access to a huge range of aftermarket head units. I don't see the big advantage of these units happening to come in the right shape.

[Skraggy_uk]

I know they wouldn't be upto the quality of a Lexus premium system, but when the standard system starts throwing £1000 worth of CD errors, something that fits into the custom space without a facia adaptor is always a good option to have.

Not sure I understand. The fascia adapter doesn't cost very much and gives you access to a huge range of aftermarket head units. I don't see the big advantage of these units happening to come in the right shape.

Because no matter how much work you put in, a fascia and an aftermarket headunit can look good, but not factory.

These factory fitted units look right, as as technology is improving sound better than cheap tat, and cost less than a decent aftermarket headunit, and with so much outsourced to china, are often made in the same factory, with the same workers, using the same components.

If you fit one of these tailored fit units you don't need a fascia adaptor, a cable adaptor, a steering control adaptor if you have them, a display adaptor if you have them and a can bus adaptor if need one.

They are truly plug and play and directly replace the factory units, which while amazingly resilient in my old Celsior and the LS, appears to have been designed and assembled with a self destruct mechanism by a 3 year old for the IS. These budget units don't seem to be that weak because they don't use a complicated multi changer to get six discs in, they use a single discs dvd-rom to play MP3s, give access to USB/SDcards, HDDs, TV sources, GPS and Bluetooth phones.

You don't need trailing wires to the tomtom, and wired in handsfrees and adaptor cables to add an iPod.

One unit, one ipod adaptor and a phone mount covers phone, other music and your phone through the speakers.

[johnboy]

Sounds like you work for them, either that or skoda drivers arent that fussy.

The one i bought had just wires coming out of the back no plugs, the ipod adaptor was just a small usb adaptor, and everytime the phone rang the ipod went back to the main menu, that was before it wrecked my ipod.

The radio had so much interference you coudlnt hear it.

I bought a pioneer, all plug and play. perfect sound, all works as it should.

[Steviewevie]

I'm really struggling with this thread. I'm not aware of a single person who's said that the no-name units from China are any good, everyone says they're rubbish. I've got a Pioneer aftermarket unit which was only fractionally over £200 and is fantastic. I've got a fascia adapter which matches in very well with the OEM dashboard. My personal opinion is that this looks even better than "factory" because it is a Pioneer (well-known brand) head unit and not an OEM one (Fujitsu in the case of the IS200 OEM head unit).

Skraggy, I'm not trying to be rude, but is it really just a coincidence that you've posted a link to a company in Liverpool that sells these, and you appear to be from Warrington ?

[Skraggy_uk]

I'm really struggling with this thread. I'm not aware of a single person who's said that the no-name units from China are any good, everyone says they're rubbish. I've got a Pioneer aftermarket unit which was only fractionally over £200 and is fantastic. I've got a fascia adapter which matches in very well with the OEM dashboard. My personal opinion is that this looks even better than "factory" because it is a Pioneer (well-known brand) head unit and not an OEM one (Fujitsu in the case of the IS200 OEM head unit).

Skraggy, I'm not trying to be rude, but is it really just a coincidence that you've posted a link to a company in Liverpool that sells these, and you appear to be from Warrington ?

Yes, purely a coincidence.

If you look, I was posting in the Imports board a while ago regarding a Celsior I had.

This was not just some elaborate campaign.

I was merely suggesting that it might be something that would be useful if they added lexus to the range, to maintain the OEM look of the dash for owners of of IS200 models which are prone line mine to Error 1 messages (which I believe can be down to a dirty lens) so won't recognise CDs, or Error 3 which suggests to he Unit is FUBAR'd in many cases.

I like toys and gadgets, and while the cheap and nasty chinese unit might not be even a patch on the Mark Levinson system, or even the basic Pioneer Lexus Premium system in the older LSs, they don't sound bad. Where do you reckon the major companies get their average system made (not the top ends)? China makes almost everything. To disregard anything made in China without a major name is to be honest stupid.

China is doing now, what Japan did 30 years ago, and Korea did 15 years ago. Eventually this will be cars as well as electronics, but lets face it, there was a time no so long ago that if you bought a Japanese car then you were daft. The same goes with Korean electronics. Now China is getting in on the act and has skipped a lot of the learning by picking up where Japan and Korea went wrong early on, and also getting its hands directly on the latest technology by getting licenses to manufacture the branded goods. The fact that they have a total disregard for international intellectual property while legally wrong means the same technology you see in a branded piece of kit appears in a white box unit without the fancy interface design. What does a fully featured Pioneer 2 din touchscreen MP3/DVD/TV Bluetooth navigation headunit cost in comparison to the units I linked to?

The only reason I linked to that Liverpool reseller for the equipment I linked in China is that if anyone else was interested and got him to contact the makers, they might consider making a Lexus Lookylikee system for far less than the factory one costs.

Some people like their car to look original, but don't have £1000 to spend when original headunit goes off to the home of the ancestors, and unless you have spent a lot of money creating a very special environment, car audio will never sound HiFi, much less so in a factory install system. For most people, as long as it sounds OK, that is sufficient.

[Steviewevie]

Yes, purely a coincidence.

If you look, I was posting in the Imports board a while ago regarding a Celsior I had.

This was not just some elaborate campaign.

ok, thanks for clearing that up.

Some people like their car to look original, but don't have £1000 to spend when original headunit goes off to the home of the ancestors, and unless you have spent a lot of money creating a very special environment, car audio will never sound HiFi, much less so in a factory install system. For most people, as long as it sounds OK, that is sufficient.

Yep, but I only spent about £260 including the fascia, cables, etc, for a Pioneer (respected brand) head unit which has much better functionality than the OEM head unit (e.g. iPod control, plays MP3 CDs, Bluetooth) and sounds *great*. The fascia blends in with the OEM dash very well IMHO. I find it very, very hard to believe that one of the units made by this company will be anything like as good as my Pioneer unit, based on feedback from those who have bought no-name units off eBay.

Even if top manufacturers get theirs made in China, they at least do so to their quality standards. It doesn't mean that everything in China is automatically fine and that the same companies can sell exactly the same units but with no brand name on - otherwise wouldn't everyone be buying them ?

[reganlives]

interesting website but as many people have said they'd rather purchase a unit from a big company and get a decent unit rather than get generic units from china which although they may "fit" the dash properly they defo wont sound as good as a premium brand unit.

just out of curiosity though, who manufactures the standard IS200 unit?

[Steviewevie]

just out of curiosity though, who manufactures the standard IS200 unit?

Fujitsu. At least that's who my 1999 OEM head unit was made by.

[DJ Wozza]

Because no matter how much work you put in, a fascia and an aftermarket headunit can look good, but not factory

I disagree, as does anyone else who has sat in my car, the facia is a very good match

also with Steviewevie's double DIN modded facia

before & after shot

as technology is improving sound better than cheap tat, and cost less than a decent aftermarket headunit, and with so much outsourced to china, are often made in the same factory, with the same workers, using the same components.

The difference is up until this moment, you still get what you pay for. The components may look the same or in

some cases actually be the same, but the big brands don't spend huge amounts of money in research & development

for no reason, their products do offer better value for money as they will invariably last longer, be more reliable and

perform to a higher standard for their lifetime than the unbranded ones.

If you go for an unbranded Head unit, the massive feature list has a negative effect on the sound quality.

Several membes on LOC will willingly testify to that.

I have a long time experience of Car Stereo Systems, and you really do only get what you pay for.

Anytime I have ever (in my very early days) attempted to go for the cheaper option over the slightly more

expensive/quality route, I have ended up regretting it, and ended up being so unhappy I have spent out again

for what I should have just bought in the first place.

These days with the internet, for any car audio equipment,make a shortlist of what you require, go to a local stockist

to audition (bring your favourite CD or DVD's), then once you have decided what you require, scour the internet for

the best possible deal. Then the last step is to approach the local dealer again to see whether he will match the best internet deal..........(haggle hard and wave your internet printouts at him).

You should then get a very good deal in the current economic climate as he really is desperate for your business.

[Skraggy_uk]

Wozza, I'm not arguing with your experience or your work on the fascia.

Not everyone is going to be that able though. I know from experience of trying to fabricate a carpc facia for my old Celica GT4.

I would love something like that Pioneer 2 din, and I expect it would sound better than a cheapy, but when a stereo costs close to or the same as a years insurance it is probably getting a bit rich for me. Most of the time I would be listening fm or MP3 and you don't get serious quality from either. The only feature that I would consider spending more than average is decent DAB.

I'll be honest about something now. The cheapest heaunit I've ever bought, and also the best sounding, out of Philips/VDO, Pro-Plus sound, Goodmans, Blaupunkt, Pioneer (usually lowish end ones just to get sound into a radioless banger I had just bought) was a Silverlink MP3/WMA/CD/USB/SDCard Bluetooth, single din. All that was was £65 for a Lidl special German branded product made in china. They are basically a house brand for Lidl like Tevion is for Aldi. I bought it because a) The old radio in the car was failing and B) the idea of not wearing a borg tooth earpiece in the price was attractive, and my phone had a lot of music on it.

It worked, and people who heard it were amazed at the quality for the money and I still have it in the box upstairs because I pulled it and put the slightly faulty one back in. The Bluetooth was that good that some people didn't even realise I was in the car until I paused while manouvering, and I could pick up TAs from Sheffield and Nottingham and Birmingham on BBC, compared to the previous much more expensive headunit that was fitted. The FM quality was exceptionally good too. And it looks fairly sedate in black and the removable front panel is actually made of metal too, not cheap plastic.

If I was going to swap out I might consider putting that in as temporary measure it was that good, but I would rather try to get the original reading cds again (error 1). I've heard cleaning the lens can help, but this one won't even read the cleaning CD, and a Grom cable wouldn't help in my case, as while my phone has 16gig of MP3s on it isn't an Iphone so I'm not sure if it will be readable as a hdd, so I would probably end up needing a parrot handsfree to do A2DP to access that music.

[DJ Wozza]

Honestly mate the facia mod isn't hard, I would gauge my D.I.Y ability as merely 5/10 with a bit of patience.

I have only done what I have by some trial & error and a few bouts of swearing, the Sat-Nav LCD mod took

me almost 6 months from idea to completion as it had to be darn near perfect, and I had underestimated

the complexity of the project. The radio facia is dead simple by comparison, click my signature link for info/pics.

As for ERR1 or ERR3 failure, I believe that Grom also do a lead that works in a similar way to the iPod one, but has

RCA Phono inputs, so a simple conversion lead from headphone socket of a phone or other Mp3 source could be used

to get the sound into the OE system.

Obviously this won't allow any kind of control from the OE Head Unit, but would allow you to access music from

a non iPod source :)

You would need to check with Grom for specs & availabilty/compatability with your Head Unit.

[Steviewevie]

Honestly mate the facia mod isn't hard, I would gauge my D.I.Y ability as merely 5/10 with a bit of patience.

I'd second that. If your DIY skills are 5/10 Wozza, then mine must be about 1/10, and I managed to do a reasonable job on the fascia. It's very easy, you just need to be patient with it.

[Janetcar]

We provide Oem fit headunit with canbus , plug and play, no need to cut wire or add any extra harness.

http://www.oemcargps.com/lexus-es-350-car-dvd-gps-navigation-p-779.html