SUBJECT: Successful Double DIN Stereo Upgrade for MY05 Lexus SC430
TOPIC TYPE: Informative Ramble
Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on this forum. Sorry, if the format is incorrect.
I love my SC to death and it *BLEEP*s me up the wall when I press the button to open the head unit door to see a boring tape, CD player and two dials. Something needed to change, so I watched a crap load of YouTube videos on plug and play interfaces to setup a Double DIN system with a custom head unit.
I saw the 'Axxess TYTO' kit for the SC430. I Ended up buying that and the Kenwood DDX9019DABS ($900ish) from Automotive Superstore in Parramatta, NSW. Now this worked but didn't include steering wheel controls unless I bought a separate adapter 'Axess TYTO SWC' kit for $150 bucks or so and then wire that up. It did everything I wanted except it didn't keep my OEM screen. A lot of people told me, "Oh who cares Bro, Do you even use it?". The answer is, No, I don't use it but I like my car being as new as possible and looking as stock as possible. Personally, it's awkward having a big screen with its own automatic retracting door that is now redundant. So, I returned the Axxess kit after researching about the Beatsonic MVA-13L series. By the way speak to Sam (Chilled-out bloke) at Automotive Superstore, he was happy for me to return all the parts I didn't require as long as they were in salable condition.
I spoke to 'Advanced ICE' (Authorised Australian Distributors for Beatsonic) in Brissy and they said there were no guarantees from Beatsonic that the part would work for an Australian version of the SC430. They weren't willing to take the chance as Beatsonic wouldn't take the product back once used. Mind you, I was still so keen that I was begging Advanced ICE. I told them that I accept the no return policy but would like to speak directly with Beatsonic's engineers and of course they said, no.
Then I thought of the movie, American Gangster. I decided to cut out the middleman and go directly to the supplier. Now, Beatsonic U.S.A. are based in California and are purely for American customers and only had information of the North American variants of this car. I was directed to speak to Beatsonic International based in Aichi, Japan. When you call them, all you hear is "Ohayo Gozaimasu, Welcome to Beatsonic, blah blah blah (Japanese for like 15 seconds, be patient), for English, press '5'." Once you press '5' your world changes forever as you will now be speaking with the toppest of blokes named Jonathan Berge. He went out of his way to try to ensure that the part I would be purchasing off them would be the most appropriate for my car.
It turns out that their product was tested and worked for North American, Japanese and European models. So trying to figure out which continental bracket out of the three that my Australian SC430 fit into was intense. At first, he sent me the incorrect part (MVA-12L). This part was for the North American models which was a punt as my hardware was closely related but the problem being my model has two OEM connectors and some have three. The American model has three OEM connectors. Jon had mentioned that even though you have two connectors just disregard the 12-pin female connector on the MVA-12L and it should still work. As it turned out, The American version of the MVA series requires all three connectors to be plugged in or else the unit won't work. Unfortunately, Jon found this out after he shipped the product to me. He had sales records showing that that MVA-12L worked for MY05 SC430s. After he bugged the crap out of Toyota in Japan he found out that there was a minor wiring modification for models made after FEB '05 which would affect the functionality of the MVA-12L. Realising that my model was made in MAY '05; he didn't ask me to send the incorrect product back to him, he just said, "I'm very sorry and I will send you the MVA-13L, free of charge". After that he did some further digging around and found that the [MVA-13LE (for European models) This is a deleted line that he managed to scrounge up for me and ship it over] did not require there to be three OEM connectors (two would suffice). This worked flawlessly on my car and there were no issues at all. I could even display the DVD or other selected outputs from my new head unit onto my OEM screen with full steering wheel controls barring the 'End Call' button behind the volume buttons. I was super stoked with how great it all looked and worked. Now, for the price, it was originally going to be $700 from Advanced ICE, Jon said he would give to me at around $266 (after conversion using PayPal from JPY (Yen)) including shipping (saved just over 60%). He even upgraded my shipment to DHL Express because he's a legend.
Now after my ridiculous ramble of a story if you were able to make it down here, well done, you deserve a medal. As a reward, I have attached a couple of images and I'm trying to upload a video demonstration of the finished installation.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask. No question is a stupid question, ask away people. Hopefully I can help you if not I'll try and point you in the right direction.
Cheers,
Beasthead
SC430_Beatsonic_MVA-13LE_Australia.mp4
