ms500

I am very disappointed with the audio range in my ES350. No crisp highs and mushy bass. Has anyone found an aftermarket modification to the stereo that is very effective and reasonable in price? Many thanks!

sirCharles

just have a shop replace all the interior speakers with better wattage ones a fair price and install an amp for the mids and highs. If you need bass same setup speakers/amp in trunk.

clarky86

I agree - the stock stereo sucks. I replaced mine with the Mark Levinson and it is much better although still not the best.

The stock speakers are 4 ohm no name cheap looking plastic things from China. The amplifier is Pioneer and looks to be decent quality with a large heatsink. I have to believe going aftermarket speakers will help a lot. They look to use standard opening sizes. two tweets in the dash corners, one center mid in the middle of the dash, two 6x9 mid in the front door, two 6.5" round in the back door, one sub (2x2.5ohm) in the back deck.

I would start with replacing the two dash tweets and front doors mids and see how it sounds then. Make sure to keep them all 4 ohm to match the factory speakers. Quick fact, these speakers are on the same wire...RF dash parallel wired to RF door.

Let us know what happens.

TLPLEXUS

How difficult is it to replace the stock audio unit with the Mark Levinson unit? and where can you buy that unit from? My 1999 Toyota Solara standard stock stereo sounds more powerful thant the Lexus ES stock stereo.

Upgrading thes speakers sounds like a good plan to start. Can you add an amp to our standard stereo unit though? Let me know how you guys do. I might follow suit.

clarky86

Moderately difficult. You need to add a few wires/connectors and make a couple of cuts in the stock wiring. Then you need to cut in new rear door tweeters and package tray midrange speakers and make new openings in the dash corner speaker grills. You are going from 8 to 14 speakers. Everything else, including the ML amp bolts right in. The good thing is, my car looks and sounds like it came with it from the factory. I probably would not go through the hassle if I had to do it over.

Lexus for $5000 or Junkyard for much less. I found a smashed UL in a junkyard.
I like to keep the factory amp and not mess with any stock functionality. Ive heard of guys adding an amp to drive a sub.

IS350jet

All speakers in the ES are round, no 6X9's BTW, was their a huge difference in the ML sound quality over the standard system? I had the ML in my IS and it was amazing.

clarky86

True - the actual speakers are round but the front door speakers are in 6x9 mounts. Good to know for someone looking to upgrade.

I think the stock system was bad (D) and the ML is very good (B+). With a good source (CD or iPod) it really shines.

IS350jet

Thanks, clarky. I must be getting old. As good as the ML was in my IS, I was quite surprised that the standard ES system wasn't that bad. Going from ML to a standard Lexus premium system, I was expecting a lot worse.

bobsobi

I just replaced my 1999 ES with a 2009 -- after auditioning the '09's stock audio, there was no doubt I would have to get the ML.

Sad thing is, the old car's system, while not capable of surround or playing as loud, was one of the most musical stock systems I'd ever heard, with a very natural and flat FR, easily more accurate than the '09's ML!

The ML system has an annoying peak in the upper-bass, lower-midrange, around 200 - 400Hz that can't be touched with the mostly useless tone controls. It renders some mixes almost unlistenable.

I find it hard to believe that such a costly, "premium" system wouldn't be tuned to the cabin! Or they couldn't throw in an equalizer for the extra $$??

Then there's the nanny-car annoyance of having to set the PARKING BRAKE to get to the DVD screen to start DVD-Vs (thankfully, DVD-As start like CDs) -- this thing's starting to get me pretty PO'd!

I think you're overly generous with your B+. With the expectations that come from all the ML hype, I'd have to say C, maybe C-.

safford197

I wouldn't waste the money on the ML again if I had it to do over... The sub in my '07 hits against the speaker mount at very low frequencies with the volume very low. Also, for the price you get no additional frequency controls or surround options. Sound on most music is great and props for the crisp speach on DVDs, but I felt like the audio system in my '06 IS350 was just as good...

LexFather

To me Lexus has dumbed down the stock system so you pay for the ML system which is leaps and bounds better

bobsobi

Bingo! They should have included an equalizer! And you're right -- not enough surround options. The surround is essentially useless with my dualdiscs -- the system refuses to play anything but the 2.0 data from them. Stupid! Straight DVD-As, DVD-Vs and MVIs are okay, however.

You might consider having Lexus swap out your sub -- mine reaches its excursion limit on John Mayer's Continuum a couple times at moderately loud volume, and I'm going to bring it up when I go in for my complimentary 5K service. In fact, I'll probably mention that dualdisc incompatibility as well to see what they say.

tvlenthe

I just purchased '07 CPO ES350 with NAV and the standard "("premium") sound. While the sound is "OK", I agree that it's not in the same class as my standard '99 system (RIP @ 243K miles). (The rest of the '07 is terrific!) To my ears, it lacks the clarity and smoothness of the older system. Tweaking the tone controls only make marginal improvements in one area while degrading the overall balance.

I'm looking to upgrade the factory speakers in the front doors (Boston SL65?). Any other thoughts or suggestions? Anyone had success with finding/modifying the "hidden" audio settings?

Thanks!

garsarno

I've upgraded speakers on other cars in the past. No real improvement in sound. Unless you are willing to replace the sysem completely, save the money and remember this for your next car purchase. Once you go ML, you can't go back!

savon

IMO, ML system is designed primarily for listening to 5.1 surround system discs which are mostly DVD-A or DVD-V. If you are listening to CD, It doesnt sound that great specially if you burned that CD on low bitrate or it is a low quality recording. ML system actually shows how bad the recordings are on a CD (IMO, thats why most people think it isn't a good system). I found out this when I tried the same songs on different CD's. I no longer listen to any CD in my car after listening to DVD-V with 5.1 recording.
I have spent 10k on my home theater system, and I can tell you that I still like to go to listen to ML system in my car. Lexus engineers have done a excellent job. For quality of music you hear what lexus offers is a bargain with ML system. I am curious to know people who think this is a B, C, or D system, what kind of audio system they had in their cars that sounded better than ML.