Robdog1515

Good news from the dealer. Unconfirmed by me tho. Got a call that the new amp arrived, was installed and the tech played the same track I used to show the distortion and told me he could no longer hear it. I pick it up tomorrow afternoon. Good news I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

ICnothing

Hi Robdog, that is great news hopefully it is really fixed and sounds the why it should of always sounded, their claim of 835 watts. Make sure you test it while you are their and if it's really fixed let us know as this has been a nightmare. I have to say the customer service for Mark Levinson or (harman) is the worst they are yet to reply... Good luck Dude

Robdog1515

One question that has never been answered is where are the missing 3 speakers in these cars. They claim there are 15 speakers but I only count 12. Where are the other 3? Are three of the speakers dual voice cl and ML is calling those three as 6?

Anyone know?

ICnothing

Hey Robdog, that is a great catch their seems to be only 12 speaker and Lexus advertises 15 speaker. Could this be another false claim from Lexus.....

Mike728

I know the center channel is coaxial, meaning it contains a midrange and a tweeter, so it counts as 2. I'm guessing the other 2 coaxials are on the rear deck.

khatieh

As stated before, I received a redesigned amp and the problem persisted. My dealer opened up a case with Lexus headquarters and they acknowledged this problem. Another redesigned amp is on the way and should be in by Monday. I hope this will be the fix.

Sonnie

The front dash speakers are coaxial... see my pics earlier in this thread. So if all three dash speakers are coaxial, that would give you the 15 speakers.

bobsobi

Has anyone positively determined if the 2013 ML properly handles 5.1 LPCM? A couple recent posts suggest that Lexus may have screwed the pooch regarding discrete 5.1 reproduction in the latest version.

I know DVD-A is a "dead" format, but my shiny disc collection was a major reason for getting the ML in my 2009. The apparent ML-as-afterthought treatment in the ES has me hesitant about pulling the trigger on a new one.

Robdog1515

After your dealer replaced the amp the first time. Did you have a track with a volume level you could compare to see if the distortion was present at the very same place as before? If so was there any improvement in the volume range? Or was there no improvement at all? If there wasn't any improvement it's possible that an old revision amp was pulled to replace your old revision amp.

I am heading over to the dealer right now to get my car. I'll post my review of the new amp in about an hour with the results.

khatieh

Yes I have quite a few test tracks. I have some that would be distorted at higher volumes and some that had distortion at any volume. I have them all under a playlist.

Mike728

I tried a DVD-A disc when I was test driving. It took the disc, gave no errors, but I heard nothing. I would love if it played DVD-A and SACD. Oh well, you can't have everything.

Robdog1515

Got the car back from the shop, good news and bad news.

first amp, full negative treb, full negative mid, +3 bass, audio center at back seat, using a test music track of a techno song with some heavy bass. Distortion occurred at a volume of 39.

New amp, full negative treb, full negative mid, +3 bass, audio center at back seat, using a test music track of a techno song with some heavy bass. Distortion occurred at a volume of 47.

that may sound like good news however there is a catch.
catch:
the amount of bass, or dbi with the first amp at volume 39 is the same in my opinion with the new amp at volume 47. so there isn't an improvement in the amount of bass.

So really the issue was not fully resolved. However I have noticed that some frequencies in the higher range do have more kick, and overall I feel the system has improved a bit but not to the level I feel a reputable system like this should be at.

I just called the customer satisfaction number at my dealer to give feedback. I was given this number to help escalate the issue to Lexus. 1 800 255-3987.

I will also email Harman to tell them they didn't fix it, and I will also call my contact. I know that feedback from Lexus takes several months, by me calling Harman directly I may be able to accelerate a resolution.

I now agree with Sonnie when it was said that the subwoofer is just too cheap to keep up with the capability of the amplifier, as a result Harman had to dummy down the amp output to keep things in order. I believe the only resolution now, is to keep this current amp, and have Harman approve a new, different sub that can handle the performance we are looking for. Possibly something out of their GS or LX line.

so I recommend to all you get your amps replaced, then listen for yourself. do a test on the same track like I did, then use all the resources we have discussed here, like emailing Harman, and calling Lexus support to escalate this issue. Remember it is the best interest of Lexus to authorize a fix for a car where only a handful of owners are complaining, it has to be a large number so there is an actual financial impact to Lexus.

Robdog1515

First have your amp replaced, have the dealer confirm the distortion is still present. Have them file the ticket.
Call 1 800 255-3987 option 5 to tell your story. They will pull your service record . In two business days a lexus service investigator will call you back to tell you what they are willing to do for you.

Sonnie

I had a feeling this was going to be the case. I don't have much hope in this system ever being anything I would care for on a daily basis. Even my wife has already been complaining stating that her Kia Optima factory system was better. I agree the bass was better in the Optima, but the overall system was about the same... about average for car systems.

It is truly a shame that Lexus could not get it right to begin with in the design and choice of products. There are soooo many good sound quality car audio guys out there that Lexus could easily design and implement a very very good quality system in their rides, but I realize car manufacturers are catering more to the masses who likely see this system as sufficient to good... and it probably is good enough for most people (especially if you like listening to FOX News or sports talk shows all day long). No offense intended to anyone... I realize not everyone listens to their systems as loud as everyone else and at lower volumes this system probably is sufficient for most people.

We have an appointment on April 1... dropping the car off with Steve Cook at AudioX in Florence, AL. Steve is highly regarded for Sound Quality and SPL systems (SQ World Champion, SQ Best of Show for several large events, etc etc). He is going to install Morel 3-ways up front, a JL 10W6v3 in a custom designed box under the rear deck... a couple of JL amps and a Zapco DSP-Z8 processor. This is not what many ES owners will want to do and it ain't exactly cheap, but we are in our vehicles a lot and a high quality sound system is a must for us. I can't see us continuing to chase something that isn't ever going to be there in the factory ML system.

As previously noted, we did not buy the car expecting much from the audio system, yet we expected much better than this. In this case ML certainly did not live up to their reputation of high-end.

ICnothing

I will have to disagree we have to continue to complain until a resolution is done by Lexus. Yes, I actually choose the es 300h because of the Mark Levinson system because the one on my gs was great. If I knew it was this bad I would of gotten a different vehicle or would not of up graded to the Mark Levinson not worth my money and would get after market amps and speakers. Why should we as the customer have to go through this, we paid for something and we want to enjoy it. I guess this is like the eceleration problem Toyota had you need everyone to get pissed off before you do something.... This is pretty sad for a vehicle luxury company?
Thanks Robdog for updating us
Cheers