MrFC1000

Just took home a 2008 GS 350. I had wanted the Mark Levinson package, but they only had one in standard white while the red one was begging to be bought. In retrospect, the white is pretty nice, but I just fell in love with the red.

Anyways, I'm fairly disappointed with the stock Lexus audio. Compared to the Bose system I had on '04 Infiniti FX35, it just seems so bland and lifeless. At cruising speed you really have to turn it up to hear the details.

So, I was wondering if the ML was that superior? One thing that neither appears to have are tweeters close to the driver/passenger head, which always seems to help with the clarity (usually in the pillar or on the top of the seat.

Just looking for opinions. I've put a few hundred miles on the car, so it's officially used now I guess and I can't see them doing an exchange, even if I paid the diff and ponied up some cash for the mileage, but I thought about asking.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

you should try to hear it for yourself. to me, the ML is noticeably better, but i would not say night and day.

having speakers right by your ears don't mean much. all ML systems are done according to the acoustic of the car. the tweeters on the GS350 are on the front corner of the dash. to me, the sound bounds pretty nicely off the windshield and i think it's pretty clear

again, try to sit in a car with ML ad play music you listen to most of the time (please make sure it's high quality) and hear for yourself. to me, it's better than stock but not wow, maybe coz' i had the ls460l

rbarker

Gotta agree with Rominl here! Sound systems are very subjective and dependant upon they types of music you listen to. I had ML in my previous GS so I would even consider not getting it so I didn't do an actual comparision, though. With the right kind of music or good quality CD or DVD recordings I think the ML is just superb. FM radio playing the local pop music stations.... not really gonna notice the difference as much.

You just gotta listen for yourself!

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I'm a bit disapointed with the ML.
The ML sounds much better in a LS or IS.
The front dash sound is too overwhelming.Especially the center channel.
Then if you fade say 4 hits to the back to hear a bit of the back,it lessens the quality of the sound.
Some say turn off the surround mode.
Then why buy the ML?
Bottom line is the center channel should have a volume control like home systems.

drpepper

I'm not disputing or disagreeing with anything anyone has said, but out of curiosity, have you listened to any DVD audio with surround in your GS?

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

I recently bought my first DVD-A CD,The Beatles Love CD.
Not too many DVD-A CD available.Also bought a Pink Floyd Dard Side of the Moon upgraded sound CD.
The ML does sound much better using that mode but the center is still a bit loud but not bad at all.

drpepper

Yeah, you don't have the full spectrum to choose from, but if you go on Amazon or Buy.com, there are several hundred DVD-A titles.

Anyway, I had seen a few posts indicating that the DVD-A/surround aspect of ML is supposed to be where there is a clear difference and where the effort is put into the design of the system.

A properly mixed/imaged surround recording is supposed to recreate staging without you making balance/fade adjustments.

I think this is another one of those nice propositions in theory only. In actual practice, most people aren't going to be playing the only type of source material that can take full advantage of the system. The sources that the vast majority of people are going to be listening to the vast majority of the time actually suffer to some degree from the fact that the surround component (somewhat uncontrollably) pumps midrange when the source is not a surround recording.

What other sources of surround recordings are there beyond DVD? Has MP3 surround ever been put into practice? I don't think it was even developed that long ago so players may not support it. MP3 on disk doesn't matter to me personally because I have a 2006 (the lameness of a 2006 model year vehicle with no aux input or MP3 disk support)

Can you get surround over satellite? I guess it would matter if you could because you'd have to listen to the all-surround sound channel or something.

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

That's true.
The DVD-A discs sound different and great.
I listem to FM most of the time and that's where the system lacks great sound and center channel loudness.Even with surround off,though it does dound a bit better but you do lose something..
Again,a center channel volume control like on my home unit would benefit the system a lot.
I don't know anything about how MP3s,IPOD work.I don't use any.
I bought the Beatles DVD-A from Amazon.

BTW
I did find kind of a sweetspot setting for me for FM and regular CDs.
Treble +3
Mid +2
Bass +4.
Surround and DSL ON.

NYDesi80

I dont know why but I feel like the ML in my RX sounds better than in my GS... weird.

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

I can relate and agree

The ML in my GX was awesome, much better than the LS.
Must be the bigger cabin space plus more speakers also.

The G Man

The last 3 post just prove the point that audio system quality is very subjective. The LS has the better ML system, The GX sounds pretty good, but the RX ML sounds worst than the GS.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i don't have comparison between GX and ls430, but ls430 ML system was supposed to be pretty good. the RX ML is horrible to me, that's all i can say. the ls460 ML system is insanely good, and i expect the same on the LX570 (both ML reference systems). cabin size might not matter, our sc430 ML system was better than the GS ML

dunnojack

don't like the audio? time to upgrade to aftermarket!

didn't get the $2000 ML system? spend it on amp speaker upgrades

anything has to be better than the pioneer speakers

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Like I mentioned,to me it's not the speakers,amp or system.
It's only the volume of the center channel speaker that can't be controlled.

flipside909

Actually the ML in the RX improved 10x better from our 2005 RX to the 2008 we have now. The RX's ML in the 2005 severely lacked bass. For 2008, it was fine tuned and sounds 10x better than before.

My favorite ML systems are in the LS and the LX for obvious reasons, as they are the Reference Sound systems. I actually like the ML system in the IS more than my GS. go figure.