Hey guys,

I have a 2014 F sport with the Mark Levinson sound system. It sounds amazing, but if a song has too much bass then it sounds a little off. I took it into Lexus and they told me the sub could not handle the bass. Anyone have this issue as well? Most of my music is high quality? Are there any recommended settings? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Yup this is a common issue, kind of embarrassing. One salesman told me that lexus engineers or whatever don't expect people who drive this car to listen to music that loud lol thought it was ridiculous

For mine it happens when I put it to above 45ish, on some songs it gets bad

 

Well ok thanks. I'm glad im not the only one. Mine depending on the song sounds bad above 38 or 45ish. Its rather sad that it's not able to handle bass being that is is an upgraded system. I don't want to think about how terrible the regular sound system would sound.

 

Which songs do you experience it with?

 

I'm not sure exactly what you are experiencing, but I have noticed that the ML system seems to over emphasize very low frequency bass i.e. in the range of bass drum. If you have the volume turned up loud and the bass level turned up, you will actually hear kind of a pop sound when a bass drum hits. Depending on how high you have the bass level turned up, you may even hear the popping at somewhat low volume.
Conversely, higher frequency range bass seems kind of weak on the ML system, which is what probably leads to people turning up the bass in the first place. You will have to constantly mess around with the bass level setting depending on what volume and type of music you are listening to in order to eliminate the "pop" sound.
Seems odd, but it is the one anomaly I have noticed with the ML system..

 

Jeez. It’s not a set it and forget it thing. Very subjective to the music you’re sending through it. No system is going to cover every single sound file without some need of adjustment if you are getting crazy with the volume. ML easily outperforms most systems (not all, but most). If you keep the volume within a certain amount of limits then it most certainly does not need tweaking. Like I said, start increasing it and yeah, you need to do the right thing and turn down some of the frequencies that will muddy up the sound.

 

two songs thst come to mind are Skrillex- Summit and Bassnector-Lights remix

 

You are exactly right. Im coming from an 08 gs non ML sound system. I guess since the system was under powered, I never had to adjust any of the settings. I was able to keep it turned up with no issues.

 

I love the Mark Levinson sound system. This is my first lexus that I purchased with it. I never thought it was worth the upgrade. I will never purchase another one without it. I will just have to find that happy medium that will not require tweaking of the sound, as that could become rather bothersome.

 

I'm having a fun one right now with my 2015 w/ML.... the left front speaker on the door, sometimes it will make a funny noise, but only if bass hits it at a certain frequency. Most songs don't exploit it....

-Mike

 

This system was designed to belt out Frank Sinatra. LOL

 

Is it definitely the speaker? I had a similar issue and it turned out to be the window control panel rattling at certain frequencies. If you can replicate it, try pressing on various parts of the window control panel and if it goes away, it's an easy fix. There are some posts on here and a video showing how to wrap electrical tape around the switch housing to keep it from vibrating against the switch base.

 

I have the ML package in my IS350 as well as in my GS350 F Sport and replaced the sub in the IS with a Pioneer a few years back and the difference was night and day.

I have it in a small sub box in the trunk . Just got the F Sport and the IS's ML sounds a lot better. I rotate cars driving the IS one day and the GS the next so a good frame of reference. I will look into wiring the sub into the F Sport one of these days.

Here's a link to the IS sub thread.......https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...ement-diy.html

 

It's just one of those things.

I guess I haven't pushed my system hard enough to notice oddities, aside from the one time I recall hearing a bit of a resonant vibration at a particular point in some song. But I certainly don't expect a factory system to be both musical and full of license plate frame rattling bass. Have you turned off the DSP stuff as well? I find that has a tendency to royally butcher some songs. Also I find the auto sound levelizer to be questionable at best, doesn't seem any rhyme or reason why, at a constant volume level, sometimes it plays much louder than others.

 

for me, the system only sounds good when the windows are up.

once the windows are rolled down..my '95 integra with cheap aftermarket speakers sound better (with its windows rolled down)