Hey all - I've been quite impressed and happy with my Mark Levinson audio set up on my GS350 F-Sport. Sound is really clean, crisp with right amount of bass for me .... so good I didn't even realize one of my speakers is not working!

While washing my windshield I was looking down at the front passenger side speaker grille that is located in the dash near the a pillar and realized I can't see the speaker cone. I checked on the other side and could definitely see the speaker through the grille on the left side. Thought that it was pretty odd as everything sounded great. I went into sound options and moved the sound to the very front right and got no sound.

Has anyone come across anything like that? It has been really hot here lately, mid 90s and humid but I'd imagine that the speakers are secured with screws at least and nothing would ever melt off. I'm planning on popping out the grille to see what's what. I think I can see a cable so maybe the speaker detached itself somehow? But even if so, why no sound?

 

Don't think you can pop out the grill, need to remove the door panel.

Edit: not reading carefully enough.

 

The speaker is not located in the door. It's in the dash where there are 3 total. Right, Center and Left. I'm referring to the right one.

 

Turns out I'm not crazy! And I'm not missing 1 but 2 speakers in the dash! The center speaker is there but upon removing the grills of the front right and left speakers I found nothing and cables that were cut and extended with another cable and then attached with electrical tape....but to what? I didn't see any speakers unless they are tucked away somewhere... but that wouldn't make sense. See below photos:

Center



Driver side



Passanger side



What do you guys think? I hopped on Crutchfield and didn't see any speakers for the front dash even available? I purchased the car out of state and the ML was something I really wanted and now seeing the car is missing 2 speakers has me quite pissed. The car definitely has ML because I confirmed that via VIN search and there are ML markings on the radio and rear sub cover. I guess it's a testament to the audio in the car that I didn't notice for so long and not until i stared into the grille while washing the windshield. Does anyone think I'll have any luck by contacting the dealer? It was not a Lexus dealer.

 

oh man u better check all ur speaker and sub on the car since some 1 jacked two speacker. lol

 

You'd have better luck dating a different supermodel each day for the rest of the year!

 

Since it looks like there's aftermarket connectors on the oem wiring with aftermarket wiring, maybe the previous owner had upgraded the speakers and took them back when he sold the car?

As for the dealer option, i guess it wouldn't hurt to try to bring it up and see where it goes but doubtful anything would happen since for all they know you could have taken them out and blame them? Not trying take a dealers side but i can see them arguing something like that

 

Thanks. That's a valid point but seems like an odd job. Proper connectors on one side and electrical tape on the other? Either way, I suppose that could happen. Ill have to see if there are any aftermarket options out there. I think OEM ML speakers are like $300+.

I'll be reaching out to the dealer. We will see what happens. I'll probably go straight to the manager as he left his card with the paperwork. They have asking me for a review anyway and screwed up before by not torquing the wheels properly and one came extremely loose during a 500 mile drive back.

 

You might want to look in the trunk to see if it has the factory ML amp in there........

 

I actually did. The amp is there. There are also ML markings on the radio as well as the cover on the rear deck where the sub is. So it seems that only the 2 speakers are mysteriously missing from the front dash.

 

I checked quickly on ebay: plenty of ML speakers out there. Might require some hunting, but you may be able to find them for substantially less than new.

 

$5 says your wiring harness leading out of the ML amp has splices.. I’m assuming tap the output for a DSP connection.

 

Thanks! I'll look around. Worst case I may look into getting a decent 3.5in 2 way speakers in there. Crutchfield doesn't show any options that fit so it might be a bit of a guessing game. There isn't much space in there.

 

I'll look but I'm not following why? The wiring looks fine outside of what is coming out of the dash. It looks like the stock connectors were cut off and an extension was made for another speaker.

 

I also have the Mark Levinson sound system I am very impressed with the sound quality. I would suggest keeping all speakers original, a lot of design and engineering went into the components to make the system what it is. You can contact M.L. via United Radio in N.Y. very helpful & professional people. The technician I spoke to is Joe very knowledgeable, he can guide you about using (or not) the original speakers etc. Amazing how clear the system sounds with just the right amount of accurate bass, imagine what yours will sound like when you get the speakers reinstalled.

Really sad people do stuff like this, I can understand missing tools from the tool kit but not speakers removed from the car.