hochiminh

Just bought an 04 navi/mark levinson with a near-dead stock system. The lower front panel speakers are dead, as well as the ones in the back door. I haven't determined the ones on the rear door yet. I've read some of the threads on CL.

What I know: 2 ohm impedance, which makes replacement difficult due to few choices, also $$$ OEM replacements.

What I don't know: The consequences of using higher impedance speakers as replacements. Will it just sound like **** or will I run a chance of frying something? What do aftermarket speakers usually cost? What are reputable brands? JPL? Infinity?

Goals: Get back the full intended sound stage as cost-effectively as possible. I'm thinking of replacing the speakers in pairs moving front to back.

maxx430

i thought the speakers were 8ohms.

chiph9

Right - they're 8 ohms. There are people who have put in aftermarket 8-ohm speakers (do a search here).

But what usually happens with them is the rubber surround decays and falls apart. If you have some mechanical aptitude, you can order a replacement set from Simply Speakers.

Losing the 6x9's in the door is a pain because then you lose the spoken Nav directions...

Chip H.

hochiminh

Thanks! I read in another CL thread about the 2 ohm impedance, but I think that might be for the subwoofer. Also, as GX-specific info is sparse, I made the mistake of assuming that other threads with ML info would be universal. This is not true. I think there are at least 3 generations of ML systems, and our generation has 2 gens with 2 types? (with and without rear entertainment).

I'm going to take my time and pull the speakers with damage out and test & patch them.

I've never heard this particular system before, but is it safe to assume that I won't be able to get better aftermarket speakers unless I'm willing to fork out $150+ a pair?

chiph9

The ML system (when it's running correctly) is probably one of the best factory systems ever, so far as sound quality. If you're looking for SPL, sorry. It plays loud enough to vibrate the rear mirror, but that's it.

Chip H.
(who was involved in the car audio scene in the late 90's and still has a set of AutoSound 2000 CD's)

hochiminh

Thanks Chip. My parents had a LS430 of the same year with the premium system and I was absolutely blown away by what I heard. Do you think it's worth my time to lay a bit of dynamat and MLV in the doors while I repair the speakers? I'm not looking to enhance sound as much as I'm looking to cut noise. Currently at 75mph, the ambient noise is around 67 decibels.

chiph9

I added some dynamat extreme in the driver's door and behind the subwoofer:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...subwoofer.html

I didn't really see much improvement/decrease in road noise. But it can't hurt to try.

Chip H.

hochiminh

How does the ML system sound when in good working order?

I repaired the front 6x9s but it doesn't seem to give much thump when placing my hand over the speaker mesh.

EDIT: nevermind. I just decided to not be lazy and go out and get batteries. I tried to bump the 6x9 with a D cell and some wires. Looks like the voice coil is gone. Make sure to test your speakers before spending money on refoam kits lol.

Ispeedca

LOL i just saw your signature and the average of 13mpg on 180 fuel ups and almost spilled my drink laughing.. wow i never knew it guzzled that much!

JLee50

I replaced all of the speakers in my front doors. The ML tweeters were falling apart.

Writeup: https://squashingrocks.com/diy/body-...r-replacement/

Oddly enough, my 6x9's were fine..I was expecting the surrounds to be bad. Since I already had new speakers, I replaced them anyways and re-homed the old ones to someone else's GX that had bad 6x9's.

chiph9

I live in Austin, and pass through a couple of the most congested areas of town on my way to work. So I spend a lot of time idling at stoplights and going 10mph. My commute is 8.5 miles and on a good day I can do that in about 30 minutes.

Austin is great. Please don't move here.
Chip H.

hochiminh

Yeesh. I'm officially 0 for 3 on the speakers. Front 6x9 won't pulse and the subwoofer has a ****ed up voice coil and rattles. I've taken a chance on some 8 ohm 6x9 speakers from AC Delco in the front. For the rear subwoofer, it looks like it comes stock with 8 or 12 ohms depending on what I read. Is there a decent replacement subwoofer only? I realllllly don't feel like shelling out $350 for a new factory subwoofer.

Someone apparently used an older 6.5 Kicker CVT65 successfully in the stock box, which is 4 ohms.