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I recently purchased a pre-owned 2013 GX460 for my wife and noticed that the front door speakers are not working. If i bent down and put my ear right next to where the speaker is i can hear faint sound but the sound isn't what it should be for sure. So I did a bit of poking around on here and figured out the lexus speakers seems to fail pretty often and I may need to repair them with a repair kit, because replacing them is cost prohibitive. So I have 2 questions:
1. How large are the front speakers? I think they are 6x9 but I just wanted to double check with the people on the forum. Also, is there a specific vendor I should buy the repair kit from?
2. If I wanted to change the door speakers in the front and rear, using the adapters that Tecman outlined in his audio thread, what speakers (brand/model #) should i be specifically looking for? Tecman didn't have the ML sound system which is why I ask the question. My wife's GX does. I know impedance may be the deciding factor so I figured I would ask.
Any help or suggestion on this front would be greatly appreciated.
Yes, the front door speakers are 6x9. IF you have the Mark Levinson sound system, then these 6x9 speakers are BASS speakers. No vocals go thru it. Vocals go thru the dash and A-pillar speakers.
The ML system in GX460 consists of basically 3 subwoofers in the car. The cargo area subwoofer is the largest and goes the lowest (for music and MOVIES if you have rear entertainment). The FRONT door speakers are mid-bass and bass (but does not go low enough for movies, e.g. explosions)...they are low enough for music bass. Toyota calls this "distributed subwoofer system".
In other words, front door (subwoofer) speakers + midrange speakers (in dash) + 1" tweeters in A-pillar = full range sound for the front passengers.
"Mark Levinson 17-speaker 330-watt, all channels driven, @ less than 0.1% THD, 20-20,000 Hz48 Premium Surround Sound Audio System25 with Automatic Sound Levelizer (ASL), 7.1 architecture and in-dash, single-feed, six-disc DVD/CD auto-changer"
EDIT: six-disc DVD/CD auto-changer (2010-2013) & single disc DVD/CD (2014-2020)
Apologize if this was thoroughly discussed over the years in other threads. I want to make sure I have accurate info for the FAQ here as well as the GXOR Wiki.
'16-'19 - Optional on other trims?(page 36 brochure example 2016) - Also included in the separate Driver Support Package on a Luxury
It appears one could option a '10-13 Base with nav/ML. Any 10-13 base owners here with ML? or maybe I am misinterpreting the option presentation in the brochures?
ML was also an option on 10-13 Premium but makes it appear that ML deletion would also eliminate Nav. I can't say I have seen any Premiums without nav. Any 10-13 Premium owners with combos other than Nav/ML?
from my research and talking to experts while trading up my 17 GX non-ML to 18 GX with ML, only Luxury trim comes with ML package. Noted that it's called a package, not individual option.
That does appear to be the case as I was looking at a bunch of Carguru ads as well.
'10-'13 Premium
'14+ Luxury
In Canada it appears it is all ML regardless of trim for the most part. I'll post specifics in first post as I know we have quite a number of Canadian members here as well.
I have a new to me 2015 GX460 Luxury with a Mark Levinson system. While it’s better sounding than some factory systems, it has room for improvement.
I’m coming out of a 2015 4runner with the JBL system that sounded absolutely terrible. With the 4runner I contacted a company called OEM Audio+ and they worked miracles with my 4runner. Basically they created custom filters for the factory speakers and completely redesigned the subwoofer system. They sell the kits that are designed to install yourself with no cutting of wires.
I contacted them again to see if they had anything for the GX460 w ML. Sandy (the owner) said no but bring it down and let me run some tests and analyze the data. The data verified my thoughts. The ML has a strong mid bass bump that sounds okay at low volume but sounds really bloated when you turn it up. Sandy said the components of the ML system are very high quality with plenty of power but he agreed the tuning was not to his taste. The ML system is very self-contained and most of the crossover is processed within the factory amp. Sandy tried a few things and hit the nail right on the head. He installed filters for the 3 dash speakers and used the same plug and play inline filters he sells for 4runners on the 6x9’s on the front doors. The results are downright impressive. Filtering out some of the bass from the front speakers really cleaned up the sound. Now the system remains clean and clear with no stress whatsoever when I turn up the volume. The speakers just completely disappear in surround mode and the bass from the factory sub has far more presence. I can’t wait to go sit in some traffic now.
Hopefully they’ll add this package as one of their products.
I have a new to me 2015 GX460 Luxury with a Mark Levinson system. While it’s better sounding than some factory systems, it has room for improvement.
I’m coming out of a 2015 4runner with the JBL system that sounded absolutely terrible. With the 4runner I contacted a company called OEM Audio+ and they worked miracles with my 4runner. Basically they created custom filters for the factory speakers and completely redesigned the subwoofer system. They sell the kits that are designed to install yourself with no cutting of wires.
I contacted them again to see if they had anything for the GX460 w ML. Sandy (the owner) said no but bring it down and let me run some tests and analyze the data. The data verified my thoughts. The ML has a strong mid bass bump that sounds okay at low volume but sounds really bloated when you turn it up. Sandy said the components of the ML system are very high quality with plenty of power but he agreed the tuning was not to his taste. The ML system is very self-contained and most of the crossover is processed within the factory amp. Sandy tried a few things and hit the nail right on the head. He installed filters for the 3 dash speakers and used the same plug and play inline filters he sells for 4runners on the 6x9’s on the front doors. The results are downright impressive. Filtering out some of the bass from the front speakers really cleaned up the sound. Now the system remains clean and clear with no stress whatsoever when I turn up the volume. The speakers just completely disappear in surround mode and the bass from the factory sub has far more presence. I can’t wait to go sit in some traffic now.
Hopefully they’ll add this package as one of their products.
How much did they charge to install the five filters?
So far nothing, it was R&D. They had the car 4 days. The final parts couldn’t be very costly. If they market a kit it would be plug and play and not sure how they would price it.
I have a new to me 2015 GX460 Luxury with a Mark Levinson system. While it’s better sounding than some factory systems, it has room for improvement.
I’m coming out of a 2015 4runner with the JBL system that sounded absolutely terrible. With the 4runner I contacted a company called OEM Audio+ and they worked miracles with my 4runner. Basically they created custom filters for the factory speakers and completely redesigned the subwoofer system. They sell the kits that are designed to install yourself with no cutting of wires.
I contacted them again to see if they had anything for the GX460 w ML. Sandy (the owner) said no but bring it down and let me run some tests and analyze the data. The data verified my thoughts. The ML has a strong mid bass bump that sounds okay at low volume but sounds really bloated when you turn it up. Sandy said the components of the ML system are very high quality with plenty of power but he agreed the tuning was not to his taste. The ML system is very self-contained and most of the crossover is processed within the factory amp. Sandy tried a few things and hit the nail right on the head. He installed filters for the 3 dash speakers and used the same plug and play inline filters he sells for 4runners on the 6x9’s on the front doors. The results are downright impressive. Filtering out some of the bass from the front speakers really cleaned up the sound. Now the system remains clean and clear with no stress whatsoever when I turn up the volume. The speakers just completely disappear in surround mode and the bass from the factory sub has far more presence. I can’t wait to go sit in some traffic now.
Hopefully they’ll add this package as one of their products.
FYI, the front door speakers (not dash) are purely midbass or lower...no vocals thru them. They work in conjunction with the rear cargo subwoofer (which can go lower than front door speakers) to get bass all around the cabin. Toyota/Lexus calls it "Distributed Subwoofer System" or something like that. You neutered the front door speakers which may cause valleys in bass frequencies. Play some more songs...i bet that you will start to see that your system will now lack bass all around. The cargo subwoofer is not strong enough to blast bass around the cabin (esp front passengers).
04-09-19, 05:52 PM
Mark Levinson (ML) discusion
