jlin101

sounds like he was feeding you horse manure--the Midwest was the only region to get ML during the initial allocation. I had mine shipped from Chicago to Tulsa in early Dec. (IS350 with Lux/ML). ML may be rare, but not impossible to find. Insist on having it and he will find one; otherwise, special order the car--3 months will fly by before you know it (you don't really want to drive your new baby in the snow now, do you?).

upbull340

The 2 dealers are right about the sports package. I've been to both and this region is not getting the sports package which means its a special order. Most of my experience is in Omaha. While their initial allocation had ML is was only with the NAV units. Based on my visits over the last 3 months I'd say they lean more toward stripped down units to keep cost low. Once in awhile they bring in a 350 with Lux, Nav and ML. Even Lincoln did that with a black 350 last month.

I debated over the sports vs lux always wanting the sport but I finally special ordered the lux. Part of that decision was based on how bad our roads are. And at 54 I may have decided to own a luxury sedan with a little sport vs a sports sedan with a little lux. If that makes any sense.

I drove both at the Lexus event in Chicago and while I'd like the drop to be a litte more I can live with the stock lux ride height. Let me know if I can be of any help with your decision making. It may just be the 2 of us representing NE on this site. Welcome!

Tony1

If you don't mind having your interior taken apart, then i'd forget
the ML , and for about $3,000 im sure you can get an aftermarket
system, that blows the ML away... (leaving the stock head unit alone,)...
just changing most of the speakers, adding 2 amps and 2 subs..

DirtySouth

Thanks for the feedback guys. I was actually planning on giving the dealership in Lincoln a call today to get a quote. Any suggestions on a good salesman?

I would prefer to go this route, but I'm planning on leasing and I dont think that would go over too well. What do you think?

bpv12

I have the ML in my ride and i think it's the best t hing that ever happened to a factory stereo system. Even my friends with more expensive merecedes and bmws cannot match the sound quality of the ML. I gotta believe that with cost of 100K for a ML home theater, it's gotta be one of the best systems you can get from a car dealer. But if you dont care that much about music it shouldn't make a difference. I'm a music freak, got 6+1 disc cd changer and an IPOD with 2 thousand songs in my car, so you can see where i'm coming from.

Percy

As long as the stuff is bolt on, you can reinstall the stock stuff when your lease is up. It's not too difficult...

Percy

Robnbill

We specially ordered our car last October. Of course at the time, the dealer's standard line was you really didn't need the ML unless you were an audiophile. Since, this car was going to be my commuter car everyday, I really wanted good sound and luxury as well as the AWD. So we special ordered it. We it came in on Friday. When we picked it up the salesman said we had the first ML they had ever sold in the IS at that dealer ship and it is a pretty high volume dealership. He couldn't get over the sound and told us it was so worth the wait. He said it sounds so much better than the stock or even the ML in the GS. We both agree. It blows your socks off.

So if you do not mind waiting 3 1/2 months, I would say get the car you want.

DirtySouth

HA! Thats exactly what the salesman said at my dealership. Now I really wanna hear it.

Lexustom

Welcome to the forum. Having grown up in Omaha I still visit quite a bit. The Omaha Lexus dealership is very nice IMO. I talked to them early on when I was finding no one in So. CA. who was wanting to help me get a 350 with Nav/ML (among other options as well). Omaha seemed very cooperative in saying they would get (if they didn't already have it) the exact car I wanted in a reasonable time. 3 months or so. I gave it serious thought as it would have been a fun chance to visit friends in Omaha and then have a great car trip back to the left coast.

As it turned out I found a So. Cal. dealer who'd work with me and the car now sits in my garage. All this to say that I'm SURE they can get for you what you want. And don't settle for less than what you really want. And YES, I love the ML.

DirtySouth

Thats definitely good to hear. I'm still puzzled as to why hardly anyone in the midwest has ML or even luxury package. I just talked to the dealership in Des Moines & they said an IS350 w/ lux, NAV (no ML) is very tough to come by. And he said the absolute most they could come off msrp was about 500.

Jay M

Am I the only one here who thinks the stock system on an IS sounds better than the ML?

To me the ML system sounded very artificial, and the imaging was all screwed up. It sounded bad in surroud, and even worse whith surround off. I personally haven't found any multi-channel music I like, so I have no need for 5.1 in the car. I also have no desire to watch a movie i the car when I have a Home Theater with a 9 foot wide screen right inside the house

For the comparison I burned my most familiar music onto a CD in MP3 format. Most were at 192kbps Some were higher.

I set the 3 band EQ flat

The stock system sounded normal, there was a very obvious left and right, whereas the ML had no distint Left or Right- it just sounded like it was using some weird DSP to make use of all the speakers.

I don't claim to be an audiophile, but I am a professional Mastering Engineer. I am accoustomed to listening to very high quality loudspeakers in a fairly flat room. The stock IS system is the best OEM system I have ever heard.

I didn't drive the car with that system. A system is very different when you are driving. IT has to be tuned to dealk with ambient noise. An extreme case is my '68 Corvette converable with dual 3" exhaust, and very loud mufflers. In the drivway with the engine off the audio system sounds awesome, but once I start the engine, all the bass is canceled out but the exhaust. Therefore I needed to boost the Bass a lot for it to sound flat. Windows up vs. down makes another huge difference. I designed the system to be invisible in this car, so I compromised the speaker selection and placement.

But my point in telling you that little story is that I suspect the engineers who designed the Lexus system took road noise into consideration when they tuned the system.

Is Percy still around? Have you listened to the two system in an IS yet? I'm curious as to what your opinion will be.

I'm thrilled that I can get better sound and save $4000!

~Jay

Percy

Jay,

Not surprised that you're hearing the effects of the DSP, even though it may say "off" on the console. One of the things that ML does is to use everything in a software setting. So, even if the DSP says "off", there may be other processing that is going on in the background.

When I opened up the DSP/AMP for the ML, I noticed something very troubling. NO RELAYS. Take any good home audio receiver and you'll notice that when switching back and forth between different DSP or NO DSP modes, you'll often hear a "click" from a discrete relay. The processors which use opamps or try to feed it in the DSP directly will not preserve the signal purity, at least this is what seems to be happening with the ML system. The DSP used in the ML is made by Analog Devices, their SHARC series. The DSP itself seems to be a fairly good unit, but the actual support circuitry...put it this way, if you looked at the amp/DSP section, you can totally tell it was made to almost the lowest bidder.

The thread can be found in the CA/CE section. Several members nearly puked when they saw the internals of the DSP/AMP. Yes gentlemen and ladies, a mid end aftermarket amp utilizing MOSFETs are better than the BIPOLAR that ML is using.

See the link below.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...&highlight=amp

Percy

collinlevi

I listened to both and to me the stock system sounds better the highs on the ML sounded artifitial and they lows don't seem to come threw as good . My friend compaired the two also and said the same thing and this guy plays classical guitar for a living and has a great ear for tone. I talked about the tone of different guitars violins microphones preamps monitors cables etc.with this guy for hours. But tone can be a personal thing.

heasyrider

Can anyone here compare the standard IS system to the TSX system? I currently have an 04 TSX and am looking to eventually get an IS. I happen to think the TSX system is pretty good, but, I am no audiophile. If the IS system is at least that good, I would be happy.

GOBUCS

[QUOTE=Jay M]Am I the only one here who thinks the stock system on an IS sounds better than the ML?

I'm happy to {hear} some people think the stock system sounds better than the ML. 13 speakers in a relatively small cabin should be fine for me {9 more than my current car}.

I had not seen this original thread, so I'm glad it was resurrected with a new post.