I learned this trick early on while looking at different ISes - an IS with Mark Levinson radio would have silver (aluminum) ***** whereas the standard radio had black ***** - this
way with a single glance from outside I could tell which radio it was.

 

^ There's also a black brushed Mark Lev plate under the CD player, where the NAV SD card is.

& a pretty well hidden Mark Lev badge on the rear speaker under the rear windsheild

 

Yours must be broken then. They work great on my 2014.

 

The first one is almost impossible to see unless you are inside the car, the latter is indeed another way to identify ML from the outside.

 

Don't want to go too far off-topic, but the ***** in my non-ML IS 300 F Sport are aluminum, not black.

 

Did you not read the thread I posted?? It's a problem that numerous people have had. Maybe your butt is really sensitive and that's why it works for you

 

Mine always worked great, but I know others are very weak. I feel for those whose do not work well as there doesn't seem to be any resolution.

 

Got curious about what you guys were talking about with the different *****. Found some easy comparisons.




The top one has ML, the bottom one does not. As you can see, the regular audio system still has metal-look *****, but they are noticeably darker than those on the ML audio system. "Black" seems inaccurate however.

 

They look 'black' to me, shiny black but still black and in the Lexus IS catalog they look definitely black.