rkw77080

Check out the link below for a short discussion on the Polk Audio DB-842-DVC
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...r-04ls430.html

1SikSc1Day

iTrader: (1)

Id say...do it the right way by removing seat, bolts, clips and cover to access the mounting bolts on sub.

I did this on my 04 ul last summer....maybe 3 hours (taking time for pics, beer and music)
In addition, after all my homework then- i had decided to go with the 8 ohm svc kicker sub. It sounds great, no clipping, no amp shutoff. i keep bass about 3 notches from max and seldom play anything under volume "45"-50. loud yes...
I also filled the cavity with polyfill and dynamatted all holes in rear deck and rear. sounds great!

pic posted for inspiration ( and internet fame hah) jk

Jabberwock

Some possible candidates for a replacement sub -

This one can be wired for 8 ohms or for 16 ohms -

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-8-DVC-S....c100005.m1851.


Another similar -
https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-8-DVC-S...EAAOSws65Tl2KC

caverman

It's up to everyone to decide which way to remove the speaker themselves but I'm not concerned about putting in dynamat over the holes nor do I keep mine any where near the 45 - 50 mark but I do want to get rid of the slight blown speaker sound when certain songs are being played. That being said I'm more concerned about breaking clips or not getting panels back they way they should be so I would prefer to just widen the speaker hole and take it out that way if possible.

caverman

Guess I'm going to have to do more research. I thought I read about the ML being 16 ohm but then in the video posted in this thread he shows the stock ML woofer being an 8 ohm speaker.

BigAlLex

Can you provide the ID# or link for the 8" Kicker Sub you installed? Thanks

caverman

I found the refoaming kit on eBay from https://www.simplyspeakers.com/. Their video makes it seem pretty easy to do, which is probably true after you've done a few of them. For $20 and the chance to keep the correct ML sub I might give that a try. Worst case is it doesn't work and I have to get an aftermarket speaker anyway. I'm still researching some and not sure which way I'll go but my sub is sounding worse all the time. I just need the weather better so I can work in the garage.

rkw77080

There have been numerous postings about speakers and woofers on this forum. Two factors to consider in selecting an aftermarket replacement speaker are electrical compatibility and acoustic compatibility.

From an electrical perspective, one of the very important aspects to keep in mind is that actual speaker impedance varies with frequency. For convenience, speaker manufacturers market their products in terms of Nominal Impedance, which approximates the DC resistance of the voice coil in the speaker. The best way to find out the impedance of a speaker is to read it off of the label on the speaker. If the speaker is unlabeled, you can approximate the speaker’s impedance with an Ohm-meter set for 20 ohms full-scale. The ohm meter will give a slightly lower reading as follow:
- For a 4-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 3 to 3.5 ohms
- For a 8-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 6 to 7.5 ohms
- For a 16-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 13 to 15 ohms

The LS430 Mark Levinson sub-woofer measures 14.5-ohm. The best replacement for this application should have a nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Any 8" 8+8 ohms dual voice cone (DVC) woofer wired in series will yield nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Dayton Audio SD215A-88 DVC Subwoofer is one example of woofer that meets this specification. The LS430 Pioneer sub-woofer measures 2-ohm.

Amplifier output signals work somewhat differently than a regular electrical load, such as a light bulb. Instead of pulling a steady current like a light bulb, the current delivered to a speaker varies according to the volume and frequency of the sound it will produce. So the impedance/resistance rating for a speaker is its “nominal” or something like the “average” value.

The LS430 Mark Levinson amplifier specifies 8-ohm resistance for the door speakers, and 14.5-ohm for the sub-woofer. If the replacement speaker’s resistance is too low, the amplifier’s output circuit will allow excessive current to flow. At low output volume, this will not likely to harm the amplifier, but at sustained higher output volume, this can cause overheating and potentially damage the amplifier's output circuit.

Think of it this way… resistance is simply restriction to current flow in a circuit. For example if you touch any "hot" wire in your car to ground (zero resistance between + and -), the fuse upstream of that hot wire will blow because there's no restriction to current flow and the fuse simply cannot handle the excessive current flow resulting in an overheating failure. So if you want to use a lower-than-specified resistance speaker (e.g. use an 8-ohm speaker in a 16-ohm rated output), you can do one of 2 things: 1) Wire the speaker directly to the amplifier and be mindful to keep the volume low to avoid overheating and damaging the amplifier, or, 2) Introduce additional resistance to the circuit to limit current flow to protect the amplifier, but starve the speaker. In either case, you're limited to the lowest common denominator. In short, the amplifier will deliver maximum power/volume to the speaker when the speaker impedance matches the amplifier’s output impedance.

From an acoustic perspective, the best solution is still to re-cone or re-foam the OEM speakers. The problem with replacing component speakers with aftermarket products is that Lexus does not publish the frequency coverage of its audio components (tweeters, mid ranges, mid bass, sub-woofer, etc.) and their rated dB output curves. Without this knowledge, you are left to select your speakers randomly, which means that their frequency range will likely to have some overlaps (which can cause interference), some gaps (holes within the frequency range where maybe for example some portion of the vocal cannot be heard), and some discrepancies in relative loudness (for example, some portion of the frequency range dominates and drowns out the others, or vise versa) to other components.

Bocatrip

I bit the bullet years ago after going glue, refoam, and eventually purchased an OEM Lexus speaker from a dealership. $295 delivered. Working great to this day. Of course I'm careful not to blast the music and try to keep the car in the garage during the peak summer days as not to cook the rear speaker. That design was also part of its downfall getting direct sunlight and drying out the foam.

caverman

This makes me lean more towards refoaming my OEM speaker.

Jabberwock

If you want to re-foam your OEM sub the re-foam kit makes it very easy. Watch a couple of utubes on re-foaming speakers and it should be no problem. There is no need to buy a new ML sub if the only issue is the typical cheap foam rot.

Personally I preferred to replaced the ML sub because it is so clearly a generic low end sub. The sub I installed was sourced from ebay (see my link above), has 90db sensitivity, and I wired the dual 8-ohm VCs for 16 ohms (very easy to do), cost was approx $40. It is at least a level of magnitude better in terms of quality compared to the ML OEM sub. Given the narrow frequency signal range most subs are crossed at, and the even more narrow range they can actually effectively reproduce (especially a single free air 8 inch sub driven by the very wimpy ML amp), the sub in the LS is probably the easiest component speaker to relatively seamlessly replace in the system.

caverman

Which one did you get and I'm assuming you're happy with going the route you did? How long ago did you do yours?

Jabberwock

I installed this sub in mid 2016 in our SC430 with ML audio system. Made offer and paid apprx $45. The 2001-2010 SC and 2001-2006 LS had the same ML 8 inch sub.

The replacement works great, it is a much more robust better built sub with a good quality rubber surround so it will likely last 3x longer than bargain bin foam surround on the ML sub. No amp issues.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-8-DVC-S...item256d18e442

caverman

Thanks! The OEM sub does look like super cheap quality. I'm kind of surprised of that with the flagship model but then again when you talk about the cost when they manufacture so many it all adds up.

Doing some looking around for all the options of a 8" 8 ohm DVC speaker I did come across what looks to be a really good price on a Dayton and since you gave good testimony on it's performance (I'm not an audiophile so I don't need anything over the top) I just might go this route. Looks like it would be basically $37 shipped.

https://www.parts-express.com/dayton...ProductDetails

Jabberwock

The parts express dayton sub looks good. My only reservation compared to the ebay sub (linked above) - the dayton sensitivity is spec'd at 85db and the ebay speaker sensitivity is 90db. That means for a given power level the dayton will be less loud. I suggest that a 90db+ sensitivity on any replacement candidate sub is likely ti be a better match to the weak ML amp.