DKNY

I only seen one review and it wasn't good: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...8&postcount=25

If I change my order tomorrow to a non-ml system I could get the car one month earlier (Dec, instead of Jan) as per my sales woman. Now I'm wonding if its worth the 3k, or should I get the regular system and do upgrades myself for $3000.00.

Please post a review if you got your LS with the new ML system, it would be very helpful.

Ex-Lexic

I am the guy who posted the ML review that your link references. I spent 45 minutes trying to "tune" the sound system in the SWB LS460 this morning, and I have improved it. I throw the sound mostly to the rear (2 settings from FULL rear), and that takes away the strong signal from the front center speaker in the dash. I then click the base down 2 or 3 settings, click the midrange up one setting and keep the treble at its midpoint. This seems to work on spoken radio and FM music stations and XM. I have NOT yet tested this out on the road. I would say with these adjustments the sound is fine. However, I was hoping for stunning. The sound system in the BMW 745i was super. It did really sound like you were in the middle of a sound stage with vibs coming from all directions.

You sound like you know what you are doing installing outside equipment. I don't know if this is true of Lexus or not, but if you fuss with anything electric, you may void warranties or screw something up outside of the sound system.

Keep us informed what you do.

DKNY

for that $ and 19 speakers plus 450w amp you should get stunning sound, weird that you dont. I have a SC430 with a ML system and its pretty stunning and its only 9 speaker system. You should try a CD perhaps since XM is compressed and you wont get a full effect. I really dont want to mess with a non stock system but if I have to I will, every car I had expect the SC I had a great system.

scott rand

I guess I've got to differ with the previous opinion. I have a SWB with ML and I think the sound is very good - not sure I would ever say stunning as a car, no matter how quiet, is not a great acoustical setting. I have primarily used the CD, DVD (audio and video) and the Hard Drive. I've only sampled the XM radio stations and FM briefly - and frankly dont expect great quality out of them due to the compression that was mentioned earlier. I should probably also mention that I had an LS430 with ML which I thought was great. I havent experienced any of the one speaker dominance that is talked about above - I have left it mostly in surround sound and I've found it to be a good upgrade over the 430. The musical detail and the channel separations and spread across the speakers seems very good to me. I think the noise compensation system is much better than before - it seems to do a great job of changing the level with the changes in driving conditions. I also think that the new system does a better job for the rear seat passengers. The one thing that I miss is the ability to change the "balance" of the system depending on whether it is just the driver, front seat occupied only, or all for passengers - all on the one screen. I guess it is felt that the surround system makes that unncessary. I also have been using the HD and have been busy loading my CDs onto it. It has most of the functionality that I use on my ipod (I normally just shuffle my whole library) and quality is good - I do agree with an earlier poster however, that I would have preferred an even higher quality choice (lossless). It also would have been much more convenient to be able to just download an ipod into the system rather than one CD at a time - In any case, I've been having fun loading the system. Anyway, thats my two cents.....

spwolf

you are reviewing sound system based on FM radio sound? Thats a bit interesting, isnt it?

spwolf

try to sample it some dealership that has demo with ML? It got 10/10 rating on Edmunds sound review if I remember correctly, and for 3k there is no chance you will come close to upgrading sound to the same level.

But best would be to listen both and then decide if difference is worth.

Personally, one month sooner is nothing, and when spending +70k on car, I would not miss ML.

encore888

Edmunds Insideline reviewed the LS 460...

...and found the ML system to be excellent.

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do.../pageId=103459

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i havent' listened to the ML on the ls460 extensively, but i did for a while. i am a sc430 owner as well, i love the setup and think it's very clear and nice.

but the short time in the ls460 with the ML, i think it's much nicer than my sc430. base is much stronger, and it's even clearer imho.

i didn't hear much about sound coming from the front or particular direction though. but again i need to spend more time

Rocman

That sounds odd. Putting most of the sound to the rear would throw the imaging off quite a bit. A lot of SQ cars have only slight rear fill. Maybe if you turned off the surround. It may be treating it as if it were a home sound system, where all the sound comes out the center channel.
That is a horrible idea for a space as confined as a car, but if the end result sounds good, then I am all for it.
I personally think that many speakers is overkill, but Lexus is building with "the more, the better" mentality as of late.

encore888

Another LS 460 L owner had his impressions here:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=244805

brt3

That was ME...

One thing that will really screw up the sound on the ML system (to my ears) is to engage the surround mode. There is only one way that this sounds good, and that's with true 5.1 encoded material. On everything else it throws so much information into the front center channel that I leave it switched OFF.

About FM -- if you have a really good FM channel and good reception, I think it can easily rival or better the sound on the HDD, which uses fairly serious compression. When we first test drove our car I was blown away by the quality of the FM reception, as we live in an area with heavy multipath that is devastating for most tuners.

After having the car for nearly one month, I'd amend my "review" to read as follows:

The Mark Levinson sound system is one of the best systems I've ever heard in a car, and I've heard aftermarket car systems where the stereo work alone cost over $50K. The radio tuners on both AM and FM are spectacularly good; we live in a multipath-prone area and the Lexus radio almost never suffers from the distortion we hear on every other auto radio in our garage (Phaeton and E55, both with the optional sound systems). The overall frequency balance is very well-tuned; the system never sounds overly bright or edgy, and seems to work quite well at the "flat" settings. The highs are smooth and extended, while the lows are deep, extended, and clear. About that bass; most car stereo systems suffer from bass that is exaggerated, overdone, and flatulent. The ML system has some of the lowest, tightest, fastest, most musical bass response I've heard in a car. It is definitely the "Anti-Bose" in this respect, but just remember it's not "impress the neighbors by rattling their china" bass. That would be SO un-Levinson-esque...

The best trick this system pulls off, however, is very good stereo imaging from each of the four primary positions in the car. The Phaeton, with DSP set for the driver's position, has uncanny imaging for the driver but compromised sound for everyone else. The Lexus provides a better experience for everyone in the car, even though the imaging at the driver's seat is just a cut below the Phaeton's. The Phaeton clearly has a better implementation of Surround modes, and it's Surround is adjustable for many different modes (just like on most receivers out there).

On the ML, however, I do NOT like what happens with the Surround option engaged. It changes the frequency response in what, for me, is an unpleasant way; this makes the benefit in perceived image width not worth the tradeoffs in brightness and harshness. There is simply too much information coming from the front/center speaker, and this feels like a party trick to me, not a natural or musical effect that one can enjoy for a long period of time.

The ability to load CDs directly onto the HDD is, quite simply, brilliantly executed. However, I'd like more options -- ala iTunes -- to set the ripping to a higher quality setting. The only options are 128kbps and 256kbps; at the highest quality setting the differences between the CD and the HDD/MP3 copy are audible. If the car had a poorer audio system this would probably not be noticeable, but the resolution and quality of the audio system are ruthless -- it will clearly show you all the flaws of whatever you feed it. Lossless encoding would be a nice touch...

Another plus is the ability to play many different formats. You can pop in CDs or DVDs with MP3 encoding, and the system handles DVD-Audio recordings beautifully. On DVDs that are well-engineered and 5.1 encoded, the surround mode works quite well and is transformed. I am unsure, but I assume that there is no support for SACD discs.

vraa

iTrader: (2)

If someone can hack the hdd to allow lossless (or heck, even 320kbps because the decoder might be unable to support lossless, call the rockbox guys, lets see what they can do) I would be so in love.

Does anyone know what kind of harddrive it is and if it's able to be swapped out for a larger one?

4TehNguyen

iTrader: (1)

I doubt the HDD in the LS is the typical harddrive found in a computer, Im sure its been beefened or encased some way to withstand driving forces for years and 10s of 1000s of miles, something I doubt a normal HDD in a computer which doesnt go anywhere can handle it

rominl

iTrader: (4)

well, how about laptop ones? i think laptop takes just about the same level of beating, if not more. plus, it could be just the enclosure insulation where they store the hdd.

just a thought

vraa

iTrader: (2)

You talk like we're off roading our LS's.. .