CJWalton

First off I'm new to CL. I've been peeping this site since I bought my GS400 about 5 years ago. Never made an account, but I've gotten priceless info from this site just browsing. I recently purchased a 2008 LS460 and I'm in love with this car. One of my only gripes like many others I've heard, is the stock sound system.I have the 10 speaker model, with nav. I called 2 of my trusted audio shops I've been dealing with for years to ask about replacement, and they both insist, "That car was made perfect, I think you should leave it alone." I get you, but it's not loud enough for me honestly.They say ,"Just add a sub and amp in the trunk." It's definitely lacking bass for my taste & I'm going to do that too, but I'm not there yet.

Anyways to the meat of the story, I was told this car runs on 8 Ohm impendence, and if I was to replace anything it would need to be rated as such. So I have found some 8 Ohm speakers that I'm wondering about replacing my stocks with and hoping someone can chime in if these should work. My dash sounds fine, gets very loud, but the rest of the car seems kind of quiet.

I even thought of buying c-pillars off eBay of a car that came with the 19 speaker system to have 2 more locations to put speakers possibly ran off the amp my sub will be ran off with the line converter. Found the ML speakers with the bracket for the c-pillars ( all I would want is the bracket, not the speaker really ) for like $25.

And even deeper, if I was to add an aftermarket sub in the trunk, would I be able to replace the factory sub with an 8 Ohm 8" mid-range loudspeaker? Or should I just cut the factory sub out the equation, disconnect it and give the factory amp more room to work.

Man I hope someone has some kind of experience with this and can help this new LS owner out.

The brand of the speakers is DS18, by the way.

6X9 for the front door
4" for the back door
8" for the factory sub location

Tron460

ive done some research, it doesnt look like all speakers are 8ohms. some are 1, 4, 6 or 8ohms. looking up on alldata.

Tron460

CJWalton

Bro thank you for the help. Idk how I didn't find that. Many thanks.👍

sktn77a

iTrader: (2)

Your audio dealers know what they are talking about. The Lexus OEM amps are equalized for the speakers and the car interior. If you start replacing speakers *****-nilly, it'll end up sounding much worse than it does now. Either replace the entire system (head unit, amp, all speakers) or leave the OEM components alone and add a sub. You'll be surprized how much bass, volume, and general "oomph" a good sub setup will add. Remember, 80% or more of the perceived volume of a system is in the bass. The upper bass, mids and highs will be plenty loud enough with the OEM system.

DerrickM

I concur with sktn77a--replacing the speakers will almost certainly sound worse and have less volume. I would start with a sub+amp and see if that's good enough to live with rather than replacing the whole system. If you do end up replacing the whole system, there are devices you can buy to keep the factory head unit. (The 12 volt industry was forced in that direction because so many cars now have stereo systems that are tied in with navigation and other electronics and just cannot be removed).

mambo619

i would replace the speakers with something better... to start off you will need something to clean up the stock EQ. something like JL Fix86. You can then run your amplifiers from there...

nickderosa

I purchased these exactly a year ago to replace the fronts. the system still sounds great. it may not be OEM, but unless you're a super picky audiophile, you're not going to notice. i typically stream spotify through the aux port between 45-50 on the sound level. anything higher than that starts to slightly distort. But at that level, you're crazy to want to go louder!


edit: clarification- front door speakers

nsaldanh

Look for a thread that was started by CMASTEN sometime in 2011 or 2012. He put in aftermarket speakers and a sub. He started with the base audio system.