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Fix your Mark Levinson Sub when it measures "open" across the leads.
If your ML sub isn't working, and you crawl in the trunk to measure the ohms across the leads, and it is reading as an open circuit, then this is what you will need to do to repair it properly. It is very easy, and very cheap as well. I also clipped alligator clips to the leads and touched them to a 4in speaker to verify the amp was working before I pulled my sub.I am betting this is the issue the majority of the time an ML sub is "blown".
First, be sure you have an ohm meter, a soldiering iron, soldier, a t10 bit or driver, silicone, and you will need some speaker lead wire. I have some on hand as I have repaired some other speakers in the past. I got mine here. They also sell it in a 6ft length for $5 more, but 1ft is plenty.
Step 1: Remove your sub. I will not go into the details as they change depending on which rear seats you have. I have the power reclining seats, so did not have to remove them to get the back panel off to access the subwoofer.
Step 2: Place the speaker face down on your work area, and remove the 2 star screws holding the rear cover on. It is a T10 as I recall. This is what you will see.
Step 3: You will need to drill 2 holes for the fly leads to pass through. I dont know the exact size of the bit I used, but it was small. It only needs to be large enough for the leads to pass through the hole.
Step 4: Slide the lead through one of the holes, and then soldier it to the soldier connection at the voice coil. I added a bit of soldier to ensure a good strong joint. I then pushed a slight amount extra through the hole to give it some slight slack for the woofer to move, and then soldiered to the connection on the terminals as in the below pic. It needs to be done for both sides. Be sure to test the ohms again from the connector after you are done to ensure you made good connections. A slight tug on the leads themselves as well to be sure they wont just pull off, but not too hard as you do not want to damage the voice coil. Mine measured about 13.4 ohms.
Step 5: I put a small dab of silicon where the fly leads pass through the holes i drilled on the spider side of the plastic to keep them from rubbing against the plastic which could damage them in that spot. Just enough to get it into the holes and hold them in place.
Step 6: Put the cover back on the rear.
Step 7: Optional, but I flipped it over, and then removed the cop cover to inspect the foam surround. Mine was in perfect shape. If yours is cracking or looking dry rotted etc.., I recommend replacing the surround. The company in the link above sells the foam kits, and it is quite easy to install yourself. They have video tutorials on how to do so.
Step 8: Reinstall your sub, and enjoy!
Last edited by williamb82; 12-23-19 at 11:30 AM.
Reason: More detailed subject.
Sorry, I have not been online due to the holidays. You cannot use normal speaker wire. It must be actual voice coil lead wire as it is designed to flex. If you use regular speaker wire or de-soldier braiding, it will not last very long and you will have to pull it out and do it again. I posted a link in the first post on where to get the lead wire I used.
This sounds like a good fix if the problem is the fly leads connecting the speaker terminals to the voice coil(s). Such a failure sounds like it would be mechanical in nature (constant moving of the wire eventually breaking it/them), as opposed to over-driving the speaker and burning/melting the voice coil wire. The problem with the 2007-2012 ML sub was blowing the voice coil wiring; don't know if the same applies to the 2013-2017 (?)
This sounds like a good fix if the problem is the fly leads connecting the speaker terminals to the voice coil(s). Such a failure sounds like it would be mechanical in nature (constant moving of the wire eventually breaking it/them), as opposed to over-driving the speaker and burning/melting the voice coil wire. The problem with the 2007-2012 ML sub was blowing the voice coil wiring; don't know if the same applies to the 2013-2017 (?)
I doubt seriously that any of them have blown voice coils. The stock amp is not powerful enough to fry the voice coil. I suspect that because the leads are sewn into the spider, and are so thin, that they just break over time and cause an "open" in the circuit. A friend works at Lexus and has tested every "bad" sub they had laying around after I told him about this and all of them tested exactly as mine did above. A few had surrounds that were starting to dry rot as well. Since I posted this how to here, and on face book, I noticed the cost for used LS460 ML Subs has come down a LOT!.
I doubt seriously that any of them have blown voice coils. The stock amp is not powerful enough to fry the voice coil. I suspect that because the leads are sewn into the spider, and are so thin, that they just break over time and cause an "open" in the circuit.
Possibly. Either way, Lexus dialed down the sub output on the 2013+ models to the point you hardly know there's a sub in there now.
12-23-19, 11:00 AM
Fix your Mark Levinson Sub when it measures "open" across the leads.
