Anyone upgraded their speakers

[B1RMA]

Having had a good listen to the sound system in my car I've decided to look into speaker upgrading. Being a hi-fi fanatic myself I doubt there is much wrong with the Mark Levinson CD player as it is a single play unit which I consider to be about right as far as I can tell. But the speakers are perhaps the weak link.

[liambart]

I looked to replace my blown sub and it seemed a nightmare. No one makes a sub that fits.

Taking advixe i found the system in the ISF seemed to be complex and not simple to upgrade.

In the end I had Lexus fit a replacement sub. Ouch. Not cheap but it sounds much better now.

But the system is still not great, If you do find replacement speakers that are a worth while upgrade I am interested.

[B1RMA]

Thanks, I've found Focal speakers to be a good upgrade so I'll have a word with our local car hifi set up for a bit of their advice.

[rayaans]

I would check the equaliser settings too btw. The ML sounds ridiculously flat with no equaliser settings tweaked.

Additionally, CD is not the best. I'd use USB instead, it sounds much better

[B1RMA]

19 minutes ago, rayaans said:

I would check the equaliser settings too btw. The ML sounds ridiculously flat with no equaliser settings tweaked.

Additionally, CD is not the best. I'd use USB instead, it sounds much better

Thanks, I've spent a few hours buggering about with settings, the CD player plays HDCD's very well indeed and the system does liven up quite significantly so I'm going down the speaker replacing route. Call me old fashioned but I like sticking in a CD and listening right through.

[Twellsie]

its been a few years since I have done audio stuff, but for components I always used Focal for subs and amps I prefer Rockford Fosgate

[Defratos]

I have to say my ISF speakers are the worst I have ever heard in a car 😂 honestly they just don't cut it for me and regularly find myself maxing out the volume and still not satisfied.

 

Having said that, No I haven't bothered upgrading the speakers, especially ever since installing my Ti exhaust 😝, just looooove hearing the car now and don't really care about the speakers, I'm sure I'll blow them soon enough.

 

I would have thought they would have upgraded the speakers on the RCFs 

[B1RMA]

I quite often have to do longish trips in my car like a 400 mile round trip to see a client. My previous car an AMG CL65 did that so well as the sound system was pretty good. My last trip up to Donington Park Raceway was a pleasant one. Lets face it with speed cameras and unmarked Police cars these sort of trips can be a nightmare so you might as well leave plenty of time, load up some CD's set up the cruise control to save your licence and enjoy some sounds. Hence my plan to improve it if I can.

[Guest]

I upgraded speakers in many cars, and amps. I don't feel the need in the rcf. Perfectly adequate for a car,. However I think I preferred the warmer sound of the 13 speaker is250 setup in 2012. Less power and clarity but enjoyable.

A very personal thing audio?

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[B1RMA]

22 minutes ago, Comedian said:

I upgraded speakers in many cars, and amps. I don't feel the need in the rcf. Perfectly adequate for a car,. However I think I preferred the warmer sound of the 13 speaker is250 setup in 2012. Less power and clarity but enjoyable.

A very personal thing audio?

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Yes I agree audio in a car has it's restrictions and the RCF isn't that bad, ideally I'd like to be able to just replace the existing speakers with better quality ones.

[Guest]

Yes I agree audio in a car has it's restrictions and the RCF isn't that bad, ideally I'd like to be able to just replace the existing speakers with better quality ones.

Will follow with interest and hope to hear the results. Not aware of anyone else doing it so let's find out :)

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[NemesisUK]

Yes, audio is very much a personal thing. That said I'd imagine ML have researched speakers to put together a matched in car system?

https://www.marklevinson.com/in-lexus.html

I'd be more tempted to add sound deadening to the doors/panels before changing speakers. Give them to best opportunity to reproduce what's being fed to them?  

I don't have ML in my Battery RC and find the sound perfectly adequate for listening to speech/music in a moving tin box...

I saved the extra £1k it cost to spec in my car and added it to my home system budget, where I can control the room acoustics .

Yes, as said, audio is very much a personal thing.

[tomRCFcarbon]

I would be amazed / genuinely astonished if I could do anything to make the ML in my RCF sound any better. Aftermarket car speakers are pretty much across the board terrible sounding. The drive units that ML specified were sourced via their sister company Revel so you’re in good hands. A direct Lexus sourced replacement will be best way to keep the sound quality of the ML spec’d unit. 

Then again beauty is in the eye (or in this case ear) of the beholder...after all some people think Bose and Sonos sound good - each to their own I guess. 

[B1RMA]

Not sure if my car has the full 17 speakers, again it's early days so I haven't had a good poke around. I must admit the active suspension and TVD were my priorities when buying a car.

Thanks, I'm going to start with the door mid-woofers, then the sub at the rear and I'm not too sure if my car has the two speakers at the rear either side of the sub woofer.

My first port of call will be Focal for the speakers not the normal ones but the very expensive French assembled units as I have found them significantly better in every vehicle I've upgraded.

I very nearly bought some Focal speakers for my home hi-fi but at £50K I couldn't justify the upgrade from my current speakers, but they were good and looked the business.

[Guest]

20 minutes ago, B1RMA said:

Not sure if my car has the full 17 speakers,

It's clever accounting. If the speaker has 2 cones they call it 2 speakers. 

This 17 speaker ML set up has iirc 12 locations 

https://www.marklevinson.com/in-lexus.html

[Guest]

58 minutes ago, tomRCFcarbon said:

 The drive units that ML specified were sourced via their sister company Revel so you’re in good hands.

That's very interesting, how did you find that out?

[NemesisUK]

The link in mine and [Error]'s post above will detail the exact position and speaker type/size in the RC, just select the car from the links down the page.

[B1RMA]

Thanks, I've found that I'll have a poke around today. Never heard of Revel speakers though.

[NemesisUK]

All part of the Harman group.

[B1RMA]

6 minutes ago, NemesisUK said:

All part of the Harman group.

Got it.

[tomRCFcarbon]

There were some press releases at the time of release that mentioned Revel, not that I can find them now of course...in any case the lineage we benefit from is more Madrigal than Harman (or Samsung!) admittedly they’ve been swallowed up, but back in the day when they developed the drivers and amps for Lexus they were part of a hifi group along with ML that made unbelievable hifi. The teams that designed and made that stuff are still with both companies (except for Mr Levinson himself - too busy making s*x-help books with Kim Cattrall at the time...true story look it up). Point is the hifi’s we have in our cars are VERY special. 

This is Revel, they were part of Madrigal too. https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/96/index.html

They’re still making pairs of speakers that cost £30k+!

[B1RMA]

I seem to recall that Harman group swallowed up JBL and a few others in the past.

[Guest]

(except for Mr Levinson himself - too busy making s*x-help books with Kim Cattrall at the time...true story look it up).

I may just do that :D

Very interesting stuff that post, thanks.

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[NemesisUK]

Just scroll to the very bottom of the page I linked a above for a list of all Harmon group marques.

 

[rayaans]

Just had a thought - aren't the speakers in the new ML system those fancy Eco speakers which use much less power?