retro fit mark levinson system

Stompe · November 2, 2020

A Car is the worst environment for a good sound system, for a start your sitting in the wrong place, coupled with God putting your ears in the wrong place, And Manufacturers saying the Hz frequency 5hz to 30,000hz laughable as the Human ear range is normally 30hz to 20,000hz, then has you get older your hearing loses the top end, hence why you we have tone controls, Hope this goes someway to understanding what Manufacturers have to deal with, to my mind its just Kudos saying i have Bose, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson in a car, Two people will never hear a system the same way, Hence why they Compress music Mp3 Mp4 etc, yo are missing so much attenuation, No amount of volume will compensate.

SJT · November 2, 2020

It's interesting to read all the comments on this. I have to agree that the "standard" system in my CT is absolutely shocking both in terms of quality and volume.

I had a few months driving around in a 15 year old Volvo with its Dolby Pro Logic system and I dearly miss the car for that alone.

I love the CT but it is a big let down for a premium car..

Linas.P · November 2, 2020

@Stompe - yes car is not great place for audiophile, but it could be made bearable by some systems. Lexus entry level system is not the one which I would consider "bearable". As I said, if you into listening to radio in the car, it is only good for that - don't try listening to musing on it thought.

@SJT - yes CT is not great representative of Lexus as a brand. I see it as missed opportunity really, because the only logic to have such entry level car is to attract young buyers into brand. This means CT should be loss leader - "too good of the deal", it should give good impression so that somebody would upgrade from CT to other models in the future. Sadly, none of that is true about CT. The only Lexus quality it has - it is reliable... so is Toyota Auris which is as well available as hybrid. Frankly one would not miss much going for Auris.

para999 · November 2, 2020

after owning several brands of cars over the years, in my opinion the best system by far has been B & 0 as fitted to audi. it all comes down to personal choice though.

Linas.P · November 2, 2020

7 minutes ago, para999 said:

after owning several brands of cars over the years, in my opinion the best system by far has been B & 0 as fitted to audi. it all comes down to personal choice though.

Yeah, but as well it is specific model dependent. B&O in A6, may be worse than one in S7 and better than RS4. Similarly, here even thought CT, IS, RC, LS and other Lexus models have ML, it does not mean that ML is equally good on all models. I heard as well that in previous ES (mk6) the ML system was better than current gen ES (mk7).

So sound test is required during test drive to really check this.

para999 · November 2, 2020

42 minutes ago, Linas.P said:

true but if you believe the bumph they tune the system for the model concerned . i had several TT'S and S3'S never had one in a larger model. the dogs doo dahs would have been the ones where the speakers arose from the dash but didn't want that the car was too big for my needs. as for lexus i've had an RC and an IS .i only kept the RC for 8 months because of the problems i had with it. all i can say is the I.S. was ok ish.the thing is as i am now retired i no longer use the car for commuting to work so am able to appreciate ' the finer things in life' as the saying goes, that is sound systems nothing else. :-)

p.s sorry about the message of your quote above.

Neil E · November 2, 2020

To answer the question, yes it's possible to retro-fit the ML system but may be quite expensive and a lot of work for a relatively small gain. For a better sound it would be worth comparing the costs of other options. Some of what has been said above is true and some of it is.....opinion.🙂

Joining the resulting debate. For all the hype, the gimmicks and ridiculous badge snobbery, car manufacturers tend to skimp on the components that make up the audio system. For standard equipment, Lexus and Harman do a reasonable job dependent on what you pay but if you spend lots of time in a car and care enough about the quality of the audio then look to the high end aftermarket suppliers for worthwhile solutions.

It isn't possible to replicate the sound achievable in a purpose built room using the best equipment but with time, expense and effort, it is possible to reproduce SQ in a car that is very good and significantly better than the best ML offering in the most expensive Lexus. A big advantage with some Lexus models is that they are quiet in the first place, the disadvantage is that the manufacturer makes it difficult for the DIY enthusiast to perform simple upgrades easily.

However you like your music, it's a good idea to look after your ears so that you can keep enjoying it.

Las Palmas · November 9, 2020

On 11/1/2020 at 3:10 PM, Spacewagon52 said:

Is it worth doing? Is the standard sound system that bad?

Cannot tell about the standard system, but the Mark Levison sound is the best I have ever heard in a car. Not needed if you listen to .mp3 music but you can hear the difference when listening to .flac recordings. In other cars such as MB and VW the music system is not bad in their premium models but does not come near the ML in our CT, have heard Audi has some kind of good music system in some of their top cars, but have never had a chance to listen to one.

Las Palmas · November 9, 2020

On 11/2/2020 at 9:47 AM, Stompe said:

A Car is the worst environment for a good sound system, for a start your sitting in the wrong place, coupled with God putting your ears in the wrong place, And Manufacturers saying the Hz frequency 5hz to 30,000hz laughable as the Human ear range is normally 30hz to 20,000hz, then has you get older your hearing loses the top end, hence why you we have tone controls, Hope this goes someway to understanding what Manufacturers have to deal with, to my mind its just Kudos saying i have Bose, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson in a car, Two people will never hear a system the same way, Hence why they Compress music Mp3 Mp4 etc, yo are missing so much attenuation, No amount of volume will compensate.

Why compress music? Memory cards are not very expensive these days and if you use .flac you get lossless music. What you put in is what you get out.

rich1068 · November 9, 2020

Cassette player in my LS is spot on. Flac, memory cards, MP3? Analogue ftw

Las Palmas · November 9, 2020

10 minutes ago, rich1068 said:

Cassette player in my LS is spot on. Flac, memory cards, MP3? Analogue ftw

once had a tube amplifier 2x2 watts was more than 2x50 in the modern ones. Lowther dual cone in quarter wave horn. Once upon a time.

rich1068 · November 9, 2020

Jonny Smith posted this up on Twitter the other day.

holiday · November 11, 2020

Rather than opening up the car and re wiring the car with miles of cable and invalidating the cars 3 years manufacture warranty.

The best thing is to sell the car or ask the dealer to have a part exchange and buying a car with the takumi pack. I have the ML version in my car and it sounds great.

To put it bluntly you should have test drove the car and not bought the car. There are many pre owned used cars with the takumi/premier out there. Just get an upgrade rather than disturbing the car. I wouldn’t buy a car with an upgraded system which was completed by a third party on a brand new car as it invalidates the warranty

para999 · November 11, 2020

1 hour ago, holiday said:

Rather than opening up the car and re wiring the car with miles of cable and invalidating the cars 3 years manufacture warranty.

The best thing is to sell the car or ask the dealer to have a part exchange and buying a car with the takumi pack. I have the ML version in my car and it sounds great.

To put it bluntly you should have test drove the car and not bought the car. There are many pre owned used cars with the takumi/premier out there. Just get an upgrade rather than disturbing the car. I wouldn’t buy a car with an upgraded system which was completed by a third party on a brand new car as it invalidates the warranty

as i have said in one of my previous replies the only way to get the ML system, at the time was to have a sunroof which not only did i not want but i also didn't want to pay for something i didn't want.i was after buying a new car in order to specify what i wanted as regards colour and extras,i didn't want second hand.as regards selling the car as i don't want second hand and the takumi model or pack is not available on the CT anymore that would be a pointless exercise, as i like the CT. i have decided to leave it.