Music4ever

I agree with you DiscoDan, you need to have all information. I have been emailing the lemon aid magazine and they are very interested in all the details of this concern.

Frank1934

You may have read in another thread about a distortion in ML sound that at higher volumes produced a random sound like a thump or thunder or sonic boom.

My 300H was delivered in January and shortly after my dealer acknowledged the issue with the ML system
.
A few weeks later they said California had acknowledged an issue existed. Then a couple of weeks ago they said new amplifiers were being shipped. A week ago they said it had arrived and we put it in and it seems the problem is now corrected.

I gave it a one hour test running the volume at 38 on Satellite heavy base music with no thump, thunder or sonic booms experienced. Normally I don't listen to it at a 38 volume. For me I hear most of the instruments well at 34 or 35 and I am a little hard-of-hearing with no hearing aids..

My dealer never had felt it was a subwoofer issue.

So there is hope out there for all of you still fighting the battle with your dealers. Hang in .

ElliotB

Frank, what station are you listening to? What do you have your bass set at?


The dealer is wrong - this is definitely a sub woofer issue as verified by an audio engineer hired by Music4ever. This also seems to be acknowlegded by Lexus in a correspondence with Music4over.


As long as you are happy, that is what counts. But this system is certainly capable of so much more.

calm

I went to the dealer again and got a really weird comments thrown at me over this issue.

They went something like:

"Lexus is working with Mark Levinson to get this addressed correctly for the upcoming 2014 ES model".

"Lexus is working with Mark Levinson to get a temporary workaround in place for existing 2013 ES owners with this issue."

"Lexus will probably not issue a Toyota Service Bulletin over this issue... ...These things get issued alot more quickly."

I have to admit I was in a foul mood leaving the dealer with the $45k luxury car that zooms and distortedly booms.

Is anyone an attorney here? I would be interested in joining a lawsuit over this.

The auto blogs could read "Several US Lexus owners have filed a lawsuit against the automaker over defects that they allege exist within the company's Navigation System w/Mark Levinson Premium Audio." XYZ News reports that the lawsuit claims the system "suffered from design, manufacturing, or assembly defects." Those defects, the suit claims, "do not meet advertised specifications and resulted in permanent hearing loss/damage."

Before you make fun of the hearing loss part, the quote from the following article of note is "Distortion caused by any element of the system will increase the chances of hearing damage." Ref: http://www.tractionsound.com/support...ing_damage.htm

Cheers

bc6152

Geez you'd think that after 26 pages of complaints, tests being conducted, calls to Lexus HQ, and on and on, that Lexus would make some effort at resolving this issue for those of you so totally dissatisfied with this expensive sound system. "Wait for 2014" is an absolutely inadequate response. Makes me worry how they would handle other serious issues that may arise...

Music4ever

that worries me too....if things could not get any worse my vehicle is back in the shop, stereo sound just stopped working....What the ---- is going on

Frank1934

Normally I listen on Satellite Prime County which has good bass. I run my treble in the middle and both midrange and bass about 50% higher


QUOTE=ElliotB;7944950]Frank, what station are you listening to? What do you have your bass set at?


The dealer is wrong - this is definitely a sub woofer issue as verified by an audio engineer hired by Music4ever. This also seems to be acknowlegded by Lexus in a correspondence with Music4over.


As long as you are happy, that is what counts. But this system is certainly capable of so much more.[/QUOTE]

ElliotB

Frank, I find I get the best sound with all three sliders up to maximum.

nsaldanh

I have a 2012 LS 460L with Mark Levinson -- if it's any consolation to you that system is just as bad - zero bass and Lexus refuses to do anything about it. Maybe it's best if we all post on their facebook page complaining about the awful sound of their so called premium sound systems.

ElliotB

"I have a 2012 LS 460L with Mark Levinson -- if it's any consolation to you that system is just as bad - zero bass"

I have a 2010 LS 460L with the ML radio and find the bass is tremendous (very deep 'thumping' bass), but find the sound noticeably better overall on FM vs XM (XM does sound OK though). DVDs play great as well, but like XM, the maximum volume level is probably 10-15 lower than FM. The ES300h has the same trait with DVDs Vs XM but XM plays as loud as FM.

While I find the ES has sufficient bass, it does not have the 'thumping' bass like my LS that I was hoping for.

FWIW - there is a way to increase the overall volume level with the LS through its 'secret' menu. You can find details on how to access the menu in the LS forum.

Robdog1515

ALL PLEASE READ!


From Lexus lemon dept. who followed up with ML and gave me a call.

Update. so a while ago(2 weeks) I told you all that ML had a test car in their shop, they recreated the distortion with the latest and greatest amp. Well they have since adjusted/ fine tuned the entire car and claimed they nearly eliminated the distortion.

Since then, one Lexus owner who had complained about the distortion like the rest of us was used as a tester. so for one week this owner listened to his/her music with the test amp. After one week the owner came back to the shop and gave very positive feedback. I was told that this owner listens to loud music with lots of bass. To have the owner come back with very positive feedback tells me they fixed it.

The amp is with Lexus in Torrance for testing and final approval. I am guessing this will take about a month to complete, so 4-5 weeks we may have a brand new amp, with a completely different sound!!!

I am thinking in the 2014 models, the rear deck will have a much larger hole punched into it to allow for a larger diameter sub. ours is a 200mm (8" ish). Should really be 250 or 300 and not a shallow mount. no word on if this will actually happen, and if it does, our 2013's might not be upgradable because that rear deck is a structural element that is welded to the sub frame.

Mike218

Robdog

If the rear deck is structural and welded, I doubt it would be a easy change for the 2014 either. Seems to me the would have to do a redesign and change tooling, thats a big deal I would think this close to the start of 2014 production

Robdog1515

To Mike218. your correct.
My wife worked for Toyota stamping dept. for 10 years. they start stamping parts over a year in advance of a new body release. however they could always recall stock in Japan and quickly supply them with updated decks. I would guess that a stamped part could get to Japan and installed on a car within three weeks of being stamped. It only takes a few days to assemble a vehicle start to finish. since 2014's come out in Feb, it might be possible to interject into second quarter 2014's cars.

amphipri0n

Have never experienced the distortion or lack of bass, but it is great to hear some good news on this issue for owners who have. I will still take them up on the fix whenever they come out with it as a preventative measure.

Mike728

I agree with you on the 1st part, but I will definitely not be taking mine in to have it changed. Why risk it?