sinto1

Did a search, could not find the answer I am looking for so maybe someone here has done this or has info on it. I have a 2008 IS350 with Navigation and stock stereo. Question is can you install the Mark Levinson Amp to get the better sound quality? The plugs on the Amps from stock to Mark levinson look identical so is it a matter of just pluging in the Mark Levinson amp and your good to go? or will this melt something or blow out the stock speakers? Has any one done the conversion?

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

Stock speakers vs. ML speakers is 4 ohm vs 8 ohm... not to mention the ML system has different number, and placement, of speakers.

sinto1

So is there anyway to make it work? such as changing out the speakers to 8ohm or does the wiring have to be changed also. I have the M/L amp already and the harness and plugs look identical right down to the number of pins in the connectors.

kikaida

You will need an ML amp, speakers and digital cable. The digital cable is a hard one to find.

sinto1

I have the amp already,so if I just plug this amp in will this damage anything? does anyone know if it will I smoke the speakers or melt the harness? Obviously it has more power I know the speakers are easy enough to change but what I am concerned about is the actual wiring even though everything looks identical I am not sure if the gauge wire is sufficient for the M/L amp or will this new amp draw too much current and smoke the harness? does anyone know if the harness is the same or does the M/L use thicker gauge wire? thanks for any help you guys can give me. I thought for sure someone has done this or at least tried.

brociouz

iTrader: (65)

You might as well go aftermarket. You could probably find something cheaper and better sounding that route. The ML upgrade gets mixed reviews. The bass in particular is poor (and the sub blows easily) and the staging is weak.

sinto1

what I was hoping for is to just plug this amp in to get the better sound quality without having to change anything else except maybe the speakers at most.I like the stock look,also like the limited trunk space I have. Since I have no need for a insanely loud ground pounding system I thought maybe this would be a quick fix for what I am looking for as far as sound go's. I also did not want to have to fill my trunk with amps or subs.

Kurtz

iTrader: (1)

You'll be putting double the intended power to the speakers with the resistance being wrong.

You'll also not have the center channel speaker the amp is trying to send (a surprising amount of your) sound to.

And it'll be assuming your rear speakers are configured differently than they actually are too.

I suppose you could replace all your factory speakers with ML ones and replace the rear deck and door pieces to have correct speaker placement too.

At that point, unless you know a junkyard selling all this cheap, you'll probably have spent considerably more than it would've cost to get an aftermarket amp and speakers.