cpham4

I have a radio/nav combo with standard speakers and I have been noticing how poor the audio quality is with the regular over the air radio stations.

These are the same stations I've been listening for years and the quality is just crap in my Lexus. I even lose reception quite often. It seems like it's both FM and AM.

Anyone else noticing how crappy the radio is?

I don't think it's the speakers because when I switch to bluetooth, everything sounds great.

sloosh

The only thing I noticed that sounds crappy is satellite radio. The HD radio stations come in fine - are the stations showing up as HD?

RaysurX

Doesn't satellite almost always sound tinny (sibilance) due to compression used on SAT channels? Great selection of channels and content, but I haven't been wowed with sound quality (regardless of system).

sloosh

Yeah, it has nothing to do with the system/speakers - it's just the nature of satellite radio.

abcsoup

FM does not sound very good on my system (with ML equipped) unless it's in HD radio. Then, it sounds pretty decent. Satellite radio always sounds awful. Bluetooth and USB sound awesome.

You might be able to mask the sound quality issues by using the tone controls and upping the treble and mids, which can be a little muted on non-HD stations. Also, try playing around with the surround settings. I initially had my surround set to on, but disabled it after noticing the system having trouble keeping up with the center channel (I could hear voices move from the center channel to left/right channels for a split second, when they should've stayed center). However, doing this totally changed the tonal balance, so I had to up the treble and bass a lot to compensate and make it sound like it did when everything was centered and surround was on. This might be exclusive to the ML system, though, and adjusting the settings could probably be dedicated to a whole new thread.

vbx

Yep, Satellite sounds like crap on the Lexus. Pandora (free) over bluetooth even sounds better.

jennypenny

standard Radio is really good for me. I dont have satellite radio in my country so cant comment on that.

mkane11

I agree that the radio does not sound great. I played around with the modes and it still isn't a great sound. I thought it must be the speakers. You would think a Lexus, any model, would have a good sound system.

CtSFox

Satellite sound like crap on any car.

hoosier1

Satellite radio is only good for talk and sport channels. The standard Lexus sound system is fairly good, but I can't decide if surround sound should be used. It appears to boost the volume but distorts the sound. The music sounds much cleaner without the surround setting selected.

abcsoup

My initial settings with my Mark Levinson system were:
Surround: On
Treble: 0 (center)
Mid: 0
Bass: +1

I originally had surround enabled as it was the default setting when I got the car. It makes everything sound up front and in-your-face, which, on first listen, sounds impressive and fun. But after a while, I started noticing that the sound processing was not always working as it should: in some songs, the movement of mono-recorded audio like voices would noticeably move improperly between the center and L/R channels, and overall, the treble would sound a little too rough/coarse and sibilant at certain frequencies. Also, I could sometimes notice the surround audio being played behind me from the speakers for the second row seats, which made the soundstage feel off.

At this point, I disabled surround, which at first sounded awful. Things felt muted and distant, until I started playing around with the tone settings. To get a similar, impressive sound signature that the near-default settings that "surround on" offered, I had to change my tone controls to the following:

Surround: Off
Treble: +3
Mid: +3
Bass: +5

I'm still playing around with these settings, but I think the upshot is that the system was originally balanced with surround in mind, which is why audio initially sounded great with almost everything at center. Once surround is turned off, the tonal balance changes and has to be compensated with some modifications. Turning surround off and changing to these settings most notably did the following: reduced treble sibilance/coarseness, and changed the sound stage from being center channel dominated to L/R channel dominated, making songs feel more spacious and less in-your-face.

The ML system is extremely impressive and IMO well worth the extra money it cost me. It's better than the ELS system in my Acura TSX, which already was very good, as the ML has more headroom, better and clearer treble definition, and better dynamics. Overall, I much prefer the sound with surround off. If anyone else has a favorite sound config in their car, please share. I'm still tinkering with the system and would love to try others' settings.