Formula350

I just finished my lease on my 2011 G37x, and got into a IS350F sport. Now that im done tinkering around and am used to the car, I got the stereo all lined up and programmed the channels.
Is it just me, or are our stock stereos/speakers horrible? My G37 stereo was 10x better. This sounds muffled and deadened; almost like a sock is muffling the speakers. Granted my car didn't come w/the Mark Levinson, but the stock just seems very, very poor. I got in my wife's Honda CRV and it sounds clean and crisp. Even she noticed it. I called my dealer about it, and his response was, "yeah, its not exactly the best out there."
Anyone do any changes to get this sounding right? Speakers/amp, etc?

Thanks in advance.

sinakh89

I have the ML system but my friend has the stock Pioneer one and to be honest I didnt notice much difference. sure the ML is def crisper but not by a huge margin louder nor with more bass in my opinion.

it also helps a lot if you dont listen to music via Bluetooth and use CDs instead.

Loe

I have to agree with you. the base stereo is an 8 speaker 293 watt system, so it's not lacking in power by basic stereo standards. The speakers are fine IMHO, it's just that the subwoofer doesn't fill in enough sound for a "full" sound; kick drums lack life-like quality, bass notes are muddy, and just ruins the sound quality to me. IHMO, a quality sub is all that's needed to complete the sound.

My BMW M3 had an 16speaker, 850watt "enhanced sound system" w/ DIRAC processor, kevlar speakers, and two very pounding 8" underseat subs that would play very loud, very clear, and more detailed the louder you had the volume (up to distortion anyways). So this was a shocking night/day difference; I wanted an ML system, but considering it's a short-term lease and I did not want to wait for a special order, I just settled with the basic unit.

kamauxx

It definitely sucks. It's not just your car.

My wife's 2014 Altima sounds 5x better. I'm going to just get a small powered woofer and hope that satisfies me. The speakers could also benefit from having tweeters as the highs are sometimes muffled as well.

RoiteTrom

At first I thought it sounded crappy, but then I played around with the sound settings to find the right sound for me. It took me almost 2 weeks to find the right settings, but I'm finally satisfied with the sound.

If you think the front seat speakers sound bad whatever you do, don't sit in the back. Backseats are definitely lacking speakers.

LexSense

iTrader: (2)

I agree with the base stereo sounding pretty weak and muffled. I had a 250 loaner for a couple of days and boy did I miss my ML!

Though it did indeed get better after finding the right settings. I would also say that source quality has a huge factor in the sound as well. I found the SAT radio was pretty cruddy no matter what settings I used. It was a night and day difference after plugging my phone into the 3.5mm jack.

Belex1

I have the stock stero in my 2014 IS 350 and it sounds great IMO. It has plenty of power and sounds really good crisp and good bass. Most people that ride in my car find very pleasing unless I am blasting ACDC.

vbx

It does sound like shlt. Tune into satellite radio and it sounds even crappier.

Compared to the Q50 I have now, the Bose unit sounds 100x better. Even when listening to Satellite radio.

chuongzzz

I got the Infiniti g37s and my wife got 2015 is350 f sport . The G37s is much better than is350 , speaker driving handling break .... The only 1 thing make me love is350 is interior ( LFA gauges)

jennypenny

I'm sure it's 100x better. What else?

Loe

I have had two RX350 loaners and I always found the sub in that car was nice (not too boom boom, and had a nice full sound to it). I ebayed a used one (usually $100-$150) and it comes in it's own sealed enclosure so it's not a free-air sub. I wonder if this would be a plug-n-play where we can just disconnect our sub and plug in our factory harness to the RX350 sub enclosure and mount it somehow in the trunk off to the side? I should try it out..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2010-2011-2012-2013-Lexus-RX350-Subwoofer-Sub-Speaker-/281297757146?pt=Car_Subwoofers_Enclosures&hash=item417ea723da&vxp=mtr

morningtyd

Just got my IS last week with the base sound system. I have to agree with others that the bass is seriously lacking some fill and that there's a general flatness to the mids.

My 2011 CT 200 had way better sounding system overall, which doesn't make much since considering the price difference between the CT and the IS.

I wonder if it would even be worth swapping out the factory speakers or if the head unit/amp is more the culprit? If any experts or people who have swapped out factory speakers could weigh in, that would be great.

hades281

Yep, the base system is muddy and awful.

There is some consensus so far that the open air subwoofer (and perhaps OEM subwoofer crossover or low pass filter setting) is a piece of junk. I'd like to simply disconnect it and see how things sound before proceeding.... I wish the connector was easier to access. I'm hoping that the easy solution would then be to add a subwoofer and a small amp using the subwoofer speaker-level signal, and tweak further using the low-pass filter on the amplifier without touching the rest of the system.

In my case the sub doesn't have to hit very hard. I really want to improve the clarity and clean up the mids.

FrOHiKE

Remember, you have to program the sound for FM and XM separately. Not sure if that applies to CD, AUX, etc. I didn't realize the sound settings were on a per-audio type basis until today... HD Radio sounds 10x better after adjustment.

vbx

Remove the plastic panels from the engine bay and find out. LOL

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...-the-hood.html