shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

ive had it with these mark levinson amps blowin...im on my 3rd amp

Tweeter says they can put a aftermarket head unit, keep the nav were its at and run a alpine amp that is 5 channels for all the speakers..

They even say the Mark Levinson speakers are reuseable..

im at wits end here...i will go nuts if another amp bits the dust these are just too expensive to keep buying..

what do you guys think?

Thanks!

handoverfi

iTrader: (7)

dude screw tweeter the biggest ******n rip off there!!! dont run a new headunit unless you want to fine tune your system!

if you just wwant music and dont care about sound quality just run the 5 channel and a line out put converter, but you might want to find a line output converter with a sub output also.everything in your dash will remain ALL stock! and you can run your ML speakers ALL off the 5 channel! do that!

im not really sure why they would want to run the HU unless that is so you retain your sub! but im sure you can run it all off a line output converter and just not get the new HU!!

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

well it looks like theres plenty of space (ash tray & old ML radio portion removed)

I figuared it would sound better with a head unit? better preouts? what kind of line convertor would you suggest? i dont want any kind of whine...

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

god this sucks...i supposely have the updated mark levinson amp too... could a bad speaker throw the amp into protection mode?

handoverfi

iTrader: (7)

well yea if you do get a HU it WILL sound better and have better outputs but i was just saying incase you didnt care for sound quality. I mean if you do get a HU. friend of mine bought the Rockford Fosgate- 3SIXTY.2. its a signal processor. Your music will sound better with this. you can run the 5 channel off this and you can fine tune your system from this SP by bluetooth! YET you will still retain ALL stock look on your dash!!


i dont think a bad speaker can throw it into protection! something like grounding issues or maybe miswiring the amp will! or setting the gain to high might! But i never heard of a bad speaker doing that!

jriggs

a bad speaker could make it go into protect, if some how the internals of the speaker caused a cross (pos and neg touching) it would be instant protect mode. happened on my e39, spent weeks trying to figure out what was wrong and it was a simple speaker

Percy

I would go for the aftermarket. The internals of the ML gear are substandard to say the least. Forget about the market hype and the "reviews" that you've read.

Some time ago, Engin_ear and I took a look at one of the ML amp internals. To say they were CRAP would be giving them too much of a compliment. Even the Jensen amps run better than the ML amp. I'm serious.

ML is just a hype name. They flash "100,000 dollar home systems" in their literature when the same build quality is definitely not present in the car.

I have better audio results with my stock Pioneer HU and Dynaudio speakers. The staging and depth are vastly improved as are the dynamics. A huge step better would be to go for an aftermarket HU, aftermarket amp and some really good speakers. ML will be blown away...by an extreme amount.

Trav@DICE

Changing a radio doesn't change your audio sound that much. The improvement from sound comes from amps, prosessors, and new speakers. A HU is only something that reads a CD, receives a radio station and things like that. Useing a line output convert there are cheapy ones for like 30 bucks and they can go up from there. I personaly am an Audio Control fan. For that car I would recommend looking at the LC6 as an entry level convert. It retails for about 150 bucks, but it has front, rear, and sub output from it. Also most all Audio Control pieces have 9-13 volts of signal into your amp, they are adjustable to level match what your amp can take. The cheapy line converts are like 2.5v of signal, and most aftermarket HU are still only about 3-4V of signal.

The radio in the car is just for functionality. A whole lot of $$$$ for very little differents. Going with the LC6 would be less $$$$ and a whole lot more of an improvement in sound.

jtgs400

iTrader: (1)

Arent the stock ML speakers of fairly high resistance (ohms)? Not exactly sure but heard the ML sub is like 20 ohms or something. So if you have an amp rated at 200w @ 4ohms for the sub channel, at 20 ohms the speaker is probably only drawing like 40-45w from the amp.

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

there only 2 ohm resistance...

line out converters dont interest me much, i guess its a good option

a true head unit would be great because id have alot more control and the 4 v preouts are a plus...

once the mark levinson unit is removed(nav stays) theres tons of room for a head unit

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

so you guys feel like for the mark levinson speakers to sound good..you gotta keep the mark levinson amp? I love how the ML speakers sound...man this is such a toss up...

buy another marklevinson amp for 600 or spend 1400 for a aftermarket amp and radio and have a chance to last

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

im going to... im doing the Alpine 9887 headunit, custom dash kit that will fit under the nav screen, with the Alpine 5 channel amp pdx-5

im going to try this set up with the stock ML Speakers to see how it sounds... regardless of ohms, I just have a hard time seeing the stock piece of **** Mark levinson doing better than a aftermarket amp. So well see...worst case they explode and I put in focal or something

Trav@DICE

Focal speakers!!!!!! very good sound from those. I have the 165K2p speakers in my truck. Sounds amazing!!!!!!!

Percy

No holds barred. Dynaudio speakers. That's if you're after sound QUALITY. I've tried MANY MANY speaker brands. ADS, Infinity, MB Quart, Pioneer, etc etc. NONE have sounded as clean as the Dyns. And NONE have better dispersion characteristics. They're amazing speakers if you can afford them and if you're ready to step up to the top end in SQ.

shawnberry

iTrader: (2)

I went with Polk Audio SR6500 components, headunit worked like a glove, I made a custom dash kit and it looks great. The amps are alpine's 100x4 with a 700 watt JL Amp for the sub. It sounds a million times better than the Mark levinson, plus i have an ipod connection! Anyone thinking of getting an ipod and better sounding speakers...this is a great upgrade!