sleekbrian

iTrader: (1)

Hi, I have a 2006 Lexus is250. I want to enhance the sound quality of my car by making it louder and more crisp. Im not familiar with this kind of work. Is this possible without spending that much money? I called a place and they said i would have to basically change everything. What would i need to achieve this? I dont wanna go crazy, i just want a more crisp sounding system. Not to say i expect to match the quailty, but to give you an idea of what im looking for i love bose sound systems. The crisp clear sound is what im looking for.

Thanks for your help

mkorsu

Give us a little more info. What factory system is in the car currently? Are you looking for the addition of bass or simply a cleaner sound from the "factory locations"?

I wont open the Bose can of worms but trust me....if you hear a weel thought out and designed system and then compare it to a Bose system you wont be a fan of Bose anymore.

I'm not fully familiar with what systems came factory in the IS but normally a simple driver update or driver/amp update is a routine job and can be done very cost effective.

sleekbrian

iTrader: (1)

Sorry, but i honestly dont know anything about audio...All i know is that i dont have the ML system. I just want a cleaner, crisper sound quality. I feel that a well thought out and designed system will be very expensive. And that will def not work out for me Are you trying to say i should just add an amp?

rajeev6

I'm assuming that by "crisp" sound you mean clean and clear treble sounds.
If that is right, replacing the factory speakers is usually first recommendation. However, even this would cost you

I paid more than 42 grand for my HS250h and still found very crappy set of factory speakers installed. I had them replaced with JBL components speakers (component mean separate mid-range and tweeter with a crossover - not both in one like a coaxial).
Did I say that the factory speakers were very very crappy. 42 grand and this is what you get. Shame on you Lexus!
JBLs are usually brighter (crisper) than other brands and I'm satisfied with the quality of sound now.

Assuming you only change front speakers - it'll cost you around $100 for a pair of components and around $100 for installation (at BestBuy). So you're looking at $200-$250 - is this too much?

In my case, I was able to catch a deal on Harmanaudio.com and was able to get 2 pair (for front and rear doors) for less than $100. Although I've more upgrades in mind - bought and lined up for next couple of months.

Let me know if you need more info - I'll be happy to assist.

LexEnform9

New to this forum, and er, foruming- apologies if I'm posting in the wrong location.
First off let me begin by saying I bought a 2010 HS250h two months back. It did not come with the ML audio system unfortunately. Before I had my Lexus I had a G35 which I had installed a (1) 12" Memphis Mojo Competition sub along with the matching amp (about 1200 watts.) I'd love to have this set up in my HS but have some power issues that are concerning me. I took it to a local audio place and the guy said he could do it but was worried it would drain my battery. I did some research on google and half the people said it effected their MPG, others said it had no effect on it. Also, a lot of hybrid owners said it drained their OEM battery in about a day and a half. The guy suggested to me to get an OPTIMA battery? The reviews on amazon were very good but I'm not too sure what they used the battery for. If anybody has a way around this power issue or a recommendation I'd love to hear it.

AL

rajeev6

LexEnform9,
You have correct information on some of the things. Here's what I can tell you about my experience -
I also have 2010 HS with so called Lexus Premium Sound (not so premium though). After one year, I had the factory speakers (only front and back though – not the center or the sub) replaced and although it made huge improvement, I had a JBL MS-8 (30W RMS/channel) installed the very next year. It sounds great, however, last year, with the onset of winter I started to have problems.
Once in the while, in the morning, the car would refuse to turn on saying “Parking brake malfunction”. Come to find out even Prius had similar issues when battery is down. When I thought about it, I found that usually when it happened, the previous night I had –
- Heater on
- Seat heater on, and
- I had the music playing loud (not too loud – how loud can you be with MS-8’s 30W/channel)
It drained the battery so much that the next morning, the car couldn’t activate parking brake and it thought that the brake had malfunctioned. (You’d think that they’d make the computer more intelligent to figure out low voltage from battery first).
I had my battery checked and it came out to be “excellent” even for cold cranking amps.
The only thing I can think of is that the battery doesn’t have enough watt-hours to run the MS-8 also during winter when I have 2 other heaters running at the same time. If I had to guess, all the systems (battery, alternator etc.) are optimized to fullest extent to get the maximum mileage but that takes into calculation only the factory installed load (headlight, heater, a/c etc.). Beyond that, as soon as the car goes on battery mode (around last 3 miles in my commute back to home), the alternator has to be off (run the engine on 440V battery then run alternator to charge 12V battery wouldn’t make sense – it would be highly inefficient).
You’re in NV so you’re probably not running heater that much but I feel that running 1200W sub, you’d still run into battery issues. I don’t know if we can get a higher watt-hour battery in the same form factor. Also, I’m not sure if installing a second battery would be an option (not sure how the charging would work).
I’ll be interested in what you find out.