sirwinston

Hey All,

On the 7th day of driving my preowned 2007 LS460 with ML, I suddenly got hit by the amp gremlin. Now while I'm debating with the dealer about warranty coverage, I have to come up with more options just in case I end up losing. I'm not paying the 3K for a new one; not paying 1K for a refurbished, and I laugh at the rip off price of the mentioned amp repair company (anyone else see the doubling of cost to repair since the onslaught in 09?) So my solution is to replace the entire speaker system, including the amp, while keeping the functionality of the factory head unit. Has anyone else used taken this approach? I love the way the system operates, but I would rather replace the speakers and amp with more stable and better sounding components. Any input??

tyrenfroe

Bite the bullet, pay the man. Enjoy your LS. We all do it.

sirwinston

But that doesn't make sense to me. If there is an obvious problem with the amp and from what I hear, a problem with speakers as well, why not replace with better quality components? I dunno, I don't mind spending money, but its gotta be worth it.

Silverpaws

I agree with you. We need to find another option if the amp repair company appears to be taking advantage of hapless LS owners who have been abandoned by the manufacturer. There must be a company somewhere who will repair the factory defects at a reasonable price. Hopefully, one will appear and we can live happily ever after. With some of us it is the principle of the situation.

BarrettF77

Is this issue isolated to certain year models a d been rectified with newer gear or has this continued and also affects other cars with ML?

nsaldanh

I haven't seen many people here replace their ML amps. It is tightly integrated with the head unit. I am not sure what functionality you will lose if you replace the ML amp with an aftermarket amp.

Some people without the ML unit did replace their amp with aftermarket amps and were very happy. See posts from CMASTEN.

Good luck.

sirwinston

Thanks to those who replied. After speaking with three very reputable and experienced installers, it seems that the above comment is correct. The digital signals sent to the ML amp are so proprietary that NO other amp will do, if I want to keep the head unit. Oh well, I just hope I can get some type of warranty on the rebuild. As Big Worm said, "It's the principal of the whole thing! It's principalities in this!"

lbintab

iTrader: (1)

Once your system is fix consider the Audison bit Ten D. I plan on doing this some time in the near future

http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=product&id=41

I8ABMR

I would just pay for the refurbished unit. The ML amp is not your typical amp and the system seems pretty well sorted .

LXurious

I heard somewhere that they just replaced the amp with another one? I had my extended warranty thankfully that covered it.

nsaldanh

LXurious: Are you saying that they now have a different type of amp for the LS460?

The amps in the 2007 - 2009 LS models sounded much better than those in 2010 - 2012. Lexus/Harmon cut the bass on the 2010 - 2012 models to the point where it sounds bad. They actually cut the bass as you turn up the volume.

Tee

I agree the 07-09 ML sounds better than the 2010-2012 ML system.

nsaldanh

the 2013 ML amp isn't any better either. It sounds just as bad as the 2012 amp. Lexus refuses to do anything about it - saying it works as designed. They can't explain why the 2007 - 2009 models sound much better.