Hi all. Test drove a 2007 awd GS350 the other day and fell in love with it. I'm an avid DIY-er and will probably want to put as much of my own stereo equipment in as I can. I'm thinking of either the JL Audio Cleansweep or the Rockford Fosgate 3Sixty. Assuming I'm going to do this some day down the road, should I opt for the ML system or just get the standard system. Any drawbacks to either choice when it comes time to put my own gear in?

Thanks in advance!

Tony

 

Get standard.

You should maybe audition both systems yourselves and see if you can tell a difference and if you are satisfied with either (which I doubt as it seems).

 

About the only real disappointment that I have with my 3GS is the ML audio system. Bright, almost harsh mids and highs, flabby bass. Nothing even close to ML home audiophile gear...not even close. My wife's mini-van has better sound on FM and CD. Would not do it again...you can do better yourself.

 

For such an expensive option, the ML doesn't seem to be worth it.

Has anyone successfully put in an aftermarket stereo? The no mp3 thing on the 06's has prevented me from getting one and forced me into looking into 07's.

 

It would seem to me that a high end aftermarket shop could replace the standard system's speakers, add amps and get a system at least if not better than the ML for quite cheaper. Before buying the car try calling some of these places to see what they can do and check out some of their cars in the shop and completed to make sure they are taking care of them and not butchering them. Then make your decision on whether to go with ML or not. I personally would like everything factory and like the ML only because its got more punch and can be turned up higher without distortion than the stock. The sound quality still leaves much to be desired.

 

While I personally think the ML is worth getting over stock, I can't imagine it would be worth it if you are going to go aftermarket.

 

+1

I took a CD I liked into the Lexus dealer and asked them to let me try it out on a GS w/ and w/out ML. They handed me the keys to two cars that were sitting side by side and I listened to the same two or three songs on the CD in both cars. Then I switched back and forth a couple more times. My salesperson was closing another deal so I told her to take her time and finish working with them since I wasn't in a hurry. I got a good 20+ minutes to play around with the two cars and finally came away with the ML. This is my SECOND GS350 (first was totaled) so I'm glad I got the ML this time.

I'm not planning to do any upgrades soon and the ML does have much better bass and slightly better highs/mids than stock. In addition, since I'm a gadget-man, I wanted to get the parking sensors anyway

 

So how can you beef up the ML system?

Would better speakers help?

How about a more powerful amp? When the system is in surround sound, I feel it needs more power, especially with movies?

N

 

if you're planning to spend a ton of money on a custom system...dont get the ML setup. It is nicer than no ML but nothing to be bragging about other than you got that option...

 

You can get parking sensors without ML.

 

I think the bass quality can be improved easily, as described: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=272881
The car is in SF bay area, so if someone wants to check or compare, let me know. If someone wants more bass loudness, then the same amp setup can drive a sub box instead of the stock sub.

 

DrexLex,

I went by Al and Ed's Autosound today...I am sure you prob have them in SF as well...

We did discuss your option.

I am under the impression that the speakers are actually OK in our cars...Not bad enough to warrant a change.

The guys at Al&Ed's mentioned that typically on a high end audio option (ML, Bose, etc.) it is basically a system that can not be messed with, meaning if you want more power overall, you can not just add an amp to the mids, tweets, etc. The reasoning was that car OEM's typically use lower Ohm speakers where as aftermarket speakers are usually your standard 4,8...So you cant replace some speakers without replacing the others...

He said about the only thing you can do is what you have done...without replacing speakers, amps, everything

My question to him was how can I increase the overall power to the stereo in a way that the lower volume levels are not louder, but more robust in the mids and tweets...

If I cant manipulate the robustness, then how can I make the overall stereo louder...When I watch a movie, I sometimes have to crank up the volume to hear the voices then all of the sudden a bomb explodes in a scene and the whole car shakes because it is too loud for the effects...

Does that make any sense at all, sort of all over the place I know?? --- not checked for spelling--

 

If you have not checked out this site yet, then maybe this could help in defining what the ML system is all about. I personally would buy the ML system again, of course I am always about the upgrades anyway
http://www.marklevinsonlexus.com/

 

Bose is famous for using very low impedance speakers so they can attain higher power usage without more expensive high voltage switching power supplies. According to Vol5 of the GS repair manual, page AV119 for example shows that the stock speakers are 4 ohm and the ML speakers are 8 ohm. Either of these can be easily driven by aftermarket amps.

It was my opinion that the most obvious improvement to be made to the ML system in the GS is to fix the EQ. Note that the system uses different EQ curves for every mode—2-ch vs 2-ch + Surround, and 5.1-ch vs 5.1 + Surround. They biased it so that the ML Surround modes sound better, helping “add value” to their technology. The non-Surround 5.1 discrete mode tuning is abominable. Like they ran out of time.

Since all my content is 2-ch, and since I like surround sound, I only use the 2-ch + Surround mode, which seems to have the best tuning of the lot. The sub amp mod does wonders there, but the midrange still has a strong emphasis that is really unfortunate for certain female vocals. The #2 issue is the imaging, and I’d love to have a nice Alpine surround processor in there (I used the PXA-H700 in a previous car and it worked great). The Logic7 is often jumpy/jerky in deriving surround outputs, and on top of that they tuned the center image incorrectly—too close to the center of the dash instead of in front of the listeners, a fact which I corroborated with the Logic7 designer at an AES trade show—and he was not happy to find that out. Pro Logic II decoding in the Alpine fixes both the surround decoding/imaging issues, and it also has extensive EQ capability so it could fix that problem as well. Maybe I’m talking myself into a new project! Hmmm, I still have the PXA-H700 and a bunch of amps…

Yes, movie watching is a challenge in cars since movies have such huge dynamic range. You need some way to reduce that. Dolby Digital includes an optional feature called DRC, Dynamic Range Control, and if you could turn it on, it would help. When it is on, it can offer mild or heavy compression. These are often called “night mode” on home AV receivers, but there is no such control in the ML system. Once again the Alpine unit comes through—it provides “standard” (DRC on) and “Maximum” (DRC off).

I have not undertaken it because it is a rather more complex project that the bass mod, and because I didn’t want to lose all the integration of modes and controls, and add new head units or mode switches. But it is certainly possible route the 2-ch analog signal and the S/PDIF line which carries the DVD bitstreams from the head unit into a new surround processor and amps, then drive the existing speakers.

And yes, if this is what one has in mind from the start, there’s no real point in buying the ML system unless you really like the ML speakers and extra tweeters, which are all different than the stock drivers (or you just loathe changing them).