Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone 😊

I think I may have finally found settings on the ML system to help with the ear piercingly bright highs. I am sensitive to a "bright" or "forward" or "omg my ears hurt" treble in speakers and I haven't been able to enjoy the ML system in the IS like I have in other cars because it gets painful. Even with treble down -5 or -6, whatever the max is, I could still hear harshness.

I think I finally found out why!

I am on the taller side and I realized my chair was so far back the "unity" speaker in the REAR driver door was less than a foot from my left ear! I moved my seat a little more forward while retaining comfort, but still needed to knock down the volume of those rear door speakers. I tried fading the system 100% front, which worked perfectly, but I lost a lot of volume. So after experimenting all week I ended up:
Treble -2
Mid 0
Bass +2 or +3 depending on my mood and music
Fade front +2

The +2 front fade knocks the tweeters down just enough so they're not violating my ear hole, but still keeps good overall volume for the system. I have always left balance and fade alone, this is my first ML system (out of 6!) That needed it.

Just wanted to share for the couple other members who are in the same boat as I am!

 

Jeez you’re right … that tweeter is inches from the driver’s left ear. Lucky thing I can’t hear for crap out of that ear !!!

 

I am the opposite. The amount of base from the default settings annoyed the hell out of me.

 

I'm renting an IS500 right now on Turo and like everything flat. The B&W diamond system on my G30 540i has "crispy" loud tweeters but fatiguing, but IS500 ML system has a better soundstage, tweets are warmer to me and easier to listen to than the B&W system.

 

Cool post, will test it out.

I drive 98% of the time with the radio off, the V8 is the only soundtrack needed. (You’d think after 2 years the shine would wear off, nope.) 🤷🏽‍♂️

I really haven’t adjusted the settings since I bought it.

 

I don't think it would ever wear off. In fact, you'll be longing for more of that sound as we roll into this new age of ultra quiet EV's and hybrids and puny, tiny turbo 0.6 L V2 ICE's. lol.

Once it hits 3000 RPM, the smile on your face just instinctively comes on. Just seems to be a natural connection between man and machine. Had a little kid the other day say: "wow, your car sounds so mad, i like it"

 

You’re probably right. If the acoustic joy hasn’t waned at this point, it might never.

LOL @ the little kid!

 

Same here, all my other cars I blast the radio. Not so with the IS500. Keep turning down the music before I do a pull so I can hear the engine

 

LOL! That’s joy right there.

 

Same here! Just realized that little tweeter is just pumping out hiss right next to my ear! Covering it up a bit or fade forward is the way to go. Good discovery, I never would have noticed that.

 

I kind of want to experiment with a 3.5" mid there with good off-axis response and no tweeter to see if I can keep voicing good, but eliminate the harsh highs.

And yes, exhaust is cool, but I've been into car/home audio long before I could even drive 😁 My uncle owned a car audio shop that got me started enjoying music. My first car had two 12s in the hatch and my stereos got bigger after that!

If I keep this car I think I'm going to experiment with the rear door speakers and maybe seal the trunk off just behind the rear deck to mount a 12 or 15 in an infinite baffle setup.

 

These settings help me get better bass and a more immersive full car sound feeling, as the stock settings put you as if your facing a concert (sound coming from front of the car).
Equalizer:
0 Treble
-2 Mid
+1 Bass
+1 Rear (Going more and you will lose some quality from the highs of the front speakers)
No processing:
Off - Automatic Sound Leveler
Off - Surround (although it brings out more bass in some songs, it applies processing and I hear a quality loss)

But I do honestly like resetting it to factory settings sometimes because I find it adapts better when you play music of different genres.