My speakers sounds like crap in my 2010 isF. Went to a car audio shop to get new ones but they said it be best to get oem. Has anyone upgraded theirs like all up front speakers and dash ???? Keeping stock rears and stock amp?

 

Try a different car audio shop... horrible advice.
D definitely go with a quality aftermarket speaker. A nice quality 4ch amp would work wonders as well. Lastly, and most importantly, a quality install and tuning, to finalize things
​​​​​​pm me if you need further help!

V.

 

thanks appreciate it I’ll try a different place.

 

Excellent advice! I can't believe any car audio shop would actually recommend sticking with OEM speakers in an ISF.

 

and the funny thing is the guy who helped me owns a isf like wtf. 🤦‍♂️

 

The OEM speakers have a nominal impedance of 6 or 8ohms depending on MY*, and most (non-subwoofer) aftermarket speakers are 4ohms. Car audio shops are sensitive to the risk of over-stressing the OEM amplifier with lower-impedance speakers, and that liability is why they recommend replacing speakers with OEM. Crutchfield will sell you anything...they don't care.

I have had two reputable aftermarket shops recommend replacing the ML amplifier with an Amp/DSP combination unit such as Helix V12 or JL Audio VX800/8i. The custom tuning capability allows retention of the factory wiring harness and a mixture of OEM and aftermarket speakers across channels. (This leads to some interesting design decisions regarding passive vs active crossovers, especially for the front doors.) The Amp/DSP route is expensive, but is becoming more prevalent for aftermarket "premium" audio upgrades.

Useful links:
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...converter.html
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/is-...r-channel.html

* Speaker impedance is a nominal value, and may vary between individual speakers of the same part # due to differences in voice coil condition, especially on older cars. Chilton's/Lexus repair manual for MY11 provides impedance ranges which vary from 4.8-7.2ohms for the front door woofers to 4.8-6.4ohms for the front midrange to 5-7ohms for the rear door woofers. The bottom line is that they are definitely not 4ohm speakers.

 

thanks a lot. 💪

 

Thank you for the technical info... it is very helpful to understand. My comment was geared to the fact that most people agree the factory OEM ML stereo is pretty much crap. I updated my entire system and the difference is night and day. The only thing I didn't upgrade was the factory head unit... but I used a JL Fix-86.

 

Looks like the JL Fix-86 has 8x input channels and 6x output channels. Did you go with 4x channels to the doors with passive crossovers, then 2x bridged to a sub? Did it make sense to keep the ML amp in parallel, or just leave the front/center and rear/satellite speakers unused? Any amps downstream of the DSP? Would appreciate any details you care to share...thanks.