My GS4 comes with Mark Levinson. The front sounds great, but the back ones (door speakers and woofer) sounds soo weak. Was it designed that way or something wrong with my stereo ?

 

Have you adjust the balance? I have the ML package too, when i changed the batteries, it will automatically default and have the front speaker louder than rear. try messing with the balance, if that doesnt work than maybe they ahve gone bad

 

I have a 99 gs 400, my stereo sounds week too, I mean its loud and crisp but the sub woofer sounds non existent. I had 6x9s that bumped louder than my my stereo in the gs.

 

my 99gs4 with the nakamichi sound system sounds very nice, it is comparable to a 2 to 2.5 grand system in my opinion but i needed more base so i ripped the stock 10 out and put in a jl12w6 in the trunk with a 500.1 jl amp.

 

I got the Nakamichi system and no way...you could make a 200 dollar system sound wayyyy better. Midbass is non existent on the speakers

 

i don't know man, pissing contest aside my doors put out a descent range of mid but i have my mid turned down, bass in the middle, and high up a little... the best mid range thump i have ever had came from a set of boston acoustic 6.5's but they were 1200 for the 2 speakers... not to mention the powerful amp that pushed the two 6.5's..

all i did was add a little bass and my fairly stock nakamichi hits better and sounds clearer than most of my friends with about 2k + worth in theirs...

you can barely get a head unit for 200.. but lets say you were adding speakers to a factory head unit... for 200 what would you do, get 4 best buy specials and put then in... then you got a factory head unit with 4 low end 6.5 in 2 ways that prolly sound like *** in my opinion when turned up.

i rarely turn mine up past mid level and it is plenty loud (bass + highs + a little thump)... maybe urs just sucks or something...

and yes i have had many an aftermarket setup in the past so this is what i am basing it off of + friends & family's setups...

 

my rear right speaker blew...but i can't even tell that it's blown. or maybe cuz i play my music too loud?

 

haha louie thats funny man i had 4 of those alpine type r's in my last 2 setups over in japan and they are nice as well.. for the price i think those type r's are the best... and i didn't even have them amped up in the first setup just running off of a high end alpine head unit, but the next setup i put them on a 200 watt/ channel rms or 150/ channel rms i forget but they were so freakin loud that now my hearing isn't so good... i also had 2 12" rockford fosgate power hx2's that weiged 50lbs a piece (just the speaker alone) in a custom box with 1000 rockford watts rms going to each speaker, so its possible that the super low tones produced from those speakers were the ones that hurt my ears... and at that time i listened to a lot of drum n' bass/ jungle & dancehall and thats all highs + low low lows... ahhh those were the good ol' days, when people could hear you before you even turned down the block.

but i did relisten very closely on the ride home yesterday afternoon and the nakamichi doesn't have a lot of great midrange like gs4play mentioned but still one of the best factory systems i have ever heard...

what factory systems do you guys think are better than the nakamichi, and don't say mark levinson cuz we've already been down that road,,, a few times...???

 

The balance is centered. What I did, I put the faders to fronts only and it sound loud. But when I put the faders to the rear only it sounded like really small compared to the top. I called lexus and they said its normal when I think its not. I asked how much are the speakers individually and they said they are $200 + each.

 

well we all know that lexus is not cheap but nakamichi is not cheap either... last time i was in japan i tried to see if i could get any nakamichi stuff better than what is in my 99gs4 and although they had some good high end stuff the prices were very high as well..

the coolest upgrade in my opinion would have been a direct fit replacement for the 6 disc changer to a 6 disc mp3 cdr+/- changer same brand same size just pull out old one slide in new one, but it was 800 in japan and something like 1000 in the states.

see if you can find any nakamichi speakers online for cheaper...??

 

Lol..like I said. Midbass is non existent in the Nakamichi sound system. If you don't believe me go ahead and take the speakers out, they are made from cheap paper. Pretty sure there are some pics online if you search.

Hell honestly even my friends Bose speakers sound better in his Integra so I don't think we need to name whats better out there(and no theres nothing wrong with my speakers)...

You can get some phoenix gold rsd components for 90 plus a used amp for 150ish and it will sound better. (thats a whole lot less than a system worth 2 grand)

 

so math time real quik... 90ish okay so can we say 100$ plus shipping & handling = 120$ a set for the phoenix gold's 240 for 2 sets plus amp can we say 250 new with s&h & tax but is that a 2 channel amp or 4 channel + the sub and sub amp.. or if you just put in a 5 channel amp a descent one is like say 500 plus the 250 for the 4 speakers thats 750 plus the sub if you want to go cheap thats like 150 so now 900 plus the head unit & changer even if you go cheap thats another 250 at least so now 1150 plus wires and fuses and such say 100 thats 1250 plus installation say 250 at any cheapo shop thats 1500 and you have a random cheap pieced together system that may or may not sound as good... all for 1500$$

alright i will match this estimate and go as far as to say that the factory nakamichi system sounds comparable to a 1500 system... that is not saying much at all in opinion so i would say its a compromise to what we were each originally claiming. is that good enough for you??

 

Bottom line is the Nakamichi system is not that great. They use cheap paper speakers. It's not terrible but it's nothing to write home about and definately not comparable to a 1500 dollar system. If you wanted to replicate the sound it will be A LOT cheaper. Don't get me wrong I'm not trying to knock the speakers I have but they're honestly not that good.

This will sound a lot better:
Decent head unit = 100
Phoenix Gold RSD Components = 88 (shipped, heres a link for you.)
http://audiosavings.com/product_deta...2-133ce952abd6
2 Channel Amp = 150ish(You just gotta look)
Amp Kit = 40
Coaxial speakers for rear fill = 50

with installation ur around 550 right now
sub stage would be anywhere from 300+

Now if you wanna replicate the Nakamichi sound you could get a 100 dollar deck and just run some cheap speakers amped off it lol...

 

okay i hear you,,, so this was my original thinking let me know if it makes sense or if the logic is no good... so this 2 gs that is my daily driver right now is the 8th vehicle that is/ was under my name but the nicest so far give or take... not trying to brag like some folks (no offense,,, i.e. benz, bmw, lex, mercedes,,, plus 5 bikes all in the garage))) all of my cars + suv's have been used but in good condition all under 415 a month payments right, so anyways this is the 8th vehicle i have owned or made payments on and i am 27 this is the first of the 8 that i have not changed out all of the speakers in + headunit, honestly. it may be because i'm getting old and boring, it may not. Out of those 8 cars it is the best factory stereo i have had thus far, and since I purchased the car 2.5 years ago I have been wanting to upgrade the stereo (not so much in the last few months, i guess i am getting used to it now). I priced out a descent setup/ upgrade like 2.5 years ago and it was like 4 grand including subs, amps, components, boxes, wires, installation (i used to do all the installs myself but i wanted to keep this one as clean as possible.).

so i figured i would just put in a small additional sub + amp, check that box and later on add the other speakers + headunit. Head unit aside cuz i wanted a rather nice one like 2kish, the speakers alone + 4 channel amp would have been between 1 and 2 thousand dollars depending on quality.

therefore until i have at least 3k-4k to drop just on the speakers amp and headunit it is not worth messing with it in my opinion. if a speaker blows i will obviously buy a replacement set or think about upgrading the whole thing at that time so we'll see.

what type of music are you listening to as well.. this may also be a factor?? the music i listen to usually doesn't have or need the best midrange... lately i just listen to reggae, dancehall, & a little jungle or hip hop from time to time. therefore highs + lows are usually what i am after.

 

I listen to pretty much everything...rap rock alternative sometimes some jazz or reggae. It's true though it can be really expensive. I forgot to factor in if you have a factory amp all your stuff is gonna have to be rewired to your headunit or else you wont have control to the output for the subwoofer.

To the op, it might be just the way they were designed. I'm not exactly sure what the ML amp is rated for but you might be able to swap out some aftermarket speakers?