I am in love with my es350 with the exception of the radio which is the base system. I had read the reviews prior to purchase so this was not a surprise. Does anybody have any suggestions regarding upgrading the system. Would changing the speakers make a difference and if I use this approach does anybody have suggestions regarding speakers that will match up with the existing system. I don't have a lot of confidence in Crutchfield. One time one of their salespersons went on the computer with me and found some speakers to upgrade the system on my sons celica. It turned out that they sounded horrible. They were expensive but my sons system was not powerful enough to push them. Also how much of a project is it to get at the speakers front and back. I really want the car to look new after any upgrade.

 

there are no aftermarket speakers that match the specs of the factory speakers. the base system only has a 100 watt amp so any aftermarket speakers will not work just like on your toyota. so dont fall for that again. every stereo shop will do the same as crutchfield did and when speakers cant be pushed will switch you to afermarket amp and then when headunit not communicating with amp will switch to aftermarkrket headunit. lexus factory stereo systems and aftermarket are not cross comatiblle . you have to replace all the system for improvement in sound. ..........................................................................................................................being a lexus oem audio expert i suggest the best upgrade is to go mark levinson system which will increse the watts of the amp from 100 to 330 watts. the base speakers will have to be changed out also but the mark levinson speakers will be plug in and play and fit in same spots as base system. then everything will match perfectly. this system can be obtained from a salvaged lexus mark levinson equipped lexus and easily installed by anyone as no new wiring or mods to speaker areas needed. when es350 comes down assembly line they just plug in either base or mark levinson system as needed....................................................... the base head unit will work fine as it is only putting out right and left channel sound to mark levinson amp. the mark levinson amp amp does the rest and it has avc-lan comminication with the base radio which any aftermarket amp replacement will not do. that means the base headunit will recognize the digital mark levinson amp . and you will upgrade to the mark levinson sound which is the best oem factory sound availible. not some incompaible aftermarket speakers that would trigger a domino effect at the stereo shop ending in complete change over to aftermarket at way more money than the mark levinson mod.

 

Do a search in the ES350 section for "Polk". There's a guy that posted his experience of upgrading the speakers.

Also, getting to the dash and door speakers looks easy according to the service manual. The sub looks to be much more difficult to remove.

As for speakers, I'm probably going to upgrade to a nice set of component speakers in the front. Tweeters in the dash and 6.5's in the front doors. The current speakers are wired in parallel so using the factory wiring will be easy. If I go budget, the speakers will be Elemental Designs, Cadence or Phoenix Gold. If I get the OK from the wife, it will be CDT or DLS for the more expensive models.

If you want to upgrade the factory sub then do a search in this section for "Exodus Audio". They have a 10" sub with almost perfect specs for an infinite baffle install. It has XBL^2 distortion reducing technolgy and it was designed by Dan Wiggins himself.

After the speaker upgrade, you will want to bypass the factory amp for an aftermarket model. I'm hoping that Blaupunkt will have an adapter for their OEM replacement line soon. Otherwise I will be using the service manual again to tap into the signal lines from the head unit and using my PPI amps from 1991. Nothing like the old hand made in the USA amps!

-Robert

 

LexusAudio thanks for that great answer. You have given me exactly what i was looking for. I am going to begin searching for a salvage model.

 

If you don't have an es350 with navigation, can you still upgrade to the ML?

If not, does the Navigation dash unit and ML plug into a non-nav car?

 

q 1 ......yes you can upgrade to non nav ml just by adding an es350 ml amp.
q2.......yes you can upgrade to factory nav and ml system but will need a custom harness to do so. lexus doesnt install extra nav system connectors for you to upgrade to navigation with plug in and play install. the custom harness to do so also not available from lexus as they have no interest in upgrading only selling you a new car with navigation. ..................................................................................................also the ml stereo in a nav system car is a completely different ml unit which is a 6 disc dvd cd changer not just a ml cd changer like in the non nav ml stereo. also if you have a bluetooth non nav system radio you would need an additional harness to reroute the bluetooth wiring from the back of the non nav radio to the screen of the nav radio. the custom nav retrofit harness is quite complicated to make but it can be done no question about that. the list price of the es350 navigation system is actually higher than any other lexus even the lexus ls460l navigation system with its hard drive map.

 

Just in case anyone is looking into this, I upgraded my ES350, no nav, to the Mark Levinson system. It was not plug and play. Speaker grills had to be modified and added and the wiring required additional connectors and speaker runs. I studied the service manual and the wiring of both 8 and 14 speaker systems before I made the conversion.

The ML sounds much better. The standard Pioneer speakers I took out were a joke.

All that's left to do is reduce the wind and road noise.

 

I have a 207 Nav ES350 and I would like to upgrade to the ML. I see the amp on eBay as well as a ton of speakers. Is there an actual list of the components you need to make this transition?

 

Folks,

OK. After much research, I have sourced a Mark Levinson amp and all the 12 speakers for a reasonable price. My 2007 ES350 has the regular-stereo navigation system. I may want to upgrade the head unit, but not right this minute unless necessary. Will these twelve speakers be completely plug and play? Is putting all of this in relatively easy? Do I need to upgrade also to the DVD Navigation Mark Levinson head unit? What does that gain me over the standard Nav? Do I have to run wires? Is there any sound quality difference between the regular nav head unit and the ML nav headunit?

Can someone please answer? I've posted a few posts and haven't heard anything back.....

Andrew

 

Lexusaudio,

I have read the post you wrote about the Lexus ES350 navigation unit. I also have the 2007 ES350 without the Navigation unit but I want to install factory Navigation unit which I have. You mentioned that I would need the special harness to install it. Can you provide me the information how to get that harness and how to install it?

Thanks in advance.

 

I am looking for that special harness too ! If you or someone else have information, please share.

Thanks

 

Wow - bringing this one back from the dead!

There is no harness - you use the existing wires and replace the speakers. there are two sets of new wires that come from the amp but the connector has openings there, you will need to get the metal wire clips that insert into the connector to add these wires. If I remember, these new wires run to the front door woofers. There was another change that you can determine when looking at both regular and ML wiring diagrams - I can't remember or I would post it.

 

Clarky86 :Yeah...some dead subjects are still alive !!! You mentioned no harness required to install a factory nav system for a 2007 ES350 ? If it is the case, I will be very happy because I can get a hold on an OEM Nav system at e very reasonable price.

 

Sorry - I thought you were referring to the non-nav conversion. Im not sure about the nav harness. Let's see if anyone else has done that one.

 

I have a 2010 es350 with the 8-speaker pioneer system. if I found a salvaged lexus, I would be able to replace all the pioneer woofers, tweeters, and subwoofer with the mark levison version, all plug in play? Including the amp? Also im curious about the additional 6 speakers in the levinson system. Would I be able to add those to my car as well?,........................ .................... ........................................edit: I bought a mark Levinson amp from ebay, it was plug in play; you must make sure you get the corresponding 2007-2009 model's amplifier or the 2010-2012 amp. Part number for the 2010-2012 amp is: 862800W730. The 2007-'09's part number
​​​​was similar but ended with "380."