Lexs400

hey guys,
I know I probably should post this in the audio section but this is more of a trouble issue than an upgrade issue for the LS.
my 91LS has the nak audio. last month the passenger side's front speaker gave up and now the driver side front speakers dont work either. what i've noticed though is that there's a little bit of sound coming out of the tweeters but the bottom speakers arent producing any sound whatsoever. my question is : given they are component speakers, is there a crossover sitting somewhere in the door or does the speaker wire go directly to the 4inch speaker in the bottom of the door and then pass over to the tweeter ? I'm thinking the 4inch midrange has given up which is causing no sound hence not allowing the tweeters to work either...
any ideas ?
more over, if i want to keep the stock sound quality and don't want to spend hundreds on the OEM speaker replacement, what other company can I go with. are the OEM speakers made by nakamichi as well or is it just the headunit.. what company makes the speakers ?
thanks !

LexLS

It is more likely that your amp is dead. Rule out the speakers and then you'll know. You need to troubleshoot this one yourself, but it's not that hard.....

Open up the front door: http://www.carstereohelp.com/stereor...400FDrPnlR.htm Undo the clip that goes into the speaker box. Use a receiver or boombox to test and see if the speaker works. Just hook up the two wires and then test using a LOW volume, make sure the volume is all the way down otherwise it will be too much for the little speaker! If you get sound then it's the amp or head unit.

The link to the tutorial above also does repairs: http://carstereohelp.com/lexus.htm

The front speakers are components and the crossover is built into the speaker box, take a look at picture 4 on my site: http://www.pearsonimaging.com/LS/front_speaker.html

BTW, replacing the factory speakers with new 4" speakers would not be that costly. Many companies make them.

Good luck .

tvd51

I have exactly the same problem. Only the rear speakers and the sub work. I read somewhere saying that the cause is moisture in the connection and the system activates the mute circuit. However, I haven't had chance to check it out yet.
tvd51

Lexs400

thanks Earl.
I've ruled out the fact that it's the amp because the other speakers work. I've seen these speakers give up in most LS's. But i'll do the check while I'm at it anyways.
Now to the 4" speaker. Given it's a component that means it's a midrange. and thanks to your website i now know where the location of the crossover is as well.
Can someone tell me what the resistanse of the midrange speaker is ? i've read on the net somewhere that it's a 2ohm versus aftermarkets being 4ohm speakers. can someone confirm this ? and if that's the case given the nak amp is configured with 2ohm output, simply plugging in an aftermarket 4ohm speaker will certainly not reproduce the quality or the amplification intended.
I know that there are many companies who make the 4" components, but i'd like to stick to the original tweeter in the door and only replace the midrange. and for that purpose can someoe shed some light based upon their experience as to which one matches the original one in terms of quality so that the rest of the sound in the car i.e tweeters and sub are in synch.
thanks.
P.S. there are no directions on any of the websites to open up the rear door panels. any pics that can be looked at for that ?

LexLS

Rear door panel removal: http://carstereohelp.com/stereoremov...400RDrPnlR.htm

Lexs400

thanks Earl,
I noticed on the website they mention that an aftermarket 4" two speaker sounds better. my only question is, doesnt a two way instead of a midrange change the whole staging of the audio system ?

LexLS

IMO just about any aftermarket speaker will sound better than the stock speakers. The first thing I did when I got my LS was to replace the stereo. Moving to coaxial (2-way) 4" speakers shouldn't change things too much. Mainly because the stock tweeters are horrible and barely work. If you really want to improve your system and not change the sound stage then upgrade to aftermarket component speakers.

kamtra

I bought mine (90 LS) with no sound from left side, front and rear. Thought same things you did about amp and Nak unit. Turns out that when those speakers blow, they blow out completely and make no noise at all. I replaced them and all is fine.

Lexs400

kamtra,
did you replace them with original speakers of aftermarket. if orig, how much did you pay , and if you aftermarket what brand / type did you use ?

kamtra

I used some speakers that I had lying around. They were smaller than 6 1/2", I remember that much. It ended up sounding the same as before. The speakers are encased in a large, black plastic box. I had to enlarge the hole to make them fit.

Four Door

Just upgraded my '92 LS400 Pioneer premium audio system (no cd changer) to a '92 LS400 Nakamichi audio system with cd changer. Changed the subwoofer and subwoofer amp to Lexus Nakamichi. The next step is to upgrade the four door speakers and two tweeters. Looking at Nakamichi SP-C452 two way speakers. They are 4.5 " size and should fit without any modification to the speaker boxes. Saw them on Ebay for around $60 a pair. Might change the two tweeters to Lexus Nakamichi tweeters. Checked a mobile audio board and they commented that the Nak speakers were "musical and neutral" sounding speakers. Believeve they are rated 20 watts nominal and 40 watts peak which should be adequate. Open to any suggestions for good quality speakers to replace the stock Lexus Pioneer speakers. Four Door.

Four Door

I will have to double check but I think the door speakers are 4 ohm. Four Door.

nthach

how did you do that? did you need to x-fer the CD wiring harness?

Four Door

nthach the person I purchased the Nak equipment from included a cusatom cable that goes from the Nak head unit to the Lexus CD changer. Everything was plug and play, no splicing, adapters etc. The vehicle wiring harness handeled the Nak subwoofer amp and subwoofer without a problem. The wiring to the door speakers is also the same. The key to doing this was the custom cd cable. What a pleasure to have a cd changer. Four Door.

Four Door

Re replacing the door speakers I'm going to check out Boston Accoustics 4" coaxial speakers model #FX4. If anyone has these speakers or heard them I'd be interested in your opinion. Four Door.