So whose right removing 04 LS430 Sub woofer?
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2014
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From: DFW, TX
See my delima, I flip flop back and forth on which one to do.
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Pit Crew
Joined: Mar 2017
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From: WA
I just looked at the sub you mentioned and someone on Amazon commented - As for function, the speaker is all that it says it's to be. However, (and I may have missed it) but the mounting holes / flange did not appear to be what I've experienced as "Standard". Though they say it is an 8" speaker - it falls a bit short. I was able to grab enough of the frame edges to still mount it securely, but not as expected. Measuring across the speaker, the holes are ~7 3/8" Even measuring frame edge to frame edge the entire unit is only ~7 5/8" - SO... IT IS NOT A DROP IN REPLACEMENT!
How big an issue might that be and can this be made to be an equivalent 16 OHm speaker and nothing about if its a free air as the Lexus sub is.
I found a good site to explain the difference.
https://stereochamp.com/best-free-ai...-losing-space/
All this makes the OEM sub looking better to just keep to me. I think mine sounds great and I still listen occasionally to Led Zep and others from that era cranked.
Always wonder if the my Lexus 04 UL could speak, what it must think of such noise coming from it instead of the classical I would think people who bought these maybe did? A little weird I know.
How big an issue might that be and can this be made to be an equivalent 16 OHm speaker and nothing about if its a free air as the Lexus sub is.
I found a good site to explain the difference.
https://stereochamp.com/best-free-ai...-losing-space/
All this makes the OEM sub looking better to just keep to me. I think mine sounds great and I still listen occasionally to Led Zep and others from that era cranked.
Always wonder if the my Lexus 04 UL could speak, what it must think of such noise coming from it instead of the classical I would think people who bought these maybe did? A little weird I know.
Last edited by Hagar; Mar 1, 2018 at 01:03 PM.
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,129
Likes: 199
From: DFW, TX
Well, I decided to go the refoam route and just ordered the kit from SimplySpeakers. Just in case anyone had the same question, although I figured this would work just fine on an '05 or '06, I had them confirm that it would since if for some odd reason it didn't it would be on me for ordering the wrong part.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-2004-L...item1e8b48e18d
I've watched their refoam videos a couple times and it seems that it will be pretty easy. I also plan to cut sub hole wider so I don't have to remove the seat and all the stuff that goes along with it. I will be taking pictures along the way of both the speaker repair and widening the hole so I can start a post about it but it will probably be a week or so before I get everything together and have time to work on it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2001-2004-L...item1e8b48e18d
I've watched their refoam videos a couple times and it seems that it will be pretty easy. I also plan to cut sub hole wider so I don't have to remove the seat and all the stuff that goes along with it. I will be taking pictures along the way of both the speaker repair and widening the hole so I can start a post about it but it will probably be a week or so before I get everything together and have time to work on it.
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2014
Posts: 1,129
Likes: 199
From: DFW, TX
Here is the thread I created showing my sub repair. Thanks to those that contributed here.
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10140613
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/ls-...l#post10140613
6th Gear
Joined: Jul 2020
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From: ON
There have been numerous postings about speakers and woofers on this forum. Two factors to consider in selecting an aftermarket replacement speaker are electrical compatibility and acoustic compatibility.
From an electrical perspective, one of the very important aspects to keep in mind is that actual speaker impedance varies with frequency. For convenience, speaker manufacturers market their products in terms of Nominal Impedance, which approximates the DC resistance of the voice coil in the speaker. The best way to find out the impedance of a speaker is to read it off of the label on the speaker. If the speaker is unlabeled, you can approximate the speaker’s impedance with an Ohm-meter set for 20 ohms full-scale. The ohm meter will give a slightly lower reading as follow:
- For a 4-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 3 to 3.5 ohms
- For a 8-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 6 to 7.5 ohms
- For a 16-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 13 to 15 ohms
The LS430 Mark Levinson sub-woofer measures 14.5-ohm. The best replacement for this application should have a nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Any 8" 8+8 ohms dual voice cone (DVC) woofer wired in series will yield nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Dayton Audio SD215A-88 DVC Subwoofer is one example of woofer that meets this specification. The LS430 Pioneer sub-woofer measures 2-ohm.
Amplifier output signals work somewhat differently than a regular electrical load, such as a light bulb. Instead of pulling a steady current like a light bulb, the current delivered to a speaker varies according to the volume and frequency of the sound it will produce. So the impedance/resistance rating for a speaker is its “nominal” or something like the “average” value.
The LS430 Mark Levinson amplifier specifies 8-ohm resistance for the door speakers, and 14.5-ohm for the sub-woofer. If the replacement speaker’s resistance is too low, the amplifier’s output circuit will allow excessive current to flow. At low output volume, this will not likely to harm the amplifier, but at sustained higher output volume, this can cause overheating and potentially damage the amplifier's output circuit.
Think of it this way… resistance is simply restriction to current flow in a circuit. For example if you touch any "hot" wire in your car to ground (zero resistance between + and -), the fuse upstream of that hot wire will blow because there's no restriction to current flow and the fuse simply cannot handle the excessive current flow resulting in an overheating failure. So if you want to use a lower-than-specified resistance speaker (e.g. use an 8-ohm speaker in a 16-ohm rated output), you can do one of 2 things: 1) Wire the speaker directly to the amplifier and be mindful to keep the volume low to avoid overheating and damaging the amplifier, or, 2) Introduce additional resistance to the circuit to limit current flow to protect the amplifier, but starve the speaker. In either case, you're limited to the lowest common denominator. In short, the amplifier will deliver maximum power/volume to the speaker when the speaker impedance matches the amplifier’s output impedance.
From an acoustic perspective, the best solution is still to re-cone or re-foam the OEM speakers. The problem with replacing component speakers with aftermarket products is that Lexus does not publish the frequency coverage of its audio components (tweeters, mid ranges, mid bass, sub-woofer, etc.) and their rated dB output curves. Without this knowledge, you are left to select your speakers randomly, which means that their frequency range will likely to have some overlaps (which can cause interference), some gaps (holes within the frequency range where maybe for example some portion of the vocal cannot be heard), and some discrepancies in relative loudness (for example, some portion of the frequency range dominates and drowns out the others, or vise versa) to other components.
From an electrical perspective, one of the very important aspects to keep in mind is that actual speaker impedance varies with frequency. For convenience, speaker manufacturers market their products in terms of Nominal Impedance, which approximates the DC resistance of the voice coil in the speaker. The best way to find out the impedance of a speaker is to read it off of the label on the speaker. If the speaker is unlabeled, you can approximate the speaker’s impedance with an Ohm-meter set for 20 ohms full-scale. The ohm meter will give a slightly lower reading as follow:
- For a 4-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 3 to 3.5 ohms
- For a 8-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 6 to 7.5 ohms
- For a 16-ohm rated speaker, the Ohm-meter will read between 13 to 15 ohms
The LS430 Mark Levinson sub-woofer measures 14.5-ohm. The best replacement for this application should have a nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Any 8" 8+8 ohms dual voice cone (DVC) woofer wired in series will yield nominal impedance rating of 16-ohm. Dayton Audio SD215A-88 DVC Subwoofer is one example of woofer that meets this specification. The LS430 Pioneer sub-woofer measures 2-ohm.
Amplifier output signals work somewhat differently than a regular electrical load, such as a light bulb. Instead of pulling a steady current like a light bulb, the current delivered to a speaker varies according to the volume and frequency of the sound it will produce. So the impedance/resistance rating for a speaker is its “nominal” or something like the “average” value.
The LS430 Mark Levinson amplifier specifies 8-ohm resistance for the door speakers, and 14.5-ohm for the sub-woofer. If the replacement speaker’s resistance is too low, the amplifier’s output circuit will allow excessive current to flow. At low output volume, this will not likely to harm the amplifier, but at sustained higher output volume, this can cause overheating and potentially damage the amplifier's output circuit.
Think of it this way… resistance is simply restriction to current flow in a circuit. For example if you touch any "hot" wire in your car to ground (zero resistance between + and -), the fuse upstream of that hot wire will blow because there's no restriction to current flow and the fuse simply cannot handle the excessive current flow resulting in an overheating failure. So if you want to use a lower-than-specified resistance speaker (e.g. use an 8-ohm speaker in a 16-ohm rated output), you can do one of 2 things: 1) Wire the speaker directly to the amplifier and be mindful to keep the volume low to avoid overheating and damaging the amplifier, or, 2) Introduce additional resistance to the circuit to limit current flow to protect the amplifier, but starve the speaker. In either case, you're limited to the lowest common denominator. In short, the amplifier will deliver maximum power/volume to the speaker when the speaker impedance matches the amplifier’s output impedance.
From an acoustic perspective, the best solution is still to re-cone or re-foam the OEM speakers. The problem with replacing component speakers with aftermarket products is that Lexus does not publish the frequency coverage of its audio components (tweeters, mid ranges, mid bass, sub-woofer, etc.) and their rated dB output curves. Without this knowledge, you are left to select your speakers randomly, which means that their frequency range will likely to have some overlaps (which can cause interference), some gaps (holes within the frequency range where maybe for example some portion of the vocal cannot be heard), and some discrepancies in relative loudness (for example, some portion of the frequency range dominates and drowns out the others, or vise versa) to other components.
@rkw77080 The comment about potential issues from an acoustic perspective make a lot of sense and concern me. Could the above subs throw off the "harmony" of the ML system as the rest of the speakers are stock?
Big thanks to all of the super helpful info everyone has shared on this forum!
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ychachad
Lexus Audio, Video, Security & Electronics
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Feb 3, 2009 02:06 PM