At a stoplight and I honk my horn because this guy in front of me isn't moving. A minute down the road later, I hear *pop* and my speakers get quiet. I turn the system off and hear static. I pull off the road and turn my car off and on. Static goes away but 30 seconds later it's back. Really annoying stuff. About a year and a half ago the ML amp was replaced by a Lexus dealer by the previous owner, so I doubt that's the issue. However, I don't know what else would be causing this. Anything else that may be at play here? The car has never been wrecked and has an immaculate service/ownership history.

 

Sorry, but it sounds like your amp has failed again
A very similar thing happened to me, a small pop and then static noise for a few seconds. I replaced the ML amp with a brand new one and everything was fine until 2 years later when the exact same thing happened again, and it was the amp again! Running all oem factory speakers no mods, always serviced at lexus. I was out of the 12 month warranty for the part so had to buy a new amp again but I got a discount on a new one but it still cost me $600!! Very disappointing. ML sound system in the LS is absolute garbage in my opinion. I dont even turn it up loud either. I think the position of the amp in these cars is not good either and there's not enough cooling for them which puts them at great stress. I have a black LS plus I live in Australia and it gets damn hot here so none of that helps the life span of the amp either.

 

i may seek to have it rebuilt/repaired. To have a dealer-installed replacement fail less than 2 years later has told me all I need to know about the non-existent build quality of the ML system.

 

Replace with aftermarket system....more reliable and you actually enjoy the music.