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04 Es 330 Stereo


timothy

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As far as I know, Pioneer has always made the base stereo systems for Lexus. I think the Pioneer in my '95 sounds excellent compared to alot of the new systems that are in cars these days. My wife has the VW "Monsoon" stereo in her new Passat and it sounds terrible. I think speaker placement has alot to do with it, but overall the sound quality isn't that good - especially when listening to FM. Monsoon is appropriate because any time it is overcast there is so much static on the FM channels it sounds like it's raining.

I don't know what the cost difference between the Mark Levinson and the base Pioneer is on the new ES, but I have listened to the ML in my dad's LS430 on many occasions and I don't think it's anything special.

I've had alot of success w/ Pioneer in general. I have an old Pioneer stereo amp & cd player (15 years old) that still has great sound. I recently put it in my garage when I upgraded to a Pioneer Elite surround sound setup for my den. Now if I could only get the Plasma...

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The ML system is a lot like the old Nakamichi system in that to be truly appreciated it has to be:

1. Tuned properly. When I had my satellite radio installed the installer tuned the system for me and it made a huge difference

2. Used with classical music.

Both systems are very understated and are very good ad discerning minute portions of complex instrumental peices that you wont hear on other stereos, for normal rock and roll/country or FM radio you wont be able to tell a difference between the ML and the base stereo.

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No SW03ES...I don't have the nav system in my car. Just the ML system. What would be the best setting to have the best sound output? For example, the bass, tremble etc..I ususally use the CD player...If you have any suggestions that would be great.

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No SW03ES...I don't have the nav system in my car. Just the ML system.  What would be the best setting to have the best sound output? For example, the bass, tremble etc..I ususally use the CD player...If you have any suggestions that would be great.

There is no best setting! Just set the tone controls that sounds best to you.

Ideally, if a CD was recorded properly you could leave your tone controls in the "flat" position(middle-Bass, Mid, High). Every recording is mastered differently, depending on how the recording engineer decided it should sound. If the recording sounds 'thin', you could boost each band of frequencies individually until it sounds good to you. ;)

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I'll go out to my car and see how he has it set, I fiddled with it for a year and never could get it sounding as good as he did, its just someone with an ear for it vs someone without one (me) lol.

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I really wished that the ML system had a graphic equalizer instead of plain 'ole tone controls. This way I could adjust my sound exactly the way I like it. Tone controls are always a compromise. :)

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I've noticed equalizers are becoming a thing of the past on OEM audio systems...

Damn, I was just out and forgot to check the radio settings...

Whether or not equalizers are used on OEM systems does not change the fact that they're still the best method to fine tune an audio system. It all comes down to how much money a manufacturer wants to spend.

Tone controls are much too coarse an adjustment, as far as I'm concerned, especially on a premium sound system.

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I'll go out to my car and see how he has it set, I fiddled with it for a year and never could get it sounding as good as he did, its just someone with an ear for it vs someone without one (me) lol.

Yes........I'm also eager to find out these magical settings. LOL :D

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Its bass +3, mid +2, and treble +4.

Dont know how that translates into the stock headunit's readout but there it is. He also adjusted the fade and balance off of 0 but I can't tell how to explain that to you because the nav car has a grid for adjusting that.

Again, like Alan said its all personal preference but the stereo sounds much better to me set this way than it did when I fooled with it.

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On.

Man......I didn't know you listened to Hip-Hop. haha :D

The frequency curves that you have it set at would be ideal for rock music, but really not too good for classical. But, once again.....whatever floats your boat. ;)

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Its bass +3, mid +2, and treble +4.

Dont know how that translates into the stock headunit's readout but there it is. He also adjusted the fade and balance off of 0 but I can't tell how to explain that to you because the nav car has a grid for adjusting that.

Again, like Alan said its all personal preference but the stereo sounds much better to me set this way than it did when I fooled with it.

You've basically created an artificially inflated loudness curve.

Since all of your settings are above 0, you're using your eq as a volume increaser (not quite since the equalizer doesn't cover all ranges). I would expect that your system would sound about as good if you had bass +1, mid 0, treble +2 and raise the volume slightly (actually, this should improve it since you're not cutting out the stuff between the mid and bass and the mid and treble.

That curve is a standard loudness curve. When you listen to music at moderate to low volumes, you hear the midrange better than the highs or lows, so the loudness setting will boost the lows and highs to make up for it.

In general, people's hearing will vary somewhat so your settings won't work for everyone, but I would say that a +1 or +2 on the bass, 0 mid, and +2 or +3 treble is a pretty common setting for most people.

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I didn't create anything lol, this is how the guy at the audio place set it, I haven't touched it. Audios not my thing and I literally know nothing about it.

Alan- I mistly listen to softer rock and country (my music taste are really weird for my age, like most other things about me lol) and I think thats where the ML lacks even behind the base pioneer stereo. Its designed for classical and instrumental music as the Nakamichi was before it, set this way when I primarily listen to sounds fuller and better.

Also have to remember that it was set to compensate for the satellite radio through an FM modulator which tends to be flat, CDs and FM sound great with these settings too though.

Man......I didn't know you listened to Hip-Hop. haha

Werd! :cheers: LOL

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