can i add Mark Levinson stereo ?

[abds91]

Hello I am new here and proud owner of 02 ES300. I have some question about my audio system. Lexus offer the premium sound system called Mark levinson audio system. That was more than $1000 option so i decided not to have it. Thougt it was little too much for me. But just few days ago, I had a chance to drive my mother's LS430 which has the Mark Levinson system in it. It was surprising for me. The sound was even better than my living room's. Is it too late to have it in my ES?? Is there any way I could get that system?? Do I have to ask it to Dealer?? How about Navigation system?

Thank you

[SKperformance]

you can ask you dealer to trade the car for that option

that is the only simple procedure

other wise it is alot of parts to be removed and replaced to get it

like door panels dash rear parcel shelf

then i am sure well over 1000 for the parts

[amf1932]

I would say a job like this would cost you over $4000.00. I doubt whether a Lexus dealer would even attempt doing this. The Mark Levinson system also uses special speakers, so all these would have to be replaced also. Like SK said, it probably would be better to see if you could trade in your car. It's a pretty massive job!

[chillaxin]

but how much value would the dealer deduct from the car for trading it in?

[SW03ES]

On an 03 you'd loose probably 7k at least, on an 02 probably 10k.

Yes, the Mark Levinson is an amazing stock stereo. STOCK stereo...

I'm not really into car audio, but I do know that probably foir $1,000 or so you could have a stereo shop replace the amp, speakers etc in your car to aftermarket ones that will make it sound better than the Levinson.

I can understand why you want to upgrade, I wasn't going to do the Nav/Lev package either (and its almost impossible to get the Levinson without the navigation, the package is $5,000) but after driving one with the Levinson, the base stereo sounded flat and horrible...

[jragosta]

On an 03 you'd loose probably 7k at least, on an 02 probably 10k.

Yes, the Mark Levinson is an amazing stock stereo. STOCK stereo...

I'm not really into car audio, but I do know that probably foir $1,000 or so you could have a stereo shop replace the amp, speakers etc in your car to aftermarket ones that will make it sound better than the Levinson.

That's the way I'd go. For $1-2 K, you can get an awesome sounding stereo that will be close to the Mark Levinson in most ways. Trading your car in would cost you much, much more.

[SW03ES]

The stereo would easily be better than the ML. The ML is the best factory audio I agree, but any stereo guy will tell you that an aftermarket system will best it easily.

[squarehat]

Also, bear in mind that the LS has a slightly different Mark Levinson system than the ES. So you wouldn't get quite the sound of the LS's system. (From what I've read, the SC430 has the best of the Lexus/ML systems--don't know, never been in a car with an ML system).

[chillaxin]

what's the difference in the ML systems for each car?

[SW03ES]

The basic system is the same, 240 watt Mark Levinson with .001 THD. The differences are in the cabins of the cars (smaller the cabin the better the stereo sounds, hence why people say the SC is the best) the acoustics and the speaker placement. I've driven an LS, GS and the ES with the system and say they're all pretty close. Again though, I'm not a stereo buff.

[amf1932]

Basically all Lexus Levinson systems have the same low distortion characteristics. They all use the same high quality loudspeakers. When they design a system for an ES, LS, or whatever they bring in all types of test equipment to make adjustments for that particular vehicle so you get the best, smoothest frequency response possible. You won't get the sound like some aftermarket boom boxs which might appeal to some people, but it will be sound comparable to the best sound systems that you might have in your home.

[SW03ES]

You can still easily do better on a quality (not loudness) scale with aftermarket components.

I'm perfectly happy with the ML though.

[amf1932]

You can still easily do better on a quality (not loudness) scale with aftermarket component

Sorry, I disagree with this statement!

Years ago I worked on the sound system for "Studio 54" in New York City. We did acoustic voicing of that sound system using calibrated microphones and test instruments to get the best sound in this disco installation. It's too complicated to tell you exactly what this procedure entailed, but it was very complex.

My friends who are accomplished Audio technicians(engineers) did similar testing on my '03 ES and found that we couldn't tweak the ML sound system much more than was done by the people that did this originally when designing this sound system. Frequency Response was pretty flat. Distortion figures were also very low. All and all this ML system would not be so "easily" improved. If you're technically minded I could give you all the figures of our findings. ;)

[jragosta]

Years ago I worked on the sound system for "Studio 54" in New York City. We did acoustic voicing of that sound system using calibrated microphones and test instruments to get the best sound in this disco installation. It's too complicated to tell you exactly what this procedure entailed, but it was very complex.

My friends who are accomplished Audio technicians(engineers) did similar testing on my '03 ES and found that we couldn't tweak the ML sound system much more than was done by the people that did this originally when designing this sound system. Frequency Response was pretty flat. Distortion figures were also very low. All and all this ML system would not be so "easily" improved. If you're technically minded I could give you all the figures of our findings. ;)

That was my understanding, as well. You can buy a third party system that's as loud as the Mark Levinson system for less money. You can also buy one with better specs _on paper_ than the Mark Levinson system. But the advantage of this type of high end system sold with the car is that it's tweaked so that the system adapts to weaknesses in the car's interior, resulting in a completely flat sound curve. You would have a hard time doing that with a single third party system.

That's not to say that it couldn't be done - maybe even for less than the ML system (although I don't know that), but it would not be easy. Any car has specific audio characteristics and the builtin-in ML system has been designed to correct them. The same is true of any high end system in a nice quality car.

Having said that, very few people are going to be able to tell the difference between a Mark Levinson system and another quality high end system that's been installed by reputable people. So go ahead and buy a third party system - just make sure that the people who do it know what they're doing. That's my plan, anyway.

[SW03ES]

I'm not at all knowledgeable about audio so I suppose what you're saying could be correct.

I've just always heard from people in the business, reviewers and such that while the factory systems in the Lexus (the Nakamichi and the Mark Levinson) are without a doubt the best stock systems out there, the aftermarket holds even better components.

[jragosta]

I'm not at all knowledgeable about audio so I suppose what you're saying could be correct.

I've just always heard from people in the business, reviewers and such that while the factory systems in the Lexus (the Nakamichi and the Mark Levinson) are without a doubt the best stock systems out there, the aftermarket holds even better components.

You're probably right. The raw components you can get from third parties are probably better. But the key is getting componentst that MATCH the car. Trying to do that on your own is very different than Mark Levinson doing that with a trained staff, knowing that they'll selll 100,000 systems.

With audio, it's often not the best components that win. It's the components that are best tuned to match the platform. No one can do that better than the manufacturer (in general).