Mark Levinson Subwoofer Replacement And/or Repair

[Zett123]

This is for all of those people seaching for a replacement subwoofer that was damaged because either you or one of the kids turned the bass up to loud or played some of that more modern music on your Mark levinson Stereo system and the subwoofer speaker now makes a rattling noise in the back .

This will work for any make or model subwoofer lexus offers.

Go find/borrow/buy an electric glue gun or heavy duty bathroom tub/tile 100% silcone clear caulk (home depot or lowes).

I prefer the glue gun. Pull off or pry with screw driver or puddy knife the subwoofer top grill where you suspect the noice is coming from. Inspect the cone around the speaker. lightly push down on the speaker's outside cone edge. you will find using a flash light and a good pair of reading glasses will help. Observer that in almost all cases the speaker will be torn around the outside edge. This is the weakest part of the factory subwoofer. Mine was torn for about 2 inches along the edge and was very hard to see tear. Take your glue gun, insert glue stick and let it warm up. Now go all the way around the entire outside edge of the speaker cone with glue meeting outside edge with the foam part of the speaker, cover the paper part of the speaker from the form part of the cone to the outside wall of the speaker. Fix any other tears with the glue gun.

Push the speaker cover back on and it will be as good if not better then new.

This is a simple repair for an expensive speaker that will last for a long time. No other replacement speaker will sound as good as the factory speaker without potentially damaging your Mark levinson amplifier. Believe me I know because I have tried others.

schuppin@worldnet.att.net let me know how it went!!!!!!!!!!

Tools :

Screw driver

Sears electric glue gun and glue.

cost:

Nothing but 10 minutes of your time.

$5.00 bath room caulk but go the glue gun route instead

Ok guys, I took the silicon sealant route on this repair using the little tube. I created a small bead all around the edge of the speaker where it meets the steel. I then tooled the bead with my finger to make sure the paper was saturated with the silicon. Let dry and PRESTO!!!! Better sounding than the original.

What bothers me is this. What kind of crap are these speakers or should I single out just the sub-woofer? Let me qualify this comment. I own a 2001 LS430 and replaced the sub woofer problem about 3 years ago. Luckily, I was able to find a replacement on Ebay from a auto yard 3,000 miles away. I was able to deal an original Mark Levinson sub with shipping for $50.00. (don't tell anyone) Myer Emco charged me $75.00 to remove and installed the new speaker. About two years ago the ML Amp went bye bye. I got one on Ebay at a good price with a "-01" rev level which is supposed to be better. All is well until the speaker blew again about a year ago which I fixed with the silicon recently (yes I am a procrastinator)for $5.00.

Please hear me, I am 59, I do not listen to my music loud. I am not 20 again, showing off my Altec 846B speakers by playing Emerson, Lake and Palmer's Lucky Man until the needle jumps off the record. There are over 35,000 views on how to repair a Mark Levinson Rear Speaker. Someone at Lexus should have taken notice a long time ago about this highly over rated ML crap that was installed in these cars. Now, my right door speaker sounds cracked (link please). I feel sorry for the 1,000's who have had this problem and had to go the dealer route and pay $500.00 - $1,000.00 to get the speaker replace.

With that said, I love my LS430 and looking forwards on buying the LS 460

Love the Forum!

JZ

[devdiddlydoodle]

It worked for me! Buzz gone. But I definitely think the lower frequencies are dimmer than before.

SO, a few notes. 1) I would definitely use silicone and not hot glue as I did. 2) Repair only the section that's torn first. I did that, but kept doing sections until the buzz stopped, so basically I had more than one tear. You could even do it in 2 inch sections, with gaps, so the speaker drum can still flex as much as possible. That's after all what makes the subwoofer sounds you like so much. 3) minimize the bead no matter which technique you use.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - I just saved $680 (quote from Lexus), and the stereo sounds pretty good. (At least I can shift the sound to the back when my kids want to hear something I don't. )

EXCELLENT SCOOP! I can't believe that Lexus doesn't offer this as a 'best effort' 1 hr labor service - they'd make a killing, and customers would be happy.

[PCW]

I own a 2001 LS430 with the ML system. The car isn't driven much and has only 65K miles. Yesterday my sub finally developed cracks around the edge as so many owners have reported. I decided to go the silicone route instead of hot glue. Yesterday evening I went to my local hardware store and for $4.99 + tax I purchased a small tube of silicone sealer. I applied it to the entire edge of the sub where it meets the metal. It wasn't easy getting my head into the space to see the part that was closest to me so I used a small mirror to assist me. I made sure there was total coverage with no gaps in the caulk. This morning approx. 15 hours after the application I put on the Eagles Hotel California disk and played the title song which has lots of bass once the song gets going. I am amazed as to how good the sub now sounds! No crackling or rattling, just good solid bass. I am impressed with the results. Thanks to all of you.

[Ancdmd]

The silicone trick will buy you a little time but will soon fail. Take an extra step and do it right with a refoam kit, it's only $15 and easy to do yourself:

http://reconingspeakers.com/products-page/diy-refoam-kits/8-refoam-kit-m-roll-rfk8-m-roll/

[lloyd50]

it worked! thank you sooo much for posting this!!!

[Mark In Phoenix]

I replaced my subwoofer with the Polk DB840DVC 8 inch Dual Voice Coil Subwoofer available on Amazon.com for about $60. This speaker fit in perfectly as a replacement for the O.E.M. Speaker in my 2003 Lexus LS430. It has much more base response than the factory speaker. The factory speaker had a light weight magnet and was basically a cheap speaker. I was surprised by how cheap the factory speaker seemed. The Polk was heavy and much higher quality and it sounded like it. I think you would definitely be getting ripped off if you pay the dealer $300 for a factory replacement speaker that sucks. Don't fix that old piece of junk, replace it.

Replacing the speaker wasn't an easy job. I had to take out the entire back seat, unbolt the seat belts, disconnect a couple of electronic connectors going to the rear seat, and unbolt and lift up the center of the rear deck. My arms got scratched up working under the rear deck when unbolting the speaker and removing it. I recomend wearing a long sleve shirt. There are two speaker coils with two sets of connections, unlike the original speaker that has one set. You have to read the Polk instructions to determine how to wire the speaker for your car. I wired mine so the two speaker coils were in series for an 8 ohm load on the amplifier, which I think was correct for my car from what I had read on other posts. All you need is a soldering iron, solder, and a foot of 16 gauge wire. It's easy.

I had some difficulty figuring out how to take the two plastic mounting brackets off the original speaker and put them on the new speaker. I advise you to closely study how the original speaker was mounted before you disassemble it so you can put the new speaker in without trouble. Take a few pictures of the intact assembly from various angles before disassembly for reference later. I had to find a picture of a factory speaker for sale on EBay to figure out how to put mine together. Be sure to route the speaker wire through the slot on the mounting brackets so you don't have to pull the speaker back out like I did to reroute the wires.

I hope this helps you have an easier time than I did with the work. I had some problems completing the job, but it isn't extremely difficulty. Just somewhat difficult doing it the first time for a "Shade Tree Mechanic". With some time, tools, and determination you can probably complete the job and save yourself several hundred dollars by doing the work yourself instead of taking the job to the Lexus dealer.

Good luck.

[Mark In Phoenix]

Polk, the manufacturer of the DB840DVC speaker said this speaker was NOT intended for a free air installation, like in the rear deck of a car without a speaker enclosure. A speaker box is recommended. But they said this speaker will work OK if free air mounted. It would perform best if there is no opening in the surface it is mounted on that allows the movement of air between the front and back of the speaker. Your rear deck may be solid with no openings which will be optimum. Plug any holes in the deck if you can.

The speaker sounds very good in my car even without an enclosure. So if you want use this speaker it will work good. When considering other speakers look for one intended for the type of installation you intend, free air or enclosure mounted.

[AttilaTheHun]

Subscribed

[cowboy7]

I had the same issue with my 2017 GS350 f sport. Even at low volume but with sixty percent bass to the rear subwoofer speaker sounded as if it was torn. So, I followed the direction from previous subscribers. The rear subwoofer cover is removable using some plastic pry tools purchased from amazon. The grill cover was attached with eight metal pegs rising from the rear deck cover. The grill cover can be popped up using the pry tools, but once popped up it does not re-attach as installed. Once you out find where the pegs are located on the cover, place the V-shaped pry tool at that position to pop up that portion of the cover.

I only needed to pop up the cover at six pegs to get a look at the subwoofer, it was not torn. It was an odd-looking speaker, but it was not torn. So I turned on the music with lots of bass, and guess what, it was the cloth covering the grill cover that was making the noise. Lift the cover, no noise, lower the cover, the grill cloth started to rattle. I pushed the grill cover back down, grabbed the cover, and to my surprise, no rattle. 

I removed the grill cover cloth using a work-pro utility knife, I then cut a few strips of of Velcro and attached it one side to the grill cover and the other side to the deck cover, pressed them together--no more rattle. The grill cover may be re-attached to the rear deck, but you would need adhesive (glue) to do so. The Velcro worked just great.

Now I can crank up the bass.

W

 

 

Edited September 27 by cowboy7