Es-350 Mark Levinson - No Surround W/ Dvd-audio

[bgoebel]

I just purchased a 2008 ES 350 with navigation and the Mark Levinson sound system. They advertise 5.1 descrete surround sound and that the system is compatible with DVD-Audio. But, when I play DVD-Audio discs, I am not getting surround sound. For example, the Big Phat Band disc which sounds great on my home system, will not play through the center and rear speakers during the Speaker Check portion of the disk. Also, I can't hear surround when listening to the music. Similar experience with Bonnie Raitt, Dire Straights, etc.

This is quite frustrating to me, as I was looking forward to listening to my DVD-Audio collection in the car.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a firmware upgrade that will fix this? I called the dealer, but I am not getting much of a response, as this is not a common audio format.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

[GSguy77095]

I just purchased a 2008 ES 350 with navigation and the Mark Levinson sound system. They advertise 5.1 descrete surround sound and that the system is compatible with DVD-Audio. But, when I play DVD-Audio discs, I am not getting surround sound. For example, the Big Phat Band disc which sounds great on my home system, will not play through the center and rear speakers during the Speaker Check portion of the disk. Also, I can't hear surround when listening to the music. Similar experience with Bonnie Raitt, Dire Straights, etc.

This is quite frustrating to me, as I was looking forward to listening to my DVD-Audio collection in the car.

Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a firmware upgrade that will fix this? I called the dealer, but I am not getting much of a response, as this is not a common audio format.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brian

Brian,

I have a 2008 GS 460 and have experienced discrete when playing back Steely Dan Gaucho DTS 5.1. You can definitely hear the background vocals (those girls are great) in the rear channels. I have ordered the same title on DVD-A which should be an even better mix.

I have a similar problem, maybe you can see if this happens on your system. Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is missing audible tracks (guitar lead and synthensizer) between the 4 and 6 minute mark of Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding. Also missing trombone in Sweet Painted Lady. I have sent an inquiry to Mark Levinson and will be speaking with my dealership re: fix and/or firmware upgrade.

Other than that, you might want to verify DVD-A setting is set to surround sound (for media). But the ML system should pick this layer by default.

Hope we can help each other out with this one . . . . .

Mark