Speakers Are Dead

[93LSOwner]

1993 LS400_One of the four door speakers work, the rear right side door's speaker. All of the other three do not. The Sub in the back and the two tweeters in the front doors work.

Now, the one speaker that does work makes a funny buzzing noise, not the noise that indicates that it is damaged or ripped, but just a noise! :)

I am pretty sure that it could be a handful of things wrong causing this, but I just want to know if any one else had past experience with speakers dieing out so hopefully I can pinpoint my problem easily and perhaps find the solution. ;)

Someone told me the speakers have built in amplifiers. I have to bypass the amp to get the speakers back, but they will not give me the surround sound like they use to once before. :(

Thanks

[akewlguy]

Sounds like the deck is dying. Did this just happen all at once?

I also believe there is an amp in some of the LS's.

Do you have the Namakichie sound sytem?

[93LSOwner]

Sounds like the deck is dying. Did this just happen all at once?

I also believe there is an amp in some of the LS's.

Do you have the Namakichie sound sytem?

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No, it did not happen all at once. First it was the front speakers did not work (2 years ago) just recently the rear back does not work neither. So, now 3 out of 4 speakers do not work.

The amp is on the top of the cd-changer in the back.

Yes, I have the Nakamichi sound system.

[sha4000]

probably just need new speakers. try a known good speaker in one of the dead doors

[Gumart1]

Pretty certain it is your speakers. When what you described happens on a Nakamichi system, it is more likely the speakers than the amps or wiring. You do not have separate amps for the each front and rear speaker.

Just follow Lexls.com's tutorial for interior door removal, hook up a test speaker and you will be on your way. I just did with my 91 LS and confirmed that all 4 speakers on my Nak were indeed bad. My tweeters and sub worked fine.

[93LSOwner]

Pretty certain it is your speakers. When what you described happens on a Nakamichi system, it is more likely the speakers than the amps or wiring. You do not have separate amps for the each front and rear speaker.

Just follow Lexls.com's tutorial for interior door removal, hook up a test speaker and you will be on your way. I just did with my 91 LS and confirmed that all 4 speakers on my Nak were indeed bad. My tweeters and sub worked fine.

←

That’s exactly what I wanted to know, a past experience.

Thanks guys.

Can I buy some cheap speakers like $20 ones or should I buy expensive ones >$90? If I want the same original sound or a little better.

But won't the expensive experience require/recommend running from a better amp, then the factory one?

[Gumart1]

I just bought replacement Pioneer 4" speakers off E-Bay and I know other members have done the same. $16 shipped per pair! They sound great for what they are. They are still 4" speakers but they take car of the midrange very well. Your tweeters add the separation and the sub fills it in. It's a great system but not the best. You could spend some $ replacing it all but as long as my Nak amp and changer are working I am happy for now.

That’s exactly what I wanted to know, a past experience.

Thanks guys.

Can I buy some cheap speakers like $20 ones or should I buy expensive ones >$90? If I want the same original sound or a little better.

But won't the expensive experience require/recommend running from a better amp, then the factory one?

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[91ls400]

I had the same problem on my 91LS, having only one speaker can really get on your nerves!! I replaced with the midlevel pioneer 4" speakers. I find that the sound is much clearer. It didnt take more than 2 hours to do all 4 doors.

[93LSOwner]

Hey guys, I have been searching and found these in Walmarts website because ebay's price+shipping=not worth it

So, these:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=2569445

and some cheapos:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3635432

Got another question: While my front doors are opened why not replace the tweeters as well. Seems like there is only one size. Is there any particular size tweeters that our LSs take?

[Gumart1]

Forget about those cheap-o's, the Pioneers are dirt cheap and sound great. The 1340GR is exacty what I put in mine and the sound is as good or better than before. $35 is a good price at Wal-Mart if you need them today (they sell for $50 at Best Buy) but you will pay half that on E-Bay shipped. Why do you want to replace the tweeters if they still work? If you are looking to upgrade the system then I would look at Infinity Kappas. But again unless you are changing the whole system including the head unit/amp I would save your money and use the Pioneers and don't touch the tweeters.

By the way I owned a 92LS with the Pioneer system with dead speakers and the problem was NOT the speaker, It seems to be more common with Nakamichi.

[93LSOwner]

Yeah, those Pioneers do look good. The person that is going to put the speakers in, should be able to tell me if its the speakers or something else. But thanks for the heads up.

[akewlguy]

Well I have a channel from my deck that is dead until I jack up the system. I have the same 93 NAMIKOCHIO system.

I tried to replace the speaker and no luck. If the speakers go bad they will crack and sound like crap. If a chanell goes bad then it will go dead. Also this could be a short, but I get the impression the car is sound and has few shorts.

So I still say the deck... Then the amp... Then shorts.. You could just get a cheep speaker and just swap it quickly. This will tell you right away if its the speaker.

When you rip apart the back door follow the directions and the handle part does have two pins. This confused me for a bit. There are push pins around the whole door and the silver molding at window just pops up with panel.

Good luck..

[TripLS]

Forget about those cheap-o's, the Pioneers are dirt cheap and sound great. The 1340GR is exacty what I put in mine and the sound is as good or better than before. $35 is a good price at Wal-Mart if you need them today (they sell for $50 at Best Buy) but you will pay half that on E-Bay shipped. Why do you want to replace the tweeters if they still work? If you are looking to upgrade the system then I would look at Infinity Kappas. But again unless you are changing the whole system including the head unit/amp I would save your money and use the Pioneers and don't touch the tweeters.

By the way I owned a 92LS with the Pioneer system with dead speakers and the problem was NOT the speaker, It seems to be more common with Nakamichi.

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Steve-O

Talk about eerie......

I recently moved from South Florida and had not brought my 1993 LS 400 to my new home yet. I had left it in St Augustine so luckily, It missed the Hurricane.

Unfortunately, I had only one front speaker, 1 tweeter, and the Sub working....They had all worked when I parked the car at the airport about a month before. I found this site doing research on the possible problem. I saw this thread and followed the link to Lexls.com and read the tutorials.

Now the really weird part. While picking up some parts at another store I noticed a Wal-Mart across the street. I went in and bought some speakers to fix the Lexus. Only AFTER installing them did I look at the links you posted about the Pioneer speakers. Guess what.....I bought the exact same speakers!!!! and my car is the same color as the one on your avatar.

Anyway, I am new to this forum today and it has already been very useful. The Pioneers sound great and the tutorial at Lexls.com was great.

Trip

93 LS 400 Charcoal 229,000 miles and counting

[93LSOwner]

I can't seem to take the back door off, I am starting from the back. There are no screws in the bottom where the some carpet is attached. I tried ripping the cover out but I think it was held on to some metal pieces and I ripped it out.................any help please.

[93LSOwner]

Well I got around to ripping the rear door apart, what was holding me back was a screw in the handle. I haven’t looked at the other doors, but the rear one that was recently working is ripped severely (post pics later). I plugged a new one in and it sounded AWESOME.

This is what I am putting in all four:

http://www.circuitcity.com/rpsm/oid/142773...roductDetail.do

Every store had 2-way, so I just went with it, so I guess you can say I bought 8 speakers!? :P

[93LSOwner]

This is the old Nakamichi rear speaker:

These are both old and the new Pioneer TS-G1041R:

Pioneer TS-G1041R:

power range: 2-20 watts RMS (110 watts peak power)

frequency response: 80-22,000 Hz

sensitivity: 91 dB

The Pioneer is a bit smaller and the size of the magnet is not even remotely close to the huge heavy Nakamichi. So I am going to return those and just ordered these:

Audiobahn AS40Q (with removable tweeters you can mount them anywhere else)

power range: 2-80 watts RMS (160 watts peak power)

frequency response: 90-20,000 Hz

sensitivity: 93 dB

[93LSOwner]

Just to update:

Those AudioBahn speakers work great. Now I think I am getting every penny out of the Nakamichi system.

If you are out to buy new speakers, be sure to look at the sensitivity rather than the max or peak power watts.

"In general a higher quality speaker will have a higher sensitivity rating, larger and or heavier magnet, and a higher Xmax.

It should be noted that a higher power driver will not necessarily be louder than a lower power one. For example a speaker that is 3 dB more efficient than another will produce double the SPL (or loudness) for the same power than the other. Thus a 100W speaker (A) rated at 92 dB/(W.m) efficiency will be double as loud as a 200W speaker ( B ) rated at 89 dB/(W.m) when both are driven with 100W of input power. For this particular example, when driven at 100W, speaker A will produce the same SPL or loudness that speaker B would produce with 200W input. Thus a 3 dB increase in efficiency of the speaker means that it will need half the power to achieve a given SPL, and this translates into a smaller power amplifier and some cost savings."