Lexus SC430 Mark Levinson Stereo sounds poor

I haven't personally heard the Levinson stereo in the Lexus models,
however initial reviews by the stereo and car mags were highly
favorable. Some said it was the best car stereo they had ever heard.

If yours sounds poor, it's probably defective.

...

Or else his idea of good sound differs from that of the Mark Levinson/Lexus
designers. People do have different ideas of what good sound is.

--

- GRL

"It's good to want things."

Steve Barr (philosopher, poet, humorist, chemist,
Visual Basic programmer)
...

My wifes 02 sc 430 sounds like **** compared to my 97 BMW 840. The ML system did not impress me!
I asked the dealer how much to replace one of the right front speakers because it is really distorting when I have the bass level on ~0~, they told me $450.00 I could not believe it.
I can buy a whole set of top of the line after market replacement pioneer, sony, jbl, jvc for less than that price. Come on now! I am a professional musician, playing electric bass for over 35 yrs. I can buy a top quality speaker cabinet for that price and use it on gigs night after night for 15 to 20 years before I need to replace a speaker due to the foam drying out around the cone

my 2002 sc430 had a problem with bass. I took apart the door to look at the speakers and they were beginning to show cracks in the paper part. I had them replaced a the local electronics store. Sounds much better now. The stock speakers just seem flimsy compared to aftermarket speakers.

Easy solution.

Head down to your local Lexus dealership. Carry some CDs that you're heard
in your own SC. Play your CDs in an LS with Levinson and a SC with Levinson
on the dealer lot. Set the car up in the same way as the one at home (top
up or down, car running, etc).

See how they compare. If the home system is drastically different, and you
can hear an audible difference, then you have a defect. If not, then it's a
bad design with th e stereo / car.

IMHO, the Levinson in the LS430 is quite tight, and accurate. Not muddy at
all.

P.S. Some CDs are boomy. Make sure that you try different pieces of music
to rule out the CD or recording.

...

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I just don't get it. Why would someone buy an $85K car before listening to the
stereo?

I have the Mark Levinson in my '03 LS430 and the sound is awesome.

My favorite CD is Moulin Rouge, where the bass drums knock the socks
off of not just me, but also the drivers around me!

Too bad I most often listen to books on tape and talk radio :)

The Levinson system in my LS 430 is almost a religious experience to hear.
The sound quality is comparable to, but a little warmer than, a set of
Infinity floor-standing studio monitors I have at home. The overall tonality
and smoothness is reminiscent of the old Marantz Imperial speaker systems
(if anyone here goes back that far). I'd surmise that if yours sounds that
bad there's likely a problem.

-- Pete

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I work for a dealer and I have had a few demo's with the Levinson system. a
lot of my CD's are copies of my others that my wife uses and I notice that
on the one's that I've burned the bass is pretty poor but on the originals
it sounds great. If you use a lot of "home made" CD's you will notice a
significant drop in quality.

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Your SC430 sound system works perfect. It just sounds that crappy.
:-)))

2 friends and me, all RX300 drivers test drove the SC430. We all three
noticed the muddy bass and missing high end. And those 2 people were
NO audio specialists!

The "free" JBL/Pioneer sound system of the RX300 is much better. Maybe
due to the direct sound of the tweeters and bigger volume inside the
car. Bass may be limited due to small space (LF wavelength) in the
SC430.

But its nice that you and several people name it more and more often
in the newsgroups that its only a marketing strategy from ML and BOSE
to sell their super-expensive sound systems to Lexus and Mercedes and
that these sound systems only make sense (if) in the showroom and when
the engine is off.

Worst of all the ML sound does not recognise your CDs so you will have
to readjust every single CD. Any cheap Mercedes radio does it for CD,
Tuner and Cassette separate.

Here in Europe if you want to buy the new RX300 with air suspension
you are FORCED to buy the ML sound system if you want or not. Ok,
these people who can afford the US$ 59.000 don't mind the extra money
??? but I am sure it will cost sales numbers because the press will
write negative about this fact. Especially in these bad times rich
people are reacting very sensitive about things you force them to do
and maybe decide then for a competitor.

And ??? who is ML? Nobody knows about ML in Europe.

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This doesn't make any sense -- audio-wise, digital copies of CDs are exactly the
same as the original. Obviously this isn't true for audio tracks that have been
through a resampling or conversion process (i.e. MP3s) but for a direct-to-disc copy
they are identical. Are you sure it is "copies of originals" that you're having the
problem with?