Audio System Upgrades!

[cevu]

hi all,

has anyone on the forum done a audio upgrade of any kind? is so please post details and some pics if possible.

also, for those members who have the ML system, do you guys find the tweeters at the front a bit harsh. also, is it just me, or is the front staging very bright.

[cevu]

haha...... i started the topic and forgot to post my own system.

this is what i had a couple of months ago but i've since changed it. i will post the new system up shortly when i get a chance to take some pics.

in my first system i had all cabin speakers stock and just improved on it by adding diffusers behind all the woofers in the door. had the whole car dynamatted, disconnected the original ML 8" sub and added 2 x Infinity Kappa Perfect 10's powered by an Infinity Monoblock in a custom box. i know there are better set ups out there but i was only looking to improve on the ML system and personally i thought the bass could do with more depth and definition.

anyhow, i have since changed that setup to a single 12" Boston G5 powered by a Pioneer monoblock. with the change in speaker a new box had to be built also. i will post pics of this setup shortly.

please share if you've done anything.

[cevu]

by the lack of responses i'm assuming that means no custom sound??

[korvan]

for those members who have the ML system, do you guys find the tweeters at the front a bit harsh. also, is it just me, or is the front staging very bright.

A little, but I always F/R balance my speakers to the back a couple of notches - gives the bass a little more punch. However, I think I've noticed a slight crackle in the rear right speaker, and I'm hoping I haven't done any damage to it with volume. It could just be the odd crappy MP3 on my iPod, but will have to remove the grille to find out.

[ProjectIS]

haha...... i started the topic and forgot to post my own system.

this is what i had a couple of months ago but i've since changed it. i will post the new system up shortly when i get a chance to take some pics.

in my first system i had all cabin speakers stock and just improved on it by adding diffusers behind all the woofers in the door. had the whole car dynamatted, disconnected the original ML 8" sub and added 2 x Infinity Kappa Perfect 10's powered by an Infinity Monoblock in a custom box. i know there are better set ups out there but i was only looking to improve on the ML system and personally i thought the bass could do with more depth and definition.

anyhow, i have since changed that setup to a single 12" Boston G5 powered by a Pioneer monoblock. with the change in speaker a new box had to be built also. i will post pics of this setup shortly.

please share if you've done anything.

Hey cevu,

I didn't realise that you had put deadener everywhere. Was it difficult to get the inner door skins off? Did you notice an improvement? Props to U. I think ya leading the mod tally at the moment!!

When are those pics coming??? ;)

Look forward to seeing em!!

[cevu]

the job was professionally done at FHRX in Caringbah.

I redid the box and because i wanted a 12" sub. The images have already been posted in the modded is250 thread.

never really noticed if there was a difference because i had it done when the car was fairly new. But there is a huge improvement in the cabin speaker sound quality. I noticed straight away there was more depth to the bass and the overall sound was warmer.

although when i had the sound deadening in my Mazda6 there was a very noticable drop in cabin noise.

not a must do mod but one worth doing it you can spare the coin! keeping in mind it will weigh down the a car a bit so may not suit those trying to minimize the cars weight.

[pygothian]

the ML sound system on my sport luxury sounds pretty good to me. I don't feel the need to add any more speakers.

It rivals many small home theatre setups in terms of sound

[cevu]

the ML sound system on my sport luxury sounds pretty good to me. I don't feel the need to add any more speakers.

It rivals many small home theatre setups in terms of sound

glad to hear your happy with your ML system.

although i didn't add any more speakers. i actually removed speakers. i disconnected the centre speaker and removed the factory 7" subwoofer and replaced it with a 12" woofer.

the cabin speakers were improved upon by adding sound deadening and diffusers. not a must do but i'm fussy with my sound hence the mod.

[kinjiru]

the ML sound system on my sport luxury sounds pretty good to me. I don't feel the need to add any more speakers.

It rivals many small home theatre setups in terms of sound

glad to hear your happy with your ML system.

although i didn't add any more speakers. i actually removed speakers. i disconnected the centre speaker and removed the factory 7" subwoofer and replaced it with a 12" woofer.

the cabin speakers were improved upon by adding sound deadening and diffusers. not a must do but i'm fussy with my sound hence the mod.

Hey Cevu,

I'm not a sound expert (but I have a decent ear) so don't flame me for sounding dumb! in response to your original question re: the front tweeters, I have found that it can be the case, but in seems specific to the music. Some albums sound overly bright, others seem to lack base etc. I'm constantly adjusting my sound settings for each album. I know that sounds weird, but that's what I've found. Moreover, to me, it sounds as though the centre speaker is too dominating with most of the sound seeming to originate from there. There is a thread on CL talking about putting a resistor in the sound system and thereby softening the front centre speaker. I'm tempted to do this, but am not much of a hacker (and don't really know what I am doing).

[cevu]

the ML sound system on my sport luxury sounds pretty good to me. I don't feel the need to add any more speakers.

It rivals many small home theatre setups in terms of sound

glad to hear your happy with your ML system.

although i didn't add any more speakers. i actually removed speakers. i disconnected the centre speaker and removed the factory 7" subwoofer and replaced it with a 12" woofer.

the cabin speakers were improved upon by adding sound deadening and diffusers. not a must do but i'm fussy with my sound hence the mod.

Hey Cevu,

I'm not a sound expert (but I have a decent ear) so don't flame me for sounding dumb! in response to your original question re: the front tweeters, I have found that it can be the case, but in seems specific to the music. Some albums sound overly bright, others seem to lack base etc. I'm constantly adjusting my sound settings for each album. I know that sounds weird, but that's what I've found. Moreover, to me, it sounds as though the centre speaker is too dominating with most of the sound seeming to originate from there. There is a thread on CL talking about putting a resistor in the sound system and thereby softening the front centre speaker. I'm tempted to do this, but am not much of a hacker (and don't really know what I am doing).

flame you? not, not here mate. we're all here to share our thoughts!

anyhow, i agree with you about the centre speaker being too dominating which is the reason i had mine disconected. was thinking about putting in the resister like you said but didn't think it was worth the effort.

the centre speaker is only useful for dvds in surround sound which i don't make use of. most audiophile systems are fronts and a sub only so i removed my centre. faded the sound to be bias towards the front. deadened and added disfusers to improve sound as mentioned previously and improved bass response with a replacement sub.

totally agree with you on your comment about the music type as well. but overall the system does sound very good in its stock form. i've got a RX350 as a loaner at the moment and the system in that is no where near as good as the IS one.

[kinjiru]

Good news is that I had a loan GS300 with the Mark Levinson system in it, and I have to say that the IS250 ML system sounds definitely better than the GS. I purposely took out a CD of mine from my car and put in on in the GS so I could have a useful baseline to compare it to. I could immediately tell the difference...which on one hand is great...but if I ever want to upgrade to a bigger car (GS) it would kinda suck!

[cevu]

yeah i noticed the same on the RX350 as well. Not as good as the IS250. I guess thats the advantage of a brand new model!