Eh? What's the difference?

XP

 

:blaze:

 

To my Georgia neighbor with the bleeding ears:

Open the shade on your moon roof. It will increase the highs, add some volume and, I think you will like it better. It's like taking down a set of drapes in a room. Also, if you reduce the center speaker, you will have more power for the rest.

Check it out. If you are driving 80 MPH with the windows and moon roof open, you are fighting to overcome about 90 db of noise. You can't have your cake and eat it too unless you go the aftermarket zoot route.

I like my audio system. It's plenty loud for me. I seldom get even half way up the scale.

XP

 

I too wish there was a little more umph for getting into the music. I am 41 and like my classic Rock, Jazz, Blues, and Symphonies to feel real. I disagree with QuickTL in that I think this is a FANTASTIC sound system perhaps just a little weak in the watts. (I almost said "stereo").

I think the problem is not having the easy connection and available 5.1 amps so that those of us who like our music a little louder at times, that ability.

I have read some links of people amping this system and keeping the surround sound. They claim is is even better. It probably cost a mint, and a few more watts is not worth that to me.

 

A 10'' JL Sub is a good place to start for some added bass.

 

Hey..the kid is 19 years old...give him a break. I remember at that age, I thought the sound at rock concerts was "just right". With some age and mellowing...hopefully like a fine wine...we all change!!
Personally, while I think the sound of the TL audio system is excellent, I can see his point. It's not a rock concert sound system...and won't blow the windows out with bass....it was never designed to do that. It has balanced sound but not something that can sustain 120db sound levels.

 

hey for those of you guys who have had experience with sound systems, and specially this car, i was thinking of getting this. But i was wondering if it will interfere(spelling) with 5.1.. how will this work? thanks.. check this ALpine V12 amp. i wanted this becauae i can add a 10" sub or rock the stocks till they mess up then go with aftermarket ones.And its not a BIG JIUCE amp.. well kinds is. buts 5 channels, 1 being for subwoofer. check it out..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW

 

http://www.audioworld.com/news/0403/...hallenge.shtml

 

Interesting, but not necessarily fair if they're comparing 16-bit, 44.1 kHz audio in the other systems to 24 bit, 96/192 kHz DVD Audio in the TL. Not to mention multichannel. It doesn't really specify same format in the article, just "identical musical selections".

 

I agree that the TL's system is not even close to being loud enough, especially with the windows down. Which is important because I rarely use a/c. I say this not because I'm interested in impressing the neighbors with the boom boom, but in 2004 there really ought to be more umph. 4 years ago I had a Jetta VR6 with the Monsoon sound system, and that thing blew this one out of the water. And yes, it was clear. The only thing that can tell that its really 500 times more clear is a dog. Thats just propaganda. After reading the edmunds review about the top ten, Im glad my current car got rated for sound only by the Lexus. I have the Volvo HU-803. Man is it amazing.

 

OP
Be carefull. The TL stereo is plenty loud.

There may be a reason you want such a loud stereo. You my have partial hearing loss.

yeah, yeah, I never listened to anybody either and cranked my stereo all the time.

I now have hearing loss at 30 years old. You only get one set of ears.

 

From my experience as the former owner of several Lexuses, the only Levinson sound system you can hear clearly with the windows down is the one in the SC430 because it was designed that way. It self-adjusts when the top goes down. The Levinson system in the GS, while very clear, is not much more powerful than the TL. And forget about enjoying XM in either car. A Delphi Sky-Fi plugged into the cassette player in the SC sounds okay, but in the GS the distortion is unreal. And the last time I checked, there was no FM Modulator available to adapt the Sky-Fi to the Levinson system so you're pretty much stuck with bad sound. DVD-A 5.1 sound? Forget it.

For me, those are all great reasons to love the sound system in my TL.

 

Nice set up dude. Have you ever tested how loud your SPL is? Just wondering if you Dynomat your trunk since your trunk will probably rattle like crazy running over 800watts into the DVC type R subs. I have a pair of 2-15 Type R DVC and a Orion Amp to run the mids and tweets and RF 1001bd running the pair of 15's roughly over 1105 watts into 2ohm. I am undecided wether to go sealed or ported and would like the subs to face upwards so I will have the box built onto where the spare tire compartment is. So what do you think since you probably tried out different applications???

 

NOTE: Loud does not equate to quality, your ears are just not good enough to know the difference. Enjoy your your music loud while you can, because it's just going to keep getting louder and louder.

 

I haven't had a chance to measure the TL OEM system, but I guessing it's in the 90-100dbA range (Depending on the Source). So, based on the data below, you can enjoy the OEM system for 2-8 hrs. at full volume without causing any damage to your hearing.

Below is a table with the sound levels and durations you can listen at that level without causing damage.


90 dbA 8 hrs
92 dbA 6 hrs
95 dbA 4 hrs
97 dbA 3 hrs
100 dbA 2 hrs
102 dbA 1.5 hrs
105 dbA 1 hr
110 dbA 0.5 hr
115 dbA 0.25 hr or less

Note: When the daily noise exposure is composed of two or
more periods of noise exposure of different levels, their combined
effect should be considered, rather than the individual effect of
each. Exposure to impulsive or impact noise should not exceed
140 dB peak sound pressure level.

Some common noise levels...

60 dB Everyday conversation, ringing telephone.
70 dB Restaurant.
80 dB Heavy city traffic, alarm clock at 2 feet, factory noise, vacuum cleaner, garbage disposal.
90 dB Subway trains, motorcycle, workshop tools, lawn mower.
100 dB Chain saw, pneumatic drill.
110 dB Dance club.
120 dB Rock concert speaker sound, sandblasting, thunderclap.
130 dB Jet take off, gunfire.

 

dude, that looks sweet. nice job.


yeah, i think the system is a little soft, but i only listen to xm. i think cd's come out better. have any of you guys felt that the 2nd gen has a better system? i was in my boys 03, and his stock system seemed to be better - w/ harder bass???

 

I dont' know how to test my SPL. I don't need to dynomat the trunk with the woofers facing forward. I dynomatted my trunk in my previous car and it still rattled.. not as much though.. I didn't think it was worth it. Underneath the car rattled too in previous car. It was a shitty saturn though is why. Only thing now though is the entire back dash rattles on certain high bass notes and makes it sound awful.. I've been meaning to put pads in or something to put in after determining the rattles but it just seems lame having to do this .. never got around to doing that. But when the bass stays real low (like Freak-A-Leek) then it booms real good and loud. People hear me from way down the street on that song and no rattles ..

definitely go with the the subs faced upward! That's how I want it done, but I only was able to spend $1000 for install, and this is what I got. It will be 5 times this from estimates I got on getting it done the right way and getting Slim23's configuration, except woofers facing upward flush into where the spare tire goes...and multiple ampes and replacement of stock speakers.. when I get the real $$$ I will be getting it all re-done this way. This is the best way to have it. Every car I hear with this setup is the best sounding.

 

u think the cabin has raddling parts in it out of factory wait till u have that pumping for a bit..parts are going to be falling off the TL

 

Currently is your box running sealed or ported for the Type R subs????? Have you tried both application and if so which sounds better for the Type R's

 

Mine are sealed. I've always prefered the sound of sealed. I am curious to how ported would sound though. I've had ported a long time ago with two 10" Pioneers and I didn't like it.. I changed it to sealed and it sounded much better.. ever since then I've never gone back..

They had none on display of these woofers in ported and they sounded amazing in the display room all in sealed boxes. I couldn't imagine it sounding any better. I had JL W3s before and I converted to Alpines cause the quality sounded so much better. JL were real good for the boom though. I also had a JL 12" W7 once and the box took over my whole car and was way over kill...

 

Chazzy,

I know the TYpe R's are really good sound quality subs and at the same time they can pound really hard if you want them to. The shop I went to told me to go ported for these subs and they will pound even louder in terms of SPL. However, the draw back is you will lose a bit of SQ. I guess it depends to what you listen to and how loud SPL you like. Say, I was about to buy the W7 but was too expensive so I went with the Type R subs. The W7 must of kicked even harder than the Type R subs correct???

 

Yea I actually believe it would get better boom being ported (hence more SPL).. But I want the quality more. However I have an update: after much motivation from this thread, I spent an hour over the weekend readjusting all my Phoenix Gold Titanium controls (which there are a ton of them).. and I am now getting much better SPL! I am much more satisfied now. Keep in mind I had these same R woofers in my previous car hooked up to an aftermarket Sony Xplod deck and a cheaper 600W/1000W RMS Sony Xplod amp and it got much better SPL.. Quality was nowhere near as good though as this Phoenix Gold Titanium Amp which is discontinued by the way and I'm reading how their newer amps don't have the same excellent quality this amp has. All the audio shops that have this amp around here still in stock are selling them for aroudn $800-1000 for the amp.. One is even marking it as "SALE! ~ $899".. damn robbers! I got this amp for $314 very luckily over internet (no tax either :P ) and brand new not ebayed! Cheapest otherwise I could only find it for was little under $500..

I had the W7 woofer in my previous car for less than 30 days and it literally gave me a stomachache.. I couldn't believe the sound I was getting when I first heard it though! was amazing! from only one woofer! .. can only listen to it boom for so long before you could get sick. I just got it from Good Guys and returned it after trying it out. It was so unbelivable that I candrive down any road with it cranked up real good and make ANY car with a car alarm go off... I remember going down one street and made 3 cars go off... my buddy and I were like Holy Fu@#$! I pissed off my neighbor too when I was testing it in my garage real quick.. he said I was knocking off the pictures on his wall and can't be doin that shit. this is when I figured that the W7 is nothing but to show off and rape your wallet and take over your entire trunk / back seat etc...

 

i cant can complain that its not loud enough but it doesn't come close to the Bose sound as the previous TL's i was very disappointed i mean who needs dvd sound when its not so great i would rather switch to Bose and not have the dvd sound bottom line i think the sound system in the new TL is not the greatest

 

I had a 99TL and a 02TL-S. IMHO, the 99TL Bose system did not compare to my previous Maxima and I was disappointed. I remember going back to the dealer after I got it compaining that it was not "loud" enough. A few years later, when I traded it for an 02TLS, I hated that stereo so much that I spent $2000 for "StreetEffectz" to replace most of it (Speakers, Amps, etc.)

Now I have an 04TL, and to me, the 04TL stereo sounds great. Sure, it doesn't rattle other cars windows at stop lights, but it wasn't designed to. This system has great detail and spaciousness, and so far has impressed everyone I've had listen to it. I like it a lot and think it is one of the special things about this car. (one of the many special things)

To each his own, I guess!

:-jon

 

I had the W7 woofer in my previous car for less than 30 days and it literally gave me a stomachache.. I couldn't believe the sound I was getting when I first heard it though! was amazing! from only one woofer! .. can only listen to it boom for so long before you could get sick. I just got it from Good Guys and returned it after trying it out. It was so unbelivable that I candrive down any road with it cranked up real good and make ANY car with a car alarm go off... I remember going down one street and made 3 cars go off... my buddy and I were like Holy Fu@#$! I pissed off my neighbor too when I was testing it in my garage real quick.. he said I was knocking off the pictures on his wall and can't be doin that shit. this is when I figured that the W7 is nothing but to show off and rape your wallet and take over your entire trunk / back seat etc...[/QUOTE]

Chazy,

That is what I heard from others that had the W7 sub. One W7 12inch can out perform
2-12inch subs hands down only if you build a perfect box for the W7. THose are amazingly loud subs. I would love to have a pair of those if only if I am willing to dish out over $700 bucks each for them. Are you currently using the existing TL head unit or planning to put in an aftermarket deck?

 

I have w7 10" in original box (black carpet) & 500/1 jl amp + sub controller + capasitor
paid $1350.00 installed. Will sell for less. Will post my original photos on tue/wed.

 

So how does your W7 10's sound in the TL??? Have you ever tested your SPL?? Post some pics of the sub in your car dude!!!

 

I have been reading this board for a while... I registered a few days ago after I put my deposit down on my new TL, so far I have liked most of the threads and the people who post here but I do notice that a few of people like you that have such a problem with age discrimination. Who are you to tell us what the TL is marketed towards? I am 25 and think the stereo is not loud enough. Does that make me a "raper" that drives through a residential area at 2 o'clock in the morning blah blah blah. Keep your stupid generalizations to yourself. I am sure I will be called noob and other sorts of "young" cool names, but really if you don't have anything to contribute, keep it to yourself.

Slime23Dog: Very nice setup, looks like you did a lot of work. I would like to do the same as far as upping the volume. I like the stock system, but it just isn't loud enough. I would like some more bass with certain music and more highs and treble with other music.

 

I am 39 and I do hate the booming bass at 2 am. HOWEVER, I would also like the TL's stereo to be a bit louder at times. NO I do not blast my stereo with the windows open and share my musical tastes with the world but I think everyone (at one time or another) has played their stereo loud to a good tune with the windows closed.

 

Do your g/f and your baby a favor and turn down the stereo when they are around. I really hope you're not turning up your home/car audio systems when the baby's around. That would be an incredibly ignorant thing to do to your child's hearing. I see people driving around with rap music pulsating from their cars, while their kids are with them, all the time.

"all yalls" need to get some common sense when it comes to listening to loud music.

 

Good point, but if you need a louder stereo, you may have already done more damage to your hearing than you realize. I grew up cranking rock music all the time, but I think maybe all this rap music with the mega thumping bass is doing some serious damage to those who are into that music.

 

I might have, but I doubt it. My thing is, once in a while I like to really crank the music. If I am listening to a really good song, or I am just in the mood for some really loud music, I want that option to do so!

I have a son also and would never dream of turning up my music when he is in the car. Right now in my RSX I have two 12" Kickers that are 10x louder than they should be, but seeing as how I have a son, I have a "volume" control on the amp which means the subs turn off when he is in the car.