What's In A Non Levinson Car...?

[Pete-r]

Hi guys, I've tried searching for an answer but I'm drawing a blank so wonder if you can help me.

I've recently bought a 2009 SEL with the ML kit and the system is great but there are a few issues with the car and I'm considering swapping for a newer car. Lexus are offering me a few cars with nav, but no mark levinson system installed from around 2011.

If you have a non ML car, does anyone know what is there in terms of wiring and fixings? I'm thinking if the core of the car is there I could buy my own amp and sub and install them in the ML locations if things like the rear deck is ready for it (I'm happy doing things like the wiring but i don't fancy cutting holes in the deck etc)... and then upgrade the speakers in the doors while retaining the 2011 non ML head unit.

I'm happy not to have surround and the dash centre, so I'm thinking a mid priced 4+1 amp and front door/sub. I'd probably leave the rear speakers alone as I tend to run the car faded to the front anyway.

What I don't want is an intrusive bass box in the boot or anything on show.

Any help grateful.

[Exdee]

Apart from the center speaker on the front dash you will have all the speakers that Mark Levinson has and an amp in the same place too. The standard stereo is very boomy so you probably won't need additional sub woofers. The bass will be hard in comparison to the soft bass that the mark levinson has so you may not like it.

The thing you will probably miss the most is the treble from the Levinson! Some tweeters on the front dash can fix that. You may also have the wiring in place for the center speaker so it's just a matter of prying the grill off and checking.

[Pete-r]

Thanks for that.

I'm seeing lots of cars with nav but no Levinson, so I'm just thinking if I add a really nice amp with 4+1 and internal crossovers can run the front doors and sub off it and replace them to something really nice and get that treble/bass too. Not huge money but something like a Focal component set and a shallow mount Kicker or JL sub something that fits in the mounting,

Then hopefully via head unit tweaks I can get it just right.

[Exdee]

With Mark Levinson you can't get rid of the Amplifier as it does some kind of decoding. You will have to do some research here as this might be the case with the standard stereo too in which case you will have to install a line output converter to the wiring going to one of your speakers and then subsequently install your aftermarket amplifier.