I've documented steps I've taken to repair the blown subwoofer on 2006 Lexus GS300, but similar steps apply to most subwoofer repairs. The 10" Mark Levinson replacement subwoofer cost well over $500, so it made a perfect sense to spend about $18 on a repair.
Here are previous videos that show how to remove the back seats, rear deck, and the subwoofer for this vehicle. Similar steps apply to many Lexus and Toyota cars.
• 3rd Gen Lexus GS Lexus... (remove back seats)
• 3rd Gen Lexus GS Rear ... (remove subwoofer)
Here is the after market foam repair kit that perfectly matches the 10" Mark Levinson subwoofer:
www.ebay.com/itm/Single-Lexus...
This was my first time repairing a speaker, and I must say, some steps were bit tedious, but overall, there weren't any challenging steps, and any motivated individual should be able to do this.
If you fix your subwoofer or have any questions, please let me know in the comments below. Good luck guys.
This was an amazing video and a ton of help. You just saved me $600, thank you…
Great job! Thanks for your time and hard work you put into this series!
Thank you very much!
thanks for ur time
Great job, I got a 2004 ES330 and excellent condition and can believe this expensive speaker has such a cheap material and foam, very common problem with this brand. thanks for the video I am going to give it a shot.
Yeah the actual repair is relatively easy once you can remove the backseat and rear deck. Good luck and let me know how it turns out.
Nice work, thank you for your effort to show all these steps. :)
Thanks Mikko. Is your GS subwoofer blown?
@@DIYLifeSkills i dont think so, sounds still good without rattles, but definitely will check when going to clean up places and add some noise insulation sheets everywhere. I quess procedure will be same to 450h as in 300/350. But this kind of videos will help a lot to get a picture how everything is going to dissamble.
@@Micco85 Directly under the subwoofer, there is a credit card size hole in the lining of trunk. My subwoofer foam particles were actually falling through that hole and onto the trunk floor. Use a flashlight and peek through that hole. You can also use a soft tip stick to slight move the speaker cone to see if foam particles are dropping. This will be quicker than removing back seats and rear deck. What year is your car? Steps should be same for all 3rd gen GS.
@@DIYLifeSkills its 2006 year, only difference may be hybrid battery pack thats placed directly under the subwoofer, so it sits just above rear axle. May have to remove also rear seats and other cushions so i have somekind of space doing that. But i will wait when snow is melted away and its much warmer. :)
My is250 subwoofer went out too, ima take this info and get to it, thanks
Yes $15-20 is better than $500-600 replacement. Good luck.
I just did this the other day!
Great. Did it turn out good?
Very nice video. I have a blown sub in my GS. That last piece you put on top is just a lip to hold the speaker vent panel right? I also have blown front dash speakers(center speaker for sure)!! Any video links or help how to take them out?? Thank you
Yeah that last round ring is to hold down the speaker paper that was just glued on. It’s part of the OEM speaker that I forgot to show how yo remove but it’s shown at the beginning of the video when I’m removing the sparkler. As for center deck speaker, try searching for how to remove front dash board videos
luckily I didn't have to remove the back seat I just cut around where the cover, but now I have to cut the wires cause it doesn't have the pug like yours, thanks for your video good job.
What model and year is your car?
@@DIYLifeSkills 2004 ES330 I do know how I am going to rewire the speaker without a sorter heating gun extension, do you have a better Idea? thanks
@@maximilianozamorategui2608 Are you saying the speaker wires are soldered onto speaker? If so, that's very unusual. In any case, there are several ways to connect two speaker wires. Check it out here: www.wikihow.com/Extend-Speaker-Wires
@@DIYLifeSkills Yes they are, makes it more difficult to put it back together, but I will look at the link you send me. thanks for your help.
Hey I have an issue in my 2006 Lexus GS300, stereo pops and shuts off past certain volume/low-end frequencies, then comes back on but have to lower volume. I’ve read that it’s the ML amplifier. So I just replaced with a used one but same issue (maybe I just got another bad amp?). I also noticed I have a blown subwoofer and the cone is not secure to the center though, what should I do about that? Thanks
Thanks so much for the video! I'm getting ready to do the same in my 02 es300 this week. Taking the backseat out doesn't look as hard as most say it is, but I guess I will find out soon. Do you have to disconnect battery terminal when taking the backseat out? Thanks again and happy holidays
Taking out back seat is pretty easy. I didn’t but you can disconnect the negative terminal on battery. For what reason are you removing the back seats?
@@DIYLifeSkills Removing the back seat so I can get to the subwoofer and replace the foam ring just like you did
a Dremel with a felt tip works fast and well
Excellent. For which section? Some are sticky.
Tengo un gs 430 que compre hace unos días y escucho brrr brrr en los graves atras . Supongo me pasa lo mismo . Voy a chequear! Gracias por el video!! Sabes porque se rompe? Los demás parlantes también se rompen o solo ese sub? Tengo mark levinson 14 altavoces. Espero los otros estén sanos !
El altavoz de subgraves se rompe principalmente debido a la edad. El borde de espuma esponjosa del altavoz de subgraves es muy frágil y se rompe con el tiempo. Además, reproducir música en alto volumen con frecuencia acortará la vida útil del altavoz. Al menos para el subwoofer, fue menos de $ 20 para arreglar. Buena suerte.
Subwoofer speaker mainly break due to age. The sponge foam edge on subwoofer speaker is very fragile and they break apart over time. Also, playing the music loudly frequently will shorten the speaker life. At least for subwoofer, it was less than $20 to fix. Good luck.
Any way to just disconnect the subwoofer? Mine is blown but I’ve already got an aftermarket in the trunk, just want the stock one turned off or unplugged. Thank you
Not possible to get at the subwoofer without removing the things shown in the video. I had to figure out how to get at it so it took me few hours but with my video, you can do it within 1 hour.
@@DIYLifeSkills hey I was actually looking in my trunk today, you can unclick the 2 plastic trunk pieces and access the subwoofer through the trunk. Took me less than a minute to get to 👍🏼
@@jake2772 You mean to just disconnect but not remove?
@@DIYLifeSkills ya I can touch the subwoofer and disconnect it not sure about removing it though.
If you got it disconnected, is the wire long enough to pull out so that you can extend it to connect to the aftermarket subwoofer?
I will try this out on my 07 ls 460 L
The foam kit is just for the edge, so be careful not to rip the card board like cone below and you should be good.
@@DIYLifeSkills actually we took it out and the foam around the edge on the speaker was good, the vibration was coming from the coil since it has a from the center of the speaker to the cover
@@githuagitau7435 Ahh different issue.
@@DIYLifeSkills yup, now idk what to do, can’t find the oem sub and cannot find an aftermarket sub that can fit
@@githuagitau7435 I would try contacting the eBay sellers that sell speaker foam replacement and see if one of them can find something. Alternatively, you can try salvage yards or eBay for used matching speaker.
Cant find any that are in Australia, and it doesnt seem worth to buy from the USA as it incurs a $50 or more shipping fee (not including any further customs fees etc)...... might just have to buy a replacement sub (not ML though, too expensive).
I’m pretty sure this is made in China. I wonder if you can find it on Aliexpress site. I’ll try to search there once I get home tonight.
When I searched "mark levinson subwoofer repair kit" I see some that may fit. It's much cheaper. www.aliexpress.com/item/32966821664.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.614e3749SarKqP&algo_pvid=0b956326-d741-46c3-8df1-662816225497&algo_exp_id=0b956326-d741-46c3-8df1-662816225497-13&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22sku_id%22%3A%2266597762279%22%7D&pdp_pi=-1%3B2.71%3B-1%3B-1%40salePrice%3BUSD%3Bsearch-mainSearch
Si quieres que dure largo tiempo no compres chino
Do you remember if the subwoofer was bi amped? That is, two sets of speaker wire running to two sets of terminals on the speaker? I'm trying to put an aftermarket sub in its place
If you look at 11:18 time mark of this speaker in below video, you can see special snap-in style connector that’s used. So it’s fed from single amp as far as I can tell. I’m no expert in car audio, but if you can remove that connector and split the wires, you may be able to connect dual amp like you mentioned. Alternatively, you can check with car audio installer about it. If you do find out, please let me know. kzhead.info/sun/gLiaZ7N9h4qAhJ8/bejne.htmlsi=INlYg7Y_6htuRgFT
@@DIYLifeSkills Im trying to replace it with an aftermarket sub but use the same bracket. Do you remember if the sub is screwed into the bracket or does it just slide in and the foam holds it in place?
@@ajf5745 If you look at 6:31 time mark of another video link I put above, it shows you how I removed the sub. It’s basically held down by 4 small bolts/nuts.
@@DIYLifeSkills No I mean how is the sub attached to the bracket, not the four bolts attaching it to the car itself.
@ajf5745 oh by bracket, you mean the sub frame, in that case its just glued on.
Look at how tiny that magnet is for a "subwoofer" - this is, in reality, more of a big woofer.
Agree that it’s a wimpy looking magnet. LOL But it does produce pretty good sound, though it’s not going to shake the entire block. :-)
Mark levinson subs and speakers use Neodymium magnets btw- as opposed to Ferrite. Ounce for ounce they are far more efficient and overall stronger…thus they can be that small.