Lexus RX 350 Sound System Upgrade

[@wayneogden757]

Very nice video. Mine is the 2019 RX350L with Mark Levinson. I got the 4" Kickers and they are a tight fit, but made it....barely. I don't think you mentioned polarity, if you did I missed it, but I found that the yellow wire was + Positive. An old timer taught me a long time ago to put a 1.5v battery on the speaker and observe whether the cone goes out or comes in. Long story short, they improved the overall sound considerably! Thank you!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Very nice!

[@monkeymonkeyboomboom]

Thanks for this vid! Ended up going with the same JLs and the difference really is night and day. Great step by step tutorial, all went without a hitch. Cheers!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Awesome! nice job!

[@blkt6]

How they working out after 2 yrs and anything else you done for better sound. My Rx is good but definitely could be better so I want to upgrade

[@CarolinaCowboys]

It's been working great, just do this one upgrade and it will be a new system.

[@Al13n1nV8D3R]

Can you tell me if your RX has the standard premium audio or the higher end Mark Levinsons.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Mine is just the standard premium w/Nav system, only the F models have the Mark Levinson system

[@AllEyezOnRod]

Will not work for us then

[@BigdawgR6R1]

I swear I thought you were going to play, “Damn it feels good to be a gangster” when testing the audio. 🤣🤣 Great video as I was looking to upgrade the speakers in my RX350.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

LOL I wish! I had to play original content or YT would flag copyright

[@joebrouillard565]

Thank you, it was good to see how easy the speaker covers popped open...this will be my next upgrade!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Glad I could help!

[@chrisnawfside]

If you have a Rx 2016 & up! Turn on surround & automatic volume levelizer on!!!!! 10x better after! Wakes the tweeters & mids up bright!!! Made me stop my speaker upgrade! Perfect surround sound!!!!!!! I might added a Powered Alpine sub that's in my other suv but I might not.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I don't like the sound of simulated surround sound

[@Driving_Somewhere]

Neither do I @@CarolinaCowboys

[@LeRickLeXus]

Thanks for the video! You help me, I'm now confident I can do my doors.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Glad I could help!

[@ajgil8260]

Nice work. Questions: Drivers side -- Red wire to narrow, white wire to wide clip, right? Passenger side -- Blue wire to narrow, white/gray wire to wide clip, right? Thanks.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

If you look back here kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3-riImodshrapIsi=xMD84hhnPbqwH9Q4&t=502 You'll see it's red on wide and white on narrow for the drivers side. But the other side looks right.

[@andyfernandes5288]

Can you tell me how you knew which wires go where

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I watched someone else do it

[@vitaliy342]

Just replaced original speakers with 4032cfx 4”. Used connectors from Amazon Red Wolf, no splicing was needed.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Nice

[@Driving_Somewhere]

how is the sound? Is it a dramatic improvement?

[@indesignblindsaustralia]

Have you thoughtbif changing the center speaker also?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I don't see a need to change it because I am getting the frequencies I was looking for now with the other two. If anything, I would consider unplugging it since it doesn't do much.

[@TheCAsESj]

Thanks for the video! I have a 2017 RX350 with the standard 9 speakers. If I add those two speakers would it also make a huge upgrade as your 12 speaker system?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

DEFINITELY!

[@dv6195]

Hello did you need to make any changes to the stock amplifier or was it simply a plug and play like the video shows ?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Just plug and play

[@fondoo]

Thanks for your videos! I just got my 2022 RX350L and was looking to upgrade the factory speakers. I just spoke to the Crutchfield. They tell me that the C1-400x tweeter is very tight on hitting the dash speaker grille. Was that the case for you? Couldnt tell from the video.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

It's definitely tight, but I was able to get it to fit. It's all plastic so there's a bit of movement available.

[@SubashSinghscooby]

I have the exact same car and I am thinking of upgrading speakers, did you find any that works?

[@ZiYang-fh5ub]

Thanks for the video. I have a 2017 Lexus RX350 without Mark Levinson. Would it sound better than the original one?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Yes definitely, I don't have the Mark Levinson in mine, this was a huge upgrade.

[@ZiYang-fh5ub]

@@CarolinaCowboys cool. I am going to order the same and try it out. Thank you.

[@mikejohnson9118]

ALWAYS....test fit mechanically before cutting any connectors/wires. Also you can co-use a magnetic pickup when installing-removing those bolts. Thx for the vid!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Good tip!

[@davide3129]

Very nicely done. I have a 2017 with the same system and just began streaming music from apple. I was very disappointed in the flatness of the sound despite maxing out mid and treble. I was connected through a cord to the phone and usb since I’m told this is better than Bluetooth but very little instrument detail comes through. It sounds like the JLs made a huge improvement for you. Of course, in this high inflation environment the speakers are now $100 instead of $80 so I’m looking at some Polk and kickers that have high ratings by crutchfield but may just need to bite the bullet to avoid being disappointed.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I would definitely go with JL and not any of the mainstream brands. I now run everything on Apple Lossless over BLE and it's excellent.

[@davide3129]

@@CarolinaCowboys well, I cheaper out and ordered before I saw your response. I ordered the kickers. They are very highly rated on amazon and crutchfield so hopefully they will be good. I think I will install one side, test it against the other side to make sure the difference is sufficiently pronounced. If not, suppose I could exchange

[@CarolinaCowboys]

@@davide3129 no prob, you can always change the order before it ships

[@davide3129]

@@CarolinaCowboys tried that. They don’t mess around already have a tracking number. I will let you know how good or bad these sound

[@cp3onmtv963]

@@davide3129 what’s the word??

[@delanteclinkscale5995]

Hey what songs were you playing in the video? I really liked them

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Appreciate it! Those songs were Mercy Mercy Mercy, and Sugar

[@kevin272004]

Nice video. So the 2017 Lexus RxX350 base model none ML system what is the subwoofer size in the trunk on driver side? Can't find specs on it Thanks!!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I believe it's the same 8" woofer that's in the 2010 model

[@Darkhal045]

There’s wire harness for dash speakers like the door speakers

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Ok

[@sammey2349]

I have a 2019 Lexus RX350 with a factory installed navigation system. An expert from Crutchfield store said that the JL C1-400x would not fit in my car. Is it true. Please advise. Thanks Sam

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I'm not aware of any differences in the 2019 model from the 2016 model I installed them into

[@6thstanza700]

Is this the 12 speaker or 15 speaker (Mark Levinson) version? Is it worth upgrading the front door speakers?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

This is the premium package with NAV, not the Mark Levinson which I think is included in the luxury package. I will be posting another video soon with my thoughts on the upgrade and EQ, but just these speakers alone is plenty of difference.

[@yogirahul1]

Thanks for the video. I had exactly the same reaction when I first sat in our 2021 RX model. Was very disappointed with the lifeless speakers and sound and the lack of bass. I had a Disco sport in the past and even the stock system on the LRs is miles ahead of toyota/Lexus. I decided to change the dash and the door speakers but found out the door speakers were only bypassed for Sub woofer frequencies so I went for the dash upgrade only. The local audio store said the 3 1/2 inch kicker 354s were the only ones that would fit so I went with them and they are pretty good. its brought the music to life. I wasnt aware even the 4inch JLs would fit as I just saw your video after I already upgraded or I would have gone for the JL C2-400x. Do you think changing the woofers in the doors would be worth the upgrade to give better and tighter base?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Yes the JL's are definitely priiiiimo! As far as putting them in the door it all depends on what frequencies are sent to the door and I wouldn't know until doing it.

[@reginalddiaz4457]

Did you have any spacing issues when installing the passenger dash speaker? I’m trying to install the same speaker but it won’t go down, it appears that the air conditioning duct is preventing the speaker from sitting flat. Did you encounter the same problem? Did you just let the speaker sit on the air conditioner duct and screw it in facing slightly towards the windshield?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I had to wiggle it a bit to get it in and screw it down. The one on the right was a little more difficult, and you can see from the video it doesn't go completely down, it's up a tiny bit.

[@mikejohnson9118]

So anymore tweaking tuning of the sound? Before you had it "Full Front". Maybe do the rear speakers? I forgot what S-S level do you have base/premium/ML?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Yes definitely have tweaked things now that I've been in the car for the last week. At this point I think i've replicated the sound from the 2010 and I don't think any further upgrades are necessary. I'll post the settings soon when I've locked them in.

[@barbaravillarreal9878]

Awesome!!! Also. That music you played is “SEXY”!! I can’t wait to swap out my speakers!!!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

LOL!!

[@JAShalvey]

Wow, you are the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

LOL

[@dakumilife]

So I don't have a 350 but I do have a 450h. I would say that there is a lack of sound and base in the rear if you change so that the sound is coming from the rear the way you really should be. The way that you have your car set up where you are focusing all the power to the front speakers is not the way to do it. You are definitely missing out on having a more full sound coming from a variety of sides from you. I don't know why you would ever set it up pushing all the sound coming from just the front.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Mainly because I don't want to change out the door speakers also, and also because I only care about how it sounds to me in the driver seat. I don't care about the sound coming from behind me, the only thing I need back there is the sub which I EQ up.

[@jeffreyjones486]

I like your choices of music.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Thanks :-)

[@jaysonoliveira4752]

What ohms are the factory speakers. I have the ML in my 2014es350 but in my opinion there not that great. I had aftermarket jbls in my Honda that sounded much cleaner and way louder

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I'm not sure exactly, I figured most of the the car audio was the same.

[@crazykidgaming]

You probably found an answer by now, I have a 2010es350 and the speaker impedance is 6 ohms. 4-ohm speakers should be safe. If you have a multimeter then go to your amplifier, take the wire harness out, and tap the probes to check the impedance of the amplifier output

[@lintyson1599]

Do You think change the center channel would improve the sound quality? I'm planned to do the same thing as what you did in the video but I was thinking if I should upgrade the center channel as well? Thank you.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I thought about that, but I think that would only come into effect when you're either using the 'surround sound' mode which I don't recommend trying to make your car sound like a home theater. It's a great stereo but not a great digital signal processor for surround, more like 'simulated' at best. So I don't think you would get much use out of upgrading the center channel.

[@lintyson1599]

@@CarolinaCowboys I appreciate it.

[@zackkirk6514]

Sometimes its best to completely remove the center speaker actually

[@CarolinaCowboys]

@@zackkirk6514 interesting I’ll have to unhook it and see if it makes a difference.

[@EZ_BUILT]

Would this work for my lexus is250 2015 ? I have the same speaker up on the dash but I believe i have 3

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I'm not sure! There's probably other vids on the IS though

[@derlissamaniego1914]

Where do you buy the wiring harness?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

What wiring harness?

[@vitaliy342]

Red wolf 2005 harness fit into 2022 rx 350 dash corner and centre speakers

[@juventinolopez6181]

Thank you for the tip man nailed it bro

[@CarolinaCowboys]

No problem 👍

[@solarpoweRa]

Thanks @CarolinaCowboys I needed this tutorial appreciate it

[@hunghanhtrinh]

Thanks for this video. Will increasing the power to 35W instead of the original 20W design affect the amplification?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Yes you definitely have to turn the volume up higher to get the same level of sound, but it's still well within the limits. I don't think it could handle replacing all the speakers though.

[@Deraco1]

Higher end speakers are specd to be different ohms. Generally, the bigger the coil and speaker, the more power it's required to get the same amount of sound pressure, but the speaker can handle a lot more too

[@protectyourcar5889]

Thx for video. I want replace for my 2020 RX450h Fsport hybrids.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Those speakers should be pretty good already, is the sound bad in the 2020 F Sport?

[@shan-8888]

When you hook up the speaker, how do you know the polarity is correct?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Does this help? kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3-riImodshrapI

[@crazylegs225]

Looking to buy a used rx350 , what year probably 2012 on up in this current market is offering the best value for money ?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Depends on how much you want to spend and what generation you want. I got my 2016 for under $25K last year.

[@codychavarria6088]

Couldn't tell is that a mark levinston stereo

[@CarolinaCowboys]

No it's stock

[@zhoulu1511]

Could you do a video on how to change the transmission fluid in 2010 lexus rx 350?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

It's not recommended to ever change the transmission fluid in the Lexus RX350. They were basically built to run forever on the original fluid.

[@RoNiminal]

​@@CarolinaCowboysThat's absolutely wrong. Transmission fluid should be changed. The "lifetime" you may have heard refers to the length of the manufacturer's warranty, not the life of the engine. Please change your transmission fluid.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

@@RoNiminal Yeah that makes sense except the dealership told me otherwise, also changing the transmission fluid is not in the owners manual maintenance intervals.

[@RoNiminal]

@@CarolinaCowboys the dealership has no interest in upkeep of your luxury vehicle. They're interested in selling you a new one. Plus, the owner's manual of a luxury vehicle will not have that info, either. It will be in the service manual.

[@seu6]

@@CarolinaCowboysif your definition of lifetime is 150k, sure. If it is 200k+, then no. Only reason oil change intervals and atf change instructions are written the way it is now is b/c manufacuters have to balance btw environmental impact and longevity to get passable environmental ratings from agencies worldwide - not b/c they only prioritize longevity. Transmisson manufacturs' repair manual also states otherwise

[@tombrown1032]

Does anyone know of anybody replacing speakers in the Mark Levinson package?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Why would you want to?

[@tombrown1032]

@@CarolinaCowboys why wouldn’t I? It’s not as if I take off the speaker covers and there are Focal’s or equivalent instead of the whimpy factory ones. The Mark Levinson package sounds ok or better than the standard package, but the speakers are anemic.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

​@@tombrown1032 Ahh I didn't realize they were only marginally better than the stock system. Well I swear by these JL Audio, I'm sure it's a very similar procedure.

[@valerieallen9170]

Where did you purchase the speakers

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Link is in the description of the video

[@viivcreations9161]

lol at 3:20 your facial expression is flawless like your just like WTF lmfao

[@CarolinaCowboys]

LOL, hope you enjoyed it

[@AllEyezOnRod]

Is it a non Mark Levinson system?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Correct, only the F Sport or Luxury trim comes with the ML system.

[@eleanormassaro5195]

Do you have the 12-speaker system in both of your RX’s?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Yes, just the standard system

[@eleanormassaro5195]

@@CarolinaCowboys actually, The base RX’s that usually didn’t have the navigation system came with a nine-speaker system, and the ones that came with the navigation and the comfort package had the 12-speaker system with the subwoofer, and then of course there was the upgrade for the Mark Levinson system😁

[@CarolinaCowboys]

@@eleanormassaro5195 ah ok, both of mine have the nav so it’s got the mid-grade system

[@serjohn4253]

Thank you for your video

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Thanks for watching!

[@8anksy]

Would this work for a 2017 Lexus is 300?

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I don't see why it wouldn't work, but you would have to verify the dimensions fit.

[@8anksy]

@@CarolinaCowboys thanks for the reply

[@carlosjohnson9231]

Thanks, I’ll give this a try.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Good luck!

[@BlEvNliv]

If you don't want to cut your car's wiring, buy Metra 72-8109 speaker wiring adapters for your cones.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Good tip!

[@indesignblindsaustralia2721]

is Metra 72-8109 suitable for 2016 -2019 RX models? front speakers?

[@NextPageDave]

Your music sounds good too!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I appreciate it!

[@Tanfo77]

I need to do this to my RC350 with ML.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

But the ML system is good

[@Frandaman84]

Great upgrade, scary prying 😬

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Ya but now you know what to do(or not to do). :-)

[@jchorizons7777]

Is that your own music you're playing

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Ya that's me on sax

[@stevenwpf1]

damn!!!!! I can't believe how cheap it was. but going to do it soon!!!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Ya, makes a huge difference!

[@Dj1Kreationz]

So according to my findings the stock 4" dash speakers are only rated at 20w rms, and the JL's are 35w rms....i dont see that as an upgrade cause the factory amp is only pushing 20w rms to the JL's...your actually losing in-depth sounds compared to the stocks....just my $0.02 cents 🤷

[@CarolinaCowboys]

When you install a speaker that requires more power and you're using the same amp, you just need to turn up the volume to send more power to the speakers. As long as you still have volume increase room to get a good sound then you're within the limits of your amp. This simple upgrade was a night and day difference.

[@Dj1Kreationz]

@@CarolinaCowboys it'll stress out the factory amp causing overheat, unless you dont do long drives 😁...look it up

[@CarolinaCowboys]

@@Dj1Kreationz I could see that happening if I was to replace all the speakers, but the factory amp is more than capable of handing an additional 30w of power.

[@crazykidgaming]

Where did you find that the factory speakers are rated to 20w? Is that for the mark levinson speakers or the regular ones? Also, if the sensitivity of the JL speakers are the same, or greater than the sensitivity of the factory then he won't need to increase power. The speaker's sensitivity rating is the volume level in DB that the speaker produces with a fixed amount of power. With that said, these aftermarket companies tend to try and make their speakers sensitive so that the problem your talking about won't come to fruition. As for the varying amount of power that actually ends up reaching the speaker, the JL speaker will receive more power at lower volume settings due to lower impedance. The main thing to watch out for when doing an upgrade like this is that the new speaker impedance is at least at or higher than the amplifier output, which you can check with a multimeter.

[@PickyOne]

That's a PA inspection sticker!

[@CarolinaCowboys]

Ya I bought the car off Autotrader.com and had it shipped down to NC from PA.

[@markriftin6061]

Put that mid all the way to the right your music will sound better

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I tried that and unfortunately the door speakers suck too much to sound good. I'm going to do an update video in a few weeks after I've had a few hours in the cart to tweak the EQ.

[@daveblaylock526]

I'm Cringing watching the sparks fly near the speaker cone. Nice job.

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I know I was cringing too that's why I turned it upside down to lower my chances of burning a hole in it. :-)

[@protectyourcar5889]

When u working on car electric! Always don’t forget remove ur Battery terminal… to be safe. If not can be mess up anything inside the car. Stop working later. 😅

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I thought about it but concluded it's not necessary in this case

[@viivcreations9161]

Yeah if toyota actually spent just 100$ more per car and got an actual decent set of speakers they would probably blow the competition out of the water

[@CarolinaCowboys]

I think they just want to make the F Sport model that much nicer

[@viivcreations9161]

@@CarolinaCowboys My f sport has the same speakers xd. I just upgraded to the alpine S4s and they do sound better just need to trim the speaker support because lexus makes the speaker cages way too small lol