Change Harman Kardon speakers Kia Stinger

[Ozstung]

My guess is "AT" is a sound engineer or something in that field, that science is above me

 

[MerlintheMad]

If @andrew tay isn't a sound engineer, he is, at the very least, a very knowledgeable hobbyist. My little brother scavenged old TVs, radios and whatnot as a kid; and built his own ham radio setup that took up half of our bedroom wall, all before he got into high school. Then his lifetime profession has been engineering networks and computers, etc. These geeks know no boundaries; he has a basement filled with computers; I doubt that he's ever thrown away an older computer in his life and he keeps them operating (not ON, of course, but operable).

 

[andrew tay]

Ha ha, I am just a geek. No engineer. I did build a working amplifier during high school physics project..

 

[MerlintheMad]

Ha ha, I am just a geek. No engineer. I did build a working amplifier during high school physics project..

Yep, I thought so; like my little brother. He impressed me, and still does. Clearly, you are a very talented and crafty geek.

 

[andrew tay]

Just checking the peek at 8000hz, Its coming from the midrange. Cannot fix that. Need to change the mids. At the mean time you can increase the mids by around +3 and set treble down to -6 and you will get a pretty neutral sound. I think a lot of kia owner has already figure this up.

So in conclusion, IMO the best upgrade path for Kia HK in order to sound improvement and value for money would be:

1) remove the felt filter of the tweeter and midrange. You will get an instant improvement in sound.
2) replace the door woofers. Those original woofers has paper cones and get wet everytime in rains. Would not last long anyway. At the mean time make sure that they are all connected in phase. Improve bass and midrange quite considerably. Does not have to be expensive woofers. You can even use coaxials as they are generally cheaper.
3) install amp for the door woofers. I will recomend JL 4 channels because you can feed speaker output directly into the amp and does not need a line converter like the audiocontrol that I used. just make sure you turn off the high / low pass filter because the filter seemed to make the output noisy. I can confirm that they go down to a nice 30Hz so you don't really need a sub.
4) install a sub and amp. I disable the sub and other than the most bass heavy tract I could not really hear much difference in sound quality.

 

[Ozstung]

....high school physics ah? I think we know a little more than we're letting on..good info if my 55 year old ears could appreciate it.

 

[MerlintheMad]

t the mean time you can increase the mids by around +3 and set treble down to -6 and you will get a pretty neutral sound. I think a lot of kia owner has already figure this up.

Interesting. I have my mids set at +4, and high at +1. But then, I have gunshot ears! Works for me.

Those original woofers has paper cones and get wet everytime in rains.

I'm not buying into that. Where did you come up with that idea? How does the water get inside the doors past the sealant? Past the weather seals all the way around the doors? I've respected everything you've said up to this point.

 

[Ozstung]

Interesting. I have my mids set at +4, and high at +1. But then, I have gunshot ears! Works for me.

I'm not buying into that. Where did you come up with that idea? How does the water get inside the doors past the sealant? Past the weather seals all the way around the doors? I've respected everything you've said up to this point.

My take on the last point would be when you open your door and its pouring with rain and the speakers get wet, it could happen?

 

[MerlintheMad]

My take on the last point would be when you open your door and its pouring with rain and the speakers get wet, it could happen?

The sub is at the bottom. So it would take a deluge and leaving the door open, and (or) driving rain from the rear with the door open. Then, yes it could happen, that the paper sub could get a bit damp. But that is literally a "perfect storm" of conditions to get it wet at all. When would anyone leave their door open for a second longer than necessary in such a scenario?

 

[andrew tay]

My take on the last point would be when you open your door and its pouring with rain and the speakers get wet, it could happen?

Some water does get in from the outside seal of the car window. Its like after you wash and dry the car, still when you roll the window down and up again, you still get water streak on the window. I took the door card out after washing the car and found that the woofer's magnet and the back of the woofer is wet. Not soaking wet, just damp. The woofer is mounted onto a hole in the door seal. The front will not get wet but the back does.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Some water does get in from the outside seal of the car window. Its like after you wash and dry the car, still when you roll the window down and up again, you still get water streak on the window. I took the door card out after washing the car and found that the woofer's magnet and the back of the woofer is wet. Not soaking wet, just damp. The woofer is mounted onto a hole in the door seal. The front will not get wet but the back does.

Ah! That would create moisture in there. But, I do not, ever, roll my windows down after washing my car, for the very reason that you mentioned: I hate getting water in there and streaks on the glass. I still don't thing that the amount is any danger to the door mounted subs or any other electrics in there.

 

[SilverGT]

Thank you for sharing! A very informative post, now I’m going to remove the door panels and rip out that felt......

 

[andrew tay]

Ah! That would create moisture in there. But, I do not, ever, roll my windows down after washing my car, for the very reason that you mentioned: I hate getting water in there and streaks on the glass. I still don't thing that the amount is any danger to the door mounted subs or any other electrics in there.

other than the back of the speakers all the other electronic are on the other side of the door seal so no water will get there. There are speaker protectors that you can buy for keeping water away from the speaker like this:
NEW PAIR OF UNIVERSAL 5.25"- 6.5" CAR STEREO AUDIO SPEAKER PROTECTOR BAFFLES 689740461601 | eBay
Its kind of gone out of fashion as it does change the sound of the speaker, some for the better, many for the worse. There is one like this which does not effect the sound:
1x Horn waterproof Cover Resistant Plastic Spacer Protector for Car Speaker 603281026297 | eBay
I had focal speakers in my Audi A4 with yellow cone that is made of straw composite. After a few months the colour has faded from water exposure although they still work fine. Since KIA has 7 years warrenty I guess if they fall apart in a few years KIA will replace them which is good

 

[andrew tay]

I have tried everything today to try to improve the midrange speakers and tweeters. I tried using 1st order crossover, 2nd order crossover, changing capacitors, adding resistors and transducers... nothing works. What a complete waste of a fine Sunday afternoon. I come to the conclusion that to improve the midrange and tweeter the only way is to change them all. . Tried a good 4 ohm Vifa midrange and tweeter that I had at home with a standard crossover, noted great improvement but a drop of over 10 db compare to the original which means that you need 4 to 8 times more power to get the same volume. That means another amplifier . For the first time I wonder if it is worth doing even when I have a spare JL amp at home and you can buy those vifa mids and tweeter cheap from aliexpress....

 

[MerlintheMad]

Thank you for sharing! A very informative post, now I’m going to remove the door panels and rip out that felt......

And, get dust buildup directly on the speaker instead of the felt protector. Just turn the volume up a tad. The felt doesn't actually alter the sound, it just deadens it a little. If the speaker gets dirty that will change the sound quality. Mind, this would only happen very slowly.

 

[andrew tay]

Thank you for sharing! A very informative post, now I’m going to remove the door panels and rip out that felt......

Don't forget to put some black double sided mounting tape around the edges between the metal grill and the plastic underneath to stop it from rattling. Let us know how it goes.

 

[andrew tay]

And, get dust buildup directly on the speaker instead of the felt protector. Just turn the volume up a tad. The felt doesn't actually alter the sound, it just deadens it a little. If the speaker gets dirty that will change the sound quality. Mind, this would only happen very slowly.

I think we have a agree to disagree. If you record yourself talking through a face mask, it will sound different compare to not wearing a facemask, even when you turn it up to equal volume.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I think we have a agree to disagree. If you record yourself talking through a face mask, it will sound different compare to not wearing a facemask, even when you turn it up to equal volume.

That's recording, though. As long as the speaker is intact and delivers good reproduction, the original sound will be faithfully duplicated by the speaker: but if it gets clogged/coated with dust it won't be capable of perfect reproduction; it will become distorted, muffled. A perfectly good speaker behind a cloth is fainter, not distorted.

As I've said before: sound, hearing, is our most subjective sense. People differ in how they hear things far more than we differ in perceiving through our other senses.

 

[Bugout]

Allow me to enter the discussion here as I just performed the surgery to remove the felt. The felt is about a 1/4 inch thick.. and wow.. what difference. My number one complaint with my GT2 was the muffled sound of the sound system. This fixed it 100%.

 

[Kamauxx]

Mounted on the door.
View attachment 15327 View attachment 15328
Only run with factory amp. See how I go. Tested the output. Its actually low passed. Not full range as I 1st thought

@andrew tay instructions for removing the doors? I'm assuming there are clips around the edges and a bolt in the handle or arm rest?

And where is this felt you mentioned?

Edit: Okay, I took the door panels off. Is the felt you all are removing the white fabric that lines the door? I don't see how that can improve sound.

Or is it this foamish material surrounding the speaker's perimeter?