Harmon Kardon Sound System

[WildBill]

PS you don't need a sub to enhance the bass. I think the best bang fot the buck mods would be to change the mids from the doors + centre channels and add crossovers. That was you have a much better quality mids and high. Because they are less sensitive you now have to turn the volume up a lot more and you will get a lot more bass from it as a result. there are plenty of bass coming from the door 6.2 inch woofers and underseat 8 inch subwoofers.

Interesting thought. Thanks for the insight.

 

[Diamondburn]

View attachment 19289 View attachment 19291 OK just finished installing the last bit of my sound mods which is the amp for the centre channel. Managed to fit the little amp next to the battery along with the other two. Sounds great now.

Where did you mount the Morel 4.4 amp? I guess you ran out of room down by the battery? Also, can you still fit your spare tire in there?

 

[andrew tay]

Where did you mount the Morel 4.4 amp? I guess you ran out of room down by the battery? Also, can you still fit your spare tire in there?

The Morel 4 amp is mounted behind the boot hydrolic control modules at the L side of the rear panel. The space by the battery is too tight to fit any good 4 channel class AB amp. This is a picture from wildbill. You need to dismount the 2 modules to assess to the space behind it. After mounting the amp, put the modules back to where they were. You cannot screw the amp onto the metal so I mounted the amp on a thin piece of mdf and stick it on with roof silicon. Infact I mounted all my amps with silicon. Heat resistant, shock absorbant, easily removable, all good.

The Audiocontrol 6 is mounted behind the switch panel at the R side of the rear panel. It good there because I can adjust the gain through the switch window without having the remove the whole covering panel. I used audiocontrol 6 instead of 6i because the 6i is bigger and does not fit in there.


Yes the spare tire goes on top without any issue.

 

[Diamondburn]

Gotcha. Good to know there's a bit of room in those side wells. Did you have to run all new speaker wire to the door speakers or were you able to re-use the existing wiring?

 

[NismoDPB]

I know this thread is old but I figured I would share my issues with the sound system. I too thought it was lackluster but then I figured out that for some odd reason the default balance and fade appears to be the back of the cabin so you dont hear crap up front. Once I centered the fade it was fine. However when I got my car serviced it seems to have went to the back again so I had to set it forward. Very strange.

 

[andrew tay]

Gotcha. Good to know there's a bit of room in those side wells. Did you have to run all new speaker wire to the door speakers or were you able to re-use the existing wiring?

I just use factory wires.. The door is connected to the body with a clip on type connector. It's really hard to carry another wire through it. Pretty much need to drill holes through the plastic connector base..

 

[andrew tay]

I know this thread is old but I figured I would share my issues with the sound system. I too thought it was lackluster but then I figured out that for some odd reason the default balance and fade appears to be the back of the cabin so you dont hear crap up front. Once I centered the fade it was fine. However when I got my car serviced it seems to have went to the back again so I had to set it forward. Very strange.

I bet you drive with the seat pushed back. When you do the back seat tweeter become an issue. Quick fix would be to use tape to half cover the back tweeter.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I know this thread is old but I figured I would share my issues with the sound system. I too thought it was lackluster but then I figured out that for some odd reason the default balance and fade appears to be the back of the cabin so you dont hear crap up front. Once I centered the fade it was fine. However when I got my car serviced it seems to have went to the back again so I had to set it forward. Very strange.

Ah, the fader issue rears its ugly head! There is a known issue with a few sound systems where the balance does not stay where it was set, but fades entirely to the rear. Some have complained about it, and then it went "away". Others have had their entire head unit replaced to solve the problem. It is under warranty. Yours is the first recurrence of this issue mentioned for many months.

 

[LegacyGTv2.0]

Does anyone know if there's a way to reduce the internal pre-amp gain?

The car is relatively quiet, so I'm fine listening with the volume set somewhere between 4-7. The difference between 5 & 6 is pretty large, which makes it a little annoying. I'm wondering if there's a -10dB setting somewhere, so that I can get some finer grain on the volume knob.

Also, I've noticed that SXM is definitely lower quality than FLAC files off my FiiO music player. I guess that shouldn't be surprising. It's not noticeable while driving, but when stopped SXM doesn't have nearly the same depth.

 

[NismoDPB]

Also, I've noticed that SXM is definitely lower quality than FLAC files off my FiiO music player. I guess that shouldn't be surprising. It's not noticeable while driving, but when stopped SXM doesn't have nearly the same depth.

Cant answer the rest of your questions but I know there is nothing you can do about this. SXM stations vary in quality based on their popularity/funding, but even the highest quality channels will sound terrible compared to high quality audio files. I think when you have a sound system that can take advantage of that quality, the disparity between high and low quality sources become more obvious.

 

[andrew tay]

Does anyone know if there's a way to reduce the internal pre-amp gain?

The car is relatively quiet, so I'm fine listening with the volume set somewhere between 4-7. The difference between 5 & 6 is pretty large, which makes it a little annoying. I'm wondering if there's a -10dB setting somewhere, so that I can get some finer grain on the volume knob.

Also, I've noticed that SXM is definitely lower quality than FLAC files off my FiiO music player. I guess that shouldn't be surprising. It's not noticeable while driving, but when stopped SXM doesn't have nearly the same depth.

Just turn the volumn down on the Fiio player will do the trick.
WIth the Stinger I suggest using USB HDD or flash drive becuase you cannot bypass the DAC. If you use Fiio's earphone out to the car if will get converted to digital file again and back to analogue to get the center channel working.

 

[terrylharris]

As for the fader issue mine resets to the center as opposed to the rear.

 

[WildBill]

As for the fader issue mine resets to the center as opposed to the rear.

Hmmmm, so I wonder if they all have an issue. I leave mine centered all the time so I'd never know if it resets back to the center.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I've never moved the sound from the center position, other than just to hear the differences in moving it around the cabin. I decided center was best and I just leave it there.

 

[edgarciadesign]

I know this thread is old but I figured I would share my issues with the sound system. I too thought it was lackluster but then I figured out that for some odd reason the default balance and fade appears to be the back of the cabin so you dont hear crap up front. Once I centered the fade it was fine. However when I got my car serviced it seems to have went to the back again so I had to set it forward. Very strange.

Get the new map upgrade which upgrades the stereo to v13, it fixes that issue.

 

[MerlintheMad]

Get the new map upgrade which upgrades the stereo to v13, it fixes that issue.

And loses you "folder" option and mandates alphabetical order instead of proper tracks order. This is a red flag against upgrading until Kia sorts this out. I am keeping my version 12.5

 

[edgarciadesign]

And loses you "folder" option and mandates alphabetical order instead of proper tracks order. This is a red flag against upgrading until Kia sorts this out. I am keeping my version 12.5

I use Spotify for like 8 years now... can't remember the last one I actually had an MP3 file anywhere.

 

[MerlintheMad]

I use Spotify for like 8 years now... can't remember the last one I actually had an MP3 file anywhere.

Well, some of us like USB sourced music. I have quite a few CDs and don't like pay-for Medía either.

 

[itguy61]

The eq on some XM channels is horrible . Way too much bass, no clarity in mids and highs.

 

[MerlintheMad]

The eq on some XM channels is horrible . Way too much bass, no clarity in mids and highs.

And therefore no control. You literally "get what you pay for", and complaints are common.