Under-Seat Subwoofer Issues

[Kia Stinger]

Regarding the issue of the subs:

• According to Kia Customer Assistance, some of the subs were not activated (turned on) on the amplifier. I was told to have serviced at my dealer.
• Also according to Kia Customer Assistance no break-in period should be needed for the sub or any other speaker. My own experience would agree with this.

Welcome aboard, @Tri-Cities Owner! Thank you for signing up. That's BIG NEWS about the inactivation on the amplifier! This is the first time we've heard this and it makes a lot of sense. Before now I was assuming some Stingers had a lose wire or no connection. This non-activation makes perfect sense...

 

[Tri-Cities Owner]

OK - I have returned from Dealer Service and the resolution of the issue is not what I expected.

First of all, the system check of the audio is part of the Pre-Delivery Inspection that the dealer does and this includes making sure that the subwoofer is activated on the amplifier. Mine had been activated and the subwoofer should have been working.

My problem, and this is a totally non-intuitive situation in which I think Kia's thinking is ass-backwards, is that on the Sound System Setup for position of tuning the system I set it at the center of the drivers seat. This to me is the logical choice.

Boy was I wrong - and as it turns out on my car, and I can verify this with what was happening, the audio system throws 80%+ of the audio output on the (drumroll here) Drivers Side Door! What you say?

What you want to do is set the audio system at the center of the car. This will balance the audio system and I can now get output from the subs on both the drivers and passengers side using the dollar bill test. Note that the dollar bill test failed completely on my previous setting centered on the drivers seat.

 

[AV8R]

OK - I have returned from Dealer Service and the resolution of the issue is not what I expected.

First of all, the system check of the audio is part of the Pre-Delivery Inspection that the dealer does and this includes making sure that the subwoofer is activated on the amplifier. Mine had been activated and the subwoofer should have been working.

My problem, and this is a totally non-intuitive situation in which I think Kia's thinking is ass-backwards, is that on the Sound System Setup for position of tuning the system I set it at the center of the drivers seat. This to me is the logical choice.

Boy was I wrong - and as it turns out on my car, and I can verify this with what was happening, the audio system throws 80%+ of the audio output on the (drumroll here) Drivers Side Door! What you say?

What you want to do is set the audio system at the center of the car. This will balance the audio system and I can now get output from the subs on both the drivers and passengers side using the dollar bill test. Note that the dollar bill test failed completely on my previous setting centered on the drivers seat.

Mate, you are awesome Thankyou so much for this valuable info! From all of us thanks, now we go off and test and give feedback.

 

[oxide365]

good to hear you solved your problem. first thing i did is center my listening position, the sub was weak until breaking in for a while

 

[Merkur720]

OK - I have returned from Dealer Service and the resolution of the issue is not what I expected.

First of all, the system check of the audio is part of the Pre-Delivery Inspection that the dealer does and this includes making sure that the subwoofer is activated on the amplifier. Mine had been activated and the subwoofer should have been working.

My problem, and this is a totally non-intuitive situation in which I think Kia's thinking is ass-backwards, is that on the Sound System Setup for position of tuning the system I set it at the center of the drivers seat. This to me is the logical choice.

Boy was I wrong - and as it turns out on my car, and I can verify this with what was happening, the audio system throws 80%+ of the audio output on the (drumroll here) Drivers Side Door! What you say?

What you want to do is set the audio system at the center of the car. This will balance the audio system and I can now get output from the subs on both the drivers and passengers side using the dollar bill test. Note that the dollar bill test failed completely on my previous setting centered on the drivers seat.

Could you provide a pic of the settings you used to get the best sound from subs? Thanks!

 

[Tri-Cities Owner]

Could you provide a pic of the settings you used to get the best sound from subs? Thanks!

There are no direct settings for the subs per se. The only setting that might effect the output to the subs would be under "SOUND" in the "SETUP" menu. There you will find a settings for Tone and click on this and then set the BASS value. At present I have it at +4.

Hope this helps.

 

[DaJackson]

Do all the HK systems have the subs under the seats? I definitely don't feel anything in the seat when turning the volume up, the doors shake pretty well though.

 

[Jamie M]

Just thought I would add in my own observations and testing here. I initially thought my subs were not working as well. Playing decent music (Flac and DSD) via the aux in produced a lot of base in the lower door speakers but could not hear anything or feel anything from the subs.

I did some further testing on this.

I happened to have some audiophile testing sounds (DSD format) that I used when setting up my cinema room. I played these through the Aux in as well. I also placed a tissue on each of the subs to confirm what was happening. My findings were as follows:

10 Hz -> Nothing through any speaker (Which is to be expected)
20 Hz -> Subs come to life with the rumble and no sound at all coming through the door speakers or centre
30-40 Hz -> Same as above
50 Hz -> Sub output was dropping off (barely detectable) but the lower door speakers were now outputting the base
60 Hz -> Subs pretty much not doing anything but the lower door speakers were booming.
70-100 Hz -> All the sound was coming from the door speakers and nothing from the subs.

Conclusion. The subs were working however the crossover set on the amp is quite low; being at about 50-60 Hz. I wonder if this can be adjusted (maybe to around 80-90 Hz) as I think this would improve the Sub output immensely. It also means that unless you have music that has audio data in the realms of the 20-50 Hz range, you may not get anything from the Subs. Obviously there are some of you out there that still may have an issue, but as I thought I did too this test proved that they were working.

Would be very good to know what if any adjustments can be made to the Amp. Need someone with access to the kiatechinfo ( Kia Global Information System (KGIS) ) to see what can be found maybe.

Hope this helps everyone.

 

[Tri-Cities Owner]

Do all the HK systems have the subs under the seats? I definitely don't feel anything in the seat when turning the volume up, the doors shake pretty well though.

See my previous post - the doors are shaking because you most likely have the balance set incorrectly.

Also, properly working subs are not, in most cases, going to start vibrating your butt while you are driving.

 

[DaJackson]

See my previous post - the doors are shaking because you most likely have the balance set incorrectly

Nope I have the balance set to the middle of the vehicle.

 

[Tazztattoo]

Just thought I would add in my own observations and testing here. I initially thought my subs were not working as well. Playing decent music (Flac and DSD) via the aux in produced a lot of base in the lower door speakers but could not hear anything or feel anything from the subs.

I did some further testing on this.

I happened to have some audiophile testing sounds (DSD format) that I used when setting up my cinema room. I played these through the Aux in as well. I also placed a tissue on each of the subs to confirm what was happening. My findings were as follows:

10 Hz -> Nothing through any speaker (Which is to be expected)
20 Hz -> Subs come to life with the rumble and no sound at all coming through the door speakers or centre
30-40 Hz -> Same as above
50 Hz -> Sub output was dropping off (barely detectable) but the lower door speakers were now outputting the base
60 Hz -> Subs pretty much not doing anything but the lower door speakers were booming.
70-100 Hz -> All the sound was coming from the door speakers and nothing from the subs.

Conclusion. The subs were working however the crossover set on the amp is quite low; being at about 50-60 Hz. I wonder if this can be adjusted (maybe to around 80-90 Hz) as I think this would improve the Sub output immensely. It also means that unless you have music that has audio data in the realms of the 20-50 Hz range, you may not get anything from the Subs. Obviously there are some of you out there that still may have an issue, but as I thought I did too this test proved that they were working.

Would be very good to know what if any adjustments can be made to the Amp. Need someone with access to the kiatechinfo ( Kia Global Information System (KGIS) ) to see what can be found maybe.

Hope this helps everyone.

Excellent information Jamie M. Of all the feedback and speculation from owners regarding sub-woofer performance what you have noted here is the most critical as it clearly demonstrates the manner in which the system is set up and no amount of tweaking through the infotainment controls is going to change the frequency range in which the sub-woofers will output sound.

So that said if someone is willing and able to get to the amplifier behind the left side boot panel and poke around to see if there are any controls to make frequency band adjustments at that end (increasing the sub outputs above their current 50Hz limit) then we can once and for all establish if the subs performance is able to be improved or if we are stuck with them as they are?

Many people have said they have absolutely no sound coming from the subs but I now believe that is purely because the music they are playing is not producing any bass in that 20-50Hz frequency spectrum identified here.

 

[Sting]

Like I said, before.
Here are my settings and its awesome.
I did nention previously about checking the amp setting for sub.
More importantly after all that make sure your mp3 or flac is not clipping at least to 94db.. otherwise you will damage your speakers.
My settings.

 

[AV8R]

View attachment 2765 View attachment 2766 View attachment 2767 View attachment 2766 View attachment 2765 View attachment 2768 Like I said, before.
Here are my settings and its awesome.
I did nention previously about checking the amp setting for sub.
More importantly after all that make sure your mp3 or flac is not clipping at least to 94db.. otherwise you will damage your speakers.
My settings.

Fade settings... is it dead centre or slightly back from centre?

 

[CeramicStinger]

I owned a Optima platinum and the infinity sound system was amazing. The Stinger 15 speaker system is not as good unfortunately , I think it’s because the are no speakers that use the boot to resonate the sound. Has anyone done a sound mod yet?

Same here. 2011 SX blew my GT2 out of the water in loudness.

 

[Sting]

Slightly back from centre..not that it matters too much.
All of my audio has gone through mp3 Gain and declipped to around 94db depending on the particular audio. To avoid speaker damage.

 

[AV8R]

Slightly back from centre..not that it matters too much.
All of my audio has gone through mp3 Gain and declipped to around 94db depending on the particular audio. To avoid speaker damage.

I think I will set mine slightly fwd like I’ve done with other cars.

 

[Sting]

Ok is it the quality, one is after or just loudness!!
720kw is plenty loudness!
If it is subwoofer issues, wanting to bounce to the bass, install on large subby in the boot! And a trampoline in the back seat.

 

[Sting]

AV8R, move it all the way back and check quality, as you go forward and adjust.
Since it is the driver ussually, mostly driving it should not be a problem going forward.

 

[Sting]

If you notice from my pics the audio level is at 22.
Thats' Loud..
Same track @30 LOUDER.
Anything higher is RIDICULOUS, but great for a short time maybe, unless you got the doors open and having a party, Bbq or just being insane.
It all depends on the track and the QUALITY of the recording. I.e. Kbit and db level.
I keep mentioning the lattet cos it is so important!

 

[mldavis2]

When you guys get to be my age, you'll be wearing hearing aids and reading lips if you run your music that loud. Fair warning.