Anyone else underwhelmed by HK Audio?

[Carcollector212]

i think the HK is ok but very boomy to my taste but put this into perspective, the car is so loud that any true hi fi system wouldn't even matter. i notice im not listening to the audio very loud on my M3 as i have in other cars. I looked around and for guys with standard or HK you can upgrade to a HELIX system through Crutchfield. there is also a company called Jehnert in Germany that makes custom fit speakers for BMW cars. im sure doing an upgrade will cost more than $875 for HK but it will also blow the doors off the HK in the end. I am not thrilled with most audio in cars there days. they slap on fancy names on the grills but the stuff stinks overall.

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by Carcollector212

i think the HK is ok but very boomy to my taste but put this into perspective, the car is so loud that any true hi fi system wouldn't even matter. i notice im not listening to the audio very loud on my M3 as i have in other cars. I looked around and for guys with standard or HK you can upgrade to a HELIX system through Crutchfield. there is also a company called Jehnert in Germany that makes custom fit speakers for BMW cars. im sure doing an upgrade will cost more than $875 for HK but it will also blow the doors off the HK in the end. I am not thrilled with most audio in cars there days. they slap on fancy names on the grills but the stuff stinks overall.

Are you going to do any modifications to your stereo?

[Lessthanzero]

I used to be irritated by the HK not sounding perfect. Then I fiddled with the EQ settings and just turned it up real loud. And now:

[smedin]

Do you mind sharing your EQ settings?

[DocWeatherington]

haha

[Black Gold]

can anyone take a pic of or post their EQ settings? I think the HK sounds good, but it could be dialed in better I think

[Greeney]

Anyone down in SouthFlorida with audio equipment who wants to help come up with some baseline settings?

[SakhirM4]

Someone already posted recommended EQ settings with a picture, but I can't find it. Will keep looking.

[SakhirM4]

Found it!!!

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho...ghlight=stereo

[BEMR]

Spending my first day learning and setting some features, I found that after being underwhelmed reading this thread, I became overwhelmed after properly adjusting the settings and love the HK and have no reason to modify that either.

Easiest way to explain settings, on the tone Idrive setting, set treble at about 95%, and base about 75%, Logic 7 checked, then go to EQ, settings from top down.....top setting from lows to highs, take top setting to about 75% then as you adjust downward 65%, 55%, 50%, then 55% 65% 75%. When you get EQ set it will look like an arrow pointing left with the center frequency at 50% and furthest left of all settings.

Out of the box it was dissapointing but this system matches my M5 and major improvement from my 6 series. Bluetooth, Amazon and Google music clouds awesome!

[bgreen4544]

I have an X5 and M4 with HK. For some reason the x5 just sounds so much nicer on satellite and HD. Anyone know if they are using the same exact speakers?

M4 sounds terrible on satellite radio but passable on local HD.

[BEMR]

Originally Posted by bgreen4544

I have an X5 and M4 with HK. For some reason the x5 just sounds so much nicer on satellite and HD. Anyone know if they are using the same exact speakers?

M4 sounds terrible on satellite radio but passable on local HD.

Satellite Radio is the absolute worst part of a sound system in any car, they send 160 channels with super high compression into our receiver, then as we change the channels our system decodes that big packet of shit, then we hear it. The more the compression the crappier the sound. Whereas HD radio sends usually a compressed format, but slightly compressed compared to Sat, and HD radio is only sending ONE channel, with left and a right only.

Sirius is obviously aware of it, but they dont like to advertise that aspect since its so shitty. Now the talking channels like news and sports, you really dont need highs and lows for that so it sounds OK.

[modkrazy]

Originally Posted by tisme

I think Hello World has a good point about the F80 being noisier.

Anyway today I went to my dealer and tried out 320kbps mp3 files in:

New 4 Series with HK system

E9x series M3 with Individual sound

X4 with stock sound system

My F80 has the HK system

To my ears, the HK system in my M3 sounded the same as the HK system in the 4 series.

The stock sound system in the X4 sounded significantly worse than the HK system, so I believe the HK system is a worthy upgrade.

The individual sound system in the 4 year old M3 definitely sounded the best.

I used sound tracks I am very familiar with:

Cheryl Cole - Last One Standing (for testing tight basd)

Cheryl Cole - Telescope for piano and clear vocals

Nadine Coyle - Runnin' for punchy base and clear vocals.

The salesman reminded me that the Individual sound system is not currently available in the M3, and that it cost a lot more than the HK system.

I've therefore concluded that I've got the best I can have and I'm so pleased not to have chosen the stock sound system, and that as Hello World says, I probably have to up the volume a bit more to counter the increased tyre noise.

BMW sound systems usually really need a good calibration before they sound good. In my car the sound out of the box was pretty disappointing, and it took me a good month or two of fiddling with the options before I got it to where I wanted it. Now I love it. I believe the E9x system was made by Lear, are they the ones who do Individual sound as well?

[tisme]

Originally Posted by modkrazy

BMW sound systems usually really need a good calibration before they sound good. In my car the sound out of the box was pretty disappointing, and it took me a good month or two of fiddling with the options before I got it to where I wanted it. Now I love it. I believe the E9x system was made by Lear, are they the ones who do Individual sound as well?

I think you're right. I've been playing with the equalisation settings and am much less disappointed now (Individual Sound System had no equalisation).

I do wish I could reduce the rear tyre road noise though.

[modkrazy]

Originally Posted by tisme

I do wish I could reduce the rear tyre road noise though.

You can. What tires do you have on the car now?

[DocWeatherington]

Originally Posted by modkrazy

You can. What tires do you have on the car now?

+1, I just switched to winter tires and road noise is less

[m3cragg]

I don't think the HK sound is bad, not great but its good
does anyone know if there was a change on the front triangle tweeters, Canadian car HK comes standard but my tweeters don't have HK logo and look different then others

[AYTifosi]

Wait, you guys turn on the radio?

[edwinm3]

Originally Posted by AYTifosi

Wait, you guys turn on the radio?

^This

[Jedi_M]

Attached are optimal settings for the HK audio submitted on another post by Lincoln30. I am using Option 1 which a lot of people seem to like.

BTW, I have had my car for a month and I do not even know how to turn on the radio I listen to FLAC files loaded on a 64GB USB 3.0 stick plugged in the center console.

[SamS]

Originally Posted by OnYourLeft

Attached are optimal settings for the HK audio submitted on another post by Lincoln30. I am using Option 1 which a lot of people seem to like.

BTW, I have had my car for a month and I do not even know how to turn on the radio I listen to FLAC files loaded on a 64GB USB 3.0 stick plugged in the center console.

Finally! Someone measures what I've been screaming about all along with the F30/F80 HK system:

Lincoln30 "There is bump at 200hz that you can't tune out with the available tools and overall the system a tad brighter then it should be"

[Robotechnology]

Not overwhelmed or underwhelmed. Think H-K is just fine for the previous $875 option cost. If it was $3k, it would of course be a different story!