Is it me or the Harman Kardon subwoofers are WEAK? (GT2)

[RedStinger]

It's not a radio issue. It's because of the frequency loss with other music formats. If you rip your music in a lossless format and play it through the USB or AUX jack from your device, you'll find the low frequency quality to be good as well. Any time you're pulling airwaves or data you will lose the low and high ends.

Negative, I'm using the flash drive with the same music I used for my previous car (2015 mustang) and these songs sounded great in that system, along with XM and CDs. There is a very noticeable difference in quality when playing non-XM music in the Stinger. If you scroll up some posts in this thread you'll find I already put one FLAC song in another flash drive which I encoded myself and it sounds exactly like the MP3s in the first.

Who knows what the deal for the head unit was but definitely non-XM music is gimped in the Stinger.

 

[RedStinger]

To give you an example, with the windows up, at about 30% volume, playing heavy bass music on XM it's almost painful for my ears from how loud it is. If I roll the windows down, maybe 50% is already too loud. The subwoofers are strong, they make my teeth shake!

Now I switch to USB or bluetooth music and I have to pump it up to 70% or so before I can hear a podcast clearly or USB music gets to "cruising" volume. Bass is non-existant and it's like the subwoofers don't even work. I already know if I take this complain to the dealer they're going to give me the encoding story so that's probably already a lost cause.

 

[TurboTx]

I borrowed this tip from a BMW owner unhappy with his HK system; since I listen to mostly BT audio streamed from my phone, I downloaded a bass booster app that runs in the background. Soon as I added it and got it set up, I pulled up a bass test video on YouTube to see if it really helped. This was my face: .

It helped tremendously. Now I can FEEL the bass, not just hear it.

If you're a streamer, do yourself a favor and download a bass booster app.

 

[Danny_O]

I borrowed this tip from a BMW owner unhappy with his HK system; since I listen to mostly BT audio streamed from my phone, I downloaded a bass booster app that runs in the background. Soon as I added it and got it set up, I pulled up a bass test video on YouTube to see if it really helped. This was my face: .

It helped tremendously. Now I can FEEL the bass, not just hear it.

If you're a streamer, do yourself a favor and download a bass booster app.

Which one did you download? There's several of them.

 

[TurboTx]

Which one did you download? There's several of them.

It just says Bass Booster. I'm sure they're all the same, just makes sure it works in the background and has an EQ option.

 

[Danny_O]

It just says Bass Booster. I'm sure they're all the same, just makes sure it works in the background and has an EQ option.

Ok thanks I'll give it a try.

 

[Randy_NyC_BK]

I actually havent had much of this issue. After one members suggestion of settings i have mine set to +4 bass +3 mid and +5 treble. Granted every song is different. Some I "hear" more of the bass then again others like the weekend and kendrik lamar song had tons of bass. To the point my side mirrors and rear view mirrors were vibrating alot. There I definitely felt the bass. Granted its a different subwoofer than say one in a trunk but still. I don't have as much complaints. I also noticed different levels for radio, blue streaming and siriusxm. Siriusxm seems to play the loudest for me even at lower volumes.

 

[kenwu]

FYI, there are what seems like "volume" adjusters for different "media" sources in the Radio Screen's menu setting (advanced).

I believe USB is treated under "media" (same with bluetooth, and I think android auto), whereas "radio" is for the AM/FM/XM stuff. So, you could try boosting the "media" level and see if that helps.

 

[Gatorz]

Two things....I know the stereo was one of the reasons that I love this car! It is by far the best sounding stereo I have ever had from the dealer~I don't have a tremendous amount of foreign car experience, but a lot of Ford/Chevy experience. I have also noticed, although I think the sound is still awesome, that the different forms of audio do sound different, the XM/Sirius stream definitely sound the best... I downloaded two different Bass Booster aps, but can't use either one, because the "bass boosting" part is only available on the Premium $$ editions and you have to purchase it...and I am not willing to do that right yet. I know that this thread is not about rating the system, but damn I am happy with it!

 

[Disneymike]

I added a Pioneer shallow depth subwoofer box in the trunk and a Pioneer mono amp under the spare tire and it sounds fantastic.
If I need the space, which isn't a lot of the time, I just disconnect the two speaker cables to the subwoofer and remove the box.

 

[MurlinatoR]

So, I took a Stinger home last night to play a little bit. Wanted to tinker around with the radio a little bit. Now, I took a GT AWD without the Harmon Kardon stereo.

Initially I found that the low frequencies through bluetooth were not as rich as the sirius, as has been previously stated. BUT, I opened the EQ on my samsung music app and increased the low end frequencies and WOW! Night and day difference!

I wasn't listening to any heavy hitter music, just something with a nice low drop and I felt the lows pretty well throughout the car.

Give it a try and see if it makes things any better.

 

[WildBill]

I added a Pioneer shallow depth subwoofer box in the trunk and a Pioneer mono amp under the spare tire and it sounds fantastic.
If I need the space, which isn't a lot of the time, I just disconnect the two speaker cables to the subwoofer and remove the box.

If you are going to remove the box I would make sure to have a way to unpower the amp. The easiest way is to add an inline switch to the remote wire. You don't want to burn up your amp by not driving anything.

 

[Steve O]

You hear speakers and feel subwoofers And I don't feel anything coming out of the subwoofer grills under the seats. WTF? The system sounds great, but it's all coming out of the front doors. I'm not unhappy. But I 'feel' I've paid for something that's delivering short on my expectation.

 

[Low Budget]

You hear speakers and feel subwoofers And I don't feel anything coming out of the subwoofer grills under the seats. WTF? The system sounds great, but it's all coming out of the front doors. I'm not unhappy. But I 'feel' I've paid for something that's delivering short on my expectation.

I've been wondering the same. I can't tell if the bass is coming from the front speakers or the subs.

 

[Steve O]

I feel base from the front door speakers and nowhere else. That doesn't seem right. The dealer shay they are all that way. I'm thinking I'll spend $100 and get a car stereo outfit to measure the signal to the subs. They should be pumping bass!!
Has anybody else done any testing or technical investigation?

 

[Marc Collins]

I feel base from the front door speakers and nowhere else. That doesn't seem right. The dealer shay they are all that way. I'm thinking I'll spend $100 and get a car stereo outfit to measure the signal to the subs. They should be pumping bass!!
Has anybody else done any testing or technical investigation?

https://www.edmunds.com/kia/stinger...kia-stinger-monthly-update-for-june-2018.html

According to this review there is too much bass...so much that you have to turn up the treble, which then hurts your ears due to the harshness. Not sure why leaving the treble alone and turning down the bass was not the more obvious option. Is this a newer production with revised audio programming? Or is all the lack of bass talk simply due to the poor quality sources most people use?

 

[Bulllit]

So I show of my new car to friends and some notice the HK sound system and ask me how it sounds. I'm like my main station is the FAN590 on AM, my drive to work is 3 mins