[claykin]

Originally Posted by justinnum1

compared to some other sound systems i have heard in cars, including the B&O in the S4 and S5, i thought the HK was the best

Try Mark Levinson in Lexus LS or GS.

I find B&O car audio sounds overly bright and bass has no punch. In S4 I drove the subs bottomed out very easily with tone control set flat. Obviously B&O can be a good system if mated with correct drivers/amplification. That said, I view B&O as the European Bose. Marketing geniuses, trendy look, but not quite audiophile.

[justinnum1]

Originally Posted by claykin

Try Mark Levinson in Lexus LS or GS.

I find B&O car audio sounds overly bright and bass has no punch. In S4 I drove the subs bottomed out very easily with tone control set flat. Obviously B&O can be a good system if mated with correct drivers/amplification. That said, I view B&O as the European Bose. Marketing geniuses, trendy look, but not quite audiophile.

Agreed. I am a personal fan of B&W and martin logan

[Mako]

There are two things I will remember my C63 (2009) for:

1) insane torque feel, rocket launches
2) amazing Bose 550 watt premium sound

"watt" is meaningless in car marketing, and the brand name can be as well!
For instance we had a 2008 Land Rover LR2 which I am pretty sure had a 500 watt Bose sound system, it sounded NOTHING like my C63 which had a 550 watt Bose sound system.
I know SUVs with the same systems will not sound as good as the sound is being spread to a wider space (the 335i sounds better than the X3 wtih the same system). But this was a night and day difference. I can't really explain it but it was the first time I was blown away by a car audio system. interesting to note is that Mercedes used HK for their base systems at the time (I think they still do) but Bose for the premium. The 3 series HK premium sound is nice but still doesn't compare to the C63 even though it is claimed as 600watt vs 550watt, that doesn't mean it has better speakers to deliver the power...

I have found that playing with the equalizer does improve the BMW HK system, but I really wish there were presets we could edit, I remember older generation BMWs had presets. I listen to several different types of music, and when I go from classic rock to hiphop or if I am in the mood for some up beat bass heavy electronic music its a pain in the ass to change the equalizer settings.

As far as the satellite radio vs HD radio, personally I think some sat radio stations sound BETTER than HD radio stations, but not all. plugging in my iphone sounds the best but I haven't tried actual CDs. I don't even know what the iphone transfers music as. my itunes library is all 256 bit but I have never looked into what the iphone has the songs stored as, does it bring them down to 128bit or keep them at 256?

[koresh38]

Have F30 from September with HK. Have been using these settings for a month:

100hz -2
200hz 0
500hz +2
1khz +3
2khz -2
5khz -1
10khz +4

BASS +4
TREB +1
FADER +2
Logic 7 is on. IMHO that is the best set up.Punchy bass, beautiful sound. Couple of tips though. Do not rip your CDs to built in hard disc. I think it stores the music in mp3 format which affects the quality. I use ipod classic connected through normal 30-pin usb cable and find it the best option available.

[Cfichman]

you guys are funny. I AM an audio engineer and what you guys try doing some times can be counterproductive, and just add to the coloring of your system. cutting that much from those frequencies will surely have ill affects on certain music you will listen to. You don't tune a room by listening to your favorite song and adjusting. You start with a sine wave sweep, and then with a calibrated omni mic you see the response curve of what your speakers are actually producing and then adjust from there. What you do on that song might sound good but from different genres, rap to rock to jazz, you surely will not be listening to that song how the artist, mixdown and mastering engineers intended. leave your settings stock, turn on L7, if you like more or less bass/treble change that from the main tone settings, but cutting frequencies like that is just laughable from my industry. Do you actually know what 5 khz sounds like? The engineers at HK have already tuned your system! and they know what they are doing better than you, stick to accounting or w.e you do lol. My sales guy tried tuning my system for me when I took delivery of the car, I love the guy but as soon as he was telling me "oh i used to be a dj i tuned.." he remembered what i do for a living. it sounded like shit btw.

On top of that for me if I mix a song and then take it in my car, i want to hear how everyone else will hear it not my "super special eq settings" that won't transfer to an ipod.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by Koer

After some time of listening to my HK sound system... I found There is a BIG problem!!

You will start notice how every other sound system in any other car sounds like crud!! Seriously, try pumping up the volume in any other car... You will be disappointed!!

Its like tasting fine wine and then going back to drinking Budweiser haha

You mean "Buttwiper" beer

I have yet to put in a CD, but my iPhone and or iPod sound pretty good with either 192kbps or 256kbps bit rate MP4s.

I think this iteration of HK sounds a lot better than the ones I had in my E46 325i and E46 M3.

[snowghost]

Originally Posted by Cfichman

you guys are funny. I AM an audio engineer and what you guys try doing some times can be counterproductive, and just add to the coloring of your system. cutting that much from those frequencies will surely have ill affects on certain music you will listen to. You don't tune a room by listening to your favorite song and adjusting. You start with a sine wave sweep, and then with a calibrated omni mic you see the response curve of what your speakers are actually producing and then adjust from there. What you do on that song might sound good but from different genres, rap to rock to jazz, you surely will not be listening to that song how the artist, mixdown and mastering engineers intended. leave your settings stock, turn on L7, if you like more or less bass/treble change that from the main tone settings, but cutting frequencies like that is just laughable from my industry. Do you actually know what 5 khz sounds like? The engineers at HK have already tuned your system! and they know what they are doing better than you, stick to accounting or w.e you do lol. My sales guy tried tuning my system for me when I took delivery of the car, I love the guy but as soon as he was telling me "oh i used to be a dj i tuned.." he remembered what i do for a living. it sounded like shit btw.

On top of that for me if I mix a song and then take it in my car, i want to hear how everyone else will hear it not my "super special eq settings" that won't transfer to an ipod.

I'm not a sound guy, but a musician, and that's how I tuned my media room, and figured HK must have put some thought into the default settings so I wasn't tempted to mess with the EQ.

The only "tweak" I've done, is fade the sound to the rear a little bit. But other than that, I really like the sound the way it is.

[MarkW83]

I've just ordered a 330d M Sport with the H/K system; I wasn't sure about ordering it, as I listen to the radio (rather than MP3s etc.) most of the time, but didn't want to be regretting missing anything off the spec after delivery!

I'm sure the H/K system will be fantastic for good quality audio files, but what about normal FM radio in the UK (not DAB)? Will there be a noticeable difference with a good FM signal (e.g. Radio 1) compared with the base sound system (we don't even get "Hi-Fi" as standard in the UK as you probably know!)? Didn't spec DAB radio as I had it in a previous BMW, and the signal round by us dips out quite a lot, meaning we had to revert back to FM anyway.

[gmazzu]

Any other suggestions for tuning the system? I have added a little mid-bass, bass, and upper end. Other settings I have left flat. The stock settings were just missing some lower end and some sizzle. I know this may be "coloring" the sound somewhat but to my ears I thought it sounded "better".

Cfichman do you leave everything flat/original settings?

[RichardM]

Originally Posted by MarkW83

I've just ordered a 330d M Sport with the H/K system; I wasn't sure about ordering it, as I listen to the radio (rather than MP3s etc.) most of the time, but didn't want to be regretting missing anything off the spec after delivery!

I'm sure the H/K system will be fantastic for good quality audio files, but what about normal FM radio in the UK (not DAB)? Will there be a noticeable difference with a good FM signal (e.g. Radio 1) compared with the base sound system (we don't even get "Hi-Fi" as standard in the UK as you probably know!)? Didn't spec DAB radio as I had it in a previous BMW, and the signal round by us dips out quite a lot, meaning we had to revert back to FM anyway.

Mark, I found the standard system we get in the UK really poor for all sources so even with FM you should notice a big difference. My last couple of BMW have had very good FM tuners anyway.

[MarkW83]

Originally Posted by RichardM

Mark, I found the standard system we get in the UK really poor for all sources so even with FM you should notice a big difference. My last couple of BMW have had very good FM tuners anyway.

Thanks for that Richard, sounds like it should be a good improvement even on FM then I agree that the FM signal etc. has always been good in my previous BMWs as well.

[vchiu]

I searched the Internet on ideas on how to tune the equalizer. First I tried the settings suggested in the forums. Some sounded fine. Straight 0 did not sound fine. A smile sounded ok also. The most compelling suggestion was to download a free Real Time Analyzer to an iPhone, download a pink noise mp3 and then adjust the equalizer so that the RTA formed the straightest line possible while playing the pink noise through the HK. This sounded ok also. Since I am an engineer, I liked this last suggestion the best. The iPhone didn't seem to handle 100Hz well so that adjustment is by taste. You can adjust the treble and bass afterwards. In the end, it's still all preference.

[Haarschmerzen]

Originally Posted by vchiu

I searched the Internet on ideas on how to tune the equalizer. First I tried the settings suggested in the forums. Some sounded fine. Straight 0 did not sound fine. A smile sounded ok also. The most compelling suggestion was to download a free Real Time Analyzer to an iPhone, download a pink noise mp3 and then adjust the equalizer so that the RTA formed the straightest line possible while playing the pink noise through the HK. This sounded ok also. Since I am an engineer, I liked this last suggestion the best. The iPhone didn't seem to handle 100Hz well so that adjustment is by taste. You can adjust the treble and bass afterwards. In the end, it's still all preference.

Can you share how your settings turned out?

Its strange: At the beginning, i didn't like the sub bass because it was too boomy for electronic music. Then I played around with the settings until it was better (turned down bass but increased 100 -500 hrz).

Yesterday I changed everything back to default and I liked the sound. the bass was less boomy.

Is it psychological or do the speakers change over time?

[LollerAgent]

The tone and "punchiness" of speakers will change overtime once they are broken in. This is especially true for woofers.

[vchiu]

This is what I ended up setting after trying 5 RTA apps and 3 pink noise wavs. The low frequencies are set higher than what the RTA would want. Also the frequency settings are all interdependent. You slide one over and the neighboring frequencies are affected over a large range.
100-6
200-5
500-9
1000-3
2000-1
5000-10
10000-2
Treble and bass to taste

[SamS]

Originally Posted by vchiu

This is what I ended up setting after trying 5 RTA apps and 3 pink noise wavs. The low frequencies are set higher than what the RTA would want. Also the frequency settings are all interdependent. You slide one over and the neighboring frequencies are affected over a large range.
100-6
200-5
500-9
1000-3
2000-1
5000-10
10000-2
Treble and bass to taste

Interesting. So what do you think of the sound, after your adjustments with the RTA?

[vchiu]

I definitely like it better than all zeros. But it will take a few weeks for me to decide if I really like it. But chances are that I'll just get used to it and never touch it again. Or until I hear a track that just doesn't sound 'right'.

[J-MEM]

I know nothing technical about sound systems but am definitely hearing cracks and pops like an old record when playing from my Ipod via normal ipod USB cable. Source or system/speakers?

JB

[justinnum1]

Originally Posted by J-MEM

I know nothing technical about sound systems but am definitely hearing cracks and pops like an old record when playing from my Ipod via normal ipod USB cable. Source or system/speakers?

JB

source most likely

[Vitoco]

How much interior sounds like rattles etc do you get when pumping the HK at loud levels?

[Koer]

Originally Posted by Vitoco

How much interior sounds like rattles etc do you get when pumping the HK at loud levels?

Only exterior rattles will he heard, interior sound is crystal clear with no rattles at all. Exterior rattles are caused by the sideskirts and other loose parts, remember 200 hz will make anything rattle.

Long story short, you wont notice unless you are the unfortunate pedestrian walking beside the car.

[RPM90]

Originally Posted by Vitoco

How much interior sounds like rattles etc do you get when pumping the HK at loud levels?

No rattles at all in my car with HK played at very loud levels even with bass bumped up.
The system will play pretty darn loud. It will play loud enough that you wouldn't want to listen to it at that level for very long.