19 speaker Harmon kardon system

[NJC1684]

Hello everyone, I’ve searched and searched and searched. My truck is a 2019 larimie, and it has the 12” Uconnect with the 19 speakers.

To start off, the sound system is incredibly loud. I measured it and it reached 106 dB. Now, the front left dash speaker and the rear passenger door speaker has a rattle when the volume is at 13 and above. I took it to ram. They weren’t able to fix it. They said they ran a sound test through it so they charged me for the service, which makes no sense. But I argued a while with them and they removed the charge. Anyone else experiencing this rattle?

Also, isn’t there supposed to be 19 speakers? I only count 11 plus a sub, so “12.” Has anyone been able to find any more speakers? There’s 3 on the dash, 2 on each front door, 2 on the rear doors, 2 in the back ceiling, and the sub. Even on the Harmon kardon site, https://www.harmankardon.com/ram.html they say “19 speakers” but only list what I just listed. Isn’t this false advertisement?


Just to add, I am not complaining how loud the system is. I absolutely love it! Just a minor issue.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

106 dB! What are your equalizer settings at?

 

[Lovegolf44]

Sadly, unless you get luxury European brand cars/SUVs, you won't get a decent sound system. Although there are some exceptions in the US/Asian brands for the high end cars. I've had both Blose and H/K in many vehicles and they're average at best. My Logic 7 system in my BMW 2008 3-series blows anything else away I've ever had. Ford trucks starting with Lariat trim have Bang and Olufsen which based on reputation should knock your socks off but I read Ford owners say it's not that good either. With that said, I'm sure the 17-speaker H/K for the truck I ordered will do an average job like I expect from American vehicles.

 

[ForTehNguyen]

have the 18 speaker H/K in the Viper GTS and 19 speaker H/K in the Ram, I am pleased with both. I've done some custom audio over the years but I usually go for the factory upgraded ones because I dont feel like hacking up the interior to replace tons speakers anymore. Its not just changing out 6 speakers like it used to be in the past.

Mark Levinson audio in the Lexus lineup are pretty good too. When I had Lexus cars,I always tried to get the ML for the same reason above.

 

[RGYYNM]

Sadly the Harman system is basically very poor. As an owner of a week old Laramie with the HK system, I have to say it’s a joke that must have been designed by a complete moron. As a audio tech with over 40 years in sound technology , heres the lowdown. The so called 19 speaker 900 watt system is badly designed and all hype. All of the full range sound comes only from the dash speakers, these are cheap 3.5 inch units with the tweeters being controlled by a 5 cent capacitor. The tweeters in the front door are barely audible, the speakers in the front and rear doors are solely used as woofers and along with terrible response they vibrate the door and are practically useless. Then you are left with two ,what appear mid/top speakers in the rear roof lining that rattle when driven hard and one extremely poor sub behind the rear passenger seat that has hardly any output and vibrates and rattles more than a snake. There simply is no air space available to produce good sound in the sub. The tonal quality is awful, tinny and a serious lack of power. The Alpine 9 speaker system is way superior but still not up to what it should be. Take a listen to the Bose in the new Silverado which is excellent. For everyone who paid a premium price for this so called high end system, Ram needs to fess up along with Harmon, recall all of the new rams with the HK system and modify them so they sound like what anyone would expect. Either that or pay for everyone to have it modified.

This is an overly critical review. I've installed a few aftermarket car audio systems in my day and while I would agree the system lack the crisp high-end of a nice set of properly installed and tuned tweeters, it is not a "throw it out and start over" affair. My truck is rock solid with no rattles whatsoever. I see posts where a lot of folks do have rattles though so maybe I got lucky.

 

[RJS]

This is an overly critical review. I've installed a few aftermarket car audio systems in my day and while I would agree the system lack the crisp high-end of a nice set of properly installed and tuned tweeters, it is not a "throw it out and start over" affair. My truck is rock solid with no rattles whatsoever. I see posts where a lot of folks do have rattles though so maybe I got lucky.

Agree. My 12" hk 2019 Laramie was updated last week and that seemed to help a little but from a previous discussion on the forum I switched from Spotify to Amazon HD music. The difference is measurable, even much better than the CD's I downloaded using FLAC on Win Media player. The base is now clean enough that I can turn it up from the -7 it's been at since I bought the truck.

My truck is also the first rattle free vehicle I've owned. Knock on wood.

 

[Barty88]

Agree. My 12" hk 2019 Laramie was updated last week and that seemed to help a little but from a previous discussion on the forum I switched from Spotify to Amazon HD music. The difference is measurable, even much better than the CD's I downloaded using FLAC on Win Media player. The base is now clean enough that I can turn it up from the -7 it's been at since I bought the truck.

My truck is also the first rattle free vehicle I've owned. Knock on wood.

How does that work? I've always done CDs or even USB drives... still learning my new RAM and the 12" HK. Do you need to have your phone plugged in for Android Auto to play Amazon Unlimited? Or can you use bluetooth? Would be great to be able to load an app to the screen system itself and just use your phone as a hot spot for wifi... especially if you have unlimited data

 

[papac0rn]

I'm not much of an audiophile I guess because I like the 9 speaker Alpine in my ram. My wife has the Sony in her edge and I came from an F150 with the high end B&O. The quiet interior with the Alpine sounded better than the much more expensive Ford systems. Just my observations.

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[RJS]

How does that work? I've always done CDs or even USB drives... still learning my new RAM and the 12" HK. Do you need to have your phone plugged in for Android Auto to play Amazon Unlimited? Or can you use bluetooth? Would be great to be able to load an app to the screen system itself and just use your phone as a hot spot for wifi... especially if you have unlimited data

Amazon HD will let you download to your phone in HD and UltraHD format through their app. From there you can use either bluetooth with the Amazon HD app or your phone plugged in the usb outlet. In my case I use Android Auto when it's plugged in. I know the bluetoorh is limited in sound reproduction but it still sounds durn good. My ears tell me that plugged in is better sound (they're old but!!! ) The Android Auto app has some limitations that irritate me but it's functional enough for me.

You could also just listen to Amazon HD by streaming directly through their app on your phone or a player through the hotspot. If you are interested in testing Amazon HD there is a 30 day free trial. $12.99/ mo member or $14.99 non-member. About $3/mo more than Spotify but it just sounds better to me.

 

[Barty88]

Amazon HD will let you download to your phone in HD and UltraHD format through their app. From there you can use either bluetooth with the Amazon HD app or your phone plugged in the usb outlet. In my case I use Android Auto when it's plugged in. I know the bluetoorh is limited in sound reproduction but it still sounds durn good. My ears tell me that plugged in is better sound (they're old but!!! ) The Android Auto app has some limitations that irritate me but it's functional enough for me.

You could also just listen to Amazon HD by streaming directly through their app on your phone or a player through the hotspot. If you are interested in testing Amazon HD there is a 30 day free trial. $12.99/ mo member or $14.99 non-member. About $3/mo more than Spotify but it just sounds better to me.

I was looking at that... once you DL the songs do you keep them or do you lose them once you stop paying for the service?

 

[RJS]

I was looking at that... once you DL the songs do you keep them or do you lose them once you stop paying for the service?

From the Amazon website - It reverts back to the free service if you are a member. I can tell you there will be a lot of songs no longer available on the free site. My guess anything you have downloaded from HD will not work on your phone anymore.

No free lunch here or with any other service, I'll bet.

QUOTE - Note: Your subscription end date displays on the confirmation screen. Though you'll no longer be charged, you can continue to access titles in Amazon Music HD up until this date. After this date, any Amazon Music HD titles you've added to My Music will be greyed out, and will need to be re-downloaded in Standard quality for any offline playback.

 

[DaveTz]

There has to be a easy fix. What if you just unplug the sub?

 

[Berkley]

This is an overly critical review. I've installed a few aftermarket car audio systems in my day and while I would agree the system lack the crisp high-end of a nice set of properly installed and tuned tweeters, it is not a "throw it out and start over" affair. My truck is rock solid with no rattles whatsoever. I see posts where a lot of folks do have rattles though so maybe I got lucky.

I totally agree with the very critical review. I took delivery of my 2021 RAM Laramie Sport with 12 inch Uconnect on Halloween 2020. After being unable to turn down the gain ont he Sub, I disconnected it altogether and that improved the situation. Overall though, this system sucks. I had a 2014 Mazda 6 with the Bose system and it was way superior to this over expensive H/K boat anchor.

 

[Berkley]

There has to be a easy fix. What if you just unplug the sub?

I did this yesterday and the sound improvement is amazing