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Harman Kardon Boomy Bass
- Thread starter Sonnie
- Start date
Sonnie
Well-Known Member
Got my 24 Limited today... MUCH improved bass over my 2020 Laramie with the HK system. It still is bit much on the mid-bass, yet certainly improved where I an at least live with it.
I'd be surprised if it's any different - I doubt RAM has given a single F about the audio since the truck launced. The McIntosh system in the Jeep Grand Cherokee L is similarly bad (excessive bass, though not as bad as the RAM), yet Jeep marketed it as sublime audiophile quality stuff... yeah right. I'm still driving around in my '22 with the subwoofer disconnected. The reality is everyone has a different opinion on what sounds good and what doesn't. I'm curious to hear the Klipsch system in the upcoming Tungsten, but wouldn't be surprised if that's a disappointment as well.
The best car audio I've personally heard is Bowers & Wilkins in a Volvo XC90, and I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees that it sounds phenomenal... truly good audio is hard to dispute. But take crap audio and EQ the hell out of it, you'll find someone who still likes it (just for the boomy bass) and plenty who hate it. Without truth measurement data from a calibrated mic using something like REW, there's no real way of knowing. I could measure the truck's stock output with REW, but this late in the game I'm not sure there's a point. If there was any hope of RAM fixing it, that day passed years ago. If they weren't total idiots they'd tune it relatively flat and give us a much larger band EQ with discrete sub control... something else Volvo gets right.
The best car audio I've personally heard is Bowers & Wilkins in a Volvo XC90, and I don't think you'll find anyone who disagrees that it sounds phenomenal... truly good audio is hard to dispute. But take crap audio and EQ the hell out of it, you'll find someone who still likes it (just for the boomy bass) and plenty who hate it. Without truth measurement data from a calibrated mic using something like REW, there's no real way of knowing. I could measure the truck's stock output with REW, but this late in the game I'm not sure there's a point. If there was any hope of RAM fixing it, that day passed years ago. If they weren't total idiots they'd tune it relatively flat and give us a much larger band EQ with discrete sub control... something else Volvo gets right.
Hello Sonnie,
not sure why I am just now seeing your reply.
Anyway, I did end up getting a 2024 Limited Longhorn. After seeing this topic thread, I had read somewhere else, that HK and RAM came out with a software update that addressed, or more rather, settled down the boomy bass in the HK system. When I first got the truck, I definitely heard the difference between its on board HK vs my 2019 with the Alpine. Not better, just different.
over the year+ that I've had it, I've learned to acclimate to its sound engineering (which isn't impressive at all. Not sure where HK sound engineers heads were at for this system).
However, Apple's most recent iOS 18.6 update, which comprised of a CarPlay update, changed everything. I didn't personally experience the droning overly boomy HK system that was in year models prior to 2023 and 2024; I only read about it. But with this latest CarPlay update, it's now present in my 2024 RAM Uconnect 5 HK system.
I'm absolutely sick about it. I've gone through the ringer with Apple to no avail. I've narrowed it down that the Uconnect hasn't caught up to whatever was contained in the iOS 18.6 CarPlay update.
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