HK subwoofer ohm rating

[SPL1992]

Parts are ordered from Parts Express. $43 with tax and tags. Now all I need is the part number for the male and female white speaker connectors. Anyone know the mfg and part number? If not I will drive to the dealer and see if they can sell me the two mating connectors.
Thanks.

 

[jimchi]

@RamCares, this subwoofer problem seems to be a pretty common complaint. Is this something the vehicle team is aware of to your knowledge? @SPL1992 seems to define the problem the best on page 3 of this thread. Here's a direct link to the post:

HK subwoofer ohm rating

Well based on what I am reading hear I must be pretty lucky. Since the update I received in the summer, my sub is nice and punchy and crisp. It was not so good prior to this update so perhaps this would help others here that have been mentioning the poor sound quality of the bass. Can you...

5thgenrams.com

 

[Kilroy]

"Watt ratings" are a funny thing because after market and OEM have tremendously different requirements for life testing products.
Typical after market products rate power with an 8 hour power test. Power test are basically how much power can the loudspeaker endure usually using a broadband noise input like pink noise at some voltage input level. Say for instance it's a 4 ohm speaker and it's rated as a 100 watt speaker. For after market products that typically means the product can reliably handle a 20Vrms input for 8 hours straight. Buyer beware, because some aftermarket product makers play games with "music watts" or "peak power ratings" by simple multiplying their 8 hour test wattage by 4 to advertise power that might be better than their competition. In the case I mention an aftermarket manufacture may say their 100W speakers can handle 400W peak power. The 400W "advertisement" should be taken with a grain of salt. What you really want to pay attention to much more than a watt rating is the loudspeakers "Sensitivity rating". Sensitivity rating is only provided by a reputable after market manufacturer and is typically a 1 Watt input that yields a certain SPL (Sound Pressure Level) output at 1 meter distance. A decent sensitivity rating for a sub woofer might be 95dB with a 1 watt input at a 1 meter distance. A 1000W subwoofer may not be as good as a 250W subwoofer because it's the sensitivity rating that matter more for good sound over how much power can I dump into a speaker before it blows up. OEM requirements for power testing and rating speakers are very different. OEMs typically require 1000 hour power tests to qualify production speakers (plus a lot of other crazy environmental torture tests). I can't tell you what your OEM speaker was qualified to because it's confidential with FCA but I can tell you that your OEM speakers have been thoroughly tested much more stringently than any aftermarket product.

You all should listen to this guy ;-)

 

[sailouterbanks]

Parts are ordered from Parts Express. $43 with tax and tags. Now all I need is the part number for the male and female white speaker connectors. Anyone know the mfg and part number? If not I will drive to the dealer and see if they can sell me the two mating connectors.
Thanks.

I thought about doing something similar. I'm buying a cheap sub amp for another project. I noticed the amp also has speaker level inputs. My idea is to temporally hook it up to the speaker wire going to the factory sub. That way I can experiment with different frequency cut offs and different output levels. I agree with others that the sub seems to have output at too high a frequency. I also think this experiment will allow me to cut the level down on the sub and boost the bass to the rest of the speakers with the equalizer control. Did you ever find the speaker connector?

 

[jimbotron]

Got it, thanks.

Per some of the earlier advice in this thread, I tried digging around under/behind my passenger rear seat to find the little subwoofer plug to disconnect it. I don't know how you guys were able to do this because I cannot for the life of me see really anything outside of a handful of black tape protected wires.

With the bench seat flipped up, I can get under there and try to move around the carpet/insulation stuff, but it seems like it needs to come out to be able to see where this mystery plug is hiding. I destroyed my knuckles moving stuff around and came away empty handed twice.

Is this possible to do without removing the seats? How the hell did you guys do this? I had my head under the damn thing trying to see up behind the carpety stuff and couldn't see really anything

 

[sailouterbanks]

Per some of the earlier advice in this thread, I tried digging around under/behind my passenger rear seat to find the little subwoofer plug to disconnect it. I don't know how you guys were able to do this because I cannot for the life of me see really anything outside of a handful of black tape protected wires.

With the bench seat flipped up, I can get under there and try to move around the carpet/insulation stuff, but it seems like it needs to come out to be able to see where this mystery plug is hiding. I destroyed my knuckles moving stuff around and came away empty handed twice.

Is this possible to do without removing the seats? How the hell did you guys do this? I had my head under the damn thing trying to see up behind the carpety stuff and couldn't see really anything

Did you fold the seat back down?

 

[jimbotron]

Did you fold the seat back down?

Welp. I did not even know that was possible until you said that.

Went out back, pulled down the center console, put my hand back there and found the string. Pulled the seat back forward and it was easy enough from there to pull the carpet forward and unplug the sub.

Will give the radio a full test ride tomorrow as I have a few long drives ahead of me. Thanks for the tip!

 

[Tench]

Parts are ordered from Parts Express. $43 with tax and tags. Now all I need is the part number for the male and female white speaker connectors. Anyone know the mfg and part number? If not I will drive to the dealer and see if they can sell me the two mating connectors.
Thanks.

Did it work? This seems like a good plan.

 

[Tench]

I was thinking of attempting to replace the subwoofer with this: http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/Peerless/GBS-250F38CP01-04

 

[OleNavyMane]

You missed my concern. The HK amplifier is sending a boosted signal to the subwoofer. The bass is overwhelming in some frequency areas. I have noticed this in several 2019 and 2020 Limited trucks, so clearly it's a software tuning issue. I had to use aftermarket equipment to send a flat, high level RCA signal to my own amplifier, and then hooked up the factory subwoofer to the aftermarket amplifier. This completely fixed the boosted bass the subwoofer was putting out from the HK amp. And the 3 band EQ on the screen can't be used to fix it, because not all the bass frequencies are boosted, plus you would lose the already anemic response the door 6x9s put out.

In short:
1. HK amp boosts the subwoofer too much... please check this because I think it's far from a relatively flat output.
2. Door 6x9 bass output is very low.

I've given feedback to FCA. I do hope they listen, but the bean counters are going to be a limiting factor. FCA charges $1K-$2K for these audio upgrades, but then throw in what look like $20 speakers. I'd like a better return on investment when buying an upgrade. The Bowers & Wilkins system in my wife's Volvo was $3,400 and it was worth every cent. 10" infinite baffle carbon fiber subwoofer. 1" aluminum dome Nautilus (minimizes reflection from the driver housing) tweeters, including 1 ON the dash facing the passengers to minimize glass reflection. 4" & 3" Kevlar fiber mid drivers. 6.75" woofers. It is the absolute best audio system I've ever heard in a vehicle, and considering cars in the 6 figure price range are using this same B&W hardware, Volvo did something right by fairly delivering on the price people paid for an audio upgrade.

Yes, volvo upgraded 19 speaker system is what I was accustomed to hearing so I thought it would be very similar in my Limited. It's probably one of the biggest let downs regarding the 1500 limited.

 

[Buz]

I was thinking of attempting to replace the subwoofer with this: http://www.loudspeakerdatabase.com/Peerless/GBS-250F38CP01-04

The problem with the sub in our systems is the amp bias is to heavy on the sub. How would replacing the sub speaker change that?

 

[Tench]

The problem with the sub in our systems is the amp bias is to heavy on the sub. How would replacing the sub speaker change that?

Depends on if the sound from the sub is wonky because of the sub itself or the signal it is receiving. I'm betting its the sub - because its super weird. I think the signal it receives goes all the way up to about 250Hz (by ear) which is way to high, so I think an inline crossover at 80Hz may help as well. I'd also like to try and l-Pad to have some controls to balance the systems. I've upgraded all the other speakers to more efficient models to help cover the sub. It helped but didnt work. I've disconnected the sub in the mean time and bought a Shallow mounted infinity 10" sub it has a 3 1/8" mounting depth. There is about 3 or 4" between the sub face and the seat. I'm going to add two layers of MDF and mount the new sub in the existing box. Check the sound and determine next steps. I hope I can use a passive crossover components to tweak the sound until it gets right.

Front Dash (3) Infinity REF 3.5" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B8T66KB/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Front Doors Kicker KS 6x9 and 2.75" tweets (perfect fit that crutchfield is unaware of) https://www.amazon.com/KICKER-KSS690-160x230mm-Component-Compliant/dp/B08NFJMD4T?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Back Doors Infinity Kappa 93ix (incredible upgrade deep bass for 6x9s - these are 2.5Ohm so I'm putting the factory amp at risk - all removed speakers were between 4.4 and 4.8 ohms measured by multimeter) https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-KAPPA-93iX-Three-way-Element-Speaker/dp/B075ZGTLV9

Rear Headliner Kicker 2.75" (Crutchfield is also unaware of this option) https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-47KSC...dp/B084HLGN94/ref=psdc_10980771_t1_B06ZYCGPJG

Sub - Not yet installed - https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-REF.../B0167KQX9S/ref=psdc_1294866011_t3_B00VT9ZZD8

 

[Tench]

I did it. Install a low pass filter at 80Hz and a 100w 8Ohm L-pad. It works great.

The 10" wouldn't fit so I installed the Infinity Flex8D. Its a huge upgrade.

System is complete and only minor ANR issues when slowing down at very low speeds, mostly not noticeable.

Also the Kicker 2.75 would not fit in the front doors so I when with infinity components in the front doors and returned the Kicker sets.

 

[RHeller1]

I did it. Install a low pass filter at 80Hz and a 100w 8Ohm L-pad. It works great.

The 10" wouldn't fit so I installed the Infinity Flex8D. Its a huge upgrade.

System is complete and only minor ANR issues when slowing down at very low speeds, mostly not noticeable.

Also the Kicker 2.75 would not fit in the front doors so I when with infinity components in the front doors and returned the Kicker sets.

Your using the factory amp still? You replaced the 6 ohm stock sub with a 2 ohm infinity sub? What was the issue with the 10" not fitting, was it the adjustable ring to big?

 

[Rdiersing]

Depends on if the sound from the sub is wonky because of the sub itself or the signal it is receiving. I'm betting its the sub - because its super weird. I think the signal it receives goes all the way up to about 250Hz (by ear) which is way to high, so I think an inline crossover at 80Hz may help as well. I'd also like to try and l-Pad to have some controls to balance the systems. I've upgraded all the other speakers to more efficient models to help cover the sub. It helped but didnt work. I've disconnected the sub in the mean time and bought a Shallow mounted infinity 10" sub it has a 3 1/8" mounting depth. There is about 3 or 4" between the sub face and the seat. I'm going to add two layers of MDF and mount the new sub in the existing box. Check the sound and determine next steps. I hope I can use a passive crossover components to tweak the sound until it gets right.

Front Dash (3) Infinity REF 3.5" https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B8T66KB/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Front Doors Kicker KS 6x9 and 2.75" tweets (perfect fit that crutchfield is unaware of) Amazon.com: KICKER KSS690 6x9 (160x230mm) and 2.75? 2-Way Component System, 4ohm, RoHS Compliant : Electronics

Back Doors Infinity Kappa 93ix (incredible upgrade deep bass for 6x9s - these are 2.5Ohm so I'm putting the factory amp at risk - all removed speakers were between 4.4 and 4.8 ohms measured by multimeter) https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-KAPPA-93iX-Three-way-Element-Speaker/dp/B075ZGTLV9

Rear Headliner Kicker 2.75" (Crutchfield is also unaware of this option) https://www.amazon.com/Kicker-47KSC...dp/B084HLGN94/ref=psdc_10980771_t1_B06ZYCGPJG

Sub - Not yet installed - https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-REF.../B0167KQX9S/ref=psdc_1294866011_t3_B00VT9ZZD8

How many watts does the HK factory system put to each speaker? If we’re gonna upgrade all these speakers, how do we know how many watts it puts out?

 

[Woolnerc]

Howdy guys, installed two kappa 10inch 450 rms subs under rear seat with a infinity kappa 1000 mono sub, signal is off a pac apsub-ch41.. all works, but now looking at speakers. I have the hk system.. do anyone know what ohm the speaks are? Will be run of the stock hk amp, and the anc is bypassed too. Ive read 3 and 4 ohms, not sure what's right

Also what size is the rear headliner speakers. Are they 3.5 like the dash ones

 

[INVISBLE]

There is one huge thing everyone misses in the subwoofer issue... the box it's in sucks and plays a huge role in response and sound quality of which cant really be resolved without a replacement of some sort. A 1/8" thick molded plastic box is going to sound like **** no matter power provided, quality of signal or the sensitivity of the speaker. It is what it is.

 

[LimitedBend]

I did it. Install a low pass filter at 80Hz and a 100w 8Ohm L-pad. It works great.

The 10" wouldn't fit so I installed the Infinity Flex8D. Its a huge upgrade.

System is complete and only minor ANR issues when slowing down at very low speeds, mostly not noticeable.

Also the Kicker 2.75 would not fit in the front doors so I when with infinity components in the front doors and returned the Kicker sets.

Do you have pictures and details of your sub install? I'd be really interested to know more!

 

[DennisY]

There is a much earlier thread on this subwoofer subject with those of us that broached the sub subject early on. You guys might be interested in reading through it. My own installation took the audio system to a whole new level, as did other's. Sub woofer