The sub bass needs to be independently controlled which it isn’t, certainly most of the time it’s overbassed on most sources of music. If you notice rattles from the rear it will be the rear doors as they use what should be full range speakers and are not and use the rear door speakers as sub woofers, there is likely no sound deadening layers in the doors which would reduce the problem
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So I called FCA about Harman Kardon system.
- Thread starter Agustinacosta
- Start date
The issue is a poor designed system, the door speakers should produce full range with maybe some top end but Ram and Harman seem to think they have reinvented the wheel. The only level of full range comes from the dash which in my view is very “tinny” and poor quality the only thing the door speakers and tweeters do is make the door look pretty, they are pretty useless as producing any sound.
Totally agree the whole system is very poorly designed and cheap, a 5 year old could have done better. Despite calls to Harman, never ever get a reply, I get the impression they say “ oh not another complaint about the ram” and just hide
Multiple calls to Harman have resulted in no reply whatsoever , my calls for Ram to take responsibility for this poor system are met by some owners who think it’s great. I’ve never heard such a poor sound system in what is supposed to be top of the line premium system, sorry Ram/Harman it’s junk
My 2020 Longhorn sounds pretty good. Way better than the Bose in my Cadillac. It's not my Kilpsch reference 7.2.2 atmos system and a HSU VTF-3 MK5 HP, but it sounds good and the bass is adequate to blur the mirrors. It passes my music taste tests and I'm also amazed that for a diesel it is nearly as quiet as my PHEV was on the road. I rarely have the volume over 6.
I wonder if here's some bad qa in matching phases or bad crossovers or something?
I wonder if here's some bad qa in matching phases or bad crossovers or something?
mhb1638
Well-Known Member
Maybe. But since I've owned 3 DT trucks all with the HK system, I can tell you one thing has remained constant and its the bass frequencies being poorly set. I have my bass set at -6 with the highs around +3. The bass in this system is terrible and poorly adjusted. Wrong frequencies are boosted giving over booming sound here and there in music. The system would be much better with a properly tuned adjustment. That would help tremendously.
I am beyond confused here, mine sounds incredible
Adrianp89
Ram Guru
Not to be rude, but you clearly don't understand car audio systems. A quality mid-bass driver should never play full range. You typically want your high frequency drivers to be placed in situations for an ideal sound stage. In most cars this will be as wide and as far forward as possible. It takes a lot of processing to make full range door speakers to sound like they are coming from the front of your hood. (If even possible). Furthermore, mid-bass only door speakers have been going on forever, Ram did nothing new. Check out any JBL system in a Toyota, those started in the mid 2000s.
Beyond that, there is clearly an issue with your system. This seems to be hit or miss with the HK systems. I had a customer come in with a GC a year or two ago and his HK did sound like what you describe. When it is working as designed, it is a relatively impressive system that is well rounded and one of the best to come out of a factory.
The boominess is coming from the factory amplifier tuning applied to the subwoofer. Only way to fix it is through aftermarket solutions unless an update ever get released to remove the crappy tuning. I'm running the stock sub with aftermarket power and signal and it's pretty decent for what it is.
Agreed. The GC HK system is pretty good. These trucks, not so much despite most of the hardware being similar. Mostly due to tuning, somewhat due to speaker placement.
If you like it, rock on. But it is far from a good system, which most people won't realize until they hear something better.
Adrianp89
Ram Guru
100%, it sucks Ram can't be consistent on audio software. That is pretty basic stuff.
The HK in my 2019 and 2020 DT both blew away the Alpine in my DS. Go to the dealer and let them it sounds like crap.
mhb1638
Well-Known Member
Aftermarket solutions being and hi end input signal processor and amp to run the sub independently? The sub can be so much better with a proper tune. Not sure audio control makes a line input, processor, and eq all in one to handle that job
392 - what amp are you using to power the factory sub? You using a PAC as well at the HU? Agree it hits decent when its low but just gets way to high in the range. I have it disconnected now, but upgraded full infinity Ref. If I could get a little bass out of the doors by dropping the EQ a couple ticks and back into the sub I think it’d be good.
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I am using a PAC AP4-CH41 behind the display to send a flat, high level signal to one of the latest Kicker CX800 amplifiers which is small enough to be tucked behind the back seat without needing the seat reclined. The PAC is set to ignore the EQ adjustments done on the screen. You can then tune the sub a bit using your amp adjustments. The PAC does not send active noise cancelling through its signal. I snipped the factory subwoofer wiring a few inches back from the connector, and spliced it into new wiring going to the Kicker, which lets me keep using the factory subwoofer connector.
I chose the CX800 because it was only $75 more than the CX400. Supposedly the HK subwoofer is 6 ohm/204 watts, and if that's the case, you'd likely want the CX800 anyway because the CX400 would only be good for about 125 watts at 6 ohms.
In my previous 2019 Limited, I had replaced the door 6x9s with Infinity components which dramatically increased their bass output. But this also led to a lot of rattling in the doors despite TONS of effort to fix it (foam, dynamat, felt tape), so I had to notch down bass in the EQ to about -5 to get it to an acceptable level. This also meant I had to kill the active noise cancelling, because it caused humming in the Infinity 6x9s.
In this truck, for now I have left the HK stock 6x9s in place, and set the bass EQ to around +5 (because the bass EQ adjustment only goes to the 6x9s now) to bring more life to them. Things sound pretty good like this. ANC still works, probably not as effectively since the sub isn't used anymore, but I'm happy with it. I also put Infinity 3032s in the dash. They won't fit in the front doors without cutting because they are too deep, so I've kept the stock 3.5s in the doors. You can also put 3032s in the rear headliner if you want, but I never noticed much benefit from that in my last truck since the output up front is mostly what we hear, and it also requires you figure out the placement that will fit and drill new screw holes in the plastic speaker mount housing.
mhb1638
Well-Known Member
So, I did what a few other members have done to clean up the bass some without dropping in a who new setup...stuffed the sub box with polyfill from a pillow. I tend to listen to bass heavy music anyways (Hick Hop for those that may know), and I can attest the sound is much better. As another member pointed out, it took the boominess out at certain frequencies giving a more defined bass curve not one amplified at certain frequencies. So far in the two days I've had it, I really like it. Bass went from a -6 to -3. In rock/classic/80s/ etc the bass can go higher than that, but again I listen to heavier bass centric music. Overall I'm happy with the sound, its vastly improved and only took me about an hour or so thanks to a broken string on the seat latch (and thanks to my daughters tiny *** hands to reach the latch). But yes, the sound is much improved. Its not perfect at all, please don't think that. It's more a band aid patch to fix certain overcompensating frequencies. Either way, I like the sound much more now...by far!
