HK Sound System Sucks balls

[BickUW89]

Picked up my ///M4 ZCP in Munich last Wednesday. I LOVE this car. Love just about everything about it, but gotta say My biggest disappointment so far is the sound system. It sucks. The sound is terrible, which on an $80,000 car to me is flat out unacceptable. Yeah yeah, I know, it's a sports car and an ///M and all that, but we're not talking about something that adds weight nor a feature that detracts from it being a sports car. It's still a luxury brand, and BMW has good speakers sitting in the parts bin. I feel a little short changed.

[///M///]

Originally Posted by BickUW89

Picked up my ///M4 ZCP in Munich last Wednesday. I LOVE this car. Love just about everything about it, but gotta say My biggest disappointment so far is the sound system. It sucks. The sound is terrible, which on an $80,000 car to me is flat out unacceptable. Yeah yeah, I know, it's a sports car and an ///M and all that, but we're not talking about something that adds weight nor a feature that detracts from it being a sports car. It's still a luxury brand, and BMW has good speakers sitting in the parts bin. I feel a little short changed.

You got to tune it a bit with the equalizer. Stock settings won't cut it.

[RickFLM4]

I think it's reasonably good relative to cost. It's not a $5,000 sound system.

[rr006rbc]

I think it's pretty good after playing w/ the equalizer..it's no bang & olufsen but you didn't have to pay anyway to have Harman added to your car so who cares; it's standard.

[boss2k]

Originally Posted by ///M///

You got to tune it a bit with the equalizer. Stock settings won't cut it.

Can you post some good equalizer settings

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by boss2k

Can you post some good equalizer settings

http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1006751

[ASAP]

A sound system adds a lot of weight if you want quality components.

[mrmoua2u]

HK is not that bad, esp when it is standard. There are worst standard systems out there. Be glad and make adjustments to your EQ, you will enjoy it better. If you think buying ZCP and expect a high end sound system, you are far off.

A good quality sound system will cost as much as your mods or more.

[AIRPOWER]

Add Bavsound's Ghost subwoofers, optimize your equalizer and it will sound a lot better!

[Blksnowflake]

Guess I have shitty ears, played with the settings and it sounds damn good to me, really good. Now I'm sure if I payed $5-8k for BO or Burmie then ok...but that's $5 freaking Ks and this one sounds a good deal above average to me. It's free now too, even though they raised the price of the car a little, but still.

[FC4]

Originally Posted by BickUW89

Picked up my ///M4 ZCP in Munich last Wednesday. I LOVE this car. Love just about everything about it, but gotta say My biggest disappointment so far is the sound system. It sucks. The sound is terrible, which on an $80,000 car to me is flat out unacceptable. Yeah yeah, I know, it's a sports car and an ///M and all that, but we're not talking about something that adds weight nor a feature that detracts from it being a sports car. It's still a luxury brand, and BMW has good speakers sitting in the parts bin. I feel a little short changed.

If it makes you feel any better, the same system is offered in a $33K 320i. Would it be more acceptable if the car was cheaper?

[RocketBoots]

To a lot of people on here, the sound is 'good enough'.

To me, it was pretty terrible. The good news is large improvements can be made. The bad news is they can be $$. I just posted my upgrade in the audio section if you want to check it out. Added no weight to the car, was a significant step up from even B&O or Burm, but did cost about as much if they were offered on our cars.

Also, get rid of active sound.

[Mandi90TT]

Also, a relatively easy upgrade is to go the BavSound Stage 1 route, and add the BavSound Ghost subwoofer. Not too expensive, and easily done by anyone who can turn a screwdriver.

I did go a step further and got a separate trunk sub, and with the BavSound Stage 1, and the trunk sub, I think my audio system is quite nice. You can spend more money, and go even better, as RocketBoots alluded to, butthat is all up to you.

[///F80M3]

Originally Posted by AIRPOWER

Add Bavsound's Ghost subwoofers, optimize your equalizer and it will sound a lot better!

Will just the ghost subs make a difference?

[BMWjunkie]

Originally Posted by ///F80M3

Will just the ghost subs make a difference?

I will say that the bass will be better at medium and louder volumes, and even at lower volumes depending on the music type and source. I added both the Bavsound stage 1 and the Ghost subs and it made a big difference to my (admittedly) past-their-prime ears. It's much less harsh and sounds better when I turn it up a bit. I still think it needs a sub in the trunk for some harder hitting bass. I mainly listen to rock and metal with some pop and alternative, so not even extremely bass heavy.

Best part is I can pretty easily move it to my F80 when I finally get it! Plug and play is amazing.

[RocketBoots]

Originally Posted by ///F80M3

Will just the ghost subs make a difference?

IMO adding just the ghost subs will make little difference. I base this on the ears of others much more experienced and golden than mine. The best improvement to be had from only changing out one thing would be the amp. But that's not so easy with the HK system

If you're gonna change out speakers, you will get much better results by switching the mids and tweets. when BMWjunkie referred to harshness improving, that's from the mids/highs.

[hdubf80]

Originally Posted by ///M///

You got to tune it a bit with the equalizer. Stock settings won't cut it.

+1

[Ghosn]

I must be one of the few who really like the HK system and that's before I even tweaked the EQ settings. I just did some fine tuning to treble and bass and it's more than enough for me and I love my music.

[AIRPOWER]

Originally Posted by RocketBoots

IMO adding just the ghost subs will make little difference.

I disagree with this, adding just the ghost subs made a vast improvement in not just base but overall volume and sound quality vice what came out of the OEMs woofers.

Let's put it this way, I can actually feel the base through the seats now where as before....................not so much

[Xerxes480]

Another +1 for the BavSound Stage One and Ghost Sub kits. Relatively inexpensive, and it sounds fantastic.

I felt the HK was just ok - certainly not terrible, but after some EQ tweaks it was much better.

-X-

[Ian1973]

I agree it doesn't knock my socks off, but in a loud ass, road noisey car, I don't think about it much.

What do you think Lambo, Ferrari, Lotus and other car owners feel when they drop 250,000 and get a blaupunkt with four 6 1/2's. lol

[MovingChicane]

Originally Posted by Ian1973

What do you think Lambo, Ferrari, Lotus and other car owners feel when they drop 250,000 and get a blaupunkt with four 6 1/2's. lol

THIS!

I'm not overly impressed with my HK M4 system, but it is SO MUCH FRIGGIN better than the factory crap in my Scuderia (I even have the "enhanced" sound package in the Ferrari - yeah, right - I think the radio has been on two times ever - it's soooo bad).