Sweet Baby Jesus the HK sound system blows goats!

[Ronin]

Go to old site, see my center stack / terrorist/ subwoofer posts... one of the weaknesses of the car. And disappointing to me bc it's so easy to get right. It's not like car audio was introduced 8 years ago...

Link please? I couldn't find it...

 

[Magnified]

I don't remember where it is. Basically I had the nav die (never used it anyway) resulting in stack replacement. Then, if car started w stereo input set to USB the subwoofers got no power (or signal?). Switch to any other input and back to USB was fine, until system was turned off. Also found all the "enhancement" bullshit like surround sound, etc... to be completely worthless or actually detrimental. There was something else but can't recall off top of my head.

 

[Ronin]

Thanks @Magnified I appreciate the follow up...

 

[Magnified]

No problem. And just checked that again and may have been unclear. After start, no power to subs. Click radio or any other input, subs are powered, switch back to USB and the stay powered until you kill the car entirely and allow the accessories timer to time out. Weird, not catastrophic and certainly not worth me risking the car at a dealer to "investigate" and "fix"

On the nav, started to drift and one day map said I was in middle of Lake michigan.. did not use it ever so do not know when it actually crapped out. I suspected antenna issue but dodge said swap out center stack is only option. Had to wait 9 months for availability bc dodge does not keep replacements in stock. Have to have a used one come in, be fixed, and then they'll send a replacement out. Really stupid. NW Dodge in Houston did a good job overall. (As though I'd let the local dealer even glance at the car as I drive by - those guys damaged the car in less than 5 seconds after I handed them the keys (the GM did not like me bc I insisted I have car repaired at my body shop and then they pay the shop).

 

[ChargerChallenger]

Great thread and funny funny as always the characters are prevalent and inspiring 😁. I wear hearing aids and the rumble from the exhaust into my car seat is exhilarating and the Super Charger sound is music to my ears🤪

 

[Chunky White]

The Harman Kardon system in domestic vehicles is no where as nice as what comes in European cars. The best factory system I have had so far was a Bang and Olufsen in a Audi S4. I had Bang and Olufsen in a F150 Platinum and in a Explorer ST and it sucked in both. I drove my nieces MB E350 with Harman Kardon the other day and that system beats the crap out of whats in my Challenger.

 

[Stormtrooper1320]

The Harman Kardon system in domestic vehicles is no where as nice as what comes in European cars. The best factory system I have had so far was a Bang and Olufsen in a Audi S4. I had Bang and Olufsen in a F150 Platinum and in a Explorer ST and it sucked in both. I drove my nieces MB E350 with Harman Kardon the other day and that system beats the crap out of whats in my Challenger.

Yeah, the HK system that was in my MB E320 was good. Even the surround sound feature worked well.

I have the B&O system in my F150 now and it is better than the stock system was in my previous F150. It's not the best system in the world but it beats the old one without a doubt.

 

[Av8ing1]

I hate the HK in my 19 Charger. Sounds like complete garbage. It is better than my 1972 truck with AM only radio and one speaker, but not by all that much. Thank the gods of ICE that the engine soundtrack is so worth listening to. My hell would be an EV with this audio system in it.

 

[Magnified]

The Harman Kardon system in domestic vehicles is no where as nice as what comes in European cars. The best factory system I have had so far was a Bang and Olufsen in a Audi S4. I had Bang and Olufsen in a F150 Platinum and in a Explorer ST and it sucked in both. I drove my nieces MB E350 with Harman Kardon the other day and that system beats the crap out of whats in my Challenger.

B&O can be very good when done right.

Best factory stereo I've ever had was a MB S500 where the stereo and CD player were linked to one another and the amps by fibre optic cable. The only copper wiring in the car was from the various amps to the actual speakers. Great system. I am an old school audiophile - I don't care about "surround mode" and all that alteration bullshit, I am interested in the sound as originally recorded, as in high-fidelity, so my home systems were always monsters. (I will do a little adjusting with an equalizer on occassion but only in egregious cases.) And this car system was picking out and defining instruments and sections I had never heard / noticed before. It was truly stunning.

 

[Magnified]

The Harman Kardon system in domestic vehicles is no where as nice as what comes in European cars. The best factory system I have had so far was a Bang and Olufsen in a Audi S4. I had Bang and Olufsen in a F150 Platinum and in a Explorer ST and it sucked in both. I drove my nieces MB E350 with Harman Kardon the other day and that system beats the crap out of whats in my Challenger.

Because Dodge pays for the HK name plate, not the engineering or even the design (for the most part).

 

[why2kmax]

About how mine it. Didn't like that surround sound or what ever it is and turned that off. Also have treble down

the HK in My15 Challenger HC was a huge disappointment.I had to turn off the surround sound as well because it sounded "better" that way. Mine had the software updates and it was still underwhelming for what it was supposed to be.

The HK in my 2019 1320 was totally different. Sounded really good, had power and kick, and was MUCH cleaner. I actually enjoyed it.

The HK in my 2018 HC challenger seems to be in between. Far better than the 15, but not as good (but close) to the 1320. NO idea why.

 

[thetalonguy]

Was just thinking…does Dodge tune the HK settings differently based on the car it’s going into? Such as the interior dimensions between Challenger, Charger, RAM, etc are obviously different. Further the way sound bounces off leather vs cloth vs alcantara can reverberate differently.

I had a factory Bose system in my Mazdaspeed6, and the factory tuned them differently if you had leather vs cloth. That was the best OEM sounding system I ever had. It sounded great no matter what source or what genre I was listening to.

 

[Ronin]

@thetalonguy my bet is that they do do that (I said "do do"!), especially considering the (subjective) observations that the essentially same system (1 speaker more in the Charger I believe) sounds better in the Charger than the Challenger, which obviously have different cabin interior dimensions too in addition to materials used via option packages.

I drove my younger daughter's '21 Jeep Willys (Unlimited) the other day getting it serviced and noticed that her system was pretty weak. It's a base (6-speaker) system with a 7-inch screen and I'm gonna replace the roll bar and dash speakers first since I can't get around having to buy adapters for the door speakers. She had the EQ settings maxed out and at highway speed the stock MT tires were drowning out the stereo. It was awful, and she was used to her '12 Wrangler Sport that had the Infinity system with a sub that absolutely pounded.

The weather getting nice here I noticed yesterday on a short local drive (FINALLY broke 300 miles, let the games begin!) that with one window down and the sunroof open it was that much worse, but I was immediately consoled by the supercharger and exhaust sound system...!

 

[Demoniccat]

Funny...I've been riding a long time.(45 + years) my SE/Road Glide...never turned the radio on..

SE Road King here, wish I had tunes, must admit probably wouldn’t use it much but once in a while might be right.

 

[Magnified]

@thetalonguy my bet is that they do do that (I said "do do"!), especially considering the (subjective) observations that the essentially same system (1 speaker more in the Charger I believe) sounds better in the Charger than the Challenger, which obviously have different cabin interior dimensions too in addition to materials used via option packages.

I drove my younger daughter's '21 Jeep Willys (Unlimited) the other day getting it serviced and noticed that her system was pretty weak. It's a base (6-speaker) system with a 7-inch screen and I'm gonna replace the roll bar and dash speakers first since I can't get around having to buy adapters for the door speakers. She had the EQ settings maxed out and at highway speed the stock MT tires were drowning out the stereo. It was awful, and she was used to her '12 Wrangler Sport that had the Infinity system with a sub that absolutely pounded.

The weather getting nice here I noticed yesterday on a short local drive (FINALLY broke 300 miles, let the games begin!) that with one window down and the sunroof open it was that much worse, but I was immediately consoled by the supercharger and exhaust sound system...!

Stopped reading at "do do" excellent!

 

[jroyk]

I get acceptable, but not great, tonal balance in my ‘16 with these settings.

 

[1971demon]

Stopped reading at "do do" excellent!

No you didn't

 

[Magnified]

Actually I did

 

[stonewall]

(* Disclaimer, NO blasphemy intended in my thread title.)

I realize this is a slow(-er) subforum and haven't seen much about this system. It is mind boggling that Dodge charges nearly $2K (*edit, price corrected) for the "privilege" of having your vehicle equipped with this dumpster fire of an audio system. While I did not spec it out when I originally ordered my '22 from my local dealer (which I've since canceled, thank you very much!), it came equipped on the one I bought from Koons so I didn't have a choice in the matter (other than not buy it!).

Don't get me wrong, my days or rattling doors/windows/trunks/etc. have long since passed and that's hardly my desire as I much rather hear the supercharger/exhaust. However I'm just about deaf and tend to listen to music, podcasts, etc. at a higher volume level and I have to crank it nearly to it's max setting to hear it. This is direct contrast to my Gladiator Mojave that came with the Alpine system that pounds at much MUCH lower volume levels.

Aftermarket is ALWAYS better than stock/OEM, even with these upgraded systems (I had a Kicker upgrade of some type or another I think in my 300 SRT back in the day and recall that being plenty loud...?) but I'm nonplussed at how incredibly underwhelming this system is. I'd typically replace the speakers and call it even and hope I can avoid the expense of replacing the amp or adding a signal processor or similar interface, I'm just agitated that I even have to consider doing this after having paid for Dodge's "premium" sound system...

/rant

Quality in better out. The source of the music. makes loads of difference. I hate that it will not play quality CDs. everything has to be streamed and that is most of the problem. Try loading some qaulity on a flash drive and see what you get. Mine is much better than what comes over air.

 

[Magnified]

I used thumb drives almost exclusively