HK not sound too good

[victorgte]

My 1.8T has a Kenwood DD unit and sounds good.
My 2.5 V6 has a high line HK with amp and sub all factory fitted but does not sound very good. Should be the better of the two really.
Turn it up and it seems to distort. Yes I have set the treble and bass and tried to get the best sound possible. Could my amp/sub been damaged or simply packed up? Never heard a HK system in full flight so to speak so not sure how good they sound for comparison.

[SD1too]

Originally Posted by victorgte

My 2.5 V6 has a high line HK with amp and sub all factory fitted but does not sound very good ... Turn it up and it seems to distort.

That's because the HK power amp input is fed from the output stage of the radio receiver/amplifier. This is bad practice. The pre-amp output should be used instead. I'm afraid that there's nothing you can do about it except congratulate yourself on having well tuned ears. Not many people notice.

Simon

[victorgte]

I appreciate the compliment.

Looks like I will have to just keep playing to find a happy medium?

What a pity its not all its meant to be.

[murphyv310]

TBH none of the standard fitting ICE in the 75 is up to the mark. The Harmony is the worst and the Symphony only a little better. The big issue is with the more basic set up is the speakers, they were really not up to the job, they cant really handle any power. In MFL I had a Sony head unit then one of the cheap DD units, they both had a far better range of control for tone correction and "loudness" that boosts bass at lower volumes, the speakers coped fairly well at low volumes but were no good at higher levels.
With the HK system you should have the better quality speakers and if you get a head unit with sub woofer output then a sub amp could be added, there may even be a way to use the HK sub with a different HU after modifying its input circuitry.

[victorgte]

Originally Posted by murphyv310

TBH none of the standard fitting ICE in the 75 is up to the mark. The Harmony is the worst and the Symphony only a little better. The big issue is with the more basic set up is the speakers, they were really not up to the job, they cant really handle any power. In MFL I had a Sony head unit then one of the cheap DD units, they both had a far better range of control for tone correction and "loudness" that boosts bass at lower volumes, the speakers coped fairly well at low volumes but were no good at higher levels.
With the HK system you should have the better quality speakers and if you get a head unit with sub woofer output then a sub amp could be added, there may even be a way to use the HK sub with a different HU after modifying its input circuitry.

I would agree with that. My Kenwood DD in the other car sounds better than the Symphony unit it replaced. I have also added tweeters to the rear door cards that were deleted on Project Drive. Adds a bit to the overall clarity.
I will look into putting a new DD unit in the V6 and ensure the fitter can make use of the HK amp and sub.