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Harmon Kardon D and P Advice

4K views 31 replies 7 participants last post by  anzzyde 
#1 ·
Hi there,

I've installed the 1st gen Harmon Kardon Drive and play to my Dooper R56. It's connect to the aux jack and it all plays fine except the sound sounds kind of dead!

If i play something (anything even if it's low quality mp3s burned onto CD), it sounds very very good as it's going through the factory fitted sub woofer.

My issue is, when channeling music through the auxillary does it use the sub woofer at all? (it doesn't sound like it is!).

Because i haven't got an ipod to aux jack lead I can't do a comparison (currently it goes through lead attached to bottom of ipod into the HK hub/brain and then a lead coming out into the aux jack)... does it sound good to you guys?

I know that i get significantly better sound if i rip mp3s at minimum 256kbs... but it's still no where near the 'loudness' and 'bassyness' of playing a CD (i'm not expecting exacting standards but at least something close??).

Someone tell me i'm expecting too much?! But any insight, top tips or handy hints are most welcome :smile:
 
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#7 ·
Unless i'm doing something wrong, i found it to be worse :puzzled:

Following your advice, i unplugged the jack from the HK hub directly into my ipod... the volume of the sound is a lot lower and subsequently the bass as well..

...am i doing something wrong?? pretty straightforward stuff right or am i being a muppet? :hmph:
 
#17 ·
The aux in is just another source for the head unit. The head unit is then connected to the amp to provide a source signal that is amplified and sent to the speakers.

The aux in works fine with the Hifi package. Only thing to check is the aux input volume really. Connect the ipod to the aux in directly via the headphone and see what its like. You can get better sound using the dock connector but it should be acceptable and shouldn't that far off what you get from an MP3 CD etc.
 
#20 ·
Did a fairly thorough test today... you're absolutely right, plugging the jack into the ipod significantly improves the bass!! :aargh:

It''s a lot better and thanks for the tip Jordan! Though I must admit i was a bit hasty with my earlier attempt :redface: ...so i didn't really hear the difference!

However, I find that whenever i'm switching between sources (ie. between CD and AUX), the volume is significantly lower on the AUX. Is this the same for you guys? Also, comparing the music quality from my IPOD via AUX to CD... CD is seriously a lot better (I know i'm stating the 'obvious' but i hope you know what i mean!).

I'm not much of an audiphile which explains why i lover the HI-FI upgrade so much on my MINI (first time i've ever owned a system with an amplifier!! :))

Anyway, for what the HK is, it's pretty good (esp when i only bought it for £18 :biggrin:

Still, let me know your thoughts!


One more thing, if i'm allowed to digress; how do you know if you have heated side mirrors? Is this something that only comes with the power folding side mirrors? (bought my car second hand you see so i'm not too sure of what my car has).

many thanks! :smile:
 
#24 ·
hmm.. not sure if i have that on my one. I only have settings for fading, treble and bass for my AUX input. anyone with a R56 sat nat system can conirm this??

I noticed today, that the driver side speakers aren't pumping out the same volume of music as the passenger side speakers... not sure why this is but it makes the volume quite imbalanced.

Any ideas anyone? :redface:
 
#25 ·
Right, just spent a bit of my lunch hour fiddling around with my ipod HK :)

Good news, the sound balance 'problem' in my earlier post has been resolved!!! :biggrin:

The loom that MikeytheMini made for me was in fact fitted the wrong way round: the wire connecting to the jack thingy (3 pin thing) was fitted the wrong way to Mikey's loom... all i had to do was reverse this and voila!! In my defence it was quite an easy mistake to make seeing there's no instructions or physical indication of the connector as to which way it should be connected!

Tested the sound briefly with a very high quality rip of David Gray's 'Please forgvie me' and it seems to sound almost the same as from the CD (i have the orginal CD in the cd slot as well so i can do a quick flip and compare!). Also place my hand over the speakers on the both doors feels that both sound and bass is being equally generated (unlike before)...

So all in all, it has been a fantastic investment... soooo happy now!

A big thank you to everyone for looking and especially those who helped by posting!!! *group hug*

sp. thanks to jordan :) thanks mate! :nice:
 
#26 ·
With reference to the Aux volume, I had spotted the aux volume text on the screen but I hadn't really realised what it was. When you flick to the Aux setting you will notice in the middle of the screen the Aux volume text just press the button beneath it...et voila;)
 
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