# Harman Kardon acoustic enhancement (speaker button): On or Off?



## TranceLvr (Feb 28, 2002)

Raptox said:


> *I have the impression that the HK in the E46 2002 sounds much beter than in the original E46. *


This is what I have read at edmunds. They said they 323/328 HK was crap, but the 325/330 HK is MUCH better. I would have to agree, although it's not great, it sure is good for stock. :thumbup:


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## Spiderm0n (Dec 19, 2001)

I leave it on 100%, but I don't listen to much talk radio. CD's sound great with it on...


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## Josh (PA) (Jan 21, 2002)

Convertibles don't have a choice do they? Mine doesn't. According to the F-ing Manual (that I did RT), it knows when the top is up or down and changes the EQ accordingly :dunno:


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## rcc (Jul 21, 2002)

The Edmunds data on the sound of the early e46 vs. late model e46 has to be taken with a *huge* grain of salt. The problem is that the first e46 328i that Edmunds ordered for their long-term testing had the navigation system. That also meant it had the cassette instead of the CD. Reports indicate that the HK with CD sounds a *lot* better than the HK with cassette. And if you read the long-term reports on that 328i, their #1 complaint was it had no CD player  .

However, I had a 2000 328i with HK and now have a 2003 300i with HK. Personally, I think the HK engineers tweaked the system a bit. Some people may like it better; I don't. I think the newer systems have the treble boosted and may have less well-defined bass. I used to run with the treble boosted a notch and now I suspect I'm going to wind up running it turned down a notch. At least, once I tried turning it down, I could listen to it and relax instead of wincing. The problem is that the higher end frequencies on the BMW soundsystem are present but very harsh. I can hear it and if it's too loud, I can't ignore it anymore and it drives me crazy. In the old car, I was fine unless I cranked the volume. In the new car, even a slightly lower than normal volume was too much until I tried turning down the treble using the tone controls.

Now that I think I might have the treble under control, I'm going to pay more attention to the bass. It might be the same (or close enough) -- the treble was distracting enough that it was hard to pick out what was going on there.

On the other hand, I have what most folks (although probably not true audiophiles  ) would consider golden ears so what I've heard in my 330i probably won't bother most people.

- Ray


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

Hmm.... I guess I'll add my 2 cents.... 

I was listening to one at my dealership as I wanted to see if it was any good....

Overall, from what I understand, the drivers of a bit better construction (metal speaker baskets) than the regular system, etc.

For a STOCK system, I thought it was decent. Not great, but decent...

As for the HK button, I was a bit confused to what was happening to the sound as I changed the settings.  But I personally felt the system sounded better with the button off. Having it on seemed to make it sound "artificially" enhanced... (kind of like how TVs in a showroom are always super bright and the color is always cranked to be richer than its supposed to be so they can sell more sets)

I'll have to experiment with it some more once I get my E46 before making final judgement. I want to listen to it with some music I'm more familiar with too before I decide for certain which I like better, but at this point, I vote "OFF".


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## M3Inline6 (Oct 7, 2002)

The above post stating that the button activates the 2 subwoofers is correct. In my E46, the 2 subs are off unless the button is pressed. I can tell the difference immediately. If you open the trunk, and have someone turn the sub button off & on, you can definitely tell it activates the woofers.


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## plugot (Mar 14, 2002)

*regarding the woofers*

I've occasionally noticed what seems to be a vibration coming from the rear sub-woofers when there's heavy bass. I don't have the bass boosted on the controls, it's set dead center; and I don't jack the volume very high. It occurs mostly on FM radio, not on CDs. Switching between "enhanced" and regular seems to have no effect. Is this characteristic of the HK in other coupes? I understand that there is a difference in the speaker set up between 330CI coupes and 330I sedans. Anyone else experience this?


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## rwnilsen3 (May 22, 2002)

Plugot, odds are you are experiencing the "rear deck rattle" that apparently plagues many 3-series. When I picked up my car my rear deck rattled like crazy when I'd play hip-hop music with boomy bass. If you have music that makes it repeatably rattle, hop in the back seat and try applying a little pressure on the rear deck in different places. I could put my finger on the deck right around the center child seat anchor and make it stop rattling instantly. You can then search this forum or bimmer.org to see how people fixed their rear deck rattle... people do all kinds of wierd stuff from stuffing socks underneath the deck to (a nicer approach) taping velcro in spots to cushion the rattle. Good luck!


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## Bavarian (Jun 15, 2002)

Basically, when you have it on, it increases the volume of the two tweeters in front and transfers some of the bass from the subs to the front door speakers.

If you are listening to loud and strong bass, you will find that the front door speakers cannot produce the bass as well as the subs (frequency response spectrum is worse than that of the subs). So, turn the thing off then.

In any other case, keep it on. House or techno music sounds great with the thing on.


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