[baturbo]

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System.

Brilliant sound, thank you for sharing.

[jg4c]

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System. You can punch in a tiny bit more upper treble sparkle if you listen at lower volumes, but you'll lose precision at higher volumes with sibilance/grain etc kicking in at the highest frequencies. In comparison my settings below are balanced to work at both high and low listening volumes, without distortion.

I too was quite disappointed with the sound initially, especially coming from Mercedes Burmester and Jaguar Meridian tweaked (EQ), but with these settings the BMW was far more balanced, dynamic, and articulate than its default set up,

https://i.ibb.co/P1kRJcg/20220603-235225-01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQ7BrSf/20220603-235130-01.jpg

I'm very into my audio at home, with a range of high end audio equipment, speakers, headphones, DACs, amps etc, including owning or having owned the Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD800S, Beyerdyamic T1.1, Audeze LCD2/3 etc, so my audio calibration/tastes may perhaps be a bit different or more particular than some, and as with most things audio, it is ultimately subjective.

I would say with my settings, the BMW M340i HK sound leans on the smoother, more bass emphasised and dynamic fun sound, like a pair of Audeze LCD's 2/3's or something. I didn't push for too much treble sparkle/articulation, as I felt the tweeters simply weren't up to the task.

I’ve played with all the HK settings for months and was convinced I had the sound perfect for my taste.

Then today I put in your settings. I bumped up the bass and treble a bit.

Absolutely amazing. It’s like another system.
Sound is incredible. Feed it a good source and
it will be great. Thanks for posting your set up.

[DenHaag3er]

Took my G21 for its first service and that resulted in an unwanted firmware update. For the life of me I cannot get the HK soundsystem anywhere near what it was. When driving, everything seems more muddy and indistinct.

Whats a good way to troubleshoot all the speakers and amps?

[Blado]

I've been looking for a better eq setting than what has been regularly posted. From a 21 330i NA with hk.

I will try this one out and report back.

Do you set the fader towards front, middle, or rear??

[jg4c]

My preference was to set the fader back one or two clicks. Balance left and right dead center.

The key to NIB’s setting is the EQ.
Transforms the system.

I liked bass and treble up a few clicks from his recommendation. Play around a bit but stick to
his EQ settings.

[elambo]

Originally Posted by Blado

I've been looking for a better eq setting than what has been regularly posted. From a 21 330i NA with hk.

I will try this one out and report back.

Do you set the fader towards front, middle, or rear??

Here's what I'd posted a while back, along with a description of some other key parameters including the fader:

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...&postcount=107

"In addition to that eq setting, I turn off Logic 7, which is important. I also move the Front/Rear balance so that it's about 70% toward the Rear. The front speakers are too thin on their own so blending in the rears helps a lot, and even with the balance moved so far backward it doesn't actually feel as though the sound is rear-heavy. It's sounds appropriately balanced, imo."

With that eq curve, Bass and Treble settings remain untouched.

[bossfan61]

With these adjustments, leave the regular Treble and Bass settings flat?

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System. You can punch in a tiny bit more upper treble sparkle if you listen at lower volumes, but you'll lose precision at higher volumes with sibilance/grain etc kicking in at the highest frequencies. In comparison my settings below are balanced to work at both high and low listening volumes, without distortion.

I too was quite disappointed with the sound initially, especially coming from Mercedes Burmester and Jaguar Meridian tweaked (EQ), but with these settings the BMW was far more balanced, dynamic, and articulate than its default set up, with improved imaging, tonality, soundstage and clarity, whilst still retaining that impactful punchy bass presence and dynamism. They're just far too muddy and congested at default, with way too much mid-upper bass and mids/lower mids, which give an unnecessary thickness and lack of definition. These settings help dramatically clear things up, though your results may vary depending on the year of the model, software etc.

https://i.ibb.co/P1kRJcg/20220603-235225-01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQ7BrSf/20220603-235130-01.jpg

I'm very into my audio at home, with a range of high end audio equipment, speakers, headphones, DACs, amps etc, including owning or having owned the Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD800S, Beyerdyamic T1.1, Audeze LCD2/3 etc, so my audio calibration/tastes may perhaps be a bit different or more particular than some, and as with most things audio, it is ultimately subjective.

I would say with my settings, the BMW M340i HK sound leans on the smoother, more bass emphasised and dynamic fun sound, like a pair of Audeze LCD's 2/3's or something. I didn't push for too much treble sparkle/articulation, as I felt the tweeters simply weren't up to the task.

[erawamai]

Originally Posted by jg4c

I’ve played with all the HK settings for months and was convinced I had the sound perfect for my taste.

Then today I put in your settings. I bumped up the bass and treble a bit.

Absolutely amazing. It’s like another system.
Sound is incredible. Feed it a good source and
it will be great. Thanks for posting your set up.

This is a good start.

IMO, the system is overly 'bright' and I've had some success lowering the higher frequencies and increasing the lower frequencies.

[radoslavp]

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System. You can punch in a tiny bit more upper treble sparkle if you listen at lower volumes, but you'll lose precision at higher volumes with sibilance/grain etc kicking in at the highest frequencies. In comparison my settings below are balanced to work at both high and low listening volumes, without distortion.

I too was quite disappointed with the sound initially, especially coming from Mercedes Burmester and Jaguar Meridian tweaked (EQ), but with these settings the BMW was far more balanced, dynamic, and articulate than its default set up, with improved imaging, tonality, soundstage and clarity, whilst still retaining that impactful punchy bass presence and dynamism. They're just far too muddy and congested at default, with way too much mid-upper bass and mids/lower mids, which give an unnecessary thickness and lack of definition. These settings help dramatically clear things up, though your results may vary depending on the year of the model, software etc.

https://i.ibb.co/P1kRJcg/20220603-235225-01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQ7BrSf/20220603-235130-01.jpg

I'm very into my audio at home, with a range of high end audio equipment, speakers, headphones, DACs, amps etc, including owning or having owned the Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD800S, Beyerdyamic T1.1, Audeze LCD2/3 etc, so my audio calibration/tastes may perhaps be a bit different or more particular than some, and as with most things audio, it is ultimately subjective.

I would say with my settings, the BMW M340i HK sound leans on the smoother, more bass emphasised and dynamic fun sound, like a pair of Audeze LCD's 2/3's or something. I didn't push for too much treble sparkle/articulation, as I felt the tweeters simply weren't up to the task.

That should be set as sticky post!
Settings are absolutely amazing.
Ever since I bought my G21 with HK I was so disappointed with the system to the extend that I stopped listening loud music in the car because everything sounded so mudded and awful.
I come from an F30 LCI with just hifi level and the G21 HK always sounded far inferior to it.
With above settings I found myself enjoying some loud music for the first time in the G21.

One request if I'm not asking for too much - can you put each setting with how many clicks ?
like 1kHz -2, 100Hz +2 etc.
This way we have exact configuration.

You are golden!

[Kheer]

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System. You can punch in a tiny bit more upper treble sparkle if you listen at lower volumes, but you'll lose precision at higher volumes with sibilance/grain etc kicking in at the highest frequencies. In comparison my settings below are balanced to work at both high and low listening volumes, without distortion.

I too was quite disappointed with the sound initially, especially coming from Mercedes Burmester and Jaguar Meridian tweaked (EQ), but with these settings the BMW was far more balanced, dynamic, and articulate than its default set up, with improved imaging, tonality, soundstage and clarity, whilst still retaining that impactful punchy bass presence and dynamism. They're just far too muddy and congested at default, with way too much mid-upper bass and mids/lower mids, which give an unnecessary thickness and lack of definition. These settings help dramatically clear things up, though your results may vary depending on the year of the model, software etc.

https://i.ibb.co/P1kRJcg/20220603-235225-01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQ7BrSf/20220603-235130-01.jpg

I'm very into my audio at home, with a range of high end audio equipment, speakers, headphones, DACs, amps etc, including owning or having owned the Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD800S, Beyerdyamic T1.1, Audeze LCD2/3 etc, so my audio calibration/tastes may perhaps be a bit different or more particular than some, and as with most things audio, it is ultimately subjective.

I would say with my settings, the BMW M340i HK sound leans on the smoother, more bass emphasised and dynamic fun sound, like a pair of Audeze LCD's 2/3's or something. I didn't push for too much treble sparkle/articulation, as I felt the tweeters simply weren't up to the task.

I’m curious, do these settings sounds better than the Bang & Olufsen option, as well as the Bower & Wilkins option available on 3/4 series? If I can code either of those two but these HK settings sound better, then I’d much prefer going with these. Curious if anyone has been able to tell the difference between the two.

[Ratledge]

Originally Posted by NIB_

These are my settings for my 69 (19/20) M340i with Harmon Kardon Sound System. You can punch in a tiny bit more upper treble sparkle if you listen at lower volumes, but you'll lose precision at higher volumes with sibilance/grain etc kicking in at the highest frequencies. In comparison my settings below are balanced to work at both high and low listening volumes, without distortion.

I too was quite disappointed with the sound initially, especially coming from Mercedes Burmester and Jaguar Meridian tweaked (EQ), but with these settings the BMW was far more balanced, dynamic, and articulate than its default set up, with improved imaging, tonality, soundstage and clarity, whilst still retaining that impactful punchy bass presence and dynamism. They're just far too muddy and congested at default, with way too much mid-upper bass and mids/lower mids, which give an unnecessary thickness and lack of definition. These settings help dramatically clear things up, though your results may vary depending on the year of the model, software etc.

https://i.ibb.co/P1kRJcg/20220603-235225-01.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/yQ7BrSf/20220603-235130-01.jpg

I'm very into my audio at home, with a range of high end audio equipment, speakers, headphones, DACs, amps etc, including owning or having owned the Sony MDR-Z1R, Sennheiser HD800S, Beyerdyamic T1.1, Audeze LCD2/3 etc, so my audio calibration/tastes may perhaps be a bit different or more particular than some, and as with most things audio, it is ultimately subjective.

I would say with my settings, the BMW M340i HK sound leans on the smoother, more bass emphasised and dynamic fun sound, like a pair of Audeze LCD's 2/3's or something. I didn't push for too much treble sparkle/articulation, as I felt the tweeters simply weren't up to the task.

VERY well put and grrat explanation.

As always, this is very subjective! My wife and I have super similar tastes in music, going back near 50 years. She never will appreciate the SVS 16" bass unit (SB16 Ultra), but it is 120# of beast!

[Soul_Glo]

Burmester is HK. The only thing Burmester gave to Mercedes was permission to use the logo on grilles and in Command. Remove the amplifier and it’s emblazoned with HK. As are the speakers if you remove them from the door. The equalizer has 3 basic options: bass, mid-bass, and treble. As the subwoofers are located in the footwells, the area under the dash acts as a bass bin which is nice.

I coded my HK to B&O on my F30/F32 and it sounded pretty good. Studio mode was nice. Almost listening as if the artist had intended. However, it hasn’t had the expected impact on my G20. I ended up coding back to HK.

The amplifier in the G20 HK (Top Hi-Fi) is the weak point. It’s now more underrated than the F30. Which is why many look towards a MATCH-UP and other alternatives. Or some take to replacing speakers with the Alpha One kit which is a start. I amplified my under seat woofers first which made a noticeable and acceptable difference on the G20. I wanted a little bit more so then went to a SWS set-up. Courtesy of the Technic PnP harness.

It depends what your system goals are and what music you listen to.

[SLGrassoPA]

Suggestion, my opinion:

It is easier to just swap out the HK at a car audio shop and get something far superior - for maybe 3K - it will completely change your ride..

A good stereo usually sounds good when you turn it on, no matter what the settings. Settings are for fine tuning, not for making what is an otherwise bad stereo sound good. Example, get into an Audi with BO and you''ll immediately be blown away by the sound. Same with MB Baumester and so many others.

I love BMW cars, I just don't know what they don't offer the higher end stereos found in the 5 and the 7 in a car like the 340. The HK works,, but BMW could have offered something better in a 50K car, really. Lexus did it with the Levinson sound system.

The reviews have consistently trashed the HK in the 3 series. Come on BMW, wake up and give us a stereo that sounds better without googling for countless setting changes that maybe can help, but really never change things much.

https://thedailymotor.com/sound-syst...harman-kardon/

Here is a forum topic that has some suggestions:

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1930260

[SLGrassoPA]

If you go to the Alpha One website (Bimmertech) you can just type in your VIN and it will give you the parts needed to have a great sounding stereo.

https://www.bimmer-tech.net/speakers...lifier-for-bmw

[MichaelNRW]

Originally Posted by Mark3380

I was interested in trying a different setting so I went back and found it:

https://g20.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...&postcount=107

Can someone tell us the plus and minus clicks per setting?
It´s hard to get this setting by comparing to a picture.

[elambo]

Originally Posted by MichaelNRW

Can someone tell us the plus and minus clicks per setting?
It´s hard to get this setting by comparing to a picture.

I'll try to get those for you this week.

[minek23]

I would also like to ask for these setting values ​​in numbers. Regards

[elambo]

Originally Posted by minek23

I would also like to ask for these setting values ​​in numbers. Regards

Will do -- I just haven't yet been in that car this week.

[///Medge]

This was helpful thanks. I took bass down a notch but that’s just me.

[minek23]

Originally Posted by elambo

Will do -- I just haven't yet been in that car this week.

Hello. Is there anything new about? Regards😊

[elambo]

Originally Posted by minek23

Hello. Is there anything new about? Regards😊

Sorry, I've not been in the same location as the car.

[minek23]

Originally Posted by elambo

Sorry, I've not been in the same location as the car.

Any chance of these settings?