I have been setting the bass to -6 to get something approaching accurate sound reproduction. Any setting close to the "normal" 0 produces a huge, tubby, throbbing bass, and unlistenable male voices.

Have you experienced this?

 

it is bad for male voices, i agree. i generally have it all the way down for talk radio (baseball games, sports radio, hockey games). i usually turn the bass up to the +2 or so level for music and the treble to +3 or +4. i feel like this is pretty accurate, especially around reference level (which is RIDICULOUSLY loud in a car). my music files are generally ALAC (lossless) or i play CDs.

i wish i could set the tone for radio separately from music/entertainment. instead, there is just master tone control.

 

That would be nice, as would a graphic equalizer, but it's probably better not to add another layer of complexity.

Maybe the designers were coping with people who have never heard honest, tight bass, and always want to crank it up. At least, I have not seen any complaints of 'not enough bass.'

 

I have a similar situation with the H/K system in my Countryman. I think it's what sells "premium" sound systems these days, rather than honest, accurate reproduction.

That said, a sound engineer friend of mine and I were able to set some baselines with some lossless files and found that dropping "bass" a couple of ticks and upping "treble" a couple of ticks reined in the sub nicely and gave me a good all-purpose setting for news radio and music.

Remember that if you use an iPod or iPhone that you have equalizer settings available there. And if you connect through the headphone jack, do not set the iPod's sound volume above about 80% of the maximum or you'll get significant distortion.

 

I haven't tried the iPod yet. Good thought: thanks

 

Nail, hit on head...

In the MINI HiFi and h/k systems (Countryman excluded - that's a different system), the lower front door speaker (6") gets everything below ~100Hz. You can not get good low frequency response from an inexpensive 6" driver. So they attempt to compensate by boosting 10-15dB centered at around 70Hz. The result is tremendously exaggerated response in the 60-80Hz range, and very poor response below that. It works out well for the showroom because over a short listening period exaggerated bass and treble fool most people into thinking a system sounds better than it does (it also fools many people regardless of how long they listen unless they have something to compare it to).

It makes an absolute mess of things for anyone who values sound quality. Turning the bass down on the headunit is about your only no-cost option, but that takes what was already poor response below 60Hz and makes it zero.

 

Turning the bass down and adding a sub makes things much much better. Not perfect but definitely worlds better.

 

I know there is a software update for the HK-bass problem...

 

Any more info?

 

I have the HK system in my 2011 Clubman. I have to turn down the bass two clicks.

I listen to uncompressed WAV files on my iPod Classic using the supplied iPod cable. Does anyone know if MINI uses the iPod's DAC to convert the digital signals to analog or does it use the DAC in the headunit?

 

If you are plugging in through the dock connector of the iPod, it will use the DAC in the MINI sound system. If you use the aux jack, it will use the DAC on the iPod, which isn't a terrible DAC. Not sure what MINI's HK system uses, though.

 

I had to turn it down -6 also. I haven't found the H/K system all that great. I think I had my expectations high cause of the reviews I read on the forum so I ordered it. But it just sounds muddy to me, and bass doesn't go all that low and is exaggerated..kinda like with cheap home systems.

 

Same here. Designers probably responded to the "not enough bass" complaints before the LCI.

Oh, well. With a -6 bass and +2 treble, it's okay for my aging ears

 

I find the H/K system to be EXTREMELY disappointing. Only bass/treble adjustments? Really? In a $750 upgrade? Shameful. There's no midrange. The FM tuner (at least in my '10) is dreadful. Really, really weak effort, especially for the extra $$. Then again, this is from BMW, who has the ***** to charge you $2k for lounge leather, but still leave a flimsy vinyl shift boot & E-brake boot in place. Ridiculous.

 

Experimenting on a recent trip, I improved the sound appreciably by using the fader control to switch-off the rear speakers.

Also, does anyone have information on the software update that pimmy mentioned?

 

I think you will be disappointed with the bass response in the HK system. I was. I tried every adjustment of the tone settings and could not get a decent sound. I got a subwoofer (Integral Audio) and have been very happy with the results.

 

Another nod to the Integral Audio subwoofer. The treble and midrange in the HK system isnt bad, its just that to get anything approaching accurate sound you have to turn down the bass. Add a good subwoofer and that takes care of the bass problem. Integral Audio designs its subs for a particular car, and included are all the parts you need to install it. Anyone not happy with the HK system should check this out. And before you call it "too expensive", remember this is the only system specifically designed for our car. It is completely stealth, only takes up a couple of inches of boot space,and will make you glad you spent the money on the HK system in the first place. It has its own amp, which is adjustable allowing fine tuning of the bass response. Highly recommend !

 

I think the HK System could be a lot better if it had a proper EQ! I had a pioneer system in my last car with a graphical EQ...it took me a month to get it sounding exactly how I like it...but I got it...Seems like my new mini only has Bass and Treble.....hopefully there is an update! I would rather not replace the factory equipment since I spent $2000 on it!

 

Gosh, I think the HK system sounds just fine! Though I never really crank it up that loud.

I used to build speakers and install sound systems in homes and restaurants, I've found that how a system sounds is really subjective and that there is no perfect sound system that everyone will like.

Dave

 

I thought the same thing! I finally have settled at -5 for Bass and +8 for Treble and find it not bad at all. I always find I have to turn the treble way up on car audio for some reason, but oh well.

 

Although more equalizer settings would certainly be better, I really love the sound of my HK stereo. At first I thought it was very "bassy" too, but I was mostly listening to Sirius Radio because of the novelty of it. So I followed some of your advice and turned down the bass, increased the treble, and faded to the front.

But when the Sirius novelty wore out, I started listening to more music from my iPhone through the Aux, and most recently MP3 CDs, and found I had to bring some of the bass back in and fade back to more 50-50. So not sure if some of you have the same experience, but I think the Sirius radio - perhaps its audio compression - adds to the "too much bass effect." I find the audio quality with MP3 CD's and iPhone/Aux much better and very well balanced.

Kevin

 

Interesting observation; happy listening

 

I've got mine at -7 bass and +4 treble. I am adding a sub...