Trying to decide whether to get the HK system or not. Just wondering if people found any part of the system annoying or bothersome. Thanks.

 

I did find the sound quality annoying at first..Very heavy on the base and not a lot of surround sound - more heavy on the front speakers only. But now that time has passed and had a chance to try some of the settings, I like it. I was too used to my Audi's Bose system, which in turn made me think my HK system was weak. Now I don't like my Bose in the Audi as much ...in other words, I think your ears adjust to a certain sound and find it hard to get comfortable right away with something new and different. Unless you like to play your stereo so loud that your ears ring afterwards, you should like the HK system just fine.

 

Yeah the first thing I did was turn the bass down to about half. Otherwise it felt like I was being shaken to death. Otherwise it sounds awesome. I have a Cabrio and with the top down, and the radio pretty low. At highway speeds it's still very clear and you can hear it great, which with the OEM stero you couldn't when I test drove the car.

 

The system works well and the only annoying issue I can find is the passenger door speaker rattle. There is a fix for this as well as a TSB, so the dealer can handle it if you have the problem. Otherwise it's just like the stock system, but better sounding.

Since the HK system doesn't upgrade well at all (once you have it, you are pretty much stuck with it), you should really listen to it first. Just take a bunch of your favorite CDs to the dealer and listen to them. If it meets your expectations, get it. If not, don't get it!

 

Lack of tight, deep and clean bass. although you can pump up the booming base it gets uncomfortable rather quickly, and once the car picks up speed, the bass is buried in the road noise. may be I demand too much for a car stereo.
The FM reception is barely acceptable to me.

 

The H/K is definitely bass heavy, the mid-range is definitely the weak link and high end is very good. I never have any problems hearing bass or treble (road noise or not). Mid-range is literally non-existent. I wish I had played with it more during test drives. I would not have ordered it if I had it all to do over again. The money would've been better spent on aftermarket.

 

I think you may have to play with the settings a little to tweak it. I usually am in the car by myself so I just set to the HK MINI mode with driver only and I think it sounds awesome. Probably also depends what sort of music you listen to and what your source is. I am mainly listening to MP3s burned onto CD.

The one really annoying thing is that if you set the head unit to random play that mode gets erased when you turn the car off. Makes no sense to me since it seems like it ought to save the state when you shut it off including the random mode not just track and time in track. It's pretty annoying. Is there a way around that? It's not an HK issue, but rather a head unit issue.

 

The stereo imaging sucks but for a $550 option I think it is a good package.

 

well on the '04s they touted two features: 1) mp3 compatibility and 2) the automatic speed sensing/volume adjustment. Neither work.

I also find it extraordinary that on a HU as foresighted as the H/K, w/ AUX input and radio station "text", that it doesn't support CD Text. So the song titles on my homemade CDs don't appear.

I also stumbled across this tip (not documented in the user guide) that if you adjust the bass/treble higher than the default center position, there's a volume limiter that kicks in to prevent speaker damage. Was driving me crazy for a long time (I don't turn it up so loud to violate decibel level laws, but cruising down the highway w/ the windows open I do turn it up a bit).

Have you ever seen this writeup on it?

http://www.angelfire.com/in2/guitar/minihkreview.html

 

That the amp burned out in the middle of a cruise and I suffered through a month with it But it was under warranty even though my Mini isn't...the only thing I didn't mod

 

Yup the speed sensing joke, why did they decide to keep that on the manual? it cost me couple of hours trying to find out the nonexistent menu.

Has anyone done a frequency response test on the H/K system? If not when I get time I may dig out the radioshack SPL meter for a mini test, result should be interesting.

 

1)MP3 feature is '05 not '04.
2)Speed sensing/volume adjustment works, but the amount/threshold can not be adjusted.

The HU is the same with or with out the H/K upgrade.

RDS is completely different than CD Text.

Steve

 

NOT loud enough with windows down and sunroof open.

 

What build date was that on? My May 03 build had that happen...I think it was six weeks without a radio. I was not a happy camper. My 06 does NOT have HK (although I didn't order it, just picked from dealer stock). Will let you know what I think of the standard compared to the previous HK. What the others have said about the misleading manual, bass heaviness (mine was always set below half and I was 17yo at the time if that tells you anything, its bassy), is all true. Go take it for a long listen with your favorite CD.

 

It's a good deal for the price. If you're really an audiophile, put the $ toward an aftermarket system instead.

You will have to play with the settings a bit until you get it right.

My main annoyance is that the speed-sensitive feature does not work in our coupe--though the MINI site only plugs the capability without saying that it is for Cabrio's only. I'm still thinking that somewhere there is a DIP switch or jumper block where I can turn it on--anyone have any ideas? Surely HK doesn't make two different versions of the radio that differ only in that feature!

 

The speed-sensitive feature does work, on all cars. There are not two H/K systems. It is a very subtle change. And no it is not adjustable if you have the H/K, just one preset setting.

To test, turn the stereo down to just low enough to hear. With the windows up accelerate to over about 50 mph, the volume increases slightly. Now let off the gas, and coast back down, the volume will lower back to how it was before.

Steve

 

Yea, removing it for a REAL stereo!