I have a new 2013 Countryman with Harmon Kardon sound...and I'm having trouble determining how to adjust the volume.

At high volume, the mid-range sounds good...but at regular-low volume the bass woofers overpower the midrange where the vocals typically standout. How can I adjust?

Also, how do I know how far up I can crank the volume without busting/damaging the speakers? On the 2013 with mini connected Nav system...there's not a way to know what % of scale I'm using. Is there a way to test the speakers or to inspect for sound quality, besides just your ears?

A third problem...how do I adjust the Navigation volume...and how can I change the voice to another English accent. I don't like the non-British accent in a British vehicle... Help!!!

 

I can't answer your question and I to have found the bass troublesome... sounds great when loud (but not blasting/car shaking some people like) but overpowering at levels at which you might have it when having a convo with a passenger.

I had to do a double take when I first started reading your thread though and it asked how to adjust the volume... I found myself thinking "wtf!?!? Who can't figure out how to turn the volume ****?". Glad I read on because then the problem made sense.

 

On our 2012 the navigation volume is in the settings menu. I would think the 2013 would be identical. If I recall correctly, tone adjustments are also in the settings menu.

 

I turned the bass down on my 2012 with HK. I put it just below 1/4 of the way from the left to the right (slightly under half way to the middle). I left the treble in the middle. I found this was the ONLY way to get the bass to sound reasonable at most volumes. It still has plenty of bass, presumably because the "bass" control is a relatively narrow band adjustment.

Maybe some day I'll run an MLS (acoustic/audio) measurement on it and find out exactly what the system response is and adjustments do.

The easiest way to adjust the Navigation volume: turn the **** while the system is giving verbal instructions. It'll adjust nav volume without changing music volume.

 

Good idea on the 1/4 bass, 1/2 treble adjustment! I had thought about that but had not tried it yet.

Besides hearing now a few other owners agree that the HK bass sound is overpowering...I also wonder about the placement of the multiple speakers in the cabin...is it optimal?? For example, the front door mid-ranges are crammed next to the dash vents...with air coming out or sound being absorbed/deflected...I really wonder if the speaker placement is cosmetic (as MINIs obviously are highly styled)...or if a real sound engineer placed them strategically?

On the Nav volume adjustment during actual use...will try. If this works, then it really is sad that there's no Nav volume and accent menu to control.

Tell me more about a MLS (acoustic/audio) measurement? How can I do that?

 

MLS (Maximum Length Sequence) is a specialized broadband audio signal pulse that you use to compare input signal to recorded output sound of a given audio setup. It's somewhat along the lines of using a real-time analyzer but much more precise. Companies like Alpine use it in a more complicated fashion in their automatic EQ systems. You see it in a lot of home theatre setups too--the ones where you move the teenie microphone around your room in 10 locations or something.

To answer "how can I do that?", the short version is "you can't". The long version is: you get an audio measurement system and research how to do it. There are varying levels of complexity and accuracy and the setup ranges from a few hundred to a few hundreds of thousands (or more!) dollars. Plus the cost of the computer to run it on.

I happen to have the cheaper end stuff at home because I build speakers as a hobby.

 

I run the fade towards to back, like 4 then bass up to +4 and treble at 0-+1 sounds great at all volumes. Read about these setting for my R53 HK and it really made a big difference with the bass response. Just my 2 cents :-)

 

I too have found a good sound by fading it slightly to the back. It also depends if I am listening to my ipod, CD Player, or radio station. Wish I got HD stations in my town, only pick them up when I travel. The sat is compressed garbage...

 

That sounds like more bass...less treble...I wanted to go the other way as the bass is overpowering. Will try it...

My kids often sit in the back...so don't want to fade it too much...

 

Also with regards to sound...have any of you found the strange resonance phenomenon that occurs when the back left or back right window is rolled down at higher speeds? It can make a baby cry for sure...like a waffling sonic boom on your ears.

I saw in another forum that this is a known resonance phenomenon...can be helped/reduced/eliminated if you roll down both back windows...and completely eliminated if you roll them all up! Or crack the sunroof (which I don't have.) 😝

Must be the shape of the cabin when in certain window opening configurations...heard also that many cars do this besides MINIs...still don't like it!

If there's anything I can do about this...let me know!

 

It's not a mini thing as I have heard it in many cars. I find the simplest thing to do is just the front window that is on the same as the back window you open... you just need to crack it an inch.

 

The resonance is a Helmholtz resonance. Same effect as blowing across a beer bottle. It happens because the air inside the cabin is a spring and vibrates at a frequency that corresponds to the volume of air in the cabin.

There's a cool animation of the effect that clearly shows the peak in frequency here:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Acousti...oltz_Resonator