Harman Kardon plastic speaker grills producing high pitch distortion
 

My R60 is equipped with Harman Kardon audio system. I noticed that whenever the system reproduces spoken audio (e.g. handsfree phone, podcasts, radio) at medium to high sound level, the plastic speaker grills produce high pitch distortion. If I press my finger against the grill, the distortion goes away, thus I know it is not the speaker. I channelled the sound through each individual speaker and the distortion is the same for all four of them (i.e. each speaker in every door). The distortion is not audible when listening to music.

How can I fix this? Is this a warranty issue? Should I have the dealer troubleshoot this? It is really annoying, especially when listening to a podcast during my 45 minute commute.

Take it to the dealer. I just recently had them look into this issue with my CMS and they seemed to fix it.

This happens to just one of my rear door speakers. I took it in about a year ago complaining about it, and got the ole "could not reproduce" push out the door. It has started to get a lot worse in the last couple of months. I will have to try pushing on the grill tonight to see if it goes away.

It seems like I am noticing the same occasional distortion on certain spoken mail voice audio on one of my rear door HK speakers. On my next service I plan to inquire about it but I first need to find a recording that I can reproduce it. Otherwise I know they will say it is fine.

I recall a previous BMW where the dealer simply pushed on the grill and it did go away. I will try that first. Aleast if the sound goes away (while being pushed) I could assume it is not the speaker itself rather some other trim vibration.

I was in for normal oil service today and had Mini check the passenger rear speaker for noise distortion. I was prepared to replicate the noise on a talk/news radio station and had to since they first mentioned they did not hear anything. As a result they ordered a tweeter and mid range speaker for the door. If that does not work, they mentioned something about the amp. My hunch is this will fix it.

I get the same on mine on AM only?? Rear left occasionally front right...weird

My speakers arrived and the Mini dealer installed them. So far, so good. No distortion! :thumbsup:

Nice I'm having mine look into it next week. I tried during my oil change but they said they need more time with the car and only had mine down for an oil change. It has gotten really bad now on talk radio and phone calls.

Good to know I'm not the only one with this issue. I hear it everytime I talk to my mom or sister. Comes from the passenger door. Of course I got the "sounds just like one we tested it against on the lot." Really because the loaner I'm in doesn't do it. No fix. UGH!

Yeah they supposedly fixed mine but no luck. They did improve it but still not how it is suppose to sound. The loaner I had didn't make the noise either. Hopefully they can fix it this time when they look at it again. May just have to persuade them to change the speakers out.

I took my Countryman into the dealer yesterday for this issue. It has been getting worse over the last few months and really bad the last couple weeks. There is definitely a certain range of frequencies that make the rattle in the speaker grill happen. Higher notes on piano recordings are a good test to see if you have the issue.

My dealer had to run the Mini audio test CD to diagnose the system. I was told that is their protocol and the only audio source they can use to diagnose any issue with the HK system. They said they could find nothing wrong. I sat with the tech in the car and played my demo that really made the the grills rattle and hum. He said he couldn't hear it, which shocked me because multiple people have heard what I hear. Its plain as day. Even when the speaker grill is pushed in to make the noise go away and then released to make it return, he still wouldn't own up to hearing anything wrong. Acted like I was crazy.

He then told me I was using a burnt CD and that the Mini HK system wasn't compatible with those. He then proceeded to tell me that people manipulate burnt CD's to make the audio sound worse on purpose. I have the song on my iPod and asked why it does it from that source and was told the HK system has trouble with that also. Huh? I paid extra to get that integration and it cant be trusted for good audio results? I then asked why Sirius, FM, regular CD's, and phone calls also produced the noise and he said it was my issue as I was in tune with the noise and only I notice it. That isn't the case as everyone hears it. The music sounds horrible on the system when those frequencies are produced.

So, I got a bit angry and to shut me up, he said he would order new door panels because if I think its the grills and the grills are integrated into the door panel, then the only fix is to replace them. I said I didn't care what he did as long as it sounded like my first year of ownership. There are no door panels in the USA so they have to ship from Germany which takes a few weeks.

So will new door panels solve the issue? I will update when they are installed...