Is it worth aplifying the stock HK speakers?

[john_y]

Hello folks,

I have been doing some research around to find an answer to my question but no one ever seemed to care to try it, which makes me think that there's got to be a reason behind that besides that they don’t sound that great therefore needs to be replaced with an aftermarket system.

I would like to hear what you guys think about amplifying the factory Harman Kardon speakers that comes built in with our cars. Please fill me in with some ideas fellas, would an amplifier make the speakers sound crisper or since the stock speakers' power handling is not that great would it blow them?

Thanks in advance!

PS. I will be adding a subwoofer and wanted to see if I should get a mono block or a 5 channel amp.

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[midlandtech]

You will blow them. They have poor power handling, paper cones and foam surrounds which don't stand up to time well.

taptalk + Note 3

[Avetiso]

Don't waste a penny on your H/K system. Wait for it to go bad, then upgrade. That's my opinion.

[john_y]

Much appreciated for your input guys!! will skip the speakers and get a mono amp and a sub for now then :thumbup:

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[ELCID86]

Just saw this on e46f. http://forum.roadfly.com/threads/6318868-DIY-post-Full-H-K-Audio-Upgrade-%28long!%29


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk.

[john_y]

I just read the whole thing and it was some serious share lol that fella there officially wrote the guide to the e46 stereo system, amazing piece of work with great tips. Thank you very much for the share ELCID86!! :beer:

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[bullfrogs_M3]

In the meantime before your existing speakers blow out, you should consider hooking this up.

http://www.audiocontrol.com/222456/products/Line-Output-Converter----LC6i.html

I put the LC6i in between my headunit and amplifier and it made a HUGE night and day difference. It seemed to clean up the sound a ton and I kept the stock amplifier. I should probably state though that I did do the BSW speaker upgrade before and didn't notice too much difference over stock till I put in the LC6i.

[john_y]

Oh but would this work for me? Because it says oem integration and I already changed the factory deck to an aftermarket pioneer for bluetooth purposes. The only step up for me after I put the sub in would be a 4channel with better speakers I guess.

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[johnrando]

In the meantime before your existing speakers blow out, you should consider hooking this up.

http://www.audiocontrol.com/222456/products/Line-Output-Converter----LC6i.html

I put the LC6i in between my headunit and amplifier and it made a HUGE night and day difference. It seemed to clean up the sound a ton and I kept the stock amplifier. I should probably state though that I did do the BSW speaker upgrade before and didn't notice too much difference over stock till I put in the LC6i.

How do you install this on a unit w/Nav? Also, how much are they?

[bullfrogs_M3]

I'll take a picture of how I have mine when I get back in town tonight (update tomorrow).

But basically, I put this directly on top of (in the same area as) the amplifier. I took my stock wiring and split it. I used a wiring diagram I found online for the HK speakers and split it. The input to the LC6i is coming from the Headunit. So I split out all 4 channels and speakers from the stock wiring. Then I wired them into the Lc6i and the output of the LC6i went back into the amplifier. So I kept my original harness in place, I simply cut the wires about a foot or two off the connector and used screw down strips to make all my splicing. This way in the event that I don't like it and I want to just put the amp back in place, I simply do a color to color match up of the output (from the LC6i) to the input on the screw down strips and its back to 100% stock.

The picture will help out my description a little more, sorry I know that kinda sounded confusing writing that up. All in all, I just cut some, NOT ALL, of the stock wiring and made it pass through the LC6i unit and output back into the amplifier. I also have a subwoofer mounted up under there so I just took the 5th and 6th output of the LC6i and pushed them to the subwoofer amplifier instead of the stock amp.

I picked mine up off ebay for about $110 i think? But they range online from $100 to $150.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/181075053881?lpid=82

There is a newer model of this for about the same price, that I would recommend looking at called LC7i (ie: get this one instead of the LC6i, if you are seriously considering it. Newer hardware and firmware). I have been debating with myself for a while on whether or not to get this to see if it makes my bass a little "cleaner". But at the same time, I think I might just inline the LCQ-1 which will allow even more tweaking of the input to output sound quality instead, i don't know I'm kinda torn.

LC7i http://www.audiocontrol.com/17612/748663/OEM-Integration/LC7i----Six-Channel-Line-Output-Converter-with-AccuBASS.html
LCQ-1 http://www.audiocontrol.com/712451/products/LCQ--1----Six-Channel-Line-Output-Converter-with-Equalization-and-AccuBASS.html

Also, John, this should not affect the Nav in anyway I would think. You are inlining this unit immediately before the amplifier(which the Nav doesn't necessarily use), taking the outputs from the Nav/Radio and using those as the inputs into the LC6/7 unit, then outputting from the unit back out on the same color coded wires that went into the LC6/7.

[johnrando]

Really appreciate the info! Looking forward to the pic. I think I'm going to do this. :thumbsup

[ELCID86]

Good info. I think John's question is more about the wiring of a car with OEM Nav as several of the components are in the trunk (and perhaps b/c there is not much room left in the dash). Look forward to the pictures, etc.

[wsmeyer]

I'll throw this out there, this is what an employee of Crutchfield did with his ZHP sound system.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Fc2BW3kFV1s/learn/customcar/showroom/RickS_330i.html

The good news is that all this stuff is discontinued now and can be found relatively cheap on eBay. The bad news is there's no way of knowing if this really was "best bang for the buck", or the "best stuff some manufacturer would give me for free".

[midlandtech]

I'll throw this out there, this is what an employee of Crutchfield did with his ZHP sound system.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Fc2BW3kFV1s/learn/customcar/showroom/RickS_330i.html

The good news is that all this stuff is discontinued now and can be found relatively cheap on eBay. The bad news is there's no way of knowing if this really was "best bang for the buck", or the "best stuff some manufacturer would give me for free".

Cool I wonder if he eliminated the HK midranges in the doors and if so if he fed their lead to the woofer or tweeter or just to the input portion of his cross over and let it sort things out

taptalk + Note 3

[Oli77]

If its midrange he probably fed off before the crossover.

[johnrando]

I'm thinking about the BSW sub which comes with it's own amp (plug and play in the Vert for the sub is key for me), but since you have to take out the HK one and connect it, I'm thinking of switching that out. So, given that you're adding an amp, I'm curious as to which one?

[ELCID86]

I'll throw this out there, this is what an employee of Crutchfield did with his ZHP sound system.

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Fc2BW3kFV1s/learn/customcar/showroom/RickS_330i.html

The good news is that all this stuff is discontinued now and can be found relatively cheap on eBay. The bad news is there's no way of knowing if this really was "best bang for the buck", or the "best stuff some manufacturer would give me for free".

I reached out to C'field once to see if this guy would join here or give us some feedback. CSR responded they'd pass on the info, but nothing since then.

[UdubBadger]

Good info in here. Still hate the HK amp to death


Goin' HAM mobile

[ELCID86]

...and I still wish there were more aftermarket choices.


Thumbs, iPhone, Tapatalk.

[UdubBadger]

There are ways around it


Goin' HAM mobile

[Headmaster]

Guys, noob here but I've got a ton of experience on this... The bmw hk system is not suited for a long service life because of its paper woofers in a harsh environment. As we all know they rip. As far as keeping the stock hu and upgrading everything else it's not that difficult. Our hu put out a 5v balanced signal from the bm53 tuner in the trunk. Best of all, if you tap the signal at the tuner you will preserve all factory options like nav sound and Bluetooth..
Here are some pics of the hertz hsk 165 3 way install in my zhp.http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/16/enepa5av.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/16/6ajusu6a.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/16/agyje6um.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/16/anymuru8.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/03/16/uvuve3y3.jpg
The finished product.

Net weight gain is 2 pounds, mostly because of alpha damp sound silence..

Sound is 25 time better, with nice smooth midrange and punchy midbass.

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[Headmaster]

To answer the original question, no don't expect big gains from amping hk speakers, because of whacky impedance on the speakers you'd need an active crossover, now you are spending big $$ for crappy sound. Check this http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/blogs/douglasabaker/9-pictures-amplifier-installation.html page for instructions on how to get a nice clean signal from the factory head unit, tuner actually ( its either alpine or becker). Good amp+ good set of speakers is less than $1000. Diy in about 5 hours, 10 if you cut/mold the midbass to the front door.

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[ELCID86]

Nice writeup and job. What are the chances you could make/sell those adapters?