Volvo XC40 Forums

DB2k wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:54 am So I think the spacial audio is quite good left and right but it's VERY front heavy.

Oddly enough, that's pretty much how I'd describe the standard audio in my car.

I didn't opt for HK as I figured that the way the car was designed, you couldn't get a great system in, however much you tried.

I did assume, though, that the HK would make it less front heavy. My car only has tiny speakers in the rear (by the door handles) & doesn't seem to have anything behind the lower rear grills. I would have thought the HK would have decent speakers here to address the front/rear balance - standard seems to be 6 speakers front & 2 rear, HK is 6 & 6 I think (plus the sub woofer by one of the rear wheel arches)?

Could well be worth getting it checked to make sure it's all connected properly?

I have upgrade to the HK system in my XC40 and to be honest its not as good as my Mercedes C Class that the XC40 replaces but I think this is down to the location of the speakers being not in the doors. The sound is very 'front loaded' and the rears are quiet and lack depth. As someone else stated, its a different sound but very clear once you have set the thing up.

I noted that some of the setup is accessed through the normal sound settings and the remaining (with overlap) is through the sound experience app although some of the settings do not appear to have much impact.

Spotify on max setting gives really good output compared to bluetooth from iPhone on acc tracks.

Navigation through the system is really poor, it sounds like it only uses one of the speakers.

Once setup, and you adjust to the sound type, it is good but not as good as I would have expected.

Les

Curious what changes you made in the App settings which helped with the quality

DB2k wrote: ↑Tue May 14, 2019 9:54 am hmm ok glad I have found this..
So I think the spacial audio is quite good left and right but it's VERY front heavy. The volume in general on my HK stereo is not great and during a call via Car Play at least, I can barely hear what is going on. Music wise it can go fairly loud but it isn't ear exploding in anyway.. I am wondering if I have a problem with it. Might go to a dealer and see if I can do a compare with one without the HK or even with..
I haven't noticed the volume dipping with the start stop.. I wonder if that was the issue and the fix was to inhibit the levels? Picked mine up in March.

The HK system always is quieter than the non-premium system for some reason, every time my car was in for repair I had one with a standard stereo and it went far louder than the HK I had in my car.
My volume always dropped with the start/stop too which ok some people are saying it's because of the power needed for the air-woofer and fine, maybe, but if that's the case why doesn't my OH's Mini drop the volume/bass levels on start/stop. The Mini also has a HK system but instead of an air-woofer it has two subwoofers underneath the front seats and it's undeniably more powerful and much louder than the one in the XC40.

Just find it strange.

Has anyone else noticed this happening? I thought it was dust collecting but I think I must have been vacuuming the material underneath through the gaps over the last few months. I clean my car every week which maybe doesn't help.

No idea how to fix this!

abby606 wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2019 3:16 pm

Has anyone else noticed this happening? I thought it was dust collecting but I think I must have been vacuuming the material underneath through the gaps over the last few months. I clean my car every week which maybe doesn't help.

No idea how to fix this!

Hi Abby, that looks like felt to me.
Have you ever had any issues with the stereo? When I had my XC40 and it went in for screeching sounds from the door speakers they put a load of felt on the inside of the grills and it looked just like that. Awful.

q3billy wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 9:44 pm Have you ever had any issues with the stereo? When I had my XC40 and it went in for screeching sounds from the door speakers they put a load of felt on the inside of the grills and it looked just like that. Awful.

Nope, this is as per factory.

I'm not sure if the grille comes off, or if they'll have to disassemble the whole door card which will probably invite more rattles (the door already has an annoying rattle). Such a pain but I think I'm getting off lightly if you had screeching noises!

abby606 wrote: ↑Tue May 28, 2019 8:50 pm

q3billy wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2019 9:44 pm Have you ever had any issues with the stereo? When I had my XC40 and it went in for screeching sounds from the door speakers they put a load of felt on the inside of the grills and it looked just like that. Awful.

Nope, this is as per factory.

I'm not sure if the grille comes off, or if they'll have to disassemble the whole door card which will probably invite more rattles (the door already has an annoying rattle). Such a pain but I think I'm getting off lightly if you had screeching noises!

Well that's strange. I do know that the speaker grill isn't supposed to come off as it's glued in but when I took mine in they removed the metal trim and stuck felt all around it to stop the noises.
I also had rattles from the LED light strips within the door which could be what you have if it's not a major rattle?

So, after reading through this thread, it seems that to stop the tinny sound in the front speakers, they are installing felt behind there? This sounds like a really bad solution!

I have the same problem with low volume on the HK premium system in my XC40. I suspect it has something to do with the Automatic Level Adjustment (ALA) system in the HK setup - see https://news.harman.com/blog/blog_articles-20171002

I am using Apple CarPlay for connection (via a USB to Lightening cable). However, the input device might also be an issue, or the issue. On my iPhone 11 Pro (using iOS 13.1.2) I found that Sound Check was on by default and that by clicking it off, volume increased by around 15%. It's the same process for all iPhones: Settings > Music > disable Volume Limit & Sound Check, then play around with the EQ settings which are flat by default. On other devices there may also be volume limiters which are on and need to be disabled.

Still not as loud as the Meridien system in my Mercedes GLC, but in that car Bluetooth was weirdly far superior to a wired connection. I assumed the DAC in the Mercedes was very low quality. But I also know that my ears take several weeks to adjust to a new audio system, particularly in cars, so it is worth giving it some time.