Volvo XC40 Forums

I, too, took a gamble when ordering my 2019 T5. I read a lot about how Volvo's engineers designed the stock speaker system (air woofer in the dash, etc.) and figured they did a good job. Boy was I happy I made the choice to stick with the stock stereo and save money by not buying the HK system. The stock stereo sounds absolutely fantastic. Trebble is phenomenal and the Bass hits well enough. Overall, I say save your money or go for a different package such as Premium, which has touch-sensing door unlocks and ambient lighting.

This is my fourth Volvo. The other three had superb sound systems. Mine is a top spec Inscription, but the stereo, the basic system, lets the car down on its own. I am likely to lose money handing it back in. Why have they done this?

I only picked my car up on Friday but spent some time setting up the standard system over the weekend to suit my preference of less treble and more bass (hate a tinny sound) and the radio sounds fine. Also tried some music from a flash drive, recorded at quite high quality and that sounds good.

I'm a music and hi fi fan having a good separates system in the house but my mantra with cars is that as long as it sounds OK and doesn't distort at reasonable levels (I don't like it loud when driving) then I'm happy and the system in the XC40 fits the bill for me.

Hornflaunter wrote: ↑Mon Jul 15, 2019 6:05 pm This is my fourth Volvo. The other three had superb sound systems. Mine is a top spec Inscription, but the stereo, the basic system, lets the car down on its own. I am likely to lose money handing it back in. Why have they done this?

The stock system is louder than the HK system, but less immersive with much less bass... I do miss my XC40 but I wouldn't ever buy one again because the stock system is far too weak yet the HK system was plagued with issues, the air woofer too powerful for the cheap plastics used in the dashboard, the metal HK covers on the doors are just clipped in and emit awful reverberations when playing higher pitched sounds, mainly instrumentals...

So, I wouldn't worry. If you're that unhappy with it you could take it to an audio specialist to add some bass or make it less front-heavy.