Opinions on 19 Speaker Harman Kardon sound system

[dtru1222]

JUST got a 2020 with the HK system. Sounds amazing and I cant turn it up all the way due to it just being too loud. Are these problems on the 19's an older?

 

[Rherman1]

JUST got a 2020 with the HK system. Sounds amazing and I cant turn it up all the way due to it just being too loud. Are these problems on the 19's an older?

I just got a 2020 Laramie 3 days ago, the HK system in my opinion is nowhere as nice as my bighorn system was. I put infinities in the doors and kickers in the dash with 4ohm 10watt resistors and that sounded great. The base on this is set at +4 and there is very little base, I had to turn down the mids to -1 and the treble to -2. Must be something wrong with mine.

 

[avantiguy]

I just got a 2020 Laramie 3 days ago, the HK system in my opinion is nowhere as nice as my bighorn system was. I put infinities in the doors and kickers in the dash with 4ohm 10watt resistors and that sounded great. The base on this is set at +4 and there is very little base, I had to turn down the mids to -1 and the treble to -2. Must be something wrong with mine.

Talk to your dealer about an update for the truck. There are a number of posts about this improving the system. My HK system is the best audio system I've ever had in a vehicle and mine's a 19 Laramie.

Your's is a 1500? There have been other posts about 2500's and up having this issue also. Don't know about a fix for them. BIAC, get with the dealer.

 

[Rherman1]

Sorry, it is a 2500 Laramie. I went back today and the refreshed it and it is better sounding now, still liked the thump from my infinity speakers though!

 

[Dennis Younker]

JUST got a 2020 with the HK system. Sounds amazing and I cant turn it up all the way due to it just being too loud. Are these problems on the 19's an older?

Apparently not because my 2019 is amazing. All stock speakers except that I added an external dual sub and amp setup under the rear seat.

 

[Albert525]

I’ve seen on another forum those who have got their truck already weren’t overly impressed with the upgraded 19 speaker sound system. I ordered my Limited with it and am just waiting on production until I get my truck.

Any opinions from anyone who either has listened to the new sound system or has it in their truck? Impressed by the quality or not so much?

750 watts 17 speakers with sub, I ordered it in faith. Dodge has done great with high end. My challenger hellcat system is great, and I think 2 10" subs are crasy 1 12 is the way to go IMO.
honestly I have nothing useful to add, but have same question. My guess is it will be great
17 speakers 750 watts with sub?

 

[Crane Brook]

I ordered a 2020 Limited and took delivery a few days ago. Exciting right?
Very disappointing, the Harmon Kardon sound system has the worst earbleading, chicken scratching, screaming center dash speaker you can imagine and the other speakers are barely audible.
The overbearing center speaker is without clarity no matter what media you are playing or how it's tuned.
Truly disappointing. Others saying it lacks amp and base, which along with this frequency static is a huge disappointment. Will be interesting to see what the dealer says.

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[silver13]

I have a20 Laramie. The sales guy says there is a sub. I kinda believe him but where is it. My 16 rebel was under the rear seat. [emoji2369]


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[Rherman1]

I have a20 Laramie. The sales guy says there is a sub. I kinda believe him but where is it. My 16 rebel was under the rear seat. [emoji2369]


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Same spot, under the rear passenger seat.

 

[silver13]

Found it. It’s more behind the rear seat. Can’t see it it’s behind a cover


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[Rherman1]

Found it. It’s more behind the rear seat. Can’t see it it’s behind a cover


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Mine was under the rear seat.

 

[Farmer Fran]

I have a 2020 limited with the 19 speaker system and it sounds incredible to me. Leaps and bounds better then my 9 speaker 2017 laramie.
I listen to mostly very heavy music via usb drive... speed metal, thrash, death metal, etc..
I do also listen to rock and such like chili peppers, santana, 3 doors down...
I do sometimes have to adjust the eq but mostly not.
I also found surround off is best for my taste. It is loud, crisp and clear to me.

I have yet to be in a vehicle where satellite radio sounds good this one included.

 

[Rherman1]

I have a 2020 limited with the 19 speaker system and it sounds incredible to me. Leaps and bounds better then my 9 speaker 2017 laramie.
I listen to mostly very heavy music via usb drive... speed metal, thrash, death metal, etc..
I do also listen to rock and such like chili peppers, santana, 3 doors down...
I do sometimes have to adjust the eq but mostly not.
I also found surround off is best for my taste. It is loud, crisp and clear to me.

I have yet to be in a vehicle where satellite radio sounds good this one included.

You must have got one of the good ones!

 

[Alter Ego Trip]

You must have got one of the good ones!

I'd agree. This is the worst stock system I have ever heard in a truck. Now I am an audio snob (my 18 Ram I just traded in was running an active 3 way system) but I would say the Alpine sounded one million times better than the HK. I hated the fact that the night edition locked you into this system. Thin sounding with very distorted tinny sounding midrange. Imaging of course is non existent. Bass also is anemic and very bloated.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not expecting audio nirvana from a stock system; but I can't believe this one ever left the factory sounding this way. Clearly, the sound designer for Rams audio systems, is deaf.

 

[alexcomp]

I have a 2020 Ram Limited manufactured about March of 2020. I have read through this thread and I must say it goes deep into the weeds from very knowledgeable people who are obviously audiophiles.

I am somewhat elderly and have a lot of things on my plate from a health standpoint. I will not be making upgrades or speaker replacements. However I am sure that there are people who have been watching this thread who can tell me the exact way to set up my Harman Kardon 19 speaker system for best quality attainable.

My Music Source will be my Galaxy Note 8 probably running Amazon music from downloaded files to the SD card in the Note 8 . And I will connect it through the AUX port bi-wire as I have seen may be preferable to Bluetooth or certainly XM Radio Etc. I have heard other tips like enabling Android au dio and doing certain things with subwoofer output so what I am hoping to get is just a general checklist of things I should be doing to obtain the best possible quality of sound in a sound system that was supposed to be great but maybe not so much but I may not be able to know the difference anyway.

So A general suggestion list of how to achieve the best sound quality would be greatly appreciated. I may be a little bit old but I am one of the original rockers Crank It Up!

 

[avantiguy]

I have a 2020 Ram Limited manufactured about March of 2020. I have read through this thread and I must say it goes deep into the weeds from very knowledgeable people who are obviously audiophiles.

I am somewhat elderly and have a lot of things on my plate from a health standpoint. I will not be making upgrades or speaker replacements. However I am sure that there are people who have been watching this thread who can tell me the exact way to set up my Harman Kardon 19 speaker system for best quality attainable.

My Music Source will be my Galaxy Note 8 probably running Amazon music from downloaded files to the SD card in the Note 8 . And I will connect it through the AUX port bi-wire as I have seen may be preferable to Bluetooth or certainly XM Radio Etc. I have heard other tips like enabling Android au dio and doing certain things with subwoofer output so what I am hoping to get is just a general checklist of things I should be doing to obtain the best possible quality of sound in a sound system that was supposed to be great but maybe not so much but I may not be able to know the difference anyway.

So A general suggestion list of how to achieve the best sound quality would be greatly appreciated. I may be a little bit old but I am one of the original rockers Crank It Up!

I'm a year older than you but still appreciate good sounding music. I first started with files burned on to a CD disk in my 19 Laramie with 12" HK audio, but quickly went to a Sandisk 3.1 USB stick with music burned from WMP using FLAC (lossless audio) which I thought sounded pretty good.

I also found that there was music I didn't have and wanted to buy so I went to Spotify and used that instead of the USB for music through bluetooth but finally decided Android Auto sounded better so I use a cable now. Still sounded ok but realized that Spotify also had compression so finally decided to try Amazon HD music as I'm a Prime customer and they sent music either uncompressed or with very little compression.

The first time I used android auto with Amazon HD through a good cable I was pleasantly surprised as the music sounded so much better. Now I listen to music in my Ram that way only.

A word of caution as HD over air music eats cell phone minutes. I only had one Gig on my phone through Spectrum and burned that up in 2 days so I added the AT&T unlimited plan on my 19 Ram for $200/yr and now listen with an LG thinQ 7 phone I use as an MP3 player.

Music has never been better. YMMV-however as my HK system sounds so much better than any sound system I've had anywhere.

 

[alexcomp]

I'm a year older than you but still appreciate good sounding music. I first started with files burned on to a CD disk in my 19 Laramie with 12" HK audio, but quickly went to a Sandisk 3.1 USB stick with music burned from WMP using FLAC (lossless audio) which I thought sounded pretty good.

I also found that there was music I didn't have and wanted to buy so I went to Spotify and used that instead of the USB for music through bluetooth but finally decided Android Auto sounded better so I use a cable now. Still sounded ok but realized that Spotify also had compression so finally decided to try Amazon HD music as I'm a Prime customer and they sent music either uncompressed or with very little compression.

The first time I used android auto with Amazon HD through a good cable I was pleasantly surprised as the music sounded so much better. Now I listen to music in my Ram that way only.

A word of caution as HD over air music eats cell phone minutes. I only had one Gig on my phone through Spectrum and burned that up in 2 days so I added the AT&T unlimited plan on my 19 Ram for $200/yr and now listen with an LG thinQ 7 phone I use as an MP3 player.

Music has never been better. YMMV-however as my HK system sounds so much better than any sound system I've had anywhere.

That's good information. My plan as it stands though is to implement the single user version of Amazon music Unlimited for 799 per month plus tax and recappables tire of & recappables Tire of course.

That allows you 2 download to local storage a playlist that will allow you 2 play pre-chosen songs without having to use up data on your phone plan. Is there any way that the Amazon music HD can be combined with the Music Unlimited and then play from local storage?

 

[Doug Paper]

I have the B+O System in my Audi S8, And i just got my truck about 3 weeks ago with the system you are asking about and i have no regrets. Sounds every bit the top of the line system it should be. I like clear distinct sound and even with the subwoofer under the rear seat it doesn't sound like some ricer.

 

[Fredro Starr]

I have the B+O System in my Audi S8, And i just got my truck about 3 weeks ago with the system you are asking about and i have no regrets. Sounds every bit the top of the line system it should be. I like clear distinct sound and even with the subwoofer under the rear seat it doesn't sound like some ricer.

That's interesting.

This Ram system can't touch the B&O system in my S7 which I consider very good but not great.

It is curious that there are so many disparate opinions on this system.

I plan to fix the system in my truck next week...we'll see

 

[Chuck Hansen]

I have a problem with mine HK 19 speaker system as well. I have had it to the dealer and he checked the latest software load was loaded. I have a 2020 Longhorn with what I thought would be a knock out sound system. Boy was I wrong. My 1996 cummins had a better sound. It's just that it doesn't have any bass at all. I have the equalizer bass all the way to the max setting and still don't have enough. The system sounds tinny. Any ideas?