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17 Sportage SX - HK Audio Issue

3K views 13 replies 9 participants last post by  pcguy 
#1 ·
Hello,
New to the board, first post (unofficially after messing my first post up).
My wife just bought a 17 Sportage SX Turbo - with the upgraded sound system. When listening to anything on talk radio (mostly Sirius XM) The sound is terrible.

Everyone sounds like their S's are lisps and its a tinny sound. Its not very good at all. Music is ok but honestly she listens to a ton of talk radio.

We have had two speakers replaced and now the dealer is telling me "it is what it is - we tried listening to some other HK systems and it sounded similar"

Does anyone with an SX notice this? I find it really hard to believe its that bad of a sound and cant be fixed.

Looking for any other recommendations before I call Kia Canada.

Thanks
 
#2 ·
You'd probably be best off to find another owner and listen for yourself if yours is defective or not. My HK system isn't wonderful, but certainly doesn't have a "tinny" sound. You can customize the sound a bit to see if it helps. You may also want to try another source for talk radio like bluetooth, just to be sure the problem isn't with Sirius
 
#3 ·
If you are listening to XM/Sirius, you have to remember nearly all the talk stations are heavily compressed, which is why it sounds like that. It has little to nothing to do with the sound quality of the system, and everything to do with digital compression to cram so much content on their media platform.
 
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#4 ·
For reference I have a 2017 santa Fe with upgraded sound system. Sounds great on Sirius.

Dealership has said other vehicles sound the same but I am yet to hear one.

It's less tinny and more that the pronounced S's sound really loud and almost like they're rattling.

There's really no setting that makes any difference.

If anyone in the Hamilton/Toronto area has a 17 SX id love to compare.
 
#5 ·
To be honest the only part of my 2018 SX that I am disappointed in IS the sound system. I dont think it was implemented very well. All the sound no matter what you do seems to come from the center speaker. There are very little adjustments to the system and either Harmon Kardon or Kia just dropped the ball and said to hell with it. It has good bass but separation is almost non existent and the system has no balls to it. A sound system is really one of the least expensive components on a automobile and yet manufacturers keep cheapening out. I had high hopes for this system. The 360 Watts seems more like 150 Watts.
 
#7 ·
Try increasing the bass and decreasing treble and then turn the volume up. Make sure it is centered at the front seats and not before. As stated above, SiriusXM is highly compressed which tends to sound somewhat tinny in any event. We listen to SiriusXM a lot in all of our cars and have to do the same in all of them. Some people (like us) are much more sensitive to the "tinny" sound than others. Everyone is somewhat different in what they hear.
 
#10 ·
This has been extensively discussed here before. It's a dang good system except for the center speaker being too prevalent. Try a flash drive with mp3 or wav files and it will sound MUCH better than with Sirius XM! Heck,
I've even hooked up a portable CD player using the AUX port and it sounded great 0:)
I use an thumb drive with 4 thousand songs on it. every type of music is represented. The system compared to others I have owned and heard is not as good. If I was Harmon Kardon I wouldn't put half ass systems into automobiles as it would turn people off to purchase there home audio equipment. I know they are high end, but not in the SX.
 
#11 ·
I use an thumb drive with 4 thousand songs on it. every type of music is represented. The system compared to others I have owned and heard is not as good. If I was Harmon Kardon I wouldn't put half ass systems into automobiles as it would turn people off to purchase there home audio equipment. I know they are high end, but not in the SX.
Harman Kardon is now owned by Samsung. I doubt they give a crap about anything other than high volume and low cost. HK as a high fidelity company is pretty much over (some would say that it was over when Sidney Harman sold it to Beatrice Foods back in the 70's before buying it back in the early 80's). That said, I think it sounds decent for what it is. At the end of the day, you're in a metal and glass echo chamber with significant external noise when you're on the highway. Expecting anything approaching "hi fidelity" in that environment without a significant amount of signal processing/correction is pure fantasy. It can be done, but it isn't cheap and I wouldn't expect to find anything like that in a vehicle in Kia's price range. That's coming from a former EE who spent a fair amount of his early days designing/building/using gear in high end recording studios and who used to routinely spend more on his audio system than his current Kia costs. :)

Cheers!
 
#12 ·
So I've isolated the issue I think.

1. plugged AUX cable and listed to talk radio. No Issue
2. Switched to FM. No issue
3. Used AUX Cable with the Sirius XM App on my phone - NO ISSUE

The issue is with the car's SXM. I have 2 other cars with XM parked in the same driveway and don't have this issue at all.

Question - Is the SXM receiver in the Sportage something that can be replaced? Is it possible its the receiver itself?
 
#14 ·
If this is talking about the XM / Sirius stations, you are 100% correct , It has little to do with the radio in the vehicle, and everything to do with how much compression they apply to fit all those channels on the satellite hardware / Signal
 
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