[MikDee]

You don't need a subwoofer, if it's like my radio? there's plenty of BASS in that radio if you just set it up right (There is more on this in the owners manual pg.114) if you go to "setup", there is a separate box category for "P.BASS", Just rotate the "tuning button" to P.BASS,,, Then, Push the "tuning button", to make your selection, there you can adjust the BASS from mild, to wild! I have mine set on the least Bass setting
__________________

 

[ChiTown2013]

Thanks for the hint. I will have to check mine out tonight because the biggest complaint I have about my brand new Sportage is that the audio quality is beyond horrible. There is no mid-bass at all but the lower frequencies seem randomly audible. I am presently driving a rental car while mine is being repaired and the stereo in that car sounds so much better! It's just a basic Mazda 6.

 

[beachbreak3]

Speakers still can't handle it. If you crank the bass in P.BASS up to the top, it ends up muffling the rest, and sounds like junk. In my mind, the audio in the Sportage is the worst thing about it.

 

[MikDee]

Speakers still can't handle it. If you crank the bass in P.BASS up to the top, it ends up muffling the rest, and sounds like junk. In my mind, the audio in the Sportage is the worst thing about it.

Nah! I have my bass cranked all the way, & my P.BASS cranked all the way, and it sounds like every other "rice burner" on the road with distorted Bass,,,LOL

Tried a homemade CD in it yesterday, for the 1st time, I almost threw up! It sounded like an old mono wind up record player!

My previous Tucson system, sounded way better then this but it was not that great either,,,

By the way, the Tuc uses XM, & the Sportage uses Sirius, I don't lose any stations, or have as many dead spots up here with the Sirius system,,, That's one good thing!

Transferring my contract from Hyundai, to Kia, made me aware of this.

 

[Pineconekia]

I thought I was the only one who thought the radio quality was terrible.
Even tuning the Pbass did not help.

.

 

[John B58]

I thought I was the only one who thought the radio quality was terrible.

Nope. It sounds horrible!!!! I have discovered that my new Sportage has an amp even though it doesnt have premium sound, and it still sounds like crap.

 

[MikDee]

It is what it is But, now you have extra BASS,,,LOL

 

[SlovaKIA]

I tried it and it made no difference. None.

 

[MikDee]

I tried it and it made no difference. None.

You've got to feed it some music with a good Bass response, in order to hear it, & feel it!

 

[njerald]

Lol..................

 

[ILLJIM69]

Bump from the past, but I didn't want to complain about this in a new thread.

I am sitting here at my desktop computer and listening to some music through a relatively cheap set of Logitech speaker (5.1 setup). The sub is actually pretty tiny, four inches I think. I also looked at my home theater sub which is also small (6.5 inches) and cheap. So why in the world do they both put out way more distortion free bass than a eight inch sub in an "expensive" audio system (they do call it premium)?

I am just ranting for the most part and I find the Kia system adequate (certainly better than the garbage Subaru puts in cars), but it just irks me that way smaller speakers with less "power" are putting out more bass in a bigger area (yes I know bass thrives on space at times). If there are two things Kia needs to work on (other than aftermarket support) it is stereos and suspension. Oh and offering manual trans on everything they make.

/rant

 

[John B58]

Lol. I figured out to fix the bass problem in my Sportage. I TRADED IT IN on a much better vehicle that isn't a Kia. Life is good and so is my bass in the new car!!! Good luck to you.

 

[ILLJIM69]

Lol. I figured out to fix the bass problem in my Sportage. I TRADED IT IN on a much better vehicle that isn't a Kia. Life is good and so is my bass in the new car!!! Good luck to you.

:lol:

1234

 

[darklight]

Lol. I figured out to fix the bass problem in my Sportage. I TRADED IT IN on a much better vehicle that isn't a Kia. Life is good and so is my bass in the new car!!! Good luck to you.

Looks like you are enjoying it too!

 

[randomcdn]

Speakers still can't handle it. If you crank the bass in P.BASS up to the top, it ends up muffling the rest, and sounds like junk. In my mind, the audio in the Sportage is the worst thing about it.

Yeah I found this setting and tried it out.. the speakers cant handle it as you said.

 

[Highbeamz]

Bump from the past, but I didn't want to complain about this in a new thread.

I am sitting here at my desktop computer and listening to some music through a relatively cheap set of Logitech speaker (5.1 setup). The sub is actually pretty tiny, four inches I think. I also looked at my home theater sub which is also small (6.5 inches) and cheap. So why in the world do they both put out way more distortion free bass than a eight inch sub in an "expensive" audio system (they do call it premium)?

I am just ranting for the most part and I find the Kia system adequate (certainly better than the garbage Subaru puts in cars), but it just irks me that way smaller speakers with less "power" are putting out more bass in a bigger area (yes I know bass thrives on space at times). If there are two things Kia needs to work on (other than aftermarket support) it is stereos and suspension. Oh and offering manual trans on everything they make.

/rant

Beyond speaker sound quality is also the "box" they put the speaker in. Regarding the stock subwoofer on the premium radio, I did take out whole speaker system including the subwoofer, and the box is clearly inadequate. I have a new 8" subwoofer in the factory housing pushing about 200w peak (100w nominal), and it is MUCH less powerful the 300w subwoofer I use for my home stereo, we're talking substantially so. I think it's all a matter of acoustic tuning, the sub box was designed for form over function. I have had many, many aftermarket stereos, and I can vouch for the fact that the Kia premium radio has reasonably good sound quality, but I will agree the bass is lacking. Hell, my mom's old Dodge Neon had more impressive bass with stock 6x9 rear speakers!

 

[ILLJIM69]

Mentioning a Dodge Neon and bass makes me think of my super riced out 96 Neon coupe, but I had a nice system in it. The bass came from two JL 12w0 subs in a big sealed box and a relatively small Kicker amp. Dude, the bass made your face vibrate. I used to smoke years ago and the air movement was actually visible in the smoke.

Anyway, I understand what you're saying. I was thinking of replacing all the speakers, but the stereo isn't too bad, I just wish there was a touch more "knock".