Harmon Kardon on a 2004 HSE Freelander

Hello all.

Im a little confused and perhaps somebody may be able to help me.

I have the Harmon Kardon Audio system fitted to my HSE 2004 Freelander. It has the 8 speakers in the car and I have found the 9th speaker in the boot floor but this is where Im a bit confused. That Sub is firing staight into the wooden sheet that makes up the floor of the cubby hole in the boot (Im sure there is a name for it, but Im sure you all know what Im talking about, you know, the thing that floods when the door seal perish . I dont seem to get any sound out of the sub unless I put my ear on the boot floor and even then I can only just feel/ hear the sub in action. I checked that the sub was functioning by removing the plastic cover and sure enough, the sub is functioning. But there just doesnt seem to be enough power in the sub to move the air like a sub should.

Is this sub just added so it can be sold as a 9 speaker system or is there some hidden control to allow me to up the output from the sub. As it is, I can disconnect the sub and it make absolutely no difference to the sound. Because of the relativily small floorspace of the boot, I dont want to be adding one of those huge sub boxes that looks a little daft.

While I'm talking about the audio system in the Freelander, I did notice that even at low volumes the door cards buzz quite a lot making the sound quite poor. I bought a roll of dynomat and stuck it to the inside of the door card (only enough on one roll for one door card). It didnt stick very well but Icould really tell the difference in sound quality between the the two sides.
Does anybody know of any better and cheaper alternatives to Dynamat. It cost me £20 for one door card and it didnt stick very well at all. I dont think its worth spending £80 to improve the sound and then find that over time the dynamat will unstick and lose what benefit there was initially.

Thanks in advance

Andy

Andy,
I'm not familiar with that set, but a) what diameter is the Sub? b) is there a seperate amp powering it, if it's less than 200w it won't be worth **** anyway, you need some power to move the air....

Neil,

I guess its only a 6inch speaker and no amp specifically for the sub. So I guess its a waste of time.

But why would they bother to have a speaker (small and lacking in power it may be) into a peice of wood with no way for the air from the speaker to move, unless the the plastic cover is acting as some sort of resonance chamber. But again I would assume that needs somethng substantial.

Anybody else got any comments/ help?

Andy

Andy,
I did an install some time ago on a capri with twin 6" bass drivers mounted in the centre console. These were 100w jobbies firing bass straight into the hips of the driver and Front seat passenger, and they worked quite well, from an 100w amp. One 6" bass in the boot of a FL with no amp will do zip IMHO. Even if the head unit has a seperate bass line with 100w you'll struggle to notice owt because a landy is a bit of a soak for resonance/bass. To quote you: "But why would they bother to have a speaker (small and lacking in power it may be) into a peice of wood with no way for the air from the speaker to move". I can only reply with your original query;"Is this sub just added so it can be sold as a 9 speaker system?"

I think you may have answered youself on that one..Depending on the speaker spec, if you put a relatively small amp, say 200w in line before the bass/sub, you should get a decent sound out of it, the only problem is that a 6" won't move much air, and thats what you need for decent bass..a 10" would be load better, but I can't picture the size of the enclosure.Asides, Harmon Kardon are quite good quality speakers, so the rest of the sound quality should be pretty good....

Thanks Neil.

Guess I will just live with it. Cant afford to improve it at the moment (Currently preparing to take a car dealers to court over a miss sold Gap insurance on a car o wrote off, but thats another story), and if I wanted to, I dot want to reduce what little boot space there is.

Andy,
It may be of little use, but you can pick up 200w amps for £50 or so if you visit motorist discount centre type places. They're only about 6" square x 4" deep, hardest part is finding somewhere to put it with adequate ventilation. Power feed from your battery, feed from your head unit and feed out to the bass, you may even get it all in for less. Just had a look on't bay, these may give you an idea or two:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SONY-Xplod-Su...6QQihZ010QQcategoryZ18805QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/VIBE-10-ACTIVE-BAND-PASS-SUBWOOFER-CAR-STEREO-AMP-NR_W0QQitemZ260020722327QQihZ016QQcategoryZ18805QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Amp-Wiring-Kit-300W-includes-all-Cables-RCA-Fuses-etc_W0QQitemZ120022272292QQihZ002QQcategoryZ14932QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Regards,

with regards to the door cards rattling, i had the same problem when i upgraded my system. If you take the door cards off and get some foam padding and attach it around the speaker grill. it will stop the card from vibrating against the body of the car. i also attached some at the bottom of the door card and now i have no noise except the music

My sub rattles the contents of the boot! Suggests there's something amiss with yours. Sorry I'm not an audio buff so can't help further.

Bloody should as well! decent sub should be able to pick the contents of your boot up and throw them around! Plus curdle the insides of anything sat within 3 feet........ *EDIT* Just re-read all the thread, and what docjules has just posted, Andy, check the connection to your speaker, also the condition of the speaker itself, has it got damp at any time? The speaker cone may be ripped/torn, in which case you'll get s*d all out of it. Glad docjules has posted that, to be honest its restored my faith in Harmon Kadron, couldn't see them doing a duff setup in hindsight. Landrover yes, but HK not really...Dave is also right, if you can put a buffer between the speaker and what its mounted in, a shock absorber if you like, it'll stop the vibrations(i.e. the sound) being transfered to the door cards, which make pretty crap speakers, and keep them as clean sound ...

Thanks for that guys.

Looks like its a trip back to the local dealers.

Not necessarily Andy, try these:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/LANDROVER-FREELANDER-PARTS-BREAKING-SALVAGE_W0QQitemZ260022708327QQihZ016QQcategoryZ10376QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/land-rover-freelander-2-0-td4-es-breaking-for-spares_W0QQitemZ260021133728QQihZ016QQcategoryZ31348QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Regards,
NeilC

Its a 2004 Freelander so luckily still under warranty.

Only had the car for a couple of months and trying to get every little thing sorted befor the car is out of warranty. Touch wood, with it being an 04 car, it shouldnt break down QUITE as often.

Andy

Tiny has a kenwood system fitted and it used to loosen just about every bit of trim in her. Last summer I set about sound deadening the entire cab. I found Dynamat a bit of a let down for the price and used "R-Blox". Trust me - this stuff is SUPERB and works a treat. Lots lighter than Dynamat too. I installed anti-drumming pads in all the doors on the inside of the skins, the roof behind the headlining, the bonnet under the felt and all the floors. I then used acustic felt under the headlining and between the door cards and the doors. The difference is AMAZING with the music going full chat. It also kills loads of road noise and engine clatter. The door locking pins tended to rattle and it is quite easy to locate where they catch the door with the cards off. A plaster stuck round the rods did the job. Old mouse mats also work a treat when they have a hole cut in them for going between your speakers and the actual metal of the doors to cut down on resonance. If there is any sound system improver that I can quite happily rave about it is R-Blox. Cost me about £50 for enough to do all the doors and the bonnet. Dynamat is just a pile of poo in my opinion. With regards to the sub - I was toying with installing a sub built into my cubby box too but I would definately give the lid a hole. A Freelander does not have a "solid" parcel shelf so would depend on an enclosure such as the cubby box to have an air hole I would have thought.

Had Hunters Landrover Derby pick te car up from work and asked them to look at the subwoofer.

On return of the car, Suprise suprise, they said there is nothing wrong with it. They put it down to settings on the stereo.
Words from the guy who delivered it back, "look press the db button, press loud and change it to on."

Im not some sort of moron and I know what the loudness button is on a stereo. Anyway, it was too late in the day, wanted to go home and it wasnt really the delivery driver's fault, I suppose he just got told what to say.

Think I will go back to the dealership at the weekend and get them to turn the stereo on a HSE 04 car and see if its any different, but I can tell you, my subwoofer isnt capable of moving a bit of paper around, let alone give some real bass.

Just another let down by a dealership I guess. I wish I still had the Lexus, they really knew how to treat their customers (at a cost of course).