Ideal EQ Settings for HK Audio System

[SROC3]

Originally Posted by joeykayo

I know this is kind of an old thread but just wanted to share my settings and methodology.

I used a UMIK-1 calibrated microphone and used REW to do the measurements. I did a few sweep tests with the settings on the car set to 0 and Logic7 turned off. I then used the AutoEQ function in REW to create a correction profile. I then applied that to a MiniDSP (basically a mini computer that does digital signal processing.)

One difference between my settings and Lincoln30's is that I created a correction profile set to a "house curve", specifically the Harman curve. Double-blind tests by Harman and B&K have shown that (some/many/most?) people prefer a slightly increased bass response and a slight treble roll-off as opposed to a completely flat response. If that appeals to you, you may like my settings. I find that flat is not ideal for me especially considering the music has to fight with engine noise, road noise etc. My settings actually weren't too different from the ones Lincoln30 posted as his #2 setting, so that was good. My measurements showed the same issues that Lincoln30 stated were "unfixable" without some hardware upgrades. I completely agree.

After I had the correction profile applied to the MiniDSP, I ran some pink noise through the system and took another measurement and used that as a reference. I set REW to 1/1 Octave because that is all the refinement our BMW's EQ will allow. Then I ran pink noise without any DSP corrections and instead tried to match my reference measurements only using the M3's EQ adjustments.

Here are my settings:
Treble: 0
Bass: 0
Logic7: off
100hz: -2
200hz: -3
500hz: +2
1khz: 0
2khz: 0
5khz: 0
10khz: +1

I've attached my frequency response measurements from REW.

Blue line: EQ settings flat (stock settings) logic7 off
Green line: Correction profile created by REW AutoEQ applied to MiniDSP
Gold line: EQ settings on the car (as closely matched as possible) to REW's AutoEQ settings on MiniDSP

Update: After analyzing the stock settings, it looks like they closely follow the Harman/JBL house curve (it is a Harman Kardon system). It looks like what they've done is boost the lower frequencies (from about 300hz down to 50hz) possibly to account for road and engine noise. Just a thought. These guys might not be so thoughtless after all. I've come to this conclusion because after making the initial adjustments while parked, the system sounded awesome. When I started driving, I felt like the bass was being drowned out by noise. I looked back at the graph to see what I adjustments I should make to the low end. Oh wow, they already thought about that. Darn you BMW! :-)

Great post

Tried the settings earlier and they work very well - however, the bass is set a tad high for my ears since I listen to music a little on the louder side.

Do you have suggestions for settings if i wanted to lower the bass curve a little, while still maintaining the integrity of the above settings as a whole?

[joeykayo]

Originally Posted by SROC3

Great post

Tried the settings earlier and they work very well - however, the bass is set a tad high for my ears since I listen to music a little on the louder side.

Do you have suggestions for settings if i wanted to lower the bass curve a little, while still maintaining the integrity of the above settings as a whole?

Have you already tried the settings by Linocoln30? His is settings are calibrated for a flat target response whereas mine are purposely tuned to a Harman curve which calls for increased bass.

[ihg90]

Originally Posted by Snappy Phoenix

so code it

haven't seen the coding for that - is it posted?

[Zomboss]

Thank you for the analysis! After just reading the entire thread, my conclusion based on your finding is that the stock EQ settings are already well tuned, not for a flat FR curve but for a pleasant sound experience to compensate for engine and road noise while driving.

Originally Posted by joeykayo

I know this is kind of an old thread but just wanted to share my settings and methodology.

I used a UMIK-1 calibrated microphone and used REW to do the measurements. I did a few sweep tests with the settings on the car set to 0 and Logic7 turned off. I then used the AutoEQ function in REW to create a correction profile. I then applied that to a MiniDSP (basically a mini computer that does digital signal processing.)

One difference between my settings and Lincoln30's is that I created a correction profile set to a "house curve", specifically the Harman curve. Double-blind tests by Harman and B&K have shown that (some/many/most?) people prefer a slightly increased bass response and a slight treble roll-off as opposed to a completely flat response. If that appeals to you, you may like my settings. I find that flat is not ideal for me especially considering the music has to fight with engine noise, road noise etc. My settings actually weren't too different from the ones Lincoln30 posted as his #2 setting, so that was good. My measurements showed the same issues that Lincoln30 stated were "unfixable" without some hardware upgrades. I completely agree.

After I had the correction profile applied to the MiniDSP, I ran some pink noise through the system and took another measurement and used that as a reference. I set REW to 1/1 Octave because that is all the refinement our BMW's EQ will allow. Then I ran pink noise without any DSP corrections and instead tried to match my reference measurements only using the M3's EQ adjustments.

Here are my settings:
Treble: 0
Bass: 0
Logic7: off
100hz: -2
200hz: -3
500hz: +2
1khz: 0
2khz: 0
5khz: 0
10khz: +1

I've attached my frequency response measurements from REW.

Blue line: EQ settings flat (stock settings) logic7 off
Green line: Correction profile created by REW AutoEQ applied to MiniDSP
Gold line: EQ settings on the car (as closely matched as possible) to REW's AutoEQ settings on MiniDSP

Update: After analyzing the stock settings, it looks like they closely follow the Harman/JBL house curve (it is a Harman Kardon system). It looks like what they've done is boost the lower frequencies (from about 300hz down to 50hz) possibly to account for road and engine noise. Just a thought. These guys might not be so thoughtless after all. I've come to this conclusion because after making the initial adjustments while parked, the system sounded awesome. When I started driving, I felt like the bass was being drowned out by noise. I looked back at the graph to see what I adjustments I should make to the low end. Oh wow, they already thought about that. Darn you BMW! :-)

[sleeprequired]

Originally Posted by Bluehinder

I gotta believe it's stock. They were paid to engineer a high end system out of the box.

If you’ve ever had a truly high quality stereo in a car, you’ll know NO car manufacturer puts them in.

[Workaholic]

Can somebody post some updates with M4/M3 systems from 2017 and higher? My new M4 sounds different compared to my previous M4 from 2015. Both equiped with HK and set to standard/stock audio settings.

Also the settings posted in this thread are now different due to use of a different graphical view. See image examples below (not mine btw - from google)



Thanks for your help!

[UBERV8]

^ Same here... It's decent but I feel the EQ settings can bring in a tad more clarity and low end.

I may look into BAV sounds options soon

[MFNATIK]

The 2017-18 cars do sounds different. It was the first thing I noticed when switching from the 2016. I say there is not right or wrong eq settings. Just tweak to to your taste. The system just sounds better (Fuller) overall. I applied the B&O EQ and liked that alot as well.

[satinghostrider]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

The 2017-18 cars do sounds different. It was the first thing I noticed when switching from the 2016. I say there is not right or wrong eq settings. Just tweak to to your taste. The system just sounds better (Fuller) overall. I applied the B&O EQ and liked that alot as well.

Can you post your B&O Eq settings or at least a link here if you do not mind?
I am keen to try on my 2017 ZCP M3.


Thanks!

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by elmariachi

Can you post your B&O Eq settings or at least a link here if you do not mind?
I am keen to try on my 2017 ZCP M3.


Thanks!

It requires software coding to activate the option. Check the coding section for more info.

[Workaholic]

Hi, can this be done by Carly by any chance instead of manual coding?

Besides this B&O coding:

Anybody have some recent photo's from the Equalizer settings in 2017+ M3/M4 models? I'm not happy with the sound and I also drive a 2017 3 series with hifi (not harmon kardon) and this sounds much better (doesn't have EQ setting option so can't copy)

[1QuikWS6]

Hi, can this be done by Carly by any chance instead of manual coding?

No

[Rxpert]

Originally Posted by Workaholic

Can somebody post some updates with M4/M3 systems from 2017 and higher? My new M4 sounds different compared to my previous M4 from 2015. Both equiped with HK and set to standard/stock audio settings.

Also the settings posted in this thread are now different due to use of a different graphical view. See image examples below (not mine btw - from google)



Thanks for your help!

Bumping this thread. Just picked up my 2018 and would love some updated/current equalizer settings if anyone has. Anyone?

[TheOtherOne]

I'm curious about this too. I tried all of the suggestions and it still sounds like shit.

Originally Posted by Rxpert

Bumping this thread. Just picked up my 2018 and would love some updated/current equalizer settings if anyone has. Anyone?

[MFNATIK]

Originally Posted by Rxpert

Bumping this thread. Just picked up my 2018 and would love some updated/current equalizer settings if anyone has. Anyone?

BMW updated the HK system on MY2017 and probably again on 2018s so the settings here aren't relevant to your car.

[Rxpert]

Originally Posted by MFNATIK

BMW updated the HK system on MY2017 and probably again on 2018s so the settings here aren't relevant to your car.

.....lol......that's exactly why I was asking if anyone had any updated settings for MY2018 cars haha

[satinghostrider]

Originally Posted by Rxpert

.....lol......that's exactly why I was asking if anyone had any updated settings for MY2018 cars haha

Am also keenly looking for anyone with the updated settings for the new MY2018 cars...

[satinghostrider]

Anyone managed to find golden settings for the new idrive system? Keen to try it out if anyone has.


Thanks!

[thermalc]

Bump...

[wasabii]

I just got a 2018 F80 ZCP and the stereo sounds horrible.

I listen to the radio a lot and playing music over it is way too low. You cannot really make out the words in the song and the bass is lacking hard. Then when you do increase the volume, certain sounds in the songs sound really high pitched and static like which sounds atrocious.

I haven't touched the EQ settings because I have no idea what any of the settings do, but I feel like I shouldn't need to.

For such an expensive car, I cannot believe my Altima's stereo beats this car's stereo by a long shot.

If anyone has EQ settings or tips of any kind, I would appreciate it.

[satinghostrider]

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1329316

Bass flat
Treble +1
100 +7
200 -6
500 -4
1k +5
2k -4
5k +2
10k -1

Tried it and it is not too bad. Though I had to crank the bass up by 2 as I felt it was lacking. I am mostly EDM and Trance. A noticeable difference.
Though I would love for someone to post their own settings based on my music genre listening...Predominantly listening on Spotify which are downloaded in max quality to my phone streamed over Bluetooth.

[Colomba]

Originally Posted by satinghostrider

https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1329316

Bass flat
Treble +1
100 +7
200 -6
500 -4
1k +5
2k -4
5k +2
10k -1

Tried it and it is not too bad. Though I had to crank the bass up by 2 as I felt it was lacking. I am mostly EDM and Trance. A noticeable difference.
Though I would love for someone to post their own settings based on my music genre listening...Predominantly listening on Spotify which are downloaded in max quality to my phone streamed over Bluetooth.

Hi,

Is this for 2018 cars?