Harmon Kardon

[scratch pervert]

I'm looking at buying a 330ci M Sport and I've narrowed it down to two cars, one of which has Harmon Kardon and the other doesn't. The one without has quite a few other extras though.

What do people think of the quality of the sound comapred to the standard setup?

Does the Harmon Kardon system just include upgraded speakers or is the headunit also different? (both cars have sat nav & tv if that makes any difference)

Is it possible to get as good or better quality sound by upgrading the speakers in the standard setup car to aftermarker jobbies? (not big bass box type stuff, would just look repalcing the speakers that are already in the car)

Any help would be much appreciated

[bazking69]

Personally if the car without HK is the better car I'd go without. Its alot better than the standard system, but nothing that an upgrade on the HU and speakers couldn't easily sort.
Desirable, but don't base a decision on your car having to have a certain option.

[scratch pervert]

bazking69 said:

Personally if the car without HK is the better car I'd go without. Its alot better than the standard system, but nothing that an upgrade on the HU and speakers couldn't easily sort.
Desirable, but don't base a decision on your car having to have a certain option.

I've thought about that option but I don't want to change the head unit as I want to keep the car looking standard

[DaveR]

scratch pervert said:

I've thought about that option but I don't want to change the head unit as I want to keep the car looking standard

Me too.

Things may have moved on since I last looked into this (albeit not very deeply). The standard BMW HUs don't seem to be overly blessed with line-in type sockets so the only way to add DAB at the time was with one of those things that actually receives DAB but then re-transmits on an FM frequency to which you tune your existing head unit. That seemed a bit crap to me.

Like you, however, if it came to me attention that there was a way of bringing about worthwhile improvements by replacing thet standard stuff without going for extra amps, subs and what have you, then I'd be interested.