If you’re a driver who’s ever wondered if the sound in your car or truck could be better, you’re far from alone. There’s no shortage of companies out there dedicated to improving different vehicles’ audio systems, from speaker upgrades to devices that broaden the range of audio one can hear when driving. Not every improvement requires a massive financial investment, though, and based on the work of one driver, it might be surprisingly easy to upgrade the audio on a certain Kia EV.
This fall, someone with the username nex703 posted an ingenious hack on r/KiaEV6. The post detailed a way to improve the Kia EV6’s sound system without adding any aftermarket upgrades. The post focused on the EV6’s Meridian subwoofer; specifically, on how to improve the quality of sound coming from it.
“I used to be very active in the Hyundai Tiburon forums,” nex703 wrote. “I remembered that there was a very similar problem with the factory subwoofer with those cars and the fix was to simply reverse the positive and negative terminals. I wondered if the problem with these meridian subs was the same so I gave it a shot.”
The user’s solution worked out. “I invite anyone considering doing a subwoofer upgrade to try this first,” they wrote. “Hell everyone should do this just to get a better overall sound. I had my bass slider set to +8 and had to turn it down after this mod.” They pointed to an issue with the speakers being out of phase as contributing to the initial audio quality; changing the terminals evidently fixes this.
The post goes into details on how to do this, along with a few updates — including a link to a short video detailing how to make the change.
In an article on the DIY fix, Chase Bierenkoven at Autoblog went into more detail about how speakers being out of phase can result in certain frequencies being cancelled out — something that can have significant ramifications for, say, the way that bass sounds coming through a sound system.
Despite Ford and Tesla Slumps, Kia Eyes the Electric Pickup Market
The automaker made a surprising announcement during its annual Investor DayAs Caleb Jacobs pointed out at The Drive, issues with the EV6’s sound system have frustrated some drivers recently. Jacobs also spoke with several experts in high-end audio to get a sense of how an issue like this, with a relatively easy fix, went without detection. As for whether Kia itself is aware of the issue, a spokesperson for the company told The Drive, “We are aware of the reports of owners experiencing sound quality issues in some models.”
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