Overall, I am pleased with the sound of the upgraded HK system in my 2024 Outback Touring. I would describe the sound as balanced and enjoyable (after tweaking the 3 band eq to my liking). It is just lacking punch and only plays so loud, lacking upper detail and after 2/3 - 3/4 volume it just breaks apart and goes to crap. Now, after 1 year of driving around, it is time to do some upgrades and get it to the next level. The HK system is basically a black box but I have found some good info on the Outback forums.
Lets get to what I have done so far and what I am planning in the future.
I have replaced the left and right factory mid/tweeters with JL Audio C2-350x 3.5" coaxials. This was a PITA as the factory locations do not allow a 3.5" to drop into place. The factory speakers are mounted to a plastic base which is just too small for a 3.5" speaker. Time to pull out the dremel with the flex shaft extension and start grinding away. I would give this a high difficulty rating (luckily no damage to my dash or windshield)
These sound pretty darn good I have to say! I was a bit worried as the HK amp/DSP is tuned for the OEM speakers. Definitely an improvement from the crappy OEM speakers.
I pulled the front door panels off and applied sound dampening pretty much everywhere. But first the plastic membrane had to be carefully taken off.
I first instlalled JL Audio C1 - 650s (93 dB; just used the woofers) and then later replaced them with Hertz C-165 woofers (93 dB) not sure why I didn't use the C2-650 to match with the dash speakers (oh right they seemed pricy). As I found out later by others in the Subaru forums, a higher sensitivity speaker works best here. Both the JL and Hertz can't match the levels I am getting from the dash speakers. (need a bit more midbass) This is the problem you get when dealing with a black box. So that raises the question whether I install an aftermarket amp/dsp. I will probably add this design in a future post if i plan on going that route.
A was brave enough to pull apart the car to get at the OEM subwoofer. You have to remove the rear back seat bottom (pretty easy - 2 clips and pull up) Then unbolt the back seat section on the driver's side where the seatbelt runs through. Then pop away the panels, remove the rear tie-down points (4 or 5) and 2 other screw/bolts that are hidden away Then the whole plastic panel pulls off and then you can access the subwoofer.
I replaced it with an AudioFrog GS8ND2 8" thin-line subwoofer. I just had to make a spacer/bracket out of 3/4" mdf to mount the sub to as the factory holes don't line up. There is definitely some improvement from the OEM sub; namely cleaner/less muddy bass. But it is lacking the whole point of a subwoofer in my opinion.
Again...
The black box...
need more juice to get things moving.
Next step will be installing a link1000.1mini amplifier. My plan is to install it in the rear cargo area to the left of the spare tire. Will be cutting out the styrofoam that lies below the cargo bed so that it will retain the factory look. Autoharnesshouse.com makes some harnesses that I will be using. I plan on tapping into the front door speaker signal as it provides a full range signal and is prob not as adultered as much as the sub signal. The 1000.1.mini has a built in low pass and parametric EQ for my tuning needs.
Okay, thats's it for now. Sorry for the long post. Check out the pics as well.
Lets get to what I have done so far and what I am planning in the future.
I have replaced the left and right factory mid/tweeters with JL Audio C2-350x 3.5" coaxials. This was a PITA as the factory locations do not allow a 3.5" to drop into place. The factory speakers are mounted to a plastic base which is just too small for a 3.5" speaker. Time to pull out the dremel with the flex shaft extension and start grinding away. I would give this a high difficulty rating (luckily no damage to my dash or windshield)
These sound pretty darn good I have to say! I was a bit worried as the HK amp/DSP is tuned for the OEM speakers. Definitely an improvement from the crappy OEM speakers.
I pulled the front door panels off and applied sound dampening pretty much everywhere. But first the plastic membrane had to be carefully taken off.
I first instlalled JL Audio C1 - 650s (93 dB; just used the woofers) and then later replaced them with Hertz C-165 woofers (93 dB) not sure why I didn't use the C2-650 to match with the dash speakers (oh right they seemed pricy). As I found out later by others in the Subaru forums, a higher sensitivity speaker works best here. Both the JL and Hertz can't match the levels I am getting from the dash speakers. (need a bit more midbass) This is the problem you get when dealing with a black box. So that raises the question whether I install an aftermarket amp/dsp. I will probably add this design in a future post if i plan on going that route.
A was brave enough to pull apart the car to get at the OEM subwoofer. You have to remove the rear back seat bottom (pretty easy - 2 clips and pull up) Then unbolt the back seat section on the driver's side where the seatbelt runs through. Then pop away the panels, remove the rear tie-down points (4 or 5) and 2 other screw/bolts that are hidden away Then the whole plastic panel pulls off and then you can access the subwoofer.
I replaced it with an AudioFrog GS8ND2 8" thin-line subwoofer. I just had to make a spacer/bracket out of 3/4" mdf to mount the sub to as the factory holes don't line up. There is definitely some improvement from the OEM sub; namely cleaner/less muddy bass. But it is lacking the whole point of a subwoofer in my opinion.
Again...
The black box...
need more juice to get things moving.
Next step will be installing a link1000.1mini amplifier. My plan is to install it in the rear cargo area to the left of the spare tire. Will be cutting out the styrofoam that lies below the cargo bed so that it will retain the factory look. Autoharnesshouse.com makes some harnesses that I will be using. I plan on tapping into the front door speaker signal as it provides a full range signal and is prob not as adultered as much as the sub signal. The 1000.1.mini has a built in low pass and parametric EQ for my tuning needs.
Okay, thats's it for now. Sorry for the long post. Check out the pics as well.
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@Woofer&Sons I love your post. I just got a used '23 Outback Touring and of course experiencing the same issue as most with the front forward bleak system. I've been searching for posts anywhere which show what others have done to upgrade this basic "premium" sound system. I love the approach you took by addressing the issue a little at a time to see if your fix could potentially occur sooner than splurging on the entire system from the get go.
Appreciate the photos very much. It has the wheels turning on what can be done with a little extra customization in this vehicle. Would you say after putting in the 3.5's in the dash and the 6.5's in the doors before adding an amp, that the sound improved quite a bit? I've read from others to be careful what speakers you upgrade to pair with the stock HK amp due to limited power from the HK Amp.
How did the sound dampening help? Worth the time to put in to sound dampen both front doors? Have you installed the amp? Following this thread for results with the amp. Love what you did with the sub. I'm looking forward to swapping it out.
Appreciate the photos very much. It has the wheels turning on what can be done with a little extra customization in this vehicle. Would you say after putting in the 3.5's in the dash and the 6.5's in the doors before adding an amp, that the sound improved quite a bit? I've read from others to be careful what speakers you upgrade to pair with the stock HK amp due to limited power from the HK Amp.
How did the sound dampening help? Worth the time to put in to sound dampen both front doors? Have you installed the amp? Following this thread for results with the amp. Love what you did with the sub. I'm looking forward to swapping it out.
The 3.5" speakers in the dash were well worth the effort to install. The HK amp drives them nicely and definitely is louder than the stock speakers. It plays loud enough for my tastes, I think it goes up to 40 and the loudest I listen to would be at 32 depending on the song.
The upgraded 6.5s in the doors sound pretty good imo and the sound dampening I am sure helps out although honestly I really never noticed any difference.
I used the factory HK amp to drive the upgraded audio frog sub I installed in the factory location and it sounded a bit better but not by much. So I installed a new amp and now I have to say it is the perfect match for the system. It's enough base for me, it's not going to **** anyone off when I drive by, nor give me tinnitus if I blast it loud all the time. Lol
I Cutout some of the foam, mounted the amp to a board covered in black felt with machine screws and tnuts. The board is epoxied to the bottom of the cargo area.
The factory panels clip back in and everything is hidden. Haven't had any issues with it overheating.
The upgraded 6.5s in the doors sound pretty good imo and the sound dampening I am sure helps out although honestly I really never noticed any difference.
I used the factory HK amp to drive the upgraded audio frog sub I installed in the factory location and it sounded a bit better but not by much. So I installed a new amp and now I have to say it is the perfect match for the system. It's enough base for me, it's not going to **** anyone off when I drive by, nor give me tinnitus if I blast it loud all the time. Lol
I Cutout some of the foam, mounted the amp to a board covered in black felt with machine screws and tnuts. The board is epoxied to the bottom of the cargo area.
The factory panels clip back in and everything is hidden. Haven't had any issues with it overheating.
Wow. That looks great! Really clean work. So the amp you put in is only for the sub. Is that correct? So you disconnected the sub from the HK amp, rewired it to the new amp, and ran a cable from the front of the vehicle to pull signal from front speaker? Or you pulled signal from the front speaker by tapping into the front speaker harness on the HK amp under the seat?
Yes, the amp is for the sub only.
I purchased a harness from auto harness.com which was kind of pricy at 68 bucks. This let me tie into the sub speaker output of HK amp (under passenger seat) which sends signal to the wave tech amp which is capable of accepting high level input. I also ran a remote turn on and rcas from amp location in cargo area to under passenger seat for future if needed. I should note that I had to drill through the firewall to install the 4 gauge power cable (8 would suffice - again future proofing) There is a post in this forum or in the Outback forum with pictures of where to drill. This is where you want to measure 3 times, drill once kind of scenario. Someone else poked through/beside the main harness with a coat hanger and snaked it through. That option sounded way more risky than drilling a new hole.
I purchased a harness from auto harness.com which was kind of pricy at 68 bucks. This let me tie into the sub speaker output of HK amp (under passenger seat) which sends signal to the wave tech amp which is capable of accepting high level input. I also ran a remote turn on and rcas from amp location in cargo area to under passenger seat for future if needed. I should note that I had to drill through the firewall to install the 4 gauge power cable (8 would suffice - again future proofing) There is a post in this forum or in the Outback forum with pictures of where to drill. This is where you want to measure 3 times, drill once kind of scenario. Someone else poked through/beside the main harness with a coat hanger and snaked it through. That option sounded way more risky than drilling a new hole.