TOPSPIN71

I have HK and recently started hearing a buzz/ rattle from both my front speakers. Anyone else? Know of a fix? Anyone take it in for service?

Thanks In Advance

DiamondNoir2K5

I have had a rattle in the front left speaker since I got the car. I have the harman/kardon system too. I was planning to bring it up during my 1K-3K courtesy visit.

There is another thread I just read today (search for speaker grille or remove speaker) that said it may be caused by a loose grille panel or loose housing for the window/trunk switches. The only way to judge this for yourself is to take off the interior door panel, which requires the removal of 2 torx screws and some plastic clips.

In my case, I find that when I firmly press the top pointed end of the speaker grille against the door, the rattle goes away. I may use some putty to dampen the speaker grille against the control panel and see if that makes the problem go away. If it does, I just won't bother the dealer about it as I'd rather them do less things to my car. I'm taking a cue from that other "I am now a statistic" thread. I'd rather not give anyone a chance to say the speaker is blown (when it is not) and charge me for it.

Btw, all you veterans out there...when you bring your car to a dealer for service, is it rude to ask them not to wash and detail your car?

TOPSPIN71

Thanks for the reply.
As for the car wash, I don't think it's rude at all. I do it all the time.

DiamondNoir2K5

Thanks for the tip on the side markers.

Saprissa

from what i've read... a whole bunch of people explicitly ask the dealer NOT to wash their car, and guess what... it gets washed anyway !
Some have placed big placards on their steering wheels, or left sticky notes on their windows saying "DO NOT WASH", and then bang-zoom, their car is STILL washed !
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also reading old posts, it seems that the H/K sound system has a bunch of bugs that the previous BOSE system was not known for. H/K systems in BMW's were rated as poor by Beemer forum posters. I hope that cheap quality has not bled over to MB cars. I've sat in new '05 cars with the premium sound package (H/K) and played with them a little bit at the dealerships. Hands down, I prefer my BOSE premium sound package 1000 to 1 !

DiamondNoir2K5

F*ck me. That's frightening. What do you do?

Well, the problem I'm having isn't with the sound system itself, it's with the speaker housing/door construction. The sound is good, I just need to dampen a little plastic vibration.

Saprissa

just be very straight-forward with your Service Advisor about the NO CAR WASH thing. The stories related are only worse case scenarios that only a couple of forum posters have mentioned. I don't think every dealership is like that. I personally like to get the Car Wash done at my dealership (MBSD), they do a REALLY good job, and plus my car is Brill.Silver, so I don't have to worry about the swirl marks left on dark-colored cars.
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I think most of the complaints I've read about the H/K system, are things like what you're describing: speaker rattling, subwoofer rattling, distortion, etc....
I like all kinds of music, and for me the BOSE system just "sounds" crisper / cleaner.
I don't know how to put it in words. I had to sit in both (my car outside w/ BOSE), and the '05's sitting inside the showroom with the H/K. Maybe I'm just tone deaf, and dog-whistles would make me roll over without knowing it What do I know?

nicedeboy

I guess some idiots can not look down the list and see another person posted the same problem! JEEZ, its only a day or two OLD for goodness sake.

W0n6_3d4n

Remove the plastic speaker pod all together, replace it with nice thick mdf.

SteveS

That's what I love about this forum. Helpful incite from one of the more prominant members.
Of course, before you call us all idiots, you really should show some proof of your $26,000 05 C55, so you don't look like the king of idots.

cracker123

Speaker problems oh speaker problems, I have had the front left speaker rattle a lot, first the dealer did something about the switches and the rattle died down but it came back up, so he replaced the speaker but th rattle is still there. Then came my center speaker, this speaker basically was giving distored sound at every volume, took the dealer 3 weeks to find the part and replace the part. Now the rear right door speaker is giving random thud sounds during songs. The rear one is not that annoying so I can live with it. He said he will look at it the next time I bring the car in.

I wonder if the other cars with the HK systems are having problems.

onkelmarknr1

i have a clk 500 cabrio with the new h/k soundsytem and my front speaker is also rattling all the time. i brought it to my dealer when i got it back it still rattled!!! i ll bring it over there one more time. if they cant fix it. i ll have to do it myself.

accbenz

I had a rattle in my left front speaker (C230 sedan w/ HK)...it was coming 100% from the trunk release button. If I put the slightest pressure on the button, the rattle stopped. I had a tech take apart the door panel and I think he wrapped the back of the button in some sort of tape. I can't use my trunk release button anymore, but my speaker sounds 100% better, and I can still pop my trunk w/ my key, or from the trunk obviously.

Kar don

Adam, did you try replacing the switch? I would take the switch out, pop the button off and glue it back on, that should probably stop the rattling.

accbenz

not a bad idea, but considering it doesn't rattle now, I don't want to try screwing w/ it. I'll pretty much never use the trunk release button anyway.

awiner

This is a known problem from a shoddy design. When you hear the rattle, touch the trunk opening button. You will feel it vibrating like crazy.

Chedeng_05

I had the same distortion problem with the front center speakers, but it was only for a brief time, cause when i started the engine again the problem went away. I read here before that this was happening to a couple of 2005 owners and i thought mine would be immune... oh well i guess not.

Another rattling sound has been detected on my rear winshield speakers. From the looks of it, it's just a loose speaker grill, i will have the dealer have a look at it.

DAMN, you pay this much for a premium sound and this is what you get?

Shohoku

lol...

anyway, i have the same buzz sound coming from my front left speaker. my friend is also having the same problem, and he just got his car 2 weeks ago . when i first got my car the next day my amp broke for half a day. the next day the whole system started working again. the dealer sd they'll replace the amp and fix the speaker problem. so just take it to the dealer, its free anyway

Saprissa

and that's why I LOVE my BOSE system !!!!

TOPSPIN71

You're very welcome!

DiamondNoir2K5

Btw all, sticking a small piece of putty against the top corner of the speaker grille panel (the vertex where the grille, window/trunk control panel, and door panel meet), and it made my rattle go away mostly. There was still a little left, but putting my finger against the trunk button made that go away as well, so I think maybe I'll put a small bit of adhesive on the trunk button.

And you have no idea how close I came to opening my trunk on the freeway before I realized I might not want to apply too much pressure on the trunk button while driving! Or maybe the car is smart enough to not open the trunk while in (D)rive? I didn't want to test at 75MPH.

Although a glob of putty isn't the most elegant solution, at this point I'd prefer not to bring it to the dealer because of the risk of them:

1. Not fixing it at all, and wasting time.
2. Making it worse.
3. Saying the speaker is blown and charging me for a new one.
4. Washing the car.

TOPSPIN71

Pretty sad that you would have to stoop to this level and call people names over a simple thread. I apologize that I reposted something that has been previously and breifly discussed without a resolution. God forbid that someone comes up with some new/updated info that we could all use. Didn't mean to get your panties in a knot. Sorry

Kar don

this trunk is probably the worst design of the W203. I accidentally hit the trunk button in a low garage and the frekkin thing FLUNG open into a low ceiling pipe.

Chedeng_05

THIS IS NOT HAPPENING... now i'm hearing rattling sounds from my trunk release button as well. Aside from the putty and tape solutions, has anybody brought theirs to the dealer and have them fix it?

And if i decide to go with the putty solution, where do i get one? Does it come in black?

Anaheim_Drew

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