E350 cab with Harmon kardon
 

Hi, Im new to MB and recently purchased a 2010 E350 cab with the HK audio.
Now the problem I having is with the sub, with anything other than low volume the sub simply distortes, you can get around it by turning down the bass but this kind of defeats the objective of the sub.

Is this a common problem with this car/audio system? I am really disappointed with the system in general particularly as it is supposed to be the premium system.

Welcome, your car is a C207 chassis rather than the W212 which can be found at https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-c...brio-a207-141/

First simple check - is under the Sound\Bass option did you see if it was set at Max +...that might cause your distortion...easy fast check...

Cheers

I sort of disagree. My opinion is that at what they charge us for the sound systems in these cars, they should be able to function well and clearly with all their controls set to "11."

At least, with the bass set to '0' or so, you should never hear any distortion. You may have a bad speaker.

All that would do is insure the "11" on the screen is an effective "5".

Though there definitely should be no distortion at "0". Play with the sound from different sources and if it's all bad it's probably a bad speaker. I have a blown HK speaker too... Whoever had the car before me must have also thought that cranking it to "11" should fall under standard operation... ;-)

Interesting topic to me. My car (HK system) seems to have a lack of bass, even with it set to the upper quarter range in sound settings.

I think it depends on what you're used to, you know? Compared to my Lincoln my E550 has good bass. Compared to my home theater system it's non-existent.

I agree but this is not related to any excessive expectations, it's just low. Anyway, I don't want to hijack the thread, I'm looking at other sub installation threads.
However the OP posting will make me go back and carefully look at settings and to get back under that deck to hear what's going on.
thanks!

Take a look at the wiring and/or have the whole HU scanned. It should not distort at any level. Mine is a 2010 as well and it's perfect at all levels ( almost blew my eardrums out while blasting it to the max for a few seconds). The only weird thing mine does is when the driver's door speakers become mumbled or play at a lower level than the rest, but there's a loose wire in there. A gentle smack will usually resolve that.