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Harmon Kardon Question

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#1
I took delivery of my 2019 WBSP this past weekend and on the drive home from the dealership I encountered an issue with the Harmon Kardon sound system.
When the car goes over bumps in the road, the front driver’s side door and left dash speaker intermittently cut out (no sound) and then come back within a few seconds.
As I had a fairly long drive home from the dealership I was able to narrow down which speakers were intermittently cutting out by adjusting the fade control to the four different quadrants of the car.
When the fade control was set to the front drivers side there was no sound coming from any of the speakers when the intermittent cutout takes place.

My hypothesis and hope is that there is a loose connection at the amplifier as more than one speaker is experiencing the same issue so it is unlikely a loose connection/short at a single speaker. However if the two (or more) speakers share any common wiring there could be a short or pinched wire in the harness.

Under normal circumstances, I would have turned around and just brought the car back to the dealership, however the car showed up two weeks early and my wife was literally on her way out the door to go see her sister in Milwaukee for the weekend when we got the call that our car was at the dealership and ready to be picked up. My wife agreed to delay her departure so we could go pick the car up with the understanding that she had to leave for her sister’s right when we got home.

Before I make a service appointment and take the car back to the dealership, I would like to know where the amplifier is mounted and how to gain access to it.
If it is something as simple as a loose connector I would prefer to try to rule that out on my own.

From the diagram on Harmon kardon’s website, it looks like the amp is in the front of the vehicle, possibly under the dash?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Eric.
 


steven_sbs

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#2
I took delivery of my 2019 WBSP this past weekend and on the drive home from the dealership I encountered an issue with the Harmon Kardon sound system.
When the car goes over bumps in the road, the front driver’s side door and left dash speaker intermittently cut out (no sound) and then come back within a few seconds.
As I had a fairly long drive home from the dealership I was able to narrow down which speakers were intermittently cutting out by adjusting the fade control to the four different quadrants of the car.
When the fade control was set to the front drivers side there was no sound coming from any of the speakers when the intermittent cutout takes place.

My hypothesis and hope is that there is a loose connection at the amplifier as more than one speaker is experiencing the same issue so it is unlikely a loose connection/short at a single speaker. However if the two (or more) speakers share any common wiring there could be a short or pinched wire in the harness.

Under normal circumstances, I would have turned around and just brought the car back to the dealership, however the car showed up two weeks early and my wife was literally on her way out the door to go see her sister in Milwaukee for the weekend when we got the call that our car was at the dealership and ready to be picked up. My wife agreed to delay her departure so we could go pick the car up with the understanding that she had to leave for her sister’s right when we got home.

Before I make a service appointment and take the car back to the dealership, I would like to know where the amplifier is mounted and how to gain access to it.
If it is something as simple as a loose connector I would prefer to try to rule that out on my own.

From the diagram on Harmon kardon’s website, it looks like the amp is in the front of the vehicle, possibly under the dash?

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks,

Eric.
Congratulations on your new car. Sorry to hear you have a problem.

Since your car is only a day old, I would suggest not tearing into it to fix the problem yourself. With dealers being... well dealers, they will do anything to restrict your warranty. I would be afraid of the dealer saying that you caused the problem, or made a problem worse, and therefore, you have to pay for the repair. I know it sucks to have a brand new car with a problem, but this is an easy fix for the dealer. The chances of breaking a panel clip or connector is more than I would want to risk on a new car. Keep us posted.
 


Slowpoke387

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#3
Gotta be a connector not clicked in all the way.
 


Hunter

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#4
Absolutely agree with @steven_sbs
Don't mess with it. Let the dealer.
Have never had any issues similar to yours.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #5
Thanks for the advice. I will make a service appointment at a different dealership that is quite a bit closer to home for me after the car is done at the detailer / PPF installer next week.
 


Hunter

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#6
Thanks for the advice. I will make a service appointment at a different dealership that is quite a bit closer to home for me after the car is done at the detailer / PPF installer next week.
Definitely keep us posted as to what they find out.
 


OP
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Thread Starter #7
Update:

The amplifier is in the lower dash on the left side of the steering column. The wiring harnesses are plugged in on the bottom of the amp. No panels need to be removed to gain access to them.
The negative battery cable gets disconnected and the wiring harness going to the front speakers was unplugged, inspected and plugged back in. The battery cable was reconnected and I was on my way.
So far the issue with the front driver’s side speakers cutting out intermittently seems to be resolved.

Eric.
 


Go Goody

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#8
If I had seen this I would have directed you to the amp....Glad you are all set.
 




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