BTW if anyone is interested here's a proper technical deep dive into the Meridian amp:
Deep Dive Teardown of the Meridian Kia EV6 Audio Amplifier 96370-CV100 Automotive | TechInsights

Free but requires an account created.

It has this interesting detail:

The device included two audio amplifiers provided by STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductors:
• 1 x 4-Channel 27 W Class-D audio amplifier #TDA7803A
• 2 x 4-Channel 140 W Class-D audio amplifier #TDF8536HH

And together with this (Attached) info allows us to better understand the amplification and what is possible with speaker upgrades. For example it seems there are separate channels for the front mid speakers(?) - I assumed the two front channels are 3 way components but it seems the tweeters and bass are on one channel and the dashboard mids are on another? Maybe I'm not reading the diagram correctly.

BTW
The series datasheet does state it's designed for 4 and even 2Ohm loads, although how much power is delivered at what THD and if it overheats in the process is unknown...

PS

Regarding the TDA7803A - that seems to be driving the dash mid speakers, the attached datasheet suggest 20-25W to 4 Ohm loads (with THD ranging from 1% - 10% at the top of this range) - I attached the datasheet - hopefully this will make sense to some of you.

Thank you!

 

...

 

Looking forward to the video! Thanks!

 

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed, this forum is an amazing resource.
I have the Light, so the sound is better than with the Meridian, but I'm planning to replace it with a full Sony ES system.
I'm taking my time to collect all the data, so it'll happen in the next couple of months. When I do, I'll make a detailed video

 

That is indeed my install. I found the sound deadening noticeably cut road noise from the rear at highway speeds. Sound deadener helps dampen higher frequency noise but bass wavelengths are long enough to pass right through.

 

Anyone know the specs for the OEM sub? I would like to just replace the sub with a higher grade 5" sub.

 

There are a number of posts about the Meridian subwoofer here and in other threads (search at the top of every page).

The consensus is that the speaker itself isn't in need of replacement, it's in need of proper amplification. A few have added an auxiliary amp to the the OE sub with positive results. Most have simply replaced it with a powered sub. Like a number of folks I installed a 10" powered sub and it's made a world of difference - details here.

Most everything you need to know about subwoofer options can be found in this thread:

https://www.kiaevforums.com/threads/subwoofer-discussion-continued-once-again.6228/?post_id=82952#post-82952

One of the members kept the Meridian sub box, replaced the sub with this one and added an amp to power it.

That said, here are some of the posts I saved while I was researching. A couple discuss the Meridian sub itself with photos.

https://www.kiaevforums.com/threads/ev6-speaker-upgrade-recommendations.1555/page-3?post_id=41801#post-41801

https://www.kiaevforums.com/threads/ev6-speaker-upgrade-recommendations.1555/?post_id=33386#post-33386

https://www.kiaevforums.com/threads/subwoofer-discussion-continued-once-again.6228/page-18?post_id=101872#post-101872

Hope that helps!

 

I'm having a installation done tomorrow on my ev6 gt 2023 with a 500 whatt Kenwood sub and a amp I'll let you know w it sounds .. he told me they go into the 12v battery not the other one so hopefully not alot of kw drainage....

 

How did it go?

 

Hello everyone, can someone tell me what the colors of the speaker cables in the rear left door are? I would like to tap the cable there and support the standard sound with a Helix U 10. There is no Meridian sound system installed. EV6 GT Line

 

Hi all, I'm new here and I was about to pull the trigger on a GT-Line until I started reading up on all of the negativity around the Meridian system so I wanted to ask some questions to obtain some clarity around these powered sub retrofits.

1. Will I be able to control the bass of the powered sub via increasing the bass slider in the Meridian interface? My goal is to adjust the sub's gain control once then use the bass slider to increase or decrease. I see several pics of a remote to adjust the gain but I would not want to constantly have to go that route, just occasionally.

2. Is it possible to hardwire the powered sub so when I turn on the vehicle the sub automatically powers on as well? I don't wish to power it via that 12V connector.

1. You can use the kia head unit to adjust bass but you will also be adjusting the bass in the front door woofers as well. The remote gain isn't necessary and I don't have mine hooked up.

2. Yes you can tap into the 12v behind the plug for 15amps of power, thats what i use for my Kicker. You can also tap into the trailer hitch harness for 30amps if you want more power. Both methods are documented here on the forum

 

Would you mind quoting where these are shown or located? I've been reading page after page and haven't seen or read a definitive Location to tap into. I guess I could just stop being lazy and dig around back there

 

Hi all, I'm new here and I was about to pull the trigger on a GT-Line until I started reading up on all of the negativity around the Meridian system so I wanted to ask some questions to obtain some clarity around these powered sub retrofits.

1. Will I be able to control the bass of the powered sub via increasing the bass slider in the Meridian interface? My goal is to adjust the sub's gain control once then use the bass slider to increase or decrease. I see several pics of a remote to adjust the gain but I would not want to constantly have to go that route, just occasionally.

2. Is it possible to hardwire the powered sub so when I turn on the vehicle the sub automatically powers on as well? I don't wish to power it via that 12V connector.

 

I recently installed a custom 8 inch fiberglass woofer taking up the bottom area where the oem stock sub did. It is a Dayton audio HO series 8 inch woofer with a 375w rms amp (skar audio 1200 something) and makes more than enough bass. That plus some eq touchups I did on the midrange really make the sound quite good (coming from an audio systems engineer background). Anyone interested in details message me. View attachment 4727

Hi, could you let me know about the cabling on that? I see four cables going into the subwoofer. Can you shed some light on what they are?

 

Kia Connector takes a couple weeks to ship if you don't want to cut the stock speaker harness.

Walk into a Kia parts department and have them order it. It's comes out of the kia warehouse in Ohio. You may pay MSRP but in most cases you are ahead of the game because there is no shipping charge. When I ordered mine it took 4 business days because of the dealerships delivery schedule. They had 10 in the warehouse when I had ordered mine.

 

The subwoofer thread has all the info and brickies post has a good pic of the 12v to tap into. I'd suggest going through the entire thread. Kia Connector takes a couple weeks to ship if you don't want to cut the stock speaker harness.

Subwoofer Discussion, continued once again

Replacing the subwoofer has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. But I wanted to bring this back up based on recent experiences. I took my EV6 to a car stereo shop to look into replacing the subwoofer following the previous advice. What I thought was going to be an easy upgrade ended up...

www.kiaevforums.com

 

Awesome. Thank you.

 

You know. From looking at the pics, I feel like this would get a much better result. Its a lil more but the size is almost the same with a bigger sub

KICKER 46HS10 Compact Powered 10-inch Subwoofer (Renewed) Amazon.com

 

You know. From looking at the pics, I feel like this would get a much better result. Its a lil more but the size is almost the same with a bigger sub

KICKER 46HS10 Compact Powered 10-inch Subwoofer (Renewed) Amazon.com

A few of us already have the Kicker installed. In my case, sound deadening and the kicker 10 made a huge improvement. You won't win any SPL comps, but it does pair well with the Meridian.

 

Anyone been able to "measure" the rear 12V outlet? Truly 180W, 15A?

 

OK figured it out. The positive in the one that connects to the center of the cigarette lighter 12V which has the smaller fitting and the negative the side and larger fitting. By simply sticking these spade connectors into the connector for the 12V it makes it very clean and easily returnable to stock. Only down side is no 12V in the trunk area for now. The Korea connector as I understand it only makes it so you don't have to cut the wires out of the sub that came with the car and mine was not going to arrive for over a month by post so I just used the connector and wires from the old sub. This is the Rockville 8" that I installed that folks recommended for $100.
About the sound. Definitely improves things and I like having the little remote that comes with the unit up front once I figure out how to run the wire and where to put it. As much as this was definitely worth the small investment and actually fun to do I don't believe this will ever be a great sound system. I will be downloading this equalizer app I saw someone on Youtube recommend and I have noticed the system starting to sound a little better over time as the speakers break in. Likely I will be able to live with it now that is has some bass but we will see. My local Cartoys shop wanted $8400 including $1250 to build a custom subwoofer box so I have to feel good about the $150. I am not sure anyone posted pictures of this connection method but then this is one long thread so I might have missed it. Thanks to all the forum contributors here.

 

OK so took the advice of some folks who recommended downloading the Poweramp equalizer and wow it makes this system sound like I imagine it was supposed to in the first place. How it is even possible to get so much more power out of the existing amp and speakers is beyond me but after a bit of a learning curve with the app I have to say I am impressed. I am not into high volume music but I was able to bring out a much more dynamic presentation that i didn't think I would ever get from the Meridian and yes it can blow you out of the car if you want. Still learning the settings and want to listen some more before proclaiming complete satisfaction but I am surprised. I even wonder how this system would sound without replacing the stock subwoofer as it has the potential to bring alot more power to the sub.

 

Go the boot area and pull off the plastic parts to see the quick connector for the sub. put on some music and disconnect and reconnect the quick connector. Almost no difference. The problem is more than location. This thing is like a Catholic girl it just does not put out.

 

Class-action lawsuit to get Kia to address low rear-speaker output? Don't think any lawyer would bother spending their time taking on such a case--it's not as if low rear-speaker output adversely affects vehicle drivability and/or driver safety (warning chimes/alerts emanate from front speakers). Don't get me wrong--I would like nothing better than for Kia to fix the low rear-speaker output once and for all but IMHO it wouldn't and doesn't warrant a class-action lawsuit.

 

There’s a very easy way to hear that the rear speaker sound is broken, to use a non-technical term: play literally any song and set the position to the driver door and then set it to one of the rear doors (you can just click on each of the four door positions in the position setting). It’s like a switch going on and off with the bass as you toggle between front and rear. No need to do fancy sound level readings, at least in our car which is a ‘23 GT-Line RWD, purchased Jan 2023. Do I understand correctly that I’d be wasting my time demonstrating this to a dealer? This sounds like a case for a class-action lawsuit to get Kia‘s attention to fix a manufacturer defect.

 

I was blown off multiple times. They acted like I was crazy and that’s how Kia must’ve designed it. After taking 40+ days to get the AC fixed, I can only imagine how bad they’d be about the speakers. It’s a shame because I’ve used one that worked well and it’s a kick ass speaker system when working correctly.

 

...The cable was run to the the back through the driver-side door sills...

Do you have pictures how this was done? Sorry, this is from another thread

 

Sorry for the delay in responding. I laid the entire length of the cable from driver's-side well all the way along that side of the car to the back hatch subwoofer well. Make sure that you leave enough slack up front to hook-up the remote control knob because it would be hard to get more slack once tucked under the sills. Start from the knob and run the cable from there tucking the cable under/behind the foot well panel and then under the front door sills working towards the back seat. When you get to the side next to the back seat, the sill panel has an extension that has two locating blocks under the extension. You must lift the panel high enough to get the cable beneath and then behind these blocks to keep the cable close to the door sill. The rear hatch panel has 2 bolts that need to be removed, one by the sub well and the other down by the back corner of the rear seat. Both are 10mm and, once removed, you can finish the cable run back to the sub well and then replace the 2 bolts. Hopefully this description and the following labeled images help.

 

Could someone explain, or point to a tutorial, on how to power a Kicker HS10 via the rear 12v Accessory port? I don't want to cut any of the original car wires, so I just want to plug into the port. I assume I need to buy a special 12v plug that I will be able to wire to the sub?

 

You can buy a socket adapter for power or tap into the blue wire that feeds the power (unplug the socket). . Then ground to one of the bolt holes in the area the sub sits in.

 

Has anyone bought this wire harness from HyundaiPartsDeal.com ?

18790-03730-AS Genuine Hyundai Repair Kit-Wiring

Genuine 18790-03730-AS Repair Kit-Wiring fits Hyundai models. HyundaiPartsDeal offers 1879003730AS for $14.16.

www.hyundaipartsdeal.com

I just did, hopefully it's the same as the one on the Korean site.

 

FWIW I have the Rockville SS10P powered via the rear 12V socket; the SS10P utilizes a 20A fuse. In any case the SS10P is performing admirably well in my EV6--it won't wake up the neighborhood by any means but at least now I have some real sub-200 Hz bass in my vehicle.

 

Sorry, my source is licensed. You can do a Google search for "Pink Noise" and find multiple sources quite easily. Just download to a thumb drive and you're good to go.

 

Smh it posted twice