Agreed to all that thisi9s a weakness. As A lotus driver, I have always placed the primary premium on the driving experience. This is the weakness of the tech laden Korean cars. Things like numb on center steering, mushy brakes, poorly matched damper/spring rates. These are all things Alfa Romeo has done with the best!
I do not have a reference of the base sound system in any car except some BMW loaners I've had over the years.. Base sound in those is classic german tin. The HK has mixed qualities. Staging is pretty decent and I use surround mode, and my settings are +2 treble, -1--2 mid, +5bass. I have reset everything a few times, and whether it be my phone playing Google Play, Sirius or radio, I keep zeroing in on these settings with my ears. I may not be a former sound installer but MY guy is an ex Navy sub sonarman and he is a multi time national champ in audio sound. Staging is always criteria #1 for him. My home stereo is Macintosh powered and my ears grew up on good old AR3A's which were the flat true sound of their era. A simple sub upgrade might do wonders to fill out the overly mid happy stock sound. Tweeters seem fine with plenty of headroom. A better amp with more headroom is probably going to be key as well. Its like HP, more is better, weight is the enemy however. When someone locates the amps, game on! if I can use my minimally compressed Ipod in the absence of a CD player.