Cubbington

Chipping in as I upgraded the system in mine last summer, as the standard setup is, in my opinion, rubbish. I Dynamatted most of the car, fitted custom-fit Focals front and rear, along with sub in the boot and couldn’t understand why the rears sounded so much worse than the fronts. I also fitted an Audiotec-Fischer Amplifier which is completely configured via PC. The amp has a setting whereby you can measure the input signal for time, phase and frequency response, so you can set it all to a flat response. Surprise surprise, the rear outputs of the standard amplifier are all over the place, and it needed a bit of tweaking to get rid of it. That being said, I agree with previous comments regarding using just the front speakers, and with the measurements I’ve done using a calibrated mic, the system sounds amazing, and much better just using the fronts and the sub (wasted money on the rears if I’m honest). Have a look through the Octavia 3 projects and you’ll see my thread there. Pity it looks like a company car’s on the way and I’ll be selling the Octy after all that work! Cheers, Nick

Are you using an iPhone or Android device?

Thanks Both, I contacted the installation company yesterday, and have asked for them to do a site visit, as they do a few of the systems. Cheers, Nick

Thanks for the additional thoughts and experiences you’ve had. I’ve found a local company that specialise in fitting smart/eco energy systems, so will contact them to discuss the options. I’m leaning towards Nest again for the protect integration with their smoke alarms & Hue, and the learning facility to keep the house at a more constant temperature. Will let you know how we get on! Thanks again, Nick

Have you got scenes working with the Hamony remote? We use a Harmony too (hopefully changing to Control4 at the weekend for the TV/HiFi), and I could only see individual bulb control when Hue was loaded on to both. Seems to be a 50/50 split on Hive vs. Nest, so far...has anyone seen actual savings since having either fitted? As an aside, I did a factory reset on the Hue system a few days ago, and was able to get all lights, sensors & switches on one hub, which has made it a lot nicer to use from the app, so brings it closer to integrating properly with Nest. Cheers, Nick

@rossinio, have you played any more with the EQ settings? I spent some time reading the sound tuning magazines from Audiotec, and it makes more sense now. I bought a Umik-1 mic & small microphone boom stand, and had a quick play yesterday. Using a long cable so I could sit in the back of the car, I got a very nice measurement: The key to it is to try not to go into +0 (increased) on the equaliser, as it introduces distortion if you go to far. Dropping down into -0 (decreased) settings is fine according to Audiotec’s setup recommendations. I also used the ATF reference curve (increased low frequency and decreased high frequency) as this is a much nicer presentation than a flat response curve. If you're interested, do some research on the "Harman Curve", which I'm sure is what the ATF curve is based on. I didn’t have time to EQ the rears and sub, but this is a very good start - with no EQ, the Focals are very bright, as you can see from the dips from 12.5k! Cheers, Nick

@SuperbTWM, thanks, I don’t have to worry about a mess if I go for Nest, as I can put the controller where the current thermostat is: The switch is the Senic Hue with Gira E3 surround in UK backbox; we have normal Gira switches for the bathroom and downstairs loo as they didn’t need Hue lighting, and the switches look the same. @Lady Elanore, Nest can integrate with Philips Hue; I’m not sure if you can use the Nest app to control the lights, but they do work together if you start building the Nest with fire alarms, etc. Cheers, Nick

We live in a fruit-based computer and phone household, so won’t work! Thanks anyway!

Having one app to control it all is really nice, would be great to have that functionality if possible.

@cheezemonkhai Yep, latest V2 bridges, and still hit the limits; I'd noticed operation was becoming a bit flakey, then tried to add a final switch, only to get a message along the lines that the bridge was full and I needed to delete something else before I could add it... I've just counted everything, and we've got 30 bulbs, 3 motion sensors, 1 smart plug & 13 switches - I think it's the combination of sensors, smart plug & switches (11 of which are Senic Gira and can be configured as either one or two switches for hallway/stairways, etc.), as they use a lot of resources. As an aside the Senic Gira switches are great as they are 55mm Euro backbit fittings, and Gira make Euro to UK back box adapters, so you can replace your original UK switches and have a nice clean installation. What I should do is do a hard-reset and clear everything, then try to configure it all again with one hub...it's just a pain though, as we've got some nice scenes, routines & timed motion sensors rules configured, and I really don't want to have to go through setting them all up again!!! Cheers, Nick

I think a Zigbee network is it's own wireless mesh network independent to your wifi network. Good comment regarding Tado, and even though I love the look of the control panel, I'm not too sure about just having customer support on email and phone; it's a heating system, so one of a home's essential services, so if it goes wrong and it's something I can't fix, I'd like to know an engineer can be called to fix it if need be. It's not a dealbreaker, but Tado also requires a £3/month subscription for all the functionality...these systems are supposed to save money over the long-term, so then spending an additional £36/year doesn't quite work for me - they could increase the cost of the subscription at any time too...

Good to check though I was looking at a third party Hue website whilst you were checking out your Hive limits and it seems that they're very similar - you can apparently connect up to 64 bulbs to a Hue hub but it's not recommended as it starts becoming unresponsive. There was reply to the article from one guy saying that he had 50 bulbs just in his kitchen and living room alone...say what now?!

Worth checking! With Hue it's something like 50 bulbs & 12 devices; it's based on physical hardware so clustering/grouping bulbs and devices doesn't reduce those limits. When you take the system for granted and just start replacing every bulb in the house over time, you don't realise how many you have...and we hardly live in a mansion!!! Hopefully Philips release an updated hub with more memory; the other problem with having two hubs is that you can only use one for geolocation settings, so it does limit the functionality a bit. That being said, I love the simplicity of the Philips system, it's bullet-proof, easily installed and only as expensive as you want to make it by adding more rooms...I travel a lot for work (under normal circumstances), and Mrs Cubbington loves the Hue system as she's set scenes and timers to emulate the normal times I'm up and about, and feels safer for it - she knows how to use it more than me! Sorry, digressing from the original post there! Nick

Thanks @Liger1956, nice to also read from you that it's easy to install Hive. @Lady Elanore I just checked Hive's website, and it appears that you can link Hive to Hue, however you can link it to one Hue Hub...I have two Hue Hubs as they actually have a very limited amount of memory, and I hit the limit of how many devices you can attach to one hub, which was frustrating (very first-world level of frustration ) as we don't exactly live in a mansion. You have to switch between hubs in the Hue app to control the different rooms/lights that are assigned to each hub...clunky. I needed to buy a separate app (iconnecthue, brilliant) to control it all seamlessly. I think the best thing to do would keep the heating and lighting separate...it's hardly a hardship to have separate apps, and as mentioned before, these are very first-world problems to be trying to resolve... Have a good evening all, Nick

Hi There Lady Elanore, Thanks so much for the detailed reply, and nice to hear you've had a good experience with the Hive system. Good to know it's simple to use, and I do like the integration features, however have Philips Hue lighting throughout, and know that Hive doesn't integrate with this system, whereas Nest does - not essential, but nice to have. Thanks again, really useful info Nick

Try pressing the brake pedal a bit harder and see what happens - mine does the same and couldn't figure it out for ages! Guess it stays at slightly higher revs if you anticipate moving away more quickly. Cheers, Nick

OK, so I was up at the crack of a sparrow's fart this morning, so decided to look at what I'd been playing about with yesterday and could see what I was doing without the sun hitting the ultra-reflective screen of the crappy old laptop...I've ordered a cheap anti glare screen protector as it's really unusable with any sort of light on it... Anyway, I figured out that I was adjusting individual, rather than global channels, so that's one thing to try again. After finding so much additional information from the first Apicella Auto Sound video on YouTube, I watched their second video on configuring the input/output settings, and they showed yet another configuration screen I hadn't known about...an image of sliders, which is actually a button tab to get to the page... Anyway, this page allows you to analyse the incoming signal from the headunit to see if any EQ, time delay, or filters have been applied. You need to use an correlated (mono) pink noise signal, which you can download from Audiotec-Fischer's website, mute the outputs within the DSP software so you can turn the volume up without annoying the neighbours, start the test tone playing, and then hit the start button in the software, let it sweep a few times, and you'll see exactly what the factory headunit's outputting, and can then tweak up to 5 points to get as flat a response as possible...this answered the question as to why the rear outputs sound so different to the fronts, see the images below of the difference; the red line is the EQ adjustment and green is the actual output: Front measured & unadjusted: Rear measured & unadjusted (that upper midbass hump confirms how it actually sounds): Front left channel adjusted: And this is the icon on the IO page you need to click to get you to the page above: Link to the setup video: @JohnnyType2 I don't know if you've got the ability to do something similar with your amps and DSP setup, but if so, probably worth looking at! I've not got the time to play about with this today, as it's not a 5 minute job, so will have a play about on Sunday if I get the chance, or take a day off to play properly. Cheers, Nick

I understand why it was a ball-ache now...I'm in a similar position as you, and all the extensive work was done at my buddy's in a 2-car car port with a roof and space to work around so the car was left in pieces safe and dry over a few days, rather than being at home where I have a shared drive and have to get everything packed up each day! Good that you'r cracking through the sound deadening, and I'm sure under the bench did make a difference, as it's a big piece of hollow metal! Funny you posted when you did, as I nipped out for a while at lunchtime today to have a first pop at using the UMIK and eq software...not particularly intuitive when you're using a 13" laptop with a shiny screen...it took a few attempts figuring out the reference curve and offset levels, and I know it's wrong; I had the mic sat on a stand on the centre armrest for the measurements and did the auto setup as you did...cut it short as I needed to get back to my desk, and I've just looked to get a screenshot to compare to yours (please post) only to find that both front speakers have measured wildly differently and I thought I had the distance settings correct, but only had the front right speaker set... Hey ho, got the time to play here and there, and even though it's not right, it certainly sound better than non-eq'd as the Focal's are tad brighter than the standard speakers! Glad to have helped with regards to the fitting of the Focals, you do need connectors as Skoda use different ones to VW, but if you look up through the thread, you'll see which ones you need to buy. If I didn't post the part numbers, I'll try to find them and post them up for you; I also needed to buy a cheap crimp tool from Ebay for the pins. Almost forgot, I also ordered the URC.3 remote control so I can switch between two setup memories for 'driver' and 'all passengers' without having to get the laptop out to switch between the two. Glad you're making progress too! Cheers, Nick

Reading some of these comments it seems that quite a few want Audi quality interior and insulation for Skoda money 😉 We're on one of the lower rungs of the VAG hierarchy remember! That being said, I'd like heavier duty/stiffer rear springs even on the VRS...with the tons of Dynamat in the rear-end of mine it certainly looks like it's sitting lower, but at least there's less road noise 🤣 Cheers, Nick

That's certainly a lot cheaper than Super Skoda! Will be good to see how well they last over a few months.

You're welcome buddy, and it's what's prevented me from buying one and doing it to be honest...just need to man up and do it 🤣 It looks so much better than the silver grille on VRS... You now just need the colour-coded Skoda emblems from Super Skoda now 😎 What would also be really cool is a full set of black badges, which I think are also available from Super Skoda, or maybe even the main dealer, seeing as the new cars are appearing with them. Cheers, Nick

Skinned fingers will heal, the old silver one can go into plastic recycling, and that looks great, nice one 👍

Thanks Jfhuk, I'm sure note everyone's experience is the same, but sounds like you've not had a great experience with Hive. My view is that there's always going to be an issue with a product you buy at some point, but it's how a company responds and resolves that issue that that matters.... Cheers, Nick

Also throwing Tado into the mix, as the name has cropped up a few times, but I'd not really paid it any mind: https://www.t3.com/features/hive-vs-nest-vs-tado-review Best, Nick

Hi Mort, Thanks for the additional comments; we're in an exclusively Apple house, although don't use HomeKit yet, I'm sure there'll be a time when we do want to; Hue is regularly reminding us to link it with HomeKit & Siri! I had thought about Nest being Google-based may limit us in the future, but you mentioned the fire alarms, and the addition of those and doorbell/camera which also integrate with Hue caught my attention with regards to system building over the coming years...our current fire alarms (installed from new) are so sensitive you almost only have to fart and they go off 🤣 We live on a relatively quiet estate, and regularly hear them going off somewhere or other almost on a daily basis!!! For us, main control via an app isn't a priority, and I do like to have a master over-ride (replacing all the physical light switches with wireless Senic/Gira for the Hue was a big leap of faith for me!), but I hadn't thought about TRVs having an impact on Nest's learning capabilities, and do really like the idea of individual room control. I've just had another look, and pricing it up in stages, the Honeywell Evohome doesn't come in that much more expensive than Hive (based on us needing 8 x TRVs if we were to go down the full smart option), but of course it (Honeywell) all really needs to be done in one hit... Our house is only 8 years old, but we're currently waiting LVT flooring to be fitted on the ground floor, and after lifting the carpet and underlay a couple of weeks ago we've found why downstairs is probably so chilly with the mess of the concrete allowing draughts in from the front and back doors, and even the middle of the house with big gaps & holes giving a gentle breeze, the company are levelling the floor with latex screed so hopefully that'll sort those problems out! The first owners also had a loft conversion done, and we're not too sure how well they've done the insulation, so that's another project for another time... I think I need to find an installation company that does both or all to get a measured opinion...we've done that with the company that are doing our flooring and are happy with our choice of manufacturer there! Thanks, Nick