I liked my Mk2 speakers as well. I have Canton and it is better. The front door speakers are still rather rattily but I understand that the standard spec is worse than the system in the MK2.

Ive said it before but physically there isnt alot wrong with the hardware in the standard 8 speaker O3.

Front and rear are 165mm/6.5" woofers, the fronts I believe are a little more potent with slightly bigger magnets (if the Canton is anything to go by) and usual tweeters.

its the way sound is delivered via the HU that ruins the experience, it caps low bass frequencies to prevent the woofers being overdriven and does so very harshly. If you play very challenging deep house music (not to all tastes but its what I like) the low frequency cutting is so obvious its embarrasing...the bass cuts in and with some songs volume is cut 30/50%....garbage if you want to listen to a particular song loud.

i suspect the same happens with the canton to a degree but its higher output and subwoofer limit the effects.

It has to be said with the standard system..jack the bass right up, give it time to bed in and feed it somw reasonable quality sources (even some HD stuff via YouTube is quite good) it sounds half decent...just in most cases doesnt go v loud.

Shame as the standard system in my Mk2 vRS was about the best standard OEM system id heard in a car...a bit brash perhaps but thats how I like my sounds, loud, clear and bassy.

In Norway FM probably shuts down in 2017, and all broadcasts will be Dab+.

 

 

This is indeed the rumour. Norway (state not people) is under some pressure as they were one of the main "leaders and promoters" of DAB within Europe.

 

I reckon the FM signal will continue after 2017. With the availability of internet radio, coupled with the problems with DAB, there are just too many reasons not to switch over totally to DAB.

 

This is just an opinion but let's revisit in 2017

This is indeed the rumour. Norway (state not people) is under some pressure as they were one of the main "leaders and promoters" of DAB within Europe.

I reckon the FM signal will continue after 2017. With the availability of internet radio, coupled with the problems with DAB, there are just too many reasons not to switch over totally to DAB.

This is just an opinion but let's revisit in 2017

Its not a rumour. The dab coverage goals have already been met. And so has almost the goal that a certain % of listeners use digital radio.

The only obstacle is the availability of DAB in cars. But with better adapters coming, thats really not a problem. And most new cars are already sold with DAB radios.

So Im quite certain that they will pull the plug on Fm in 2017. It might get postponed to 2019, but I doubt it.

Its not a rumour.

 

Sorry, but my opinion was based on your statement:

 

 

In Norway FM probably shuts down in 2017, and all broadcasts will be Dab+.

 

 

And until that happens, it's nothing more than a rumour in my opinion. Nobody knows for sure that Norway will shut down FM in 2017. Do you know for sure? I don't....

 

 

rumour

noun

noun: rumour; plural noun: rumours; noun: rumor; plural noun: rumors

1.

a currently circulating story or report of uncertain or doubtful truth.

 

Well, the plan is to shut it down in 2017 if certain criteria are met. And those are as good as met, so I would call it more than just a rumour. 

 

As far as the media stories go, its almost a fact. 

Edited 2 April, 201511 yr by Gromle

Well, the plan is to shut it down in 2017 if certain criteria are met. And those are as good as met, so I would call it more than just a rumour. 

 

As far as the media stories go, its almost a fact. 

I see where susi is coming from with his scepticism. Every Finn knows this little piece of legislation "jätevesiasetus"*. It's been due to be implemented next year for about a decade now and there's no end in sight... So until a law is actually implemented, we're not convinced it ever will be.

 

*haja-asutusalueiden jätevesiasetus = statute regarding the treatment of waste water in dispersed settlement areas

I see where susi is coming from with his scepticism. Every Finn knows this little piece of legislation "jätevesiasetus"*. It's been due to be implemented next year for about a decade now and there's no end in sight... So until a law is actually implemented, we're not convinced it ever will be.

*haja-asutusalueiden jätevesiasetus = statute regarding the treatment of waste water in dispersed settlement areas

I guess the difference is that the waste water is something you want done? The shutting down of the FM is something the majority is sceptic to. So that alone will make it happen :p

Edited 2 April, 201511 yr by Gromle

I guess the difference is that the waste water is something you want done? The shutting down of the FM is something the majority is sceptic to. So that alone will make it happen :p

I would want it done right, but none of the sketches for the waste water statute so far have made any sense. It's pretty universally hated.

This is indeed the rumour. Norway (state not people) is under some pressure as they were one of the main "leaders and promoters" of DAB within Europe.

I reckon the FM signal will continue after 2017. With the availability of internet radio, coupled with the problems with DAB, there are just too many reasons not to switch over totally to DAB.

This is just an opinion but let's revisit in 2017

And today it stopped being a rumor, as you put it. The government decided to pull the plug on Fm radio in 2017.

That's quite soon!

Yeah, but it has been a work on progress for some years already. Its just the final decision that has been made.

Edited 16 April, 201511 yr by Gromle

in the UK DAB take up has been very slow, latest estimate for FM switch off here is at least 2022 but its been pushed back over and over. At the end of 2013 the UK government abandoned the switch off plan all together.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10520514/Reprieve-for-FM-as-Government-abandons-digital-radio-deadline.html

 

 

DAB in the UK went from being decent quality, till the money counter decided to go for station quantity over quality. Here in the UK we even have 64kbps mono music stations that sound like crap. The mainstream music staions are mostly 128kbps MP2 Stereo based on technology developed in the 1980s. Germany also abandoned this technology several years ago and switched to DAB+ but here we stuck with lots of poor quality stations.

 

Most people don't notice the poor quality because they listen to DAB on cheap radios, some with only a single speaker. The same station played through a decent stereo sounds worse than a poor quality audio stream from the internet.

Im not quite sure what quality stations transmits with here.

The biggest problem as I see it is coverage. We have lots of Mountains, deep valleys and fjords. I cant believe that dab+ reception is as good as Fm.

But I'll get my octy delivered in a week or so, then its time find out.

Wondering if I should get on the phone and add canton to my order! Is the standard system no good? I've an octy vRS estate on order

I took the Canton and Columbus together, also because Columbus adds a more powerful amp. 

Then I took another plunge and added this little toy to the option list, not Skoda standard of course:

 

in the UK DAB take up has been very slow, latest estimate for FM switch off here is at least 2022 but its been pushed back over and over. At the end of 2013 the UK government abandoned the switch off plan all together.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/media/10520514/Reprieve-for-FM-as-Government-abandons-digital-radio-deadline.html

DAB in the UK went from being decent quality, till the money counter decided to go for station quantity over quality. Here in the UK we even have 64kbps mono music stations that sound like crap. The mainstream music staions are mostly 128kbps MP2 Stereo based on technology developed in the 1980s. Germany also abandoned this technology several years ago and switched to DAB+ but here we stuck with lots of poor quality stations.

Most people don't notice the poor quality because they listen to DAB on cheap radios, some with only a single speaker. The same station played through a decent stereo sounds worse than a poor quality audio stream from the internet.

In fairness the hardware in the Octavia is DAB+ compliant so its not unreasonable to suggest the UK might get upgraded to DAB+ at some time in the future.

I took the Canton and Columbus together, also because Columbus adds a more powerful amp.

Then I took another plunge and added this little toy to the option list, not Skoda standard of course:

Thats cool and well hidden. Bet it sounds good.

Did you disconnect the Canton sub and use the feed from the amp for this or does it have its own amplification?

One thing I am not sure of with the canton sub is if its passive and powered directly by the underseat amp via copper or if it has its own amp and fibre connects to the amp....i suspect the former.

In fairness the hardware in the Octavia is DAB+ compliant so its not unreasonable to suggest the UK might get upgraded to DAB+ at some time in the future.

You just have regular dab over there? No wonder people complain about the soundquality.

You just have regular dab over there? No wonder people complain about the soundquality.

Believe so. Most of the BBC channels are acceptable (128k Stereo) but most of the others are cack..worse than FM in some cases.

Believe so. Most of the BBC channels are acceptable (128k Stereo) but most of the others are cack..worse than FM in some cases.

No wonder, mp2 encoding with low bitrate aint exactly the best...

128k? I'd take FM over that any day. 

Thats cool and well hidden. Bet it sounds good.

Did you disconnect the Canton sub and use the feed from the amp for this or does it have its own amplification?

One thing I am not sure of with the canton sub is if its passive and powered directly by the underseat amp via copper or if it has its own amp and fibre connects to the amp....i suspect the former.

 

I had it done vs. doing it myself but the feed was taken off the main amp and the sub indeed has its own amplifier hidden next to it (tucket away behind the metal overhang towards the rear of that space).

 

It sounds monstrous. I received a seperate feed with a turnover/volume dial hidden in a cabinet in the front of the car to tune it to current music, but if turned up too much it's able to do your digestion for you.

128k? I'd take FM over that any day. 

 

This is 128K MP2 compression, which means it sounds more like a 96kbps MP3 file, MP2 is a terribly inefficient codec and 30 years old now. The UK started out with just a handful of stations, all at 256kbps or higher and the sound was marketed as "CD quality", today we have dozens of stations and some sound worse than AM broadcasts.

 

Same thing happened with DVB-T on the television, we now have almost 70 odd TV stations instead of the old dozen or so, so we have badly pixelated MPEG compression artefacts on all channels. DVB-T HD broadcasts are better, but only because they made the SD pictures even worse to squeeze those HD broadcasts into the same bandwidth. The DVB-T standard used in the UK is also very dated, and does not even use MP4 compression used in the rest of Europe.