Bolero sound system on Octavia RS III

[Grumpy Finn]

No, I'm getting an estate. The options list didn't make a distinction between the estate and HB so I assumed the hooks get removed from both...

Nope. The left side hook get removed only from the HB (finnish pricelist Nov. 6 2014)

[Mort]

Are these the hooks in the little alcoves each side of the boot? As I have Canton in a Hatch and I have both, one above the sub and one in the same place on the other side?

[999rigger]

I have done a similar thing to alancha with my Amundsen music on SD card.

I used MediaMonkey to make all the tracks 320kbps and then Audacity to boost the bass frequencies.

It took a huge amount of time to do this but the sound is 200% better now and just shows that the standard speakers are fine when the sound is good going to them.

[Chappers.]

I have to say that the standard sound system in my new vRS (Bolero) is a massive dissapointment coming from the Amundsen+ that was in my Blackline. The sound is flat and lifeless and lacks any "warmth". I knew that this was an issue when I had the dealers demo for an extended test drive and since my car was from available stock, the option of upgrading to the Canton system was not possible.

 

I have found that when I bluetooth stream music from my phone (usually Spotify), the sound quality, volume & bass is vastly improved - maybe helped with the fact that you have the option to alter the input volume.

 

It's almost as if the Bolero needs a "Loud" mode to give the life that it is currently lacking. I may  have to investigate the amp option...

[alancha]

The standard speakers can cope pretty well with bass when they get it but for some reason (firmware settings possibly) it is not utilized very well (weirdly there is a lot more bass when listening to DAB radio).

 

It's interesting this - I too have noticed that the sound balance on DAB radio is different and generally better than from all the other sources.  I too have the feeling that a firmware tweak to the system could greatly improve the sound generally as the speakers are clearly capable of producing an acceptable sound.

[WizzardsCuff]

Anyone who has complained to SUK about the audio quality should bung the info (phone numbers, email addresses, links) in here so that we have no excuses not to do it too. The more complain, the higher the chance it will be taken further up the food chain. I'll be having a look over the weekend and having a twine at SUK about it on Monday

[WizzardsCuff]

Dont know how i missed Alancha's post earlier. Customer services no. is 03330037504

[robpok]

Anyone who has complained to SUK about the audio quality should bung the info (phone numbers, email addresses, links) in here so that we have no excuses not to do it too. The more complain, the higher the chance it will be taken further up the food chain. I'll be having a look over the weekend and having a twine at SUK about it on Monday

 

Agreed - the more people complain the better. 

 

As others have said - this seems to be an issue where the EQ settings in the Bolero can/need to be tweaked through a simple firmware upgrade (I'd even be willing to pay for it!!).  Such as offering a 5-band EQ rather than just 3, as to manipulate some of the frequencies which sound so 'flat'.

 

Anybody looking into the app option please post what you are looking at - interested in this option too!

[pipsyp]

The system definitely employs some kind of active sound supression tech...its really obvious when listening to a track thats loud and with lots of treble that then cuts to alot of bass.

....its absolute crap but done I think to reduce claims for blown woofers and rattly door trims but just results in an epically bad sound system but just my view.

Shame as I think it would sound pretty good without it and rather put up with buzzing trim and risk of distorted sound to be able to get a clearer and louder sound.

[Johntyboy]

Looking at the option list if I spec the Canton but without the Columbus sat nav it will  mean i will be unable to play Dolby 5.1. So my question is, is it still worth the £400 upgrade for the Canton without the Columbus?

 

Kind Regards

 

John

[andyvee]

In a word, yes, as the standard speakers are ****.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[philwoodphoto]

I ordered Canton for the better sound quality, amp and subwoofer. The demo I drove had standard speakers and frankly sounded lame - I took an SD card with high quality mp3s with my current playlist on to try it out. 5.1 is a bonus but you'll only get it from 5.1 sources (eg DVDs - which will play audio only above a certain speed) - that's my understanding anyway

Edited 16 December, 2014 by philwoodphoto

[pipsyp]

I honestly dont think its that the standard speaker hardware is utter garbage, rather that something electronically controlled within the built in Infotainment stereo amplifier hampers the sound quality.

In truth the actual hardware employed cant be of significantly lower quality than that fitted to the Mk2 (or would struggle to believe it) and the placement of the woofers is probably better too so its got to be how its all being fed by the amp IMHO.

Its sad as ita one of the things that really spoils the car for me as otherwise its all generally very competent.

Edited 17 December, 2014 by pipsyp

[Gerrycan]

I have the base Octavia but the speakers were 'upgraded' from just the 4 in the front to include another 4 in the back which I think is what is considered as standard in the UK.

I must also be the only one in this forum to admit to having the basic Swing radio and to be quite honest I don't find it that bad.

I mainly listen to classical music so I am looking for detail, not a great emphasis on bass and I am not tolerant of the volume turned up too high (it is an age thing).

 

Previous vehicles had such poor radio reception that attaching a DAB transistor was necessary for tolerable quality but the swing radio reception is almost as good as the DAB.

Incidentally the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp) classic station is broadcasted at a higher bit rate than the commercial 'pop' stations and suspect the same for the analogue equivalents.

High quality sources obviously make a big difference.

Since I followed one of the tips on this forum of increasing the balance to the rear speakers I think the overall quality is better than most other cars I have experienced in its price range (notice I say quality not volume)

 

When you have around 65db background noise inside a moving car then I cannot see the point of trying to achieve high fidelity through high volumes. Continuous exposure to loud volumes causes irreversible long-term damage.

Of course I don't expect anyone to take any notice...my kids certainly don't.

[999rigger]

I have played music from the USB, from Bluetooth streaming, from DAB and from the SD card and the only issue with sound quality is when playing from the SD card. I wonder if the SD card slot is configured in the firmware for data (as the other slot houses the satnav maps card) and somehow this impacts on the sound quality going to the speakers. As i have said before, the actual quality of the speakers is not bad considering.

Come on Skoda, do something to help your loyal customers!

[alancha]

I have the base Octavia but the speakers were 'upgraded' from just the 4 in the front to include another 4 in the back which I think is what is considered as standard in the UK.

I must also be the only one in this forum to admit to having the basic Swing radio and to be quite honest I don't find it that bad.

I mainly listen to classical music so I am looking for detail, not a great emphasis on bass and I am not tolerant of the volume turned up too high (it is an age thing).

 

Previous vehicles had such poor radio reception that attaching a DAB transistor was necessary for tolerable quality but the swing radio reception is almost as good as the DAB.

Incidentally the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp) classic station is broadcasted at a higher bit rate than the commercial 'pop' stations and suspect the same for the analogue equivalents.

High quality sources obviously make a big difference.

Since I followed one of the tips on this forum of increasing the balance to the rear speakers I think the overall quality is better than most other cars I have experienced in its price range (notice I say quality not volume)

 

When you have around 65db background noise inside a moving car then I cannot see the point of trying to achieve high fidelity through high volumes. Continuous exposure to loud volumes causes irreversible long-term damage.

Of course I don't expect anyone to take any notice...my kids certainly don't.

I too listen mostly, but not exclusively, to classical music and value clarity and an even tonal distribution over exaggerated bass.  It always bugs me when I drive a rental car that I nearly always find the bass and treble are both turned up close to maximum, creating a horribly unbalanced sound for all types of music.

 

However, on my Octavia with Bolero (which in the UK is the basic system - at least on the VRS models), I find - as others have - that the sound is thin and tinny.  You can improve it a bit by turning down the treble and turning up the bass, but as I discussed in my long post a few weeks ago, these adjustments don't seem to affect the parts of the frequency spectrum needed to give a well-balanced sound.  This is why I've ended up preprocessing many of my mp3s with Audacity.

 

What is strange, and again others have noted this, is that the sound balance on DAB radio seems to be better.  For me however, this is the only source that seems different;  SD, USB and Bluetooth (and even CD) all seem to suffer the same poor sound quality, although this does vary a lot depending on the actual recording - from dreadful, to not at all bad.

 

The one thing I do like is the clarity of the sound, which I think is better than many other basic in-car setups I've experienced.

[sjrainsford]

I've been conducting some tests on mine too.  The biggest find for me (with analysis) is that the response of the tweeters is greater than that of the main speakers causing them to overpower them.  This gives a rather tinny sound.

Try listening to the system with the tweeters disconnected, although lacking clarity you get so much more of the sound back.  The cheapest option is to fit a resistor in line with each tweeter to lower it's output slightly and better balance it with the main woofer.  I've experimented with various resistances so far but not had any more time to check.  If someone has more time perhaps you could give it a try too?  2 ohm is a good start.  The front speakers are the best place to start because you can just get to the tweeters by levering the housing away.

Edited 22 December, 2014 by sjrainsford

[av207]

I've been conducting some tests on mine too.  The biggest find for me (with analysis) is that the response of the tweeters is greater than that of the main speakers causing them to overpower them.  This gives a rather tinny sound.

Try listening to the system with the tweeters disconnected, although lacking clarity you get so much more of the sound back.  The cheapest option is to fit a resistor in line with each tweeter to lower it's output slightly and better balance it with the main woofer.  I've experimented with various resistances so far but not had any more time to check.  If someone has more time perhaps you could give it a try too?  2 ohm is a good start.  The front speakers are the best place to start because you can just get to the tweeters by levering the housing away.

Great idea. Have you had any chance to experiment with this some more? I’d be curious to hear any updates, as weakening the contribution of the tweeters to the overall output sounds like a good idea that could solve one of the issues that’s been bothering me as well with the sound of the Bolero.

[av207]

While looking for upgrade options, I've come across this:

http://www.acr-helmond.nl/car-audio/merk/match/skoda-octavia-5e-1z-audio-upgrade-soundsystem-1.html

 

Has anyone installed the Helix Match PP52DSP (with or without the Helix Match PP7E-D subwoofer)? Was it worth it in the end? Where did you install the DSP? Cheers,

 

PS: The same company advertises another upgrade option as well, but that involves replacing the speakers: http://www.acr-helmond.nl/skoda-octavia-5e-audio-upgrade-2.html

[Atenza]

I just bought a new Octavia mk3 with a Bolero and the sound is terrible, problem is the crossover frequency for the tweets is far to low so I pulled of the door trim and changed the capacitors in the tweets to 3u3 BP. The original are 6u8 far to big. Now it sounds nice and soft with only high treble. A lot of work just for changing a few caps but it was defiantly worth it.

I only had 2 so soon the back speakers are getting the same.

Price about £1 time 2 hours.

Edited 7 June, 2015 by Atenza

[chriswigham]

Sounds like a plan, where exactly are the crossovers located for the tweeters?

[willkiwi]

While looking for upgrade options, I've come across this:

http://www.acr-helmond.nl/car-audio/merk/match/skoda-octavia-5e-1z-audio-upgrade-soundsystem-1.html

Has anyone installed the Helix Match PP52DSP (with or without the Helix Match PP7E-D subwoofer)? Was it worth it in the end? Where did you install the DSP? Cheers,

PS: The same company advertises another upgrade option as well, but that involves replacing the speakers: http://www.acr-helmond.nl/skoda-octavia-5e-audio-upgrade-2.html

Yes i had this installed. Amp went under the passenger seat. Sub sits on its side in side pocket where canton sub would go. IMO the system is excellent and well worth it.

[alancha]

I honestly dont think its that the standard speaker hardware is utter garbage, rather that something electronically controlled within the built in Infotainment stereo amplifier hampers the sound quality.

In truth the actual hardware employed cant be of significantly lower quality than that fitted to the Mk2 (or would struggle to believe it) and the placement of the woofers is probably better too so its got to be how its all being fed by the amp IMHO.

Its sad as ita one of the things that really spoils the car for me as otherwise its all generally very competent.

 

I'm totally with pipsys on this - it's something going on in the electronics that's messing up the sound.

 

Following my long post in this thread a few months ago, describing the use of Audacity to pre-process my mp3s so that they sound better on the Bolero, I've experimented more with the frequency adjustments and arrived at something that is so good that I've now processed my and my wife's entire music collection of about 50GB.  I can report that all our music now sounds good - as good as or better than many other standard in-car systems.  We listen to a great variety of music from pop, rock and country, and classical from solo piano, string quartets, orchestral, opera and solo organ music (which now sounds amazing - clear and rich).  I can honestly say that listening to music in the car is now a pleasure.

 

So, pipsys is right - the hardware is capable of producing a very decent sound but it's is the processing in the Bolero itself that's spoiling the sound.

 

I mean to write up the whole process, including how to process multiple albums at a time, when I have time but for now, referring back to my earlier post, this is the equalisation curve I'm using in Audacity.  You'll note the gentle reduction in the higher frequencies, a significant increase in the lower frequencies but - most significantly I believe - a stronger boost in the lower mid-range (100-800Hz).  I still have the tone controls on the Bolero set to increase bass and reduce treble, but the combination of that and this equalisation adjustment really does give very good results to my ears.

 

 

Another refinement I've introduced into my processing is to normalise the sound level so that the peaks are well below maximum before applying the equalisation, to avoid distortion resulting from clipping of frequencies boosted during the equalisation phase;  after equalisation, I then re-normalise so that the peaks are just below maximum.  All this is automated so I just have to kick the process off and come back a few hours later when it's finished.

 

If you refer back to my earlier post with the details of how to use this, you'll see I describe how to process a whole album (i.e. a whole folder full of mp3s) at a time.  I find on my powerful machine (top of the range MacBook Pro Retina 15in) each album takes around 7-8 minutes.  With a little skill in the use of Finder (or presumably Windows Explorer on Windows) one can process multiple albums at a time, so I was setting it up each night to process around 100 albums and it would run all night.  After around 10 days of this, I'd processed all my music.  I also wrote some shell scripts to clean up the output, remove all the hidden files OS X seems to write, and generally sort it out ready for the car.   It'll be relatively quick and easy now to convert new music as we buy it.

 

When I have time I'll document the whole process from beginning to end.

 

It was well worth doing all this as we're now both enjoying music in the car once again.  However, I'm still cross with Skoda for messing up the sound in the first place and not sorting it out later with a software update, which I suspect is all it needs.  I'm also disappointed that they never got back to me as promised after my call about this to Customer Services.

Edited 9 June, 2015 by alancha

[Atenza]

Sounds like a plan, where exactly are the crossovers located for the tweeters?

They are on the back of the tweets 6u8 cap. You have to solder the 6u8 off and solder the 3u3 on instead. Make sure that you buy a bipolar cap. "3u3 BP. 25 -50 volt"

[chriswigham]

Thanks atenza