Bolero sound system on Octavia RS III

[Skodev]

Hi Butchvrs. I was under the impression that you got upgraded speakers with the Canton package anyway. If so, I'd say you'd be looking at minimal gains by further upgrading the speakers. Could be wrong though. Is your car MY15 or MY16 if you don't mind me asking?

[butchvrs]

Hi Butchvrs. I was under the impression that you got upgraded speakers with the Canton package anyway. If so, I'd say you'd be looking at minimal gains by further upgrading the speakers. Could be wrong though. Is your car MY15 or MY16 if you don't mind me asking?

Yes the Canton does have upgraded speakers, it's just the whole system seems to lack any real clarity, don't get me wrong the sound is acceptable, but sometimes when certain favorite tracks comes on and I turn up the volume all the frequencies seem to mingle into a "noise" if that makes sense!

 

She's a MY15, collected on the 3rd April.

[Skodev]

It does and it's really surprising. Music is a big part of my driving experience, which may sound daft, but it is, and sometimes I want to feel a track as well as hear it. I'm due to get my MY16 Amundsen equipped car in a few weeks and I have everything crossed it has an acceptable system. A couple of MY16 Amundsen users have fed back positively. But that still doesn't help you. All I can say is that in this day and age, with the money these cars are selling at, even at base level the systems should be adequate. An assumed level of performance. I didn't think to test the stereo when I test drove the car. In my head it was a given. Not even on my radar. The Canton upgrade should have guaranteed this. IMO.

[butchvrs]

However thinking about it I haven't really lived with the car that much, pretty much the short commute to work and general use. Only covered 1800 miles so far and no real long journeys, and the sound has improved over when I collected the car, ie the sound system has run in a bit.

 

I'm off to Bournemouth this weekend so myself and swmbo can have a mess around with it and get to use it properly!  (ooo err miss's)

[Skodev]

Cheeky!! I'd say play around with the levels a bit, trial and error, you may find a set up that hits the spot. Good luck and keep us posted please.

[bli34]

" ie the sound system has run in a bit."

 

The sound system is the same as first day of use, no "burning in " is needed or MAYBE just for an hour or so. Your ears/brains adopted to new sound and make it more acceptable. Its all in the head. The amp and speakers doesnt improve with age  

[Gromle]

" ie the sound system has run in a bit."

The sound system is the same as first day of use, no "burning in " is needed or MAYBE just for an hour or so. Your ears/brains adopted to new sound and make it more acceptable. Its all in the head. The amp and speakers doesnt improve with age

Most speakers will loosen up abit after some hours of use.

I bought a couple of Dali zensors, had them for some months before buying a second pair to use as surroundspeakers. And it was a difference in sound between the new and old ones.

[bli34]

As I said maybe you hear difference on some mid-high-end sound system, but just for a short period of time.

 

As Skoda sound system isnt even close to high-end you deffinitely wont hear the difference, if there is any (I think not). Its your ears that adopt.

Edited 16 July, 2015 by bli34

[Gromle]

As I said maybe you hear difference on some mid-high-end sound system, but just for a short period of time.

As Skoda sound system isnt even close to high-end you deffinitely wont hear the difference, if there is any (I think not). Its your ears that adopt.

Well, there are moving parts who will loosen up, so some difference will it be.

The canton system did loose up after a while aswell. I can feel the bass more now contra when the car was new.

[Atenza]

Sorry !, but what have you expected from cheap crappy plastic speakers, it is impossible to get good sound out of that no matter how many money you have paid extra for the car.

If you want good sound you have to take the doors apart and cover the door inside with stp or Dynamat Xtreme and then buy some proper speakers.

You can fiddle around with the original speakers but you will never get them to sound good.

I have had cars with Bose and that did not sound good. The best way to get good sound in the car is by doing it your self. Sorry....

To get better sound in the Octavia just change the caps in the tweets. When I write better it far from perfect but very usable.

[kfckfc]

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.

 

I downloaded the workshop manual to remove the door card to fit the 3u3 caps but did not find the manual very comprehensive. Does anyone have any pointers/links in getting the door card and trim off to get to the tweeters?

[scottpcs]

Not meaning to hijack the thread but having just had an aftermarket solution fitted to my MY15 O3 Estate, some of you may want to check out this other thread http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/364365-octavia-mk-iii-vrs-estate-sound-system-upgrade/

 

Granted, it's the MIB1 Amundsen in my car but essentially it's just a Bolero with satnav. I have to say it's the best £1000 I've spent on my car, it's been transformed!

[shtgn]

I recently bought 2013 mk3 Octavia with Bolero. Here are some of my experiences.

 

First I thought the quality of sound is crap. Then at some times on longer trips I thought it actually sounds pretty good. Then again next day it wasn’t feeling that good. I did not pay too much attention to it, mainly because I was listening to radio, and the quality of radio signal  varies etc.

 

The one day I started for a longer trip. In the beginning the sound was bad. Sounded like a cheap Bluetooth speaker with phone, no base, singing voice not so clear all the time. Fader and balance was set to center, but still the sound was coming from front direction. But then after I had been driving for over half an hour, the sound suddenly got much better. It happened in the middle of a song, so it was easy to notice. After that there was  more base, and the sound was much richer in every way. But it was still coming like from the front dashboard.

I continued travelling, and then again after 15 minutes something happened. Again in the middle of the song sound got much much better. It was no longer coming from front, but the sound was “all over the car”. Base got more better, and it actually sounded very good.

I was still driving for a 15 minutes or so, and enjoying for a good music. Then I stopped for refueling. After starting the car again, the quality of sound was crap again.

 

Since that episode I have been trying to listen very carefully, and I have not been able to find any logic about sound quality. Usually it is very bad, but every now and then it is excellent (for a Skoda). I use quite often CD as a reference. When listening songs like “Another bites to dust” or “Smooth criminal”, the famous base lines are missing or sounding awful, but then on some other days they are sounding very rich and clear.

 

Only logical thing I have noticed is that when the sound is in that crap-mode, the volume lowering on reverse is not working. When the sound is better, then volume goes down when setting gear to reverse.

 

Has anyone else had this kind of experiences?

[Gerrycan]

Not personally, but if I were you I would cancel or set the reversing volume to zero to see if the issue you describe is improved.

If it does improve then the car is still under warranty and you should be able to get the issue fixed by a dealer

[alancha]

I recently bought 2013 mk3 Octavia with Bolero. Here are some of my experiences.

 

First I thought the quality of sound is crap. Then at some times on longer trips I thought it actually sounds pretty good. Then again next day it wasn’t feeling that good. I did not pay too much attention to it, mainly because I was listening to radio, and the quality of radio signal  varies etc.

 

The one day I started for a longer trip. In the beginning the sound was bad. Sounded like a cheap Bluetooth speaker with phone, no base, singing voice not so clear all the time. Fader and balance was set to center, but still the sound was coming from front direction. But then after I had been driving for over half an hour, the sound suddenly got much better. It happened in the middle of a song, so it was easy to notice. After that there was  more base, and the sound was much richer in every way. But it was still coming like from the front dashboard.

I continued travelling, and then again after 15 minutes something happened. Again in the middle of the song sound got much much better. It was no longer coming from front, but the sound was “all over the car”. Base got more better, and it actually sounded very good.

I was still driving for a 15 minutes or so, and enjoying for a good music. Then I stopped for refueling. After starting the car again, the quality of sound was crap again.

 

Since that episode I have been trying to listen very carefully, and I have not been able to find any logic about sound quality. Usually it is very bad, but every now and then it is excellent (for a Skoda). I use quite often CD as a reference. When listening songs like “Another bites to dust” or “Smooth criminal”, the famous base lines are missing or sounding awful, but then on some other days they are sounding very rich and clear.

 

Only logical thing I have noticed is that when the sound is in that crap-mode, the volume lowering on reverse is not working. When the sound is better, then volume goes down when setting gear to reverse.

 

Has anyone else had this kind of experiences?

Well this is extremely interesting - I must have a play myself, although I've never experienced this in-flight coming and going of good/bad sound.  If the seeming connection between sound quality and the volume-lowering for reverse can be confirmed in more tests, this is surely a very significant development. You've probably seen my rather labour-intensive but effective workaround to the sound quality problem (two long posts earlier in this thread about pre-processing mp3s to compensate for the car's failings), but if your observation leads to a simple car-based solution that would obviously be far better.

[Atenza]

Read your experience with the first 15 min, this is normal due to the temperature of your speakers, when you have driven for 15 min the car is normally wormed up in the cabin and the bass speakers will work normally. I live in DK and we have had some cold mornings and about the first 5 to 10 minutes  the sound is very tame. In my car before "Mazda 6" I had put in a pair of Infinity speakers and this was the same problem. I don’t think it is an issue just with Octavia. Still as I wrote some time ago, change the caps in the treble speakers and it sounds quite OK.

[Bartax]

Hi

Im sorry for poor English.

I have noticed when I play music from Sd card quality is very bad.

But when I play it from soundcloud via Bluetooth its amazing. I'm using iPhone 6s. I think the biggest problem is the device fitted in the glove box. I played same tracks and via Bluetooth not even from soundcloud but from phone library quality was much better.

[alancha]

Hi

Im sorry for poor English.

I have noticed when I play music from Sd card quality is very bad.

But when I play it from soundcloud via Bluetooth its amazing. I'm using iPhone 6s. I think the biggest problem is the device fitted in the glove box. I played same tracks and via Bluetooth not even from soundcloud but from phone library quality was much better.

Your English is fine!

 

Yes - I haven't really explored this yet but I recently played from music over bluetooth from Spotify and was amazed how much better it sounded that music from SD (unless it's undergone my patented mp3 pre-processing described earlier in this thread).

 

I need to investigate this further.  For example, does music played over BT from a iPod/iPhone etc also sound good?  I've only tried briefly a couple of times, so haven't done a direct like for like comparison.  I have noticed - as I believe have others - that music from the DAB radio sounds different - and better than that from SD, and USB and I believe also CD, which all sound thin and tinny.

[pkoconnor]

Spotify premium on extreme is 320kbps which should give you a better sound than a MP3 on a SD card which is normally 128kbps. Also playing via USB will be better than Bluetooth.

[andyvee]

Spotify premium on extreme is 320kbps which should give you a better sound than a MP3 on a SD card which is normally 128kbps. Also playing via USB will be better than Bluetooth.

Why is MP3 on a SD Card 'normally' 128kbps?

My MP3s are 320kbps and sound better off SD than over BT.

I thought BT audio was restricted to about 229kbps due to the bandwidth anyway, unless of course the high quality SBC protocol is supported at 328kbps

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Edited 2 February, 2016 by andyvee

[alancha]

Spotify premium on extreme is 320kbps which should give you a better sound than a MP3 on a SD card which is normally 128kbps. Also playing via USB will be better than Bluetooth.

My mp3s are almost all either 256 or 320kbps, so I don't think that explains it.

[andyvee]

My mp3s are almost all either 256 or 320kbps, so I don't think that explains it.

VBR or CBR?

Did you rip them yourself?

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[pkoconnor]

Why is MP3 on a SD Card 'normally' 128kbps?

My MP3s are 320kbps and sound better off SD than over BT.

I thought BT audio was restricted to about 229kbps due to the bandwidth anyway, unless of course the high quality SBC protocol is supported at 328kbps

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

Ripping software normally defaults to 128kpbs so just mentioning it just in case people people had not changed their settings..

[andyvee]

Not any ripping software I use .....

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Tapatalk

[Gromle]

Spotify premium on extreme is 320kbps which should give you a better sound than a MP3 on a SD card which is normally 128kbps. Also playing via USB will be better than Bluetooth.

I dont think Ive had any 128kbs mp3s since I had a dial up connection back in 2001 :p