I would be very interested in the results also. The two VRS's I have driven (one stock Bolero and the other Columbus with Canton) both sounded poor. The Canton was of course a bit better than the Bolero, but still sounded far worse than my stock BMW stereo so Canton just wasn't worth the upgrade price for me.

 

Have to mirror previous sentiment here - give it a week or so of constant use and it beds in nicely. Had bose in previous car and this (bar overall loudness) knocks it for 6 and shows how far "factory" systems have come. Whilst it does need a bit tweaking with levels than some factory upgrades I have to say it's gone from so-so, to great. I love it. I write music for games from time to time and can speaker tired big time! Won't be too long before there are second hand canton systems out there for cheap I'd have thought..

I spoken to few car audio shops & said about Canton  they said WHO... Never heard of them..!!!

I would be a little bit worried if the "Audio Specialist" I was talking to had never heard if Canton. I am by no means an audio expert yet I have known of Canton for a very long time. They rated much higher than the Sony's of this world.

I'm a massive audiophile (studied Acoustical Engineering at uni).

 

Canton are a little known specialist speaker company (known in the studio/super high end home hi-fi industry quite well), and as far as I know they only have a partnership with Skoda in the auto industry so I suspect they are dipping their toe in the water (they have generally branched out a bit into the mainstream hi-fl world recently).

Their home systems are VERY good and cost some serious dollar. I'm 99% sure they only designed the system for Skoda though, the actual speakers/amps will be produced by some factory somewhere, not by Canton as with their 'proper' stuff... If that was the case you would be paying £4-5K for the system!

 

Similarly, B&O also offer a 'factory' built/B&O designed system to Audi for £900 (in the smaller cars), or their proper B&O built kit for £7k (in the high end cars)!!!

 

I'm a massive audiophile (studied Acoustical Engineering at uni).

 

Canton are a little known specialist speaker company (known in the studio/super high end home hi-fi industry quite well), and as far as I know they only have a partnership with Skoda in the auto industry so I suspect they are dipping their toe in the water (they have generally branched out a bit into the mainstream hi-fl world recently).

Their home systems are VERY good and cost some serious dollar. I'm 99% sure they only designed the system for Skoda though, the actual speakers/amps will be produced by some factory somewhere, not by Canton as with their 'proper' stuff... If that was the case you would be paying £4-5K for the system!

 

Similarly, B&O also offer a 'factory' built/B&O designed system to Audi for £900 (in the smaller cars), or their proper B&O built kit for £7k (in the high end cars)!!!

 

If B&O was fitted to Skoda's I would have ordered that upgrade ...!!

We used to have a b&o  tv &  have a hi-fi 

If B&O was fitted to Skoda's I would have ordered that upgrade ...!!

We used to have a b&o  tv &  have a hi-fi 

 

I have the £900 option in my SQ5, its pretty awesome!

I have reservations as to the degree to which any car stereo can overcome inherent problems of placing multitudes of speakers in an environment which has never really been designed for listening to music.

 

Yes, it can be made to sound very loud - but the experience of 'loudness' can be a subjective reaction to distortion. In contrast, a high end domestic system with amps capable of many times the output of a car system does not sound 'loud' at all, and can manage with just 2 speakers. Similarly, the sub in a car can be tuned to shake the doors, but, I would suggest, it soon becomes tiring to listen to. If the object is to impress pedestrians, then fair enough, but to expect a quality to match even a modest domestic system is optimistic. Look at the care speaker manufacturers take to control the volume and movement of air within the speaker enclosure, and compare it with the space behind the speakers in your car doors.

 

The best bang for your bucks comes from spending your dosh on a good system at home, and not expecting too much from the car.

What's the total watts output of the standard sound system? 20W per channel, but how many channels?

The Canton has nearly 600W which seems crazy. I have 100W on the TV and that's loud.

I'm thinking of upgrading as well but only need in-car entertainment, not the street as well.

There is an element of regret not having ticked the Canton box but in all honesty whilst it will be louder, bassier and no doubt a bit better Im still not convinced it wholly justifies the £400 spend.

The door trims will just rattle even more (they do rattle a bit with the standard system) and those sat in the back will have to live with the din of the subwoofer (when you are sat that close to one you sure as hell can tell where the low notes are coming from - that'll be two v young kids in my case).....i think personally people get hung up on the headline 570w output figures and think its going to be utter revolution compared to the standard system.

Im sure the Canton lovers out there will disagree with me but IMHO its a marketing spin for Canton as a company to sell more high end home hifi equipment; the quality of the additional amplification and speaker gear installed in the Octy wont be that high end. Im also not thatbconvinced the accoustics in the Mk3 are as good as the MK2 (given it doesnt weigh as much and has v light doors) and suspect thats half the problem.

 

Well, as a Canton option owner, I'm quite pleased with it after the running in period. It definitely isn't 570 Watts worth of loudness, but the sound quality is quite good (which is what I was after). I'm done blowing my ears off, used to do that 10 years ago.

 

Regarding the door rattles, I'd say there's something wrong with your door cards, as mine don't rattle at all even at really high volume. Maybe have a check and see if they're attached properly? It may sound daft, but since we've had people on here with defective wheel bearings and such, improperly installed door cards isn't off the table...

 

What's the total watts output of the standard sound system? 20W per channel, but how many channels?

 

AFAIK, it's 4x20W. This is rather the norm for regular/basic car audio.

I have reservations as to the degree to which any car stereo can overcome inherent problems of placing multitudes of speakers in an environment which has never really been designed for listening to music.

 

Yes, it can be made to sound very loud - but the experience of 'loudness' can be a subjective reaction to distortion. In contrast, a high end domestic system with amps capable of many times the output of a car system does not sound 'loud' at all, and can manage with just 2 speakers. Similarly, the sub in a car can be tuned to shake the doors, but, I would suggest, it soon becomes tiring to listen to. If the object is to impress pedestrians, then fair enough, but to expect a quality to match even a modest domestic system is optimistic. Look at the care speaker manufacturers take to control the volume and movement of air within the speaker enclosure, and compare it with the space behind the speakers in your car doors.

 

The best bang for your bucks comes from spending your dosh on a good system at home, and not expecting too much from the car.

I'm guessing you've not heard a factory high end system then, just these mid range car systems? The full blown Audi A6 B&O system (not the cheaper spec £450-£900 one) and the Land Rover group 825w Meridian system are amazingly good - rivalling many home setups for separation, imaging and outright detail. If I was buying the Octavia I'd spec the Canton system simply because, to my ears, its far more capable than the standard setup an it offer good vfm considering its cost.

If you guys have regrets not buying the Canton upgrade. Dont be. Buy Match amp. With 5 channel and a sub for the boot. You can get on Ebay for a good price. Theres a few videos on youtube too.

If you guys have regrets not buying the Canton upgrade. Dont be. Buy Match amp. With 5 channel and a sub for the boot. You can get on Ebay for a good price. Theres a few videos on youtube too.

I might see about a Match PP52 amp in time if it really starts to grate.

I was intrigued by this Match PP52 amp, and did a bit of googling to see if I could find any reviews - the only one I could find was this:

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=591622

What's the total watts output of the standard sound system? 20W per channel, but how many channels?

The Canton has nearly 600W which seems crazy. I have 100W on the TV and that's loud.

I'm thinking of upgrading as well but only need in-car entertainment, not the street as well.

 

There's several ways of measuring wattage such as RMS, MPO, PMPO and so on, plus doubling the wattage doesn't lead to twice the volume so it's not so black and white.

 

You also don't use all the power all the time, so there's the analogy of engine size in a car. A VRS and a Citigo will both cruise on the motorway, but the larger engine will be a lot less stressed doing so, but if you *do* want to go higher you have that option.

 

I think the consensus is that the Canton is a very good value for money upgrade over the standard system, so I didn't hesitate to tick that box.

Judging from the comments from most of those that have the canton, it must sound nice for the money. I dont spend a lot of time in the car and with road noise and concentrating on driving I am not seeking hi fi in the car (I leave that to the living room). The standard factory fit head unit and speakers in my old Mondeo have been fine for the last 9 years. So I have left the canton off.  However I did notice that the radio in the vrs I test drove sounded tinny, so this thread has me interested. I'll hope that a little adjustment of the bass and treble settings on the bolero will get it sufficient for me but if not then unless things have changed a lot since I last fitted some after market ice (okay.... that must have been over a dozen years ago so I know I'm not up to date!) Then I should be able to spend about half of what the canton cost, not for something comparable, but for something I find OK.  For example an internet search last night revealed that pioneer, Kenwood, JVC and sony etc have 4 channel amps with speaker level input at 60 w per channel (bolero is 20w) for around £75.  A pair of 60w component speakers and a pair of 60 w 2 way speakers from similar brands are similar money. This kind of upgrade won't compete with the canton though.

 

I'm interested to read what changes others make and what makes the biggest improvement for a couple of hundred quid.... I'm pondering on things like

- just 4 better speakers

- 4 channel amp and speakers as above

- better 2 channel amp and 2 better front speakers (leaving rear as factory, fed from the bolero)

- 4 channel amp, decent pair of component speakers for the front and one sub in the boot

-stretch to a 5 channel amp.... Probably not though.... It's canton price and beyond for a 5 channel set up I think

Im pretty sure that fitting new speakers dont help anything. its the lack of power that makes the music sound skinny. if you put some  power in the oem speakers they will sound much better. and you dont have the rattling sound from your door because of all the broken clips. when change the speakers.

Im pretty sure that fitting new speakers dont help anything. its the lack of power that makes the music sound skinny. if you put some  power in the oem speakers they will sound much better. and you dont have the rattling sound from your door because of all the broken clips. when change the speakers.

I swapped the OEM speakers in my bravo and kept the same head unit and saw a noticeable improvement. Far more bass from Pioneer speakers than the factory fit tat.

I am convinced, that changing the speakers will give the most improvement for the money. Based on previous experience with VAG set ups, that was the case. My old Altea sounded so much better going that route. Pumping more power through basic cheap speakers, I doubt would sound very good. I could pick out sounds in that car, that Were impossible to detect before the change. The sound stage did come to life as well, plus useable bass was there too. Okay, not sub levels, but enough for me.

I probably should have specked the Canton, but had to draw the line on cost, wth all the other bits I added and could afford no more.

I think it depends on the vehicle, on a MK4 astra best thing you could do was bin the standard headunit, and even on the omega I had after head unit and power up from 15w per channel made the biggest improvement, but speakers are the other half of the equation depending on spec of of the OEM stuff.

What people need to do is to decide early on what they want and how much they want to spend on it. In my opinion, if you're not that bothered and just want slightly to moderately better sound, you should only change the speakers.

 

If you want to get a good enough system, only then go down the new amp + wiring + speakers + sub route, which is going to be quite a lot more expensive than just getting better speakers.

Having lived with my car with the standard 8 speaker system for a week now its really not that bad.

Doesnt have lots of bass and doesnt go exceptionally loud but its clear and reasonably punchy and verges on uncomfortably loud around full volume....I actually think its improved a bit over the course of several day and im not as disappointed as I thought id be.

The cars electronics are definitely doing something to hold back the sound output though, i listen to alot of electronic music and the breaks before the bass cuts in on most tracks is v loud and then holds back when the bass cuts in, not ridiculously but is noticeable. I still wonder whether its a coding issue, the infotainment having some sort of volume suppression functionality from the factory.

One benefit....the door trims dont rattle (i thought they did a bit but have been unable to replicate it) and little or no distortion even at full volume so there are some benefits.

Agreed when I did a quick test drive I thought the standard sound was rather good. Not sure if I need to upgrade now...

 

What about using the Columbus sound settings to boast the bass - still sound mediocre?

 

What about using equalizer on the phone or higher bit rate (320 kbps) source file when streaming - does that make a difference?

 

4x20W = 80W should be enough surely. 15W on the TV at home was awesome.

The sound quality won't change, no matter the settings of the system. It is an inherent characteristic of the system itself (internal amp + speakers). You can change the frequency response when altering the settings, but not the quality. The same with the input audio. You can have compression free input, if the system isn't good enough to take advantage of it then that input is rather pointless.

The sound quality won't change, no matter the settings of the system. It is an inherent characteristic of the system itself (internal amp + speakers). You can change the frequency response when altering the settings, but not the quality. The same with the input audio. You can have compression free input, if the system isn't good enough to take advantage of it then that input is rather pointless.

Ok thanks

In comparison with a standard Ford Galaxy, Focus - Skoda Octavia III base sound is worse, same or better?