crap stereo

[phil007]

Is it me or does the stereo sound rubbish in the sport not as good as one in fabia monte

[Rednaxela]

I agree with you. The sound in my VW Polo is 50% richer than our Rapid Sport. My Polo basically has the same stereo.

I have the bass set to full, loud is on and middle and treble is set to normal and it's still rubbish.

I was wondering if better speakers would help? Trouble is, I would not know where to start.

[camelspyyder]

Well it has no sub and no equaliser and little speakers so it's unlikely to sound great.

 

I did buy some cheap BOSE logo speaker badges for a laff and passengers said nice things about the sound, until I chucked the badges out

Edited 27 November, 2014 by camelspyyder

[skoda1982]

There are only 6 speakers and not 8 like the fabia 

[chrisgreen]

Six is enough. Question is, does the audio output from a nav head unit sound better or worse than the sound output from a Swing?

Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk, please excuse any typos.

[Stormchaser]

Tbh I think my Amunsden sounds pants in my Sport whereas the same music in my Citigo Sport sounds excellent with its 6 speakers [emoji19]

I really need to upgrade those speakers soon so it sounds the same/similar.

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[WillJohnson]

Tbh I think my Amunsden sounds pants in my Sport whereas the same music in my Citigo Sport sounds excellent with its 6 speakers [emoji19]

I really need to upgrade those speakers soon so it sounds the same/similar.

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Even on DAB? I've noticed DAB sound alrite in mine as does high sample rate MP3 tracks on an SD card. I guess it depends what you listen too hehe.. its' not a car thats made for Hardcore Trance thats for sure

[camelspyyder]

I guess it depends what you listen too hehe.. its' not a car thats made for Hardcore Trance thats for sure

 

neither is the average Rapid owner I feel...

 

Anyway after 36 years working in / around aviation, I'm deaf as a post so Hi-Fi sound is wasted on me these days.

[Stormchaser]

My Rapid had an Amunsden retro fitted on PDI and the sound is god awful.

The loan Spaceback I have is an Amunsden too (standard) and the sound is awesome [emoji6]

Both have the same sound settings. Very strange the difference between hatchback/Spaceback.

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[MarkRawlinson52]

it is just crap

[turboman6680]

Yup, crap, crap, crap. Now almost frustratingly so. Think the way forward is an Alpine double DIN head unit. See if the better output from that allows the existing speakers to perform better and if not, change em.

[GaryBirch]

My Swing radio in tdi elegance is a million times better than my last one in my Zafira, with broken cables and speakers!!!

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[MickA]

Amundsen sounds pretty good in my Toledo. I had the 6 speaker set up in my Citigo which also sounded good. Couldn't say either is/were crap.

[GaryBirch]

Have been looking on eBay for replacement Amundsen or Columbus for my rapid. I want dab and sat nav. What do people suggest! £800 is a bit steep though so need to be worthwhile!

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[AndyClarke]

The Amundsen in our Superb produces a very good sound, with plenty of base. The same unit in the Spaceback has nothing like the depth of sound, but is still acceptable. I am pretty sure it is the speakers that make the difference, but the lighter weight and harder interior trim may also play a part.

Andy

[Stormchaser]

I don't know why in the hatchback it sounds terrible. All tinny and rattly and can't handle base but the Spaceback handles all qualities of music and no distortion [emoji6]

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[camelspyyder]

Stormchaser, on 15 Feb 2015 - 04:07, said:

My Rapid had an Amunsden retro fitted on PDI and the sound is god awful.

The loan Spaceback I have is an Amunsden too (standard) and the sound is awesome [emoji6]

Both have the same sound settings. Very strange the difference between hatchback/Spaceback.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

sounds like your dealer did another incompetent job on the stereo swap...

 

most on here are reasonably happy with Amundsen sounds.

Edited 15 February, 2015 by camelspyyder

[Stormchaser]

Swap is easy. Plug and play.

It's the speakers and the rattling/vibration with base in the doors.

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[camelspyyder]

Toledo has same setup and sounds fine.  Must be your "Friday" car?

[Delberthot]

The difference in between the spaceback and notchback may be due to the SB having a more squarer shaped interior space than the elongated NB which also may suffer as the tailgate vibration might be soaking up the bass frequencies.

 

The rigidity of the panels also plays a part as this too will cause vibrations that will take away some of the bass response.

 

Unfortunately the sound system is often one of the last things to be considered in a car and is often a matter of fitting whatever speakers they have that fit in there. To get a good bass response, the speaker enclosure (ie the space between the door skin and the trim panel) has to be either totally sealed or have specific sized ports, tuned to the speakers in there. This isn't going to happen as there will always be gaps, however small, that are going to be removing bass from them.

 

When you buy a car that has a good sound system it's often more good luck than anything else. That is why some cars fitted with the same head unit and speakers might sound good and others might sound terrible.

 

Personally, I've found that while stationary, the Swing and however many speakers are in my Rapid, sounds quite reasonable. It's only while moving that it's not so good.

 

The best way around this would be to replace the speakers in the Rapid with ones to handle only the mids and higher frequencies, fit a proper sub in the boot and run both off an amp with a crossover so that only the frequencies designed to go to each speaker do. I don't believe that the Swing has any line outputs so it would also mean a new head unit as well.

[Rednaxela]

I agree that it sounds better when stationary.

[wire]

I used to have a decent set up in my 307 set for Sq.

You can have a £50 head unit and a £500 head unit but if the speakers can't handle the rms out put of either of the headunits then it's a waste. Put some decent speakers in first, dynomat your doors and try and mount the speakers in a sealed mdf ring. Then start to build from there is what I would do

[Delberthot]

I am a musician, a bass player in fact, and what we normally do to reduce vibration and booming is to cross brace the speaker cabs with 3/4" dowel and line them with something like mattress topper or wadding from Dunelm Mill as it's cheap and very effective.

 

Here is an example. It's not mine but I own one of these cabs and did the same to mine.

 

I can't see a way to brace the area between the door card and the door itself but I would use mattress topper or similar and find a suitable glue to get it in position as a starting point.

 

Dynamat looks like a version of this adapted for use in cars

Edited 17 February, 2015 by Delberthot

[wire]

I am a musician, a bass player in fact, and what we normally do to reduce vibration and booming is to cross brace the speaker cabs with 3/4" dowel and line them with something like mattress topper or wadding from Dunelm Mill as it's cheap and very effective.

 

Here is an example. It's not mine but I own one of these cabs and did the same to mine.

 

I can't see a way to brace the area between the door card and the door itself but I would use mattress topper or similar and find a suitable glue to get it in position as a starting point.

 

Dynamat looks like a version of this adapted for use in cars

Just remember if using this sort of material that the doors do let water in and this stuff will soak it up.

There are many variations of dynomat sound deadening style/type material that can be used and are waterproof and meant for the job. But again, remember you are going to add a lot of weight to the car thus mpg goes poooooo.

I agree with Delberthot if you are going to make a bass box or something similar tho.

Edited 19 February, 2015 by wire

[JonBRapid]

Have been looking on eBay for replacement Amundsen or Columbus for my rapid. I want dab and sat nav. What do people suggest! £800 is a bit steep though so need to be worthwhile!

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You could buy a good navigation head unit for that! I too have a similar dislike to the sound of the rapid. I'm looking at going down the line of an alpine or pioneer with either mirror-link or carplay (phone compatible units that will use the phone's mapping app for sat nav). I already have a nice amp to power the speakers and a sub...and will replace the front speakers with a pair of JL Audio C3 6.5" speakers and get a 8/10"Sub box made to fit in the rear wheel arch gap with a JL Audio 8 or 10" sub in.  To get it all sounding nice I'll be spending lots of money on sound deadening materials!