Having just bought, ex-stock a couple of weeks ago, my new Octavia vRS with Amundsen sat-nav, I'm having great difficulty in getting the sound setup right.

Aside from it being a pig to get right, the biggest problem I have is that the head unit seems to suppress the sound at higher volumes and going past around 2/3 makes very little difference to the volume. In addition, it 'feathers' the tone, presumably to prevent blowing the speakers or something but there's nothing I can do to prevent this.

Does anyone know if a software update or some kind of black magic with VCDS will sort this? I know it's been asked before but I've trawled both Google and Briskoda and cannot find any information regarding a solution.

hi 

 

also keen for a solution to this, once you go past half way on mine you might as well not bother.

 

 

According to other posts (and my opinion) the speaker system (and I guess also Amudsen amp) is just bad and nothing can be really done.

 

In the EQ boost bass, cut mid-freq and add a little boost to higher freq. This should help, but only a little.

Edited 14 July, 201510 yr by bli34

Personally, I don't think it's anything to do with the speakers themselves as they've obviously got a fair bit of drive in them and I reckon they could take a lot more than what the amp is giving them at max volume.

 

I've spent far too long already trying to get the EQ right but as I said, it's nigh on impossible to get what I would call a good sound. The overall tone of the system is far too 'shrill' for my liking so raising the treble makes no sense and if anything I've been lowering it as much as I can without losing the top end completely.

 

To be honest, as disappointing as the EQ setup is, it's the volume and tone limiting that's my biggest gripe. I know the same problem exists in the Bolero but seeing as all three head units, Bolero, Amundsen and Columbus all state 4 x 20W output, I don't believe it's just the amp that's bad but more some sort of software limitation.

And I thought it was only the Bolero that had these kinds of problem...  

 

As you've probably seen in the thread "Bolero sound system on Octavia RS III" there's been much discussion and some workarounds - including my own, which involves preprocessing my mp3s to change the equalisation to compensate for the flawed sound balance in the system, with very pleasing results.  The "feathering" you describe has also been noticed by others and someone else has found that the crossover frequency for the speakers is wrong.

 

Whatever the root cause, the sound is unacceptably poor and so it may be worth a complaint to Skoda Customer Service - the more of us who do this the more likely Skoda are to do something about it (although I realise this isn't very likely).

I've just finished reading through the Bolero thread you mentioned - the lengths that some people have gone to are just astounding!

 

I have made complaints to SUK before but nothing ever gets done about it. Funnily enough, my last complaint to them involved the door cards rattling excessively due to the speakers at even relatively low volume on my old Fabia MkII vRS. After several weeks and numerous exchanges of conversation, their answer was to take it to a specialist audio shop and have it sorted professionally (not that SUK were prepared to pay for such an expense!) At least the sound quality on that car was far better than what it is in the one I've just bought and there was no volume limiting or anything like that. Even the sound system which employed the old Stream head unit on my old Octavia MkII vRS far surpassed this one!

 

After the last experience with the Fabia, I'm not sure I can be bothered to go through all that again but I will mention it to the service manager at my dealer, not that I expect he can do anything about it.

 

I'm sure the crossover frequency can be sorted relatively easily but I'm not prepared to start tearing the door cards off a 2 week old car and I'm pretty sure the dealer won't either. Having said that, I think physical tinkering is the only way to sort this problem by the looks of things or failing that, I'll just have to put up with it for the next 3 years or so of ownership :(

What software version is your Amundsen running?

 

There was an upgrade to columbus software that was generally agreed improved things, had this on the vRS  - not sure what the latest Amundsen version is but can check against our Scout.

I can't agree about the Amundsen, well 16my at any rate.

The sound is fine, clear and enough bass I have no complaints over the sound and that's against my it get car, a Freelander with the 380 watt meridian sound system. Yes it's not as good as the Feeelanders, but it's fine, as good as the S-Max it replaced

Cheers Warkman. I'm hoping that the new Amundsen units are improved. Had a couple of MY16 owners feeding back that they're happy. Hopefully I'll be able to make my own judgement in a couple of weeks.

I've just finished reading through the Bolero thread you mentioned - the lengths that some people have gone to are just astounding!

I have made complaints to SUK before but nothing ever gets done about it. Funnily enough, my last complaint to them involved the door cards rattling excessively due to the speakers at even relatively low volume on my old Fabia MkII vRS. After several weeks and numerous exchanges of conversation, their answer was to take it to a specialist audio shop and have it sorted professionally (not that SUK were prepared to pay for such an expense!) At least the sound quality on that car was far better than what it is in the one I've just bought and there was no volume limiting or anything like that. Even the sound system which employed the old Stream head unit on my old Octavia MkII vRS far surpassed this one!

After the last experience with the Fabia, I'm not sure I can be bothered to go through all that again but I will mention it to the service manager at my dealer, not that I expect he can do anything about it.

I'm sure the crossover frequency can be sorted relatively easily but I'm not prepared to start tearing the door cards off a 2 week old car and I'm pretty sure the dealer won't either. Having said that, I think physical tinkering is the only way to sort this problem by the looks of things or failing that, I'll just have to put up with it for the next 3 years or so of ownership :(

Im convinced its software based Scottpcs and in part intentional by Skoda to prevent complaints about door trim rattles and perhaps to a lesser extent blown drivers.

Ive never been happy with the MIB1 Amundsen in my MY14 Elegance estate; recently got a MK7 MY15/MY15.5 (not sure which) Golf GTD with MIB1 Composition Media (so Bolero more or less) and standard 8 speaker system and it blows the Octavia out of the park...so much better. Still some limiting if you get silly with the volume or if there is v heavy bass and the bass settings are jacked up a bit but nothing like as invasive as the Octavia where the volume clearly drops when bass breaks in etc.....I also find the Octavia deafens me when bass cuts out in place of something rich in trebble. Its dreadful.

Im convinced its software based Scottpcs and in part intentional by Skoda to prevent complaints about door trim rattles and perhaps to a lesser extent blown drivers.

 

I'm sure its this reason too rather than a inherant design problem.

It would also explain why people who have the same system in the VW don't seem to have report the same issue.

 

This is another thread about canton quality & I believe there was a software tweek to improve the bass response.

Followed shortly after by a couple of people complaining about door rattles or damaged speakers.

I can't tell you the hardware or software version at the moment as I'm in the other car today but I can tell you it's a MIB1 unit.

 

If it is indeed a software restriction then surely this means it can be adjusted or lifted by a dealer or someone with VCDS? I wonder how anyone else has got on with trying to get their dealer or SUK to sort the problem as this unit has been around a while now.

 

As I said in the beginning, the EQ settings are pretty hard if not impossible to get right but that's in part due to the software messing about with the bass - mid - treble once the volume increases. I experience the same thing at higher volumes i.e. the bass is cut and the resulting high tones hurt my ears. Dropping the bass level completely, however, does little to raise the volume limit so I'm not entirely convinced it's the bass level that's the root cause of this behaviour.

I've just had a MY16 MIB2 bolero unit in a courtesy car, and can confirm that the volume limiting is no longer there, its much much louder than my Octavia. I have the Amundsen and had a software update at the dealers yesterday. It made no difference to the sound.

So I guess the ultimate question is what can Skoda do about it? I've not read anywhere about this problem being cured without resorting to drastic measures e.g replacing speakers or adding a sub (don't see what difference this makes to the volume limit but hey.)

I know that one or two members on here have complained to SUK about it but what the outcome of those complaints are I don't know.

Basically, is it worth taking my dealer or SUK to task over it or am I just wasting my time doing so?

Considering I've reached a dead end where this issue is concerned, my attention is now turning to how I can improve what I've got. Reading around, I've just picked up from another thread a recommendation for an Audiotech Fischer Match Plug and Play system which sounds interesting. For anyone that's interested, their link is here http://www.audiotec-fischer.de/lng/en/match/

 

It's the sort of thing I'm looking for as I don't want to be cutting or splicing any wires but I also would like a sub that fits in the same place the Canton sub normally occupies. I'm not into replacing the spare wheel with a sub so that's not an option. To be honest, anything that improves the standard setup in my car has to be a good thing as I'm tired of trying (and failing) to get a good sound from the stock system.

 

Not being a DIY man, I'd happily pay for professional installation but can someone point me in the right direction for a good dealer who may be able to sort me out please? I'm in the West Yorkshire area but I'm prepared to travel to an extent.

 

Alternatively, if anyone has any similar systems they can recommend then I'm all ears!