Canton experience anybody?

[sjanssennl]

Canton was a 600 euro upgrade in my Superb in Holland, and was already included in a Style Business package.

I agree the highs are a but too much, but in general I like it. It can go VERY LOUD without distortion or hiss or other noise, try music from Deadmau5, or other prog house.

But not all music sounds nice on it.

But in total better than all other standard systems I had in previous cars.

 

[El Dingo]

Agreed with the Deadmau5.  Mat Zo and Etherwood similarly.

The Canton sound is a bit bright for my tastes tbh but without Canton I would not have chosen a Superb (with the standard system) at all.

As mentioned in another thread, the DAB radio quality seems to be worse than FM but that might just be due to the poor DAB specification that we have adopted in the UK.

[drewellis]

General comment from me, I have the Canton system and I think it's brilliant but I've had to tweak the settings a little bit.

 

Mine is in 'individual' mode with Treble and Mids turned down by 2 or 3 notches. I've found it's well configured for classical music but any modern stuff and the standard setup has a bit too much Treble/mid. The bass is perfect. (mine's an L&K hatch if that makes any difference)

[Mickey43]

It sounds great to me...can be very bass-y but i quite like that.   As said above you can tune it to your desire.

 

Best I've ever heard in a car was a Bang & Olufsen in a colleague's Audi, but that was a 2 grand option.  Canton is great for the money.

[Rado11]

Different people have different subjective perception regarding music reproduction (and even more if having no or little possibility co compare with live music or some better hi-end sound systems).
However I think it is important to warn people about objective facts that are missing in product manuals and product advertising.

• In case you prefer systems that can reproduce music and sound with high fidelity my recommendation to you is to stay away from the current Canton systems in Skoda cars.
• The objective reason is permanent +10 dB boosting of frequencies between 4000 - 10000 hz and the same +10 dB boosting between 50 and 100 hz - as also measured by user "norsko" ( using calibrated Behringer ECM-8000 mic connected to a M-Audio Mobile Pre USB soundcard) in other similar topic on this site:
• From 10000 - 20000 hz is flat.
• From 4000 - 10000 hz it rises about 10 dB !!!
• From 200 - 4000 hz (within +/-3dB) (110 - 5500 +/- 5dB)
• From 30-200hz there is a broad peak, about +10 dB between 50 and 100 hz. (!!!)
• The subwoofer plays down to 30 hz where it falls steep.

The above means massive permanent distortion of all music being played on these Canton Skoda systems, +10 dB boosting actually means that these frequencies are being reproduced permanently twice as loud compared to music original (source/input). More difficult car environment is clearly no excuse for such massive sound distortion which is ripping ears off to many people already.

 

This boosting of selected frequencies would be perfectly fine if there was any possibility to switch it off. However be warned that there is currently no such option in Canton systems in Skoda cars. Those frequencies are crippled all the time unless you try to get it fixed at least partially via some re-coding hack using for example VCDS access ( maybe this could help a bit: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=415316  ).

 

Happy to hear your experience with possible fixing of these bad factory settings.

 

 

Edited 28 March, 2017 by Rado11

[freelunch]

Ric Ocasek of The Cars used to take his final mix and pop it in his car's cassette player/8-track and if it sounded lousy, he'd remix it. The car is not an optimum listening environment, is it? If decibel boosting is designed in, maybe it's to overcome noise coming up through the chassis. Or in an A/B comparison test with your home hi-fi, the Canton may come off second best. But, if it sounds good to the listener in isolation, who cares?

 

And, everybody is different. My settings are quite different to the two people who have posted theirs.

 

But, in the interest of rubbishing the Canton system, I like a nice, high. clear, fluid-sounding triangle ring. I don't hear that. I like a nice bright brush on a high hat sound. Don't hear that. And the bass boost is not musical, just thudding.

 

I listened to music in the car for about four hours today. It was lovely. Sunroof open, wife chatting away. Beautiful. Different strokes...

[thewinelake]

On 25/03/2017 at 10:50, 2slo7 said:

Priced itself out of the market for me, not because I wouldn't pay for Canton but because I refuse to pay for Kessy which, for UK cars, you have to order together.

Really? Since when and on what models? I ordered it on my SE Business on its own.

Of course if you want the best quality, you have to have an aftermarket system fitted by a pro. If you have £1000-£1500 to spend on it, you could get a decent system!

Edited 29 March, 2017 by thewinelake

[2slo7]

9 minutes ago, thewinelake said:

Really? Since when and on what models? I ordered it on my SE Business on its own.

 

Since at least back to when I ordered mine late last year (SE L) also applies to the SE. You want Canton on these you pay for KESSY too. Sportline has KESSY as std so Canton can be ordered on its own. L&K has both a s std. S model doesn't list Canton as an option. SE business I don't know about. I cant see that model listed either?

[thewinelake]

Interesting... I actively avoided KESSY. 

[drewellis]

1 hour ago, thewinelake said:

Interesting... I actively avoided KESSY. 

any reason? 

[freelunch]

Security? : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-29786320

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/no-car-is-safe-how-hi-tech-thieves-are-defeating-sophisticated-security-systems/

http://www.computerworld.com/article/2971826/cybercrime-hacking/hack-to-steal-cars-with-keyless-ignition-volkswagen-spent-2-years-hiding-flaw.html

 

Has a Škoda ever been stolen? Or,

 

What do you call a Škoda with keyless entry? (Answers on a postcard) 

[wooyay]

2 hours ago, thewinelake said:

Interesting... I actively avoided KESSY. 

 

I also tried to avoid KESSY so started my journey to a Superb by selecting the SE L model but once I'd added in a number of options that I wanted the price came too close to the L&K which has KESSY as standard.  In the end I opted for the L&K and now having owned it for just over 2 months I've really grown to like KESSY.  It now feels like a chore having to find my keys at home or work when doors need unlocking.

 

It's also really nice with the virtual pedal when returning to a locked car with hands full of heavy objects.

[CTRob]

Kessy is great but I had to enable all doors to open upon unlock as this was not enabled by default. Wife and I couldn't understand why only the drivers door was opening upon unlock and not the passenger doors

[drewellis]

7 minutes ago, wooyay said:

 

I also tried to avoid KESSY so started my journey to a Superb by selecting the SE L model but once I'd added in a number of options that I wanted the price came too close to the L&K which has KESSY as standard.  In the end I opted for the L&K and now having owned it for just over 2 months I've really grown to like KESSY.  It now feels like a chore having to find my keys at home or work when doors need unlocking.

 

It's also really nice with the virtual pedal when returning to a locked car with hands full of heavy objects.

Agreed. If someone wants to steal your car these days, they're going to try (and possibly succeed) whether it's keyless or not. I opted to live with the luxury and small risk of my L&K with KESSY

[2slo7]

39 minutes ago, CTRob said:

Kessy is great but I had to enable all doors to open upon unlock as this was not enabled by default. Wife and I couldn't understand why only the drivers door was opening upon unlock and not the passenger doors

Drivers door only to unlock is set up by default as a security measure. The idea is to stop someone jumping into the passenger side when they see the driver unlock the car. I've left this enabled on my wifes Fabia as she sometimes has to work late and feels safer knowing that only the drivers door has been unlocked. An extra press of the remote will open all the doors and unlock the boot if needed. 

[wooyay]

2 hours ago, CTRob said:

Kessy is great but I had to enable all doors to open upon unlock as this was not enabled by default. Wife and I couldn't understand why only the drivers door was opening upon unlock and not the passenger doors

 

If you have it set up to only unlock the single door (driver or passenger, depending on handle grabbed) you can unlock all doors by simply grabbing at the handle twice (akin to pressing the unlock button on the remote twice).

[CTRob]

Just now, wooyay said:

 

If you have it set up to only unlock the single door (driver or passenger, depending on handle grabbed) you can unlock all doors by simply grabbing at the handle twice (akin to pressing the unlock button on the remote twice).

 

Now this I did not know - must have missed it when I read the manual! Makes a lot more sense to do this thank you

[El Dingo]

On 28/03/2017 at 19:04, Rado11 said:

Different people have different subjective perception regarding music reproduction (and even more if having no or little possibility co compare with live music or some better hi-end sound systems).
However I think it is important to warn people about objective facts that are missing in product manuals and product advertising.

• In case you prefer systems that can reproduce music and sound with high fidelity my recommendation to you is to stay away from the current Canton systems in Skoda cars.
• The objective reason is permanent +10 dB boosting of frequencies between 4000 - 10000 hz and the same +10 dB boosting between 50 and 100 hz - as also measured by user "norsko" ( using calibrated Behringer ECM-8000 mic connected to a M-Audio Mobile Pre USB soundcard) in other similar topic on this site:
• From 10000 - 20000 hz is flat.
• From 4000 - 10000 hz it rises about 10 dB !!!
• From 200 - 4000 hz (within +/-3dB) (110 - 5500 +/- 5dB)
• From 30-200hz there is a broad peak, about +10 dB between 50 and 100 hz. (!!!)
• The subwoofer plays down to 30 hz where it falls steep.

The above means massive permanent distortion of all music being played on these Canton Skoda systems, +10 dB boosting actually means that these frequencies are being reproduced permanently twice as loud compared to music original (source/input). More difficult car environment is clearly no excuse for such massive sound distortion which is ripping ears off to many people already.

 

This boosting of selected frequencies would be perfectly fine if there was any possibility to switch it off. However be warned that there is currently no such option in Canton systems in Skoda cars. Those frequencies are crippled all the time unless you try to get it fixed at least partially via some re-coding hack using for example VCDS access ( maybe this could help a bit: http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=415316  ).

 

Happy to hear your experience with possible fixing of these bad factory settings.

 

 

Wow, this is really interesting!  I have found that I can get the sound just about OK if I boost the mid range to about +5, treble to 0 and bass to +2.

The Skoda specification says 'Radio High (Japan)' and that infers that the system is designed with Janaese tastes in mind?  In my experience most Japanese budget and mid-range hi-fi is designed to be very 'bright'. Denon even came out with a 'UK' version of their amplifiers a few years ago with a 'warmer' sound balance.