There are a lot of discussions on several forum about the Canton sound system in Skoda.

Many people say is crap, many says it is not worth the money, severeal are dissapointet but in some tests it scores pretty well.

Yesterday I read in a German forum that the subwoofer only played from 50-100 hz and therefore I found out it was about time to check out what is true.

 

1. Before you judge, be patient! It takes 40-50 hours for the speakers to do their best

2. The subwoofer is a tiny 16cm woofer, not 2 x 15" subwoofers feed with thousands of watts.

3. Somewhere between 2013 an today the system has got an software upgrade. If you have the "old system" the following will not be true.

4. The system plays a lot better than what you read on the internet! But it doesnt give you 120 dB or earthshaking subbass.

 

I've done some measurements today, just to see what is true and how it really perform.

This has been done with a calibrated Behringer ECM-8000 mic connected to a M-Audio Mobile Pre USB soundcard.

Bass, mid, treble, subwoofer and surround controls was all set to 0. (I have the Columbus 8" headunit in a 2016 Octavia Sedan.)

The fader to front only and the time alignment to "Driver".

The mic was placed in the driver seat in ear height.

 

The frequency measurements showed that this is tuned very well.

Its pretty flat between 200 and 4000 hz (within +/-3dB) (110 - 5500 +/- 5dB)

From 30-200hz there is a broad peak, about +10 dB between 50 and 100 hz.

From 4000 - 10000 it rises about 10 dB, 10000 - 20000 hz is flat.

 

So it has a "loudness curve" built in - something you really need in a car.

(I think this was not true before the software update)

 

The subwoofer plays down to 30 hz, where it falls steep.

 

- With the subwoofer control set to +6, you get about +3dB from 100hz and down.

- With the bass control set to +6, you get about +3dB from 200hz and down. (It looks like the center frequency is 100hz)

- With the treble control set to +6 you get about +3dB from 5000hz and up. (It looks like the center frequency is 10000hz)

- With the mid control set to +6 you lift a very wide frequency range from about 200 to 5000hz with a maximum of +5 dB between 500 and 2000 hz.

 

My conclusion is:

-  that this is VERY good and well worth the money.

- you should adjust as little as possible on the "EQ" and sub settings.

- that if you set your subwoofer to more than +2 you get more distortion, not more bass.

- that the sub cabinet has a bad resonance on the top cover at about 50 hz that you will hear pretty well if you play to load with to much sub.

- that the rear lights on my sedan rattles if you play (to) load.

 

The ten channel D-class amplifier is feed with a digital signal and is not that easy to replace with something better if you like to upgrade.

Two of the channels is feed to the passive subwoofer, and the cheapest and best upgrade you can do is to build a new passive subwoofer with two 8" subwoofers that has as high sensitivity as you can find.

Or you can build/buy an active subwoofer that can use stereo high signal input.

 

BEFORE you do that, you should use som money on noise dampening material in the car.

THAT is the biggest problem with the Canton sound system in a Skoda Octavia - not the system but the car!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I've ordered it on my VRS 230..Looking forward to it :-)

Nice analysis.

I think what you say is quite accurate regarding the Canton performance (and price) but I can also understand that it does not meet a lot of peoples' requirements.

If they are trying to replicate a live rock band, or disco performance then of course it does not have the power to do this.

 

It would have been interesting to have comparative readings from when it was new to when it was 'run in' to confirm the truth of that.

Thanks for taking the time to test Canton.

 

Is there a reference code for the "new" software?

It would be nice to do the same measurement with a MIB1 (before MJ2016) headunit to see the difference. I think the new MIB2 units are much better than the old MIB1.

Edited 21 May, 201610 yr by ghostdex

Thanks for taking the time. I've MIB1 and think it sounds great, particular after a software update. It was like a new system.

Yeah, what's the reference to the most up to date software code??? And how do you find this on your system??

Having only had my car with canton a day, and only been in the car for an hour or so I think the canton is a good system, I'm still trying to tweak it but the sound quality is definitely dependant on music source.  The only thing I would say is that it could probably do with having an "equaliser off" button like the harmon and pardon system in my land rover had to demonstrate just how much better over standard the sound actually was!!

No matter the data it still doesn't sound that great and for £500 I'm still not convinced.

Great analysis, technical approach in it's best!

3. Somewhere between 2013 an today the system has got an software upgrade. If you have the "old system" the following will not be true.

 

BEFORE you do that, you should use som money on noise dampening material in the car.

 

Great analysis, technical approach in it's best!

 

As for the system - maybe you could be more specific. You are addressing MIB1, but which software version was "inferior" and starting from which version problems were resolved?

 

Noise dampening - a thing I'm planning for some time now. Did you do it already? IF so - by yourself or in a specialized shop? In case you did put your hands in it - let me know how you did it and what are your observations.

My plan is to start with trunk (bottom and sides with alubutyl or similar plus some 15-25mm fleece on sides, few-mm foam on bottom). Later front door - same plan as for boot side parts.

 

Again - great post, thanks!

I agree in theory that software can help analyse where the deficiencies in the sound spectrum are and can help 'tweak' peaks and troughs but a flat eq curve isn't particularly nice sounding.

I definitely definitely echo the comments on deadening. I reckon with some effort you could really improve the output, particularly midrange where the road noise is.

I got mine "free" with the car and also satnav, can't be too annoyed but it does lack some bass,

 

doesn't bother me that much though as I'm less a a drum n bass guy (thump thump thump thump) and more of a rocker and sounds good enough for me most of the time thank you very much.

 

There is far more to be worried about with the car to be honest, than trying to be a mobile disco, I'd rather have seen better quality material on the standard seats for instance but I guess thats my price of buying used rather than new and speccing heated leather seats.

Mine runs MIB1, last of the MY15 cars and I think it's excellent.

May I know how can I upgrade the software? Is there any subsonic filter on the subwoofer? I am also looking for an after market head unit that does provide all the car related settings.

 

Thanks,

Bhuwan

8 hours ago, Bhuwan said:

May I know how can I upgrade the software? Is there any subsonic filter on the subwoofer? I am also looking for an after market head unit that does provide all the car related settings.

 

Thanks,

Bhuwan

You simply wont find a aftermarket option that does every factory car related option. None exist as there are so many variants. You will also probably lose the canton sound system as I dont think there are any aftermarket units that do the MOST output required.

 

Depending what car, what year and what radio you might be better off looking at a genuine retrofit of a newer system. 

 

 

Software/Firmware updates can only be carried out using a main dealer tool either with a SVM code or by knowing what is applicable to that unit.