Hello all,

 

I have a stock Bolero (i.e. not Canton) audio system and was wondering what I can do to improve the sound a little bit - just had a crap rental Renault Clio and the sound was miles ahead...

 

Anyway, does anyone know what is the impedance of the stock speakers? Namely, the door woofers? Are they 4ohm or 2 ohm?

 

I got hold of a couple of Canton door speakers and was wondering if I can just replace my current ones, although there are no specs printed on them.

I also have some aftermarket midrange woofers that I can drop there, but those are 2ohm, hence my question.

 

Cheers and thanks in advance for the comments

Standard will probably be 4. You can test using a multimeter

Ate the speakers any different in the Canton? Either way I bet you won't hear much of a difference. You would be better off simply running a small in line amp at line level.

Edited 16 June, 201610 yr by Mallettsmallett

I regard the rubbish Bolero amplifier as the biggest impedance.

Standard will probably be 4. You can test using a multimeter

Ate the speakers any different in the Canton? Either way I bet you won't hear much of a difference. You would be better off simply running a small in line amp at line level.

 

I don't have a multimeter ...maybe I should get down to buying one, at last.

 

They are different, yes - the Canton ones have a significant larger magnet, which implies the bass should also be stronger. If the weather gets better in this freaking country, I will do some experiments and compare them

I regard the rubbish Bolero amplifier as the biggest impedance.

 

That's true also, but not as easy to solve as changing a speaker - Unfortunately, I am stuck with this. Had my eye on a car with Canton but it was snatched under my nose by another guy, so had to go with the second option...

All a larger magnet really implies is that the throw of the woofer could be larger and more controlled buy I see what you're getting at.

The main limiting factor will be the amp in the units. You'll be surprised what upping the power on I'm speakers will do. Most factory amplification is in single digits per channel. Put even a modest 40wpc into them and you'll notice a huge difference.

The bottom line is that it actually sounds very good. You can test this yourself by listening to it with the engine off in a quiet spot. It's pretty good all round.

As soon as you use the car, the audio has to contend with all the ambient noise you then generate and it drowns out half the music below say, 150 hz. Even a modest amount of sound deadening would make a good difference.

Even a modest amount of sound deadening would make a good difference.

I fully agree, but it is so expensive... :(

My previous car (a Saab 9-3) was so silent inside - huge difference for this Skoda.

Problem with adding an amp is that you cannot easily bypass the stock unit processing, cause I am pretty sure it is doing something to the audio.

Also, I have an amplified subwoofer that I took from my old car, but still need to find an easy way to add it to this one.

On the other car the amp was in the trunk and there was also a fuse box in the trunk, so it was dead easy...

There are simple in line solutions. Google Audiotec Fisher Match.

There are simple in line solutions. Google Audiotec Fisher Match.

Will read it very carefully - seems an interesting proposition, but also, just checked, the door tweeters really are lacking also.

I have not had the speakers out of an Octy 3 (Canton or other) but the ones I have seen on the MK7 Golf are 4ohm/20w I understand the Octy are the same as they are all the same part number.

 

Some of the "component" systems use different impedance (2ohm etc) which is why you can't always just get the speakers from the upgraded sound system and put them in the standard system without the corresponding amplifier.

 

The non-canton head units output 'speaker' level signal not 'line' which needs an amplifier like these

 

http://www.audiotec-fischer.de/lng/en/match/

 

I think there is a way to tell the head unit to output 'line' level with VCDS/VCP but I cant find the reference to it now. If you do that then you could put any old amplifier in.

Yeah, since I have the woofer speakers from the Canton system already (bought them cheap) I will just buy a multimeter and measure what is in the car now and also what is the Canton speaker.

As I mentioned, I need to wait for it to stop raining, so this might be July only

Tenner says they're the same but I really don't think it will be worth it if you're not changing the source in any way.

I don't have a multimeter ...maybe I should get down to buying one, at last.

 

That's lucky because you can't test the impedance of a loudspeaker with a multimeter. 

 

Most car speakers are 4 Ohm but that's only an approximate value as a guide. 

Simplest solution is probably to use a high-to-low level converter to tap off the rear speaker feeds. This will give you a line-level signal you can connect to an amp or an integrated speaker/amp combo. Then you just have to feed power to the amp from the fusebox and find somewhere to house the speaker unit. 

 

Don't go changing the door speakers this is a lot of work that will deliver almost no benefit. 

Simplest solution is probably to use a high-to-low level converter to tap off the rear speaker feeds.

 

I haven't checked yet, but aren't the rear speakers bi-amped also? As in, the signal going to the rear is a crossover signal with low rear and high rear.

 

Also, I beg to differ in one aspect - getting the door panels out, unbolting a speaker and bolting another one seems quite easy when comparing to rewire everything and add/power an amp - I know that is the proper way to do it (not arguing that), it is just that THAT is a lot of work

 

I plan to, some time in the future, find a way to add my powered subwoofer, although even that might prove challenging without A LOT of cable running.

 

Bah... I just need to man up and embrace the evidence that I will need to be comfortable with disassembling half the car to run cables around at some point, but I am not there yet...

No there is one wire pair for each door. The speakers are not bolted in they are plastic-welded in (but you can drill out the plastic). You can change the crossover capacitor on the back of each door tweeter if you feel the tweeter is being overloaded. 

 

See here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/390360-guide-removing-front-door-card-octavia-mk3-including-changing-tweeter-capacitor-for-better-sound/

 

And here: http://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/7-in-car-entertainment-ice-and-security/

 

I plan to fit an amp and speaker, the amp may go under the (left) front passenger seat and the speaker in the rear left side (I have an estate). But yes this means taking out the seats and lifting all the carpets to do the wiring ... a big job that I have no time for at the moment. 

Oooook... So the headhunit doesn't do the processing and there is a passive crossover before the tweeter?

....interesting.

Is there any recommended replacement for the tweeters?

I noticed that they lack a lot of clarity in top frequencies.

That's lucky because you can't test the impedance of a loudspeaker with a multimeter.

Most car speakers are 4 Ohm but that's only an approximate value as a guide.

Mine does. Set to resistance and whatever the voice coils show? Could have sworn that works?

Interested to know how you get on, I really wanted the Canton system but just could not find a used Scout anywhere with one fitted. I plan to add a small active sub to fill in the bottom end sound a bit but had not considered upgrading the door speakers. I wish they were all fitted universally so it was easy to swap rather than having to drill out plastic welds etc

Interested to know how you get on, I really wanted the Canton system but just could not find a used Scout anywhere with one fitted. I plan to add a small active sub to fill in the bottom end sound a bit but had not considered upgrading the door speakers. I wish they were all fitted universally so it was easy to swap rather than having to drill out plastic welds etc

 

I will know for sure when I remove the door card, but at least the Canton woofers I got seem to have the traditional screw holes and no traces of ever being welded.

Might be that they apply some paste or something to minimize rattles and help the speakers seal properly?

If I remember correctly it's like a melted plastic rivet, which you could drill and replace with a bolt I guess. 

 

If you measure the resistance of a voice coil with a multimeter you will be measuring the DC resistance, that and the wiring to the speaker should be well below 1 Ohm in any decent system. Hate to say this but, trust me, I'm an electrical engineer. 

Yes they are held in with a plastic rivet from the factory. Standard way of replacement is drill the plastic rivet out and replace with pop-rivets

If I remember correctly it's like a melted plastic rivet, which you could drill and replace with a bolt I guess.

If you measure the resistance of a voice coil with a multimeter you will be measuring the DC resistance, that and the wiring to the speaker should be well below 1 Ohm in any decent system. Hate to say this but, trust me, I'm an electrical engineer.

That might explain why I couldn't work out why a dvc sub I had was wired in parallel....

If I remember correctly it's like a melted plastic rivet, which you could drill and replace with a bolt I guess. 

 

If you measure the resistance of a voice coil with a multimeter you will be measuring the DC resistance, that and the wiring to the speaker should be well below 1 Ohm in any decent system. Hate to say this but, trust me, I'm an electrical engineer. 

So, how would you go about measuring the impedance of a speaker?

 

I am 80% sure they are 4ohm speakers, but in the Saab, for some weird reason, they had 4ohm tops and 2ohm woofers, driven out of a different amp.

How did I end up in a sound engineers forum?