Skoda Octavia Canton Subwoofer Upgrade

[JackySi]

Just now, Dalryk said:

What happens if you only plug in one set of wires?

 

The Basser custom enclosure only seems to have 2 plugs, so not sure how you'd even connect both sets of wires?

Did not test but my guess is that whole subwoofer channel set will turn off. I wouldn't change subwoofer like that to be honest. Only if you find exact drop-in replacement

[andyh41]

Quote

I get ODB error for subwoofer wires now and then, (I wired another AMP to channel) which is detected for both wires. So the AMP has 2 channels for subwoofer. So they're not joined. Its 2x 8 Ohm. Period. 

 

Thought it was too good to be true. In fact on that website, all the other Skoda models with Canton are quoted as having 2 x 8 Ohm sub, so it wouldn't make sense that the Octavia is the only one with a 1 x 4 ohm option.

 

Edited 23 September, 2019 by andyh41
Removed picture

[Dalryk]

9 minutes ago, JackySi said:

Did not test but my guess is that whole subwoofer channel set will turn off. I wouldn't change subwoofer like that to be honest. Only if you find exact drop-in replacement

 

Could you plug both sets of wires into the one set of connectors?  

 

I'm keen on the basser box, so as not to take up any space.  But I'm blowed if I can work out how you're supposed to connect anything to the existing system without running a whole new amp setup?

[JackySi]

6 minutes ago, Dalryk said:

 

Could you plug both sets of wires into the one set of connectors?  

 

I'm keen on the basser box, so as not to take up any space.  But I'm blowed if I can work out how you're supposed to connect anything to the existing system without running a whole new amp setup?

I am sorry but I'm not electrician or someone who builds amps. I am not sure what would happen. Canton AMP sends 100w per sub channel total of 200w. If resistances are off it could blow the amp from my basic sound system knowledge.

I would not dare to try as amp costs 400€+.

[Dalryk]

Ha, I don't plan on doing anything myself.  Was just going to source parts then take it all to a professional to get it done.  Just wanted to make sure it would all work in the first place though!

 

Guess I could always go talk to the professionals *first* and see what they think 😛

 

[Dalryk]

Success!

 

The dream has been achieved - a massive upgrade to subwoofer capacity with a straight drop-in hooked up to the existing wires.

 

The biggest obstacle is trying to find a dual-coil 8-ohm sub just like the original.  The key to the solution is that you don't have to.  Because the two sub channels from the existing amp can run in "bridge mode", so instead of 2 channels at 6-ohm 150W, it runs as one channel at 3-ohm 300W.  That means you can connect a single coil 4-ohm sub!

 

I used one of these babies, which fits the basser box perfectly (including the total enclosure volume), has just the right power rating, and a great sensitivity to get the most out of the relatively weak input. 

 

All you need to do is take a positive input from one channel, and a negative input from the other channel and connect them both to your unit.  As per the attached picture, the wires are colour coded (grey and white for each channel, red and brown lines for polarity) so it's easy to work out.  I paid a guy to do it for me, and he was able to splice the wires and keep the original plug, so in theory I can put it all back to OEM if I wanted.

A$135 for the sub

A$220 for the box 

A$100 for the install

 

Less than $500 all up, and the results are phenomenal.  Very, very happy with the outcome!

[gxgro]

I made the same modification as the user above, but with an JBL Club 1024, and the initial result was very underwhelming. I changed the balance to full rear, played a 40Hz signal and my ears started popping. Ran the same signal but balance set to center, bass disappeared, I said what the actual f.. and then I started testing things:

 

Balance set to center, 40Hz signal, in front seat low bass, in the back seat ears bleeding… a cigarette later the PHASE idea came to my mind. I switched positive and negative wires at the subwoofer and the full bass moved to the front seats leaving the rear seats with a physical bass but soft to the ear (perfect for passengers).

 

Result is the same with the original canton sub, so if you want more bass in the front seats you need to invert the polarity on the speaker. The difference between the canton sub and aftermarket one is still very big due to almost three times the cone area.

 

Now comes the technical part. The user above suggested the sub will run in bridge mode but it does not. The chip is a BTL that means is already bridged, data sheet and direct measurement confirms it. There is no double voltage swing neither using CH1+ and CH2- nor any other combination of wiring, meaning that the sub is getting only 100W (theoretically) from the amp.

 

I’m not sure why the amp supports the 4 Ohm load without overheating, without shutting down the channel, cause I stressed it out with sub bass at high volume for prolonged time.

The data sheet of the chip tells us it can run in PARALLEL MODE by inverting the CH2 input polarity from the DSP, selecting the mode with the MOD pin and joining both polarities of every channel into a single one (+-, +-) and deliver the 1x200W@4Ohm instead of 2x100W@8Ohm.

 

The current bass is sufficient for me but I don’t know how the electronics will hold the 4 Ohm on long term, I’ll try and ask someone qualified in this kind of electronics for advice or eventually modify the circuit to get those 200W@4Ohm.

 

All above information is from personal testing and research, I’m not an expert and I might be wrong.

[BigDaveW]

I know this is an old thread now - but can anyone see an issue with just dropping this in to the box and running off of existing wiring?

https://creativeaudio.net/10tw3-d8/

It's 10 inch with dual 8-ohm voice coil - I just wonder if ti would be a little underpowered for this particular speaker? (Bit its the only one I can find in the UK).

 

The other question I had was - why cant you just put a couple of 4 ohm resistors in line with a dual voil 4 ohm sub? (They're dirt cheap by comparison)

[PetrolDave]

1 hour ago, BigDaveW said:

The other question I had was - why cant you just put a couple of 4 ohm resistors in line with a dual voil 4 ohm sub? (They're dirt cheap by comparison)

Half the power will go into the resistors - so they'll get hot and the sub will be quiet.

[BigDaveW]

Does anyone know if you can get a sub enclosure for the Octavia for the other (right hand side) of the boot? If I could have am enclosure on each side (all nice and tidy) I'd just wire in a single coil 8 ohm 10" sub on each side. The original Canton amp would presumably be fine driving 100w to each sub.

[Felvo]

On 03/08/2016 at 22:39, 1loud1 said:

Hi all,

First of all sorry for the lack of photos and light and clarity in them.

 

It has been well documented about the Canton subwoofer upgrade and the disappointment it has had on most Octavia owners, as I’m no different I decided to do something about mine.

As I have been an audio installer for over a decade I thought I’d share some information about my install and the Canton audio system on our Skoda's

 

 

About the Canton System:

The canton system is a 10 speaker stereo system powered by an 11 channel 570W amplifier (the subwoofer uses 2 channels), the factory subwoofer claims to be 200w with a frequency response of 50HZ to 120 HZ (that’s approximate and purely from listening, don’t quote me on that) it’s also a 6” woofer so my doubt is it can’t get close to 50HZ.

The factory amp is located under the left seat (I’m Australian so it’s my passengers side) under the plastic cover

When the factory audio system reaches ¾ volume it attenuates the bass to avoid overdriving the subwoofer causing damage. (Skoda don’t want to be replacing subwoofers under warranty), I believe on the later ones this has been removed as I have driven the newer Octavia’s and at low mileage the subwoofers all sounded blown (I believe this is because clients have turned the subwoofer level and the bass level to +9, and turned the Canton EQ to Rock, this leads to overdriving the subwoofer causing it to prematurely fail, (I’m not sure if this is covered under warranty). Remember it’s like any stereo system it needs a good 100 hours of wear in time.

 

 

What did I want out of this?

Like most Skoda owners I wanted more bass, it has also been well documented that “cabin Boom” is common in the Octavias too, at the same time I also wanted to reduce cabin road noise and make it quieter like its more expensive brother the Audi A4. Australian roads are not as good as the Europeans (this is why I went through a pair of continental tyres in less than 10,000 kms) and at $300 a tyre I decided to go for something harder wearing which of course has made the road noise so much worse due to the harder rubber.

I also wanted to keep the car as factory as possible I didn’t spend a stack of cash on a car to then plonk a subwoofer next to a factory subwoofer, I also wanted a subwoofer upgrade that didn’t take up any boot space (I know we have the biggest boot in our class of car but I use almost every inch of it)

What Equipment did I use?

1.  
2. Skoda Octavia 3 Custom Subwoofer box (surprisingly these can be purchased off the shelf from www.basser.pl) http://sklep.basser.pl/en/fit-box-enclosure/501-skoda-octavia-3-fit-box-subwoofer-enclosure.html it cost me just under 600 Zlotty delivered to Australia (approx. $200.00 AUD) it took 5 days to get here too!.
3.  
4. JL Audio A2150 2 Channel amplifier (150W RMS bridged), I know what you are thinking its 50W less than the original, I kept in mind that I have no intention to change the speakers and tweeters, I like the sound the speakers output and I love the soundstage the system provides, I didn’t want to come out of this having a subwoofer that was drowning out the mids and highs, it’s not what I’m about, I just wanted depth to the bass that the original woofer can’t provide.
5.  
6. JL Audio 10 “ Subwoofer 10w0v3-4, perfectly matched to the amp as it wants 150W RMS and only requires 18 litres of space to work (the box is 15 litres but I used Dacron to give the subwoofer the illusion it is in a bigger box)
7.  
8.  JL audio Matching subwoofer grill
9.  
10. Stinger Australia 8-gauge amp wiring kit
11.  
12. Stinger Australia “Roadkill” Sound deadener (36 Square Feet)
13.  
14. 0.5 Watt Resistors (you will need them see below)
15.  
16. Close braided wrap (to make exposed cable look original)
17.  
18. Audio control LC2i Line out converter, I used this one as I find it the best for high end audio upgrades it also accepts up to 400W RMS and has Accubass (this stops the bass rolling off at high volumes, which is why I’m doing the upgrade to begin with) it outputs 8 Volts through its pre-outs, signal sensing turn on (so you can still use the subwoofer with the car off and has a remote output (for the amp)
19.  

 

 

 

(Amp and LC2i not pictured they were still on their way)

 

 

Where to start:

Skoda uses Torx Screws (my advice is investing in a set of small to large Torx bits), they will come in handy when working on the car

I started with the sound deadening, this involved stripping out pretty much everything from the rear seats back, stripping out the car isn’t as difficult as some think (remember I’ve done this for a long time so I know what I’m doing), my advice is to be careful when pulling things apart things will only come off one way, also take note as to what order things come apart so you know what order they will go back on, check the back of each panel removed to ensure that clips aren’t broken or damaged making it harder to put back on later.

To sound deaden the rear end properly I removed the whole back seat, the bottom is fairly easy as it unclips and with a bit of jiggling it comes out, the top looks harder than it is. Between the 40/60 split is a plastic trim cover, this unclips and under it is a Torx screw which holds a metal clasp on, removing this will allow easy removal if the back seats, to totally remove the 60 split you will need to unbolt the centre belt from the floor pan. (re-fitment is done in reverse, that plastic cover is a pain to get back on)

Removing the back seat gives easy access to being able to remove the boot lining for sound deadening, you will also need to remove the cream c pillar covers and the suspension tower covers (that hold the parcel tray in) there’s a clip that is extremely stiff a lot force was needed to get it off (there is also a Torx screw in there too), once the left side liner is off you will find the 2 bolts holding the factory canton subwoofer enclosure in, unplug the speaker terminals from the subwoofer. The boot lights and power socket will need to be unplugged as well, they are fairly straight forward.

 

I used pretty much all 9 sheets of sound deadening for the boot, I didn’t go overboard with it as I don’t think it’s needed, I also didn’t want to kill my cars fuel economy. I also did the boot lid.

I put my amplifier under the right side of the front seat (Drivers side), I chose my amp because the dimensions fitted the space underneath the seat.

 

 

 

 

Wiring in the Amplifier,

I Started by disconnecting the battery (I usually don’t however the grommet through the firewall is behind the battery next to the ABS module), its easily accessible when the battery is removed. Under the main loom is a blank grommet I put my power cable through, it could easily take a 4 gauge however my amp only needed 8 gauge. I covered my power cable in the closed braided wrap so it looked factory.

 

 

 

I Fitted my amp fuse in the factory engine bay fuse box, this added to the factory finish, it was a little bit of a faff but it looks better then it bolted to the outside

 

 

 

 

 

Wiring the LC2i:

I Put my LC2i in the left rear quarter panel (above the suspension tower), this makes perfect sense as here I can utilize the original subwoofer leads, and the LC2i needs constant power which I got from the power socket wiring. ( I didn’t refit the light or the power socket as I don’t have a need for them, the shopping hook also got culled too)

 

 

From the Canton subwoofer you will have 4 wires

White/ Red +

White/Brown -

Grey/Red +

Grey/Brown -

From experience and working on German cars Brown is usually ground.

 

NOTE: over each speaker – and + you will need to put a 0.5W resistor the reason is, when the canton subwoofer is plugged in the amplifier sees a load, when the subwoofer is unplugged the amp doesn’t see any load and shuts down the subwoofer channel putting the resistors on the leads creates a dummy load so the subwoofer channels are still active (and you can use the subwoofer level control in the head unit.

 

 

From here All I then need to do I run my remote cable, RCA’s and subwoofer wire to the amp.

 

 

 

Fitting the subwoofer:

This doesn’t take a degree to do but a little common sense, Once the boot lining was in I offered up the subwoofer box and screwed it in to the floor (be careful as the muffler mount is under there and I missed mine by a bee’s ****), after that’s bolted in the subwoofer can be fitted to the box, again be careful as the last thing you want to do is put a hole in the cone)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connecting the Amplifier:

Connecting the amplifier is as normal, I Close braided all of my wiring to complete my factory look,

To mount my amp and run my cable to under the seat, I unbolted my driver’s seat, be careful of the original wiring (as airbag wiring is in there), removing the kick trims isn’t rocket science however I managed to tuck the wiring in without lifting them (I have it down to a science), I screwed my amp into the carpet but not through the steel floor (I didn’t want to hit something under the chassis and cause damage like brake lines)

 

 

The Home stretch:

Once everything is connected its time to turn on and test

There are specific videos on You Tube showing you how to tune the LC2i (including the Accubass feature)

From my experience I found it best to

Lower the bass to -3

Turn the subwoofer level to +5 ( I don’t go any higher myself)

(both of these settings are in the head unit)

 

Keep the gain on the LC2i high and lower the gain on the amp

 

I don’t use any bass boost settings on the amp as it only ever boosts 1 frequency

I have my crossover level at 100HZ (but each to their own.

 

Use good judgement, with your own equipment. And what sounds good to you.

 

 

Re-fit your interior and enjoy the better bass.

 

Any questions im happy to answer.

Hi there!

 

I’ve got the box and I’ve got the amp etc. I’m just curious about which resistors you used and if they ran quite hot/burnt out? Cheers

[Baremeg10]

Thank you for a nice and descriptive thread. It helped me a lot when doing the upgrade of the canton subwoofer on my Octavia III.
 

I see there is a lot of people have trouble with the resistor value, so I am going to help you out.

Warning! I have note tested the values that is coming further down, and they are calculated from what I think will be right. (Don’t blame me if they don’t, this is jus a guide to try to help you on the right track).

 

First, the original canton amplifier claims to push 2x100 watts into 8 ohms. This means the maximum voltage the amplifier can push at any time is <80 Volts. We are therefore calculating from 80 V so we ar on the safe side.

Then we can calculate the resistance value of the resistor based on what wattage the resistor can consume without overheating. I have calculated value for a few know resistor wattages. The last value is calculated with a headroom of 25% for safety (so the resistor doesn’t get too hot) and is the value you should use. You need to connect one to each channel (two in total)

 

¼ W resistor = 3200 Ω * 1,25 = 4000 Ω (4 kΩ)

½ W resistor = 1600 ohms * 1,25 = 2000 Ω (2 kΩ)

1 W resistor = 800 ohms * 1,25 = 1000 Ω (1 kΩ)

 

V = Volts

W = Watts

Ω = ohm (some call this resistance or impedance)

 

All the calculations are don on this site: https://www.cuidevices.com/product/resource/calculators/speaker-power-calculator

 

Going higher on the ohm rating on the resistor then calculated above will not cause any damage, but the canton amplifier can happen to not sense a load and therefore not turn on the subwoofer output. You should not go too much lower on the ohm rating than calculated above because this can lead to excessive heat on the resistor.

 

I have used two 9 W resistor at 1000 ohms, probably way overkill, but was what I had laying around. I have made a short test run and cannot feel any heat at all on the resistor and the subwoofer plays as it should.

Because I have only tested the 1000 ohms I cannot guarantee that 2k - and 4k resistor will work, but thread owner writes that he have used a ½ W resistor so 2 kΩ resistor should at least work.

Hope this comment helps someone out so they can enjoy their new subwoofer.

[KoenG]

On 15/04/2020 at 22:37, gxgro said:

I made the same modification as the user above, but with an JBL Club 1024, and the initial result was very underwhelming. I changed the balance to full rear, played a 40Hz signal and my ears started popping. Ran the same signal but balance set to center, bass disappeared, I said what the actual f.. and then I started testing things:

 

Balance set to center, 40Hz signal, in front seat low bass, in the back seat ears bleeding… a cigarette later the PHASE idea came to my mind. I switched positive and negative wires at the subwoofer and the full bass moved to the front seats leaving the rear seats with a physical bass but soft to the ear (perfect for passengers).

 

Result is the same with the original canton sub, so if you want more bass in the front seats you need to invert the polarity on the speaker. The difference between the canton sub and aftermarket one is still very big due to almost three times the cone area.

 

Now comes the technical part. The user above suggested the sub will run in bridge mode but it does not. The chip is a BTL that means is already bridged, data sheet and direct measurement confirms it. There is no double voltage swing neither using CH1+ and CH2- nor any other combination of wiring, meaning that the sub is getting only 100W (theoretically) from the amp.

 

I’m not sure why the amp supports the 4 Ohm load without overheating, without shutting down the channel, cause I stressed it out with sub bass at high volume for prolonged time.

The data sheet of the chip tells us it can run in PARALLEL MODE by inverting the CH2 input polarity from the DSP, selecting the mode with the MOD pin and joining both polarities of every channel into a single one (+-, +-) and deliver the 1x200W@4Ohm instead of 2x100W@8Ohm.

 

The current bass is sufficient for me but I don’t know how the electronics will hold the 4 Ohm on long term, I’ll try and ask someone qualified in this kind of electronics for advice or eventually modify the circuit to get those 200W@4Ohm.

 

All above information is from personal testing and research, I’m not an expert and I might be wrong.

Hi, I have a Kodiaq with canton and same problem/challenge. So I will place a sub box with the JBL. So I can take the positive from left and negative from right the connector and run it to the new sub? Which wires are the right ones to use?

 

and if I would place and extra with high low convertor just use the same two wires?

[sickzoid]

Sorry for bumping an old thread. 
 

I read through all the comments before pulling the plug on getting an external sub to replace my canton Sub as I love my EDM and DnB music. My door speakers are fine but I find the sub running out of head room when playing at loud volumes. 
 

Hooking up the sub to the high inputs has the ‘no output’ happen and DTCs that there is an open circuit and disables the sub channels. 
 

I went down to my local electronics store and picked up 3 different types of resistors to trick the amp - all did not work. 
 

I kept the sub connected and hot wired the external sub to the canton sub at the same time but still no output? (Doesn’t make sense…) 

 

Will getting a Lci or HELIX AAC.3 actually work? I don’t want to dump more money into this but really want it to work. Thanks!  

Octavia MK3 vRS  2018 Canton Audio

[KoenG]

After not satisfied with all the options. I remove the spare wheel. Created a new floor and placed an Audison APBX 10 S4S. Used one positive from pair one and one negative from pair two. So 2x 8ohm will be 1x 4ohm. And oh my my my. What a tight full bass I have now.