Has anyone upgraded their sound system other than specifying the canton option? I've had the car a year and it's been great but the tinny sound is getting on my nerves now.

Thinking of swapping the front speakers for some decent ones, adding sound deadening material and probably an amp too. Hoping someone will be able to let me know what's behind the door card with regards to speaker arrangement and clearances.

Speakers are only as good as what's driving them - using the standard head unit and just upgrading the speakers will be a waste of money I'm afraid!

This thread probably contains some useful info for you:
http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/407494-skoda-octavia-canton-subwoofer-upgrade/?hl=%2Bcanton+%2Bupgrade#entry4695376

Speakers are only as good as what's driving them - using the standard head unit and just upgrading the speakers will be a waste of money I'm afraid!

Even if I add an amp to drive the speakers?

Oh that's a different matter - I thought you meant just running them from the head unit amplifier.

Would recommend a small subwoofer too, as you will get the best sound that way...and use component speakers.

Thanks for the info. Any idea of a rough cost if I got amp and speakers and got the shop to install?

There are some plug and play solutions depending on your budget. Google Audiotec Fisher Match and Audison.

I'll be getting my new mk3 soon so also keen to look into audio upgrades, I want to build a custom fibreglass enclosure for the spare wheel wheel and also add amplification.

 

what size are the stock speakers? 6.5"?

Are you saying you have canton or not ?

 

Canton seems perfectly adequate for me, not specified extra but was just already in car bought used.

Are you saying you have canton or not ?

Canton seems perfectly adequate for me, not specified extra but was just already in car bought used.

Haven't got Canton, not looking for anything too over the top, just something to make the existing head unit sound a bit better.

Tinny sound is tweaters - Dunno about other cars but Canton has units on the door that must be tweeters, but I've never found it tinny ( sometimes seeming slightly underpowered but some tweaks in the settings can go a long way to address that ).

 

Ironically it sounds like Canton would probably fit your requirements but if you are in retrofit I guess its cheaper to look at other options.

I've got the Canton and its **** :(

 

I'm looking at options to either replace the sub or run in a new amp and take a feed from the rear speakers with a low pass filter.

I've got the Canton and its **** :(

I'm looking at options to either replace the sub or run in a new amp and take a feed from the rear speakers with a low pass filter.

I've got a loan car with canton at the moment until I get my VRS, I totally agree is crap...not worth the 500 quid IMO.

If you change the canton mode to driver it will make it a lot better - however its still turd

You need to play with the settings to get the right adjustment to the sound. It's actually a very capable system. It's far better than the Bose system in my friend's A3.

Today I had some free time to play with the audio in my car.

I found out that I can improve a lot my audio experience by using my phone as a audio source to play music from. 

Using on the phone some free tool: Google Play Music Free. This tool has a equalizer function, and helps to set more advanced the bass/ treble.

 

You should try this. Maybe you will find it useful.

I have found that I get the best sound in my car with AAC (M4a) music files encoded at 320kbps VBR and put on an SD card. I still have the bass turned up but I haven't had to turn the treble down too far. for some reason they sound better than high bit rate MP3s (presumable down to the decoder in the Amundsen).

Not taking into consideration the source (lossless, mp3,aac or whatever) the division is about 80% speakers, 15% amp and 5% all the cables, connectors, codecs etc. Main thing with amp is that it has to have plenty of W to drive the speakers but with good sensitive (96dB or so) speakers its not a problem -> with 5W you will blow your bloody head off. If the amp is weak then you will just have to listen quietly or blow the tweeters (clipping, current into speakers or smt) OR FIND SOME FINE SENSITIVE SPEAKERS.

 

I would swap the speakers first. Options: fine speakers+****ty amp=perhaps some hiss but still decent sound. ****ty speakers + OMGWTF perfect amp = ****ty sound. There is very little room to f...ck up in a modern amp but there is a myriad of things to screw with in the speakers.

 

P.S.  I find lossless from SD card to be the best, BT audio tends to be of a ****ty quality, same tracks from android auto sound much better. IMHO canton is quite good (except for the sub being a piece of crap).

Dunno about you guys, but the previous post showed up like this for me:

******** ****** ******* ***, **** *** *******

:)

The standard speakers can sound damn good with the right source, Radio is rubbish, and the eq from it could be way better !, cd, jukebox or from bluetooth streaming can be very good!

I also have bass and treble at max, with mid just above middle

There is a big difference in sound quality between DAB and FM, FM is way better !

Just thought I'd give a quick update. I played with the settings but could get a decent improvement sooooo I've ordered some sound deadening material, an amp and some components for the front. All I have to do now is rip the interior apart to get it all fitted Wish me luck!

Just thought I'd give a quick update. I played with the settings but could get a decent improvement sooooo I've ordered some sound deadening material, an amp and some components for the front. All I have to do now is rip the interior apart to get it all fitted Wish me luck!

 

Good luck, and also have a look at this http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/390360-guide-removing-front-door-card-octavia-mk3-including-changing-tweeter-capacitor-for-better-sound/

Does the head unit make a difference?.. I have the Columbus which I believe you need if you opt for Canton speakers