Citigo Dab upgrade

[whoosh]

Hi Folks 

Just looking for dab upgrade  ideas for my sons citigo Monte Carlo 

Cheers 

[Gyp]

If you're looking for an add-on rather than replacing the head unit, I've had the Pure Highway/Alpine EzDAB in my last few Skodas which has been truly excellent.

 

They are fairly cheap now but do need wiring in to the back of the radio; for power and to piggy back the aerial - it has its own DAB aerial but uses FM for output. It does this brilliantly as in use if switches the car aerial out in favour of it's own signal so you get a clean signal.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pure-Highway-Digital-Adaptor-fitting/dp/B0741BY6CT

 

The latest incarnation is more plug-and-play, connection into the cigarette lighter and tha aux-in on the head unit, Not as neat from a wiring perspective but a hell of a lot easier to install

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FL1NRRT

 

Of course you could always fit a used DAB unit from an UP!

 

For any of them though, I'd say the critical bit is to fit a decent DAB aerial. On my Yeti I had the original VAG one fitted and that worked beautifully. There are various alternatives but the glass mounted aerials as supplied are generally rather poor and you'll get drop outs

Edited 7 December, 2018 by Gyp

[whoosh]

Thanks 

[g6zru]

I followed this route a couple of months ago with a replacement Sony DAB radio from Halfords. I had reservations about Halfords but thought Sony would be OK.

After fitting I found the DAB was nearly useless using the in car aerial provided. Halfords tried 3 different aerials, all in car types. All were the same, worked occasional but not reliably. In the end I told them to take it all out and replace the original radio.

My conclusion...don't be tempted to try in car aerials insist on a proper external DAB aerial.

 

Fred

Edited 10 December, 2018 by g6zru

[peter3197]

I bought a S/H Pure Highway on Ebay and used the original windscreen aerial and connected into the aux jack with power from the cig lighter, Works a treat, but I may be lucky with the strength of signal round my way. 

[rum4mo]

I'd be digging deeply into the VW Group parts listings to find out how Skoda achieve this, normally if there is an aerial built into the rear hatch, and that car does not have DAB already, there will be an available unused section/aerial if you have found that, then find the part number of the DAB aerial amplifier and fit that along with a new front to rear aerial lead.  

Or, it could be that you don't find an unused section/aerial, you might have to find the part number for a replacement aerial amplifier that includes DAB and replace the existing one and add in an extra lead for DAB.

 

I did this to my 2011 Audi S4 and despite reading many postings about DAB being complete rubbish - I swopped radio for the equivalent used one with DAB, paid to get component protection removed, bought a fitted a used DAB aerial booster - the correct one for that car, added a 5 meter Fakra lead and that was it, all good, maybe ready for the future if FM gets closed down!

[acalzetti]

Dear forum members,

I would like to install a subwoofer with pre-built amp in my 2016 Skoda Citigo. Does anyone here know whether the head unit will support this or whether i would have to buy a new facia panel and after-market hi-fi? 

Thank you for any replies.

[freemansteve]

You can probably keep the head unit, but the the next bit is to get a "line-level" feed from it into the input of the amplifier on your subwoofer, but see below. I doubt that the head unit will have an unused output for a subwoofer, but I may be wrong.

 

What I also don't know is whether your current head unit has a line-level output that feeds an already-fitted power amp somewhere, or whether its power amplifier is integrated, and all you have are speaker feeds out of the back of it. I think you will need to pop the head unit and have a look, and/or do some more web searches.

 

Empirically:

 

If it's the former, you can splice into the (4) wires with additional wiring (or buy a connector insert - look on web) and feed that wiring to your new amp. The new amp may only have a single input of course, but picking either the left or right stereo pair won't make a lot of difference (low bass tends to be present on both left and right channels in almost all recordings, as bass is not really heard by the ear as "stereo directional").

 

In the latter case, you'll need to buy, or knock up, a little resistor network to reduce the several volts of speaker output to line level. That is assuming your new amplifier doesn't do this (we'd need to see the spec), and feed that from any handy speaker or from the back of the head unit.

I do know there are tons of specialist car-sound outlets who may be able to advise, supply bits or do the work for you...

Just don't play anything with a computer-generated bass or drum riff that monotonously goes "boff boff boff", anywhere near my house, with your windows down. Or you could buy an old Nova/Corsa and also saw the exhaust off !

 

Edited 8 September, 2019 by freemansteve
clarity

[freemansteve]

Tell you what - hasn't DAB got better over time?

I have been all around West Cornwall with 100% perfect DAB reception and in places where FM has struggled!

 

 

[acalzetti]

Thank you for your kind answer @freemansteve - i will show this info to the Halfords fitter when they pull the head unit out to work on my car to replace the door speakers. They claim that an aftermarket stereo is required to power the sub so, just in case, i want to locate a replacement facia for the head unit: any ideas where to buy one from? I will search online in any case. Thank you.

[freemansteve]

Halfords could use this:

https://www.halfords.com/technology/car-audio/car-amps-subs/autoleads-line-output-to-rca?cm_mmc=Google+PLA-_-Car+Audio-_-Car+Amps+&+Subs-_-577285&istCompanyId=b8708c57-7a02-4cf6-b2c0-dc36b54a327e&istFeedId=62b447cf-331e-4fec-a47a-9985ff72d404&istItemId=wrqatrlim&istBid=tzwt&_$ja=tsid:94971|cid:1537736295|agid:61505027987|tid:pla-330689104041|crid:291898456043|nw:g|rnd:17394744316368058881|dvc:c|adp:1o2|mt:|loc:1006983&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwN-Hp6vD5AIVDbDtCh3vTAcsEAQYAiABEgLQ_PD_BwE 

 

 

or something like

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=speaker+to+line+level+converter&adgrpid=55911748689&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwN-Hp6vD5AIVDbDtCh3vTAcsEAAYASAAEgJKGvD_BwE&hvadid=259051984749&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=1006983&hvnetw=g&hvpos=1t1&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17854231979514494823&hvtargid=kwd-331185164316&hydadcr=5114_1827866&tag=googhydr-21&ref=pd_sl_6ek7ozcxnz_e

 

Or maybe this

https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car-accessories/car-technology-accessories/in-car-entertainment/subwoofer/?548991180&0&cc5_799&type=shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwN-Hp6vD5AIVDbDtCh3vTAcsEAQYAyABEgLBVvD_BwE

 

Look on ebay too.