Loving my new (to me) 14 plate Octy, 1.6 TDI Elegance.

 

Moved from a 12 plate Ford Focus "eco" "boost" and it is such an upgrade in so many ways....except the stereo.  Maybe it's just because I was spoiled by the Ford's amazing stereo and I'll get used to it but -

 

The treble lacks depth even if I up the mid in the eq.  It's tinny and almost echoey when listening to spoken word.  Bass is tolerable if turned all the way up (I'm not after boy racer booming bass, just a nice rounded sound).

 

So, what are my options?  What do I have to upgrade or modify to get better sound?  Head unit?  Speakers?  Add sub?  Switch out speakers?  Additional amp?  I know very little about these things, so layman's terms please!

TIA

What are plates? - been seeing this on very car here and cannot stand it anymore, I need to know what does it mean?

In the UK since 1963 we have had an age identifier on registration plates. From 1963-1983 this was through the alphabet A-Y (with some letters missed out) at the end of the plate and changed every August. From 1983-2001it went A-Y at the start of the plate and also changed every August until they started bunching them at the end to get the new numerical age identifier in. From September 2001 onward the plate system is changed every March and September and displays the year in YY format (March to Sept) and the year plus 50 in YY format (Sept to March) so a 14 plate car is a 2014 car registered between March 1st and August 31st 2014 and a 64 plate car is a 2014/15 car registered between September 1st 2014 and February 28th 2015 and so until until 2049 when a new system will be introduced.  

Thanks Sasha. Clear Now. I can sleep :).

And sorry for the offtopic.

Edited 27 September, 20196 yr by ccosmin

11 hours ago, SashaGrace said:

In the UK since 1963 we have had an age identifier on registration plates. From 1963-1983 this was through the alphabet A-Y (with some letters missed out) at the end of the plate and changed every August. From 1983-2001it went A-Y at the start of the plate and also changed every August until they started bunching them at the end to get the new numerical age identifier in. From September 2001 onward the plate system is changed every March and September and displays the year in YY format (March to Sept) and the year plus 50 in YY format (Sept to March) so a 14 plate car is a 2014 car registered between March 1st and August 31st 2014 and a 64 plate car is a 2014/15 car registered between September 1st 2014 and February 28th 2015 and so until until 2049 when a new system will be introduced.  

99.8% right but became twice yearly from March 1st 2001 on "Y" registration, September 1st 2001 saw the "51" or "new" style registration come in place.

 

"I" and "Z" were not used on the old suffix and prefix system.

"Q" was used for kit built and non standard vehicles.

7 hours ago, Ju1ian1001 said:

99.8% right but became twice yearly from March 1st 2001 on "Y" registration, September 1st 2001 saw the "51" or "new" style registration come in place.

 

"I" and "Z" were not used on the old suffix and prefix system.

"Q" was used for kit built and non standard vehicles.

 Went twice yearly before that.

T plate was the first one to start in march, in 1999.

The OP asked about sound - why is there a discussion about number plates?

 

There are only a couple of negatives I have about the Octavia, top of the list is the audio. And to be fair in most reviews I've read it's true for all Skoda models ( just watched a review of the Kamiq which had the upgraded sound option and that too was unimpressive ).

 

For a number of reasons head unit replacement on facelifted cars with the newer head units is difficult but I expect much easier on a 5yr old car. I'd go down the route of looking at head unit replacement first with something that can push out more power. My next move would be speaker replacement (being careful to match the speakers to the headunit). A Even a half decent head unit should have a facility to add amps therefore in future you could expand with subs etc - but set up correctly you shouldn't need that to enjoy music.

 

The other option is to add an amp on to the existing head unit. Best taking your car to an audio specialist if you're not confident of messing around with wires. Your headunit will not have the facility to add an amp but you can still add one using the speaker connections.

 

A much easier option is to look out for a 'MATCH' upgrade. MATCH AMPS This is a plug n play kit which adds a tiny amp to the exiting system. It's quite expensive for what it is and not many dealers carry the equipment but it's a very easy upgrade option. If you power the sub via the battery rather than use existing wiring, it'll boost the amp with more power thus better sound. You can even add a small sub.  ( this is the system I chose ).

 

Of course you could spend £1000s replacing the whole lot - just depends how much you're willing to spend.

 

The best advice I can give tho is some folk will say just replace the speakers. The speakers in the Skoda aren't good and I'm not a fan of how they're mounted nor their positioning, but in truth that's the last upgrade to make. It's the old adage garbage in = garbage out, in other words if you feed the speakers with a crap under powered signal, then you're only going to get a crap under powered sound in return.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Number plates eh?  The first car our family bought was an F reg, that's the original F back in...    

Edited 28 September, 20196 yr by Golfmk56

51 minutes ago, Golfmk56 said:

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

Hugely, thank you!  I wasn't sure where to start, but your reasoned explanation has really helped.  

 

Plug and play is very tempting.  I am not handy with cars, electronics or car stereos.  Back in the day when you had an FM AM radio cassette player unit that you could just pull out and replace, I could do that....  Keeping costs down is also important sadly, but I'm gonna look into these MATCH amps and a small sub.  I might also ask around a couple of auto audio places to see what the cheapest upgrade I could get fully fitted is and work from there.....

 

Thanks mate!