Hi all,

Just proudly bought my first Skoda Octavia vRS after falling in love at first sight. After having pretty rubbish cars before I've always been happy to wade in and mess about with the sound system to sort it out.

I'm not too happy with the sound in the vRS and there are several things I want to do:

Sort out iPod connectivity

Improve sound quality (i.e. speakers)

Can those of you vastly experienced in the Skoda ICE world advise me if:

I need a new head unit or if I can get an iPod connector for Symphony (seen the Harmon Kardon Drive + Play advertised)

If it is relatively straightforward to find speakers to replace the factory standard ones without tearing the car apart and causing damage!

I suppose this is going to be pretty expensive, but ideally looking for the cheapest way to sort it out!

The amp in the standard Symphony is pretty weak - replacing this for even a fairly budget head unit will see massive improvements in sound quality. And it'll be easier to connect an Ipod too.

Once you've done this, you can then pick out the weaknesses in the speakers and the soundstage, and decide how much you want to spend and which speakers you want to improve. Chances are it'll be all of them - replacing the back ones you don't have to worry too much about size (though you might not be able to fit the "carpet puddings" back over the speakers - possibly best not to anyway though!). The front door speakers are in a relatively tight cavity, so you'll be looking at either fairly slim speakers or some spacers...

Rob.

my install

Alpine head unit cda-9853R £ 189 (time corecction is better than sex)

Alpine ipod adaptor £69

Rainbow 265 SLX deluxe componants up front £130

Alpine 17 SPr in the rear £80

Rockford fosgate P3001 mono amp £200

10 " Rockford fosgate Punch Sub £80

you also need to sound dedend and damp the doors i used a pack of Skinz

it just came first in a EMMA round @T14