I have just bought a Fabia 1.9tdi and have been very pleased with the car ...except the sound quality from the radio/cd player is crap. Before I rush out and replace the radio, does any one know which is responsible for the bad sound, is it the symphony radio or the 6 speakers fitted to the car, or both! :confused:

Edited 24 July, 20214 yr by john999boy
Title

The speakers should be ok - after upgrading the head unit in my fabia, I must say I noticed a marked improvement...

I have just bought a Fabia 1.9tdi and have been very pleased with the car ...except the sound quality from the radio/cd player is crap. Before I rush out and replace the radio, does any one know which is responsible for the bad sound, is it the symphony radio or the 6 speakers fitted to the car, or both! :confused:

The radio is apparently rubbish. I hae it tuned to several local stations and it seems very hissy and looses sterio sound just drivng around. I thought it was an error maybe a loose wire or poor aeiral but was shcoked when the dealer said that is normal. |I too want a new HU but I don't want it nicked so I'm keeping the Skoda unit in for the moment.

Weird because the older 1.9 TDIs (like mine) come with Grundig HUs and they can be pumped up quite high without too many worried - trouble is its a tape deck so I swapped for an MP3/CD Kenwood and that has drastically improved the sound quality and the ability for top end... Good job I have spare door speakers lying in a shell...

Weird because the older 1.9 TDIs (like mine) come with Grundig HUs and they can be pumped up quite high without too many worried - trouble is its a tape deck so I swapped for an MP3/CD Kenwood and that has drastically improved the sound quality and the ability for top end... Good job I have spare door speakers lying in a shell...

Weird, the car I tested was an X-reg with a CD player and had decent sound quality. I don't believe my problem is simply "they all do that". Maybe a trip to another dealer is in order.

Dunno Col - could just be a signal carrying / capturing problem - how do CDs play?

BTW (see thread title) - Is "Farbia" how the Queen would pronounce it? :P

Dunno Col - could just be a signal carrying / capturing problem - how do CDs play?

Don't have a CD player just a tape deck but tbey seem to play fine in there. It is to be honest getting on my nerves recently , maybe it will spur me onto a new HU even with my concerns of it getting half-inched. Wonder how much that DAB one is now.....

The radio is apparently rubbish. I hae it tuned to several local stations and it seems very hissy and looses sterio sound just drivng around. I thought it was an error maybe a loose wire or poor aeiral but was shcoked when the dealer said that is normal. |I too want a new HU but I don't want it nicked so I'm keeping the Skoda unit in for the moment.

Have you checked that the antenna is screwed in OK? Also check that its screw thread isn't damp and/or corroded.

There's a setting for 'local' stations in the radio setup which (supposedly) ensures that it only seeks out the strongest signals, although this usually only applies to RDS EON stations (ie the BBC nationals).

I have a new Fabia and I'm pleased with the quality from the stock stereo. I thought it would be really bad so was considering an instant upgrade when the car arrived, but now its here, the Grundig Single Slot CD Player isn't too bad at all.

Plays CDs fine, there aren't that many options but the sounds quality will do for now.

Altogether, a nice system.

Something about Grundig isn't it? Really cr4p sounding name but I've never had a problem with any of mine apart from the fact they were all tape decks and MP3/CD was more suited to me...

(and I got two of the bu99ers sat in my bedroom awaiting new homes...)

Have you checked that the antenna is screwed in OK? Also check that its screw thread isn't damp and/or corroded.

There's a setting for 'local' stations in the radio setup which (supposedly) ensures that it only seeks out the strongest signals' date=' although this usually only applies to RDS EON stations (ie the BBC nationals).[/quote']

It's in right. Don't know about corrosion. Will check

After some excellent advice from the good people on this forum I replaced the head unit on my new Fabia and kept the stock speakers. I'm very happy with the sound although mine didn't have rear speakers as standard so I'll fit those at some point.

Basically I reckon the head unit is the weakest link (and also the easiest to change!)

Unfortunately the car itself isn't so happy but thats a story for another forum :-(