I collected my (nearly new) Octavia 2.0 DSG Elegance last weekend. Love everything about the car except the quality of the sound system.

I've spent all week trying to tweak the treble/mid/base/fade settings, and it still sounds rubbish.

Now - I'm no audiophile, so I'm not looking for anything spectacular. My previous car (Seat Toledo) just had a standard radio/CD with 8 speakers and sounded miles better than the Octavia. The radio in the Octavia seems to have poorer reception, and radio and CD just sounds 'tinny'. It's like having a cheap transistor radio.

Even my wife - who definitely doesn't know her woofers from her tweeters commented on the sound quality the first time she got in the car.

Any thoughts? Should I go back and hassle the dealer?

It's odd that threads like this keep popping up. I reckon there's got to be two parts bins at Skoda labelled "Crap Radios" and "Great Radios", and it's luck of the draw which one you get.

I'm quite fussy about this sort of thing, and I think my Octavia stereo is excellent, certainly the best stock one I've had (including the full standard Sony kit in the new Mondeos). It rattles the panels a bit when the bass is turned up, but the sound quality (even from average quality MP3s) is great. I did have to tweak the settings quite a lot though to get it just right.

Do you have access to another one to compare? Or perhaps visit a dealer and ask to listen to another one?

EDIT: Agreed about radio reception though - it's not great. A search will reveal loads of threads about that..

Make sure you have the fade control set to neutral ie. balance point exactly between front & rear, or it will sound bad. I tried moving the fade towards the front and sound quality did just what you say, tinny & cheap even with all the bass up & 'loud' on. Once reset to the mid-point, I get good deep bass sounds again. Wierd.

What HU you have?

Audience or Stream?

Or something else?

It's an 'Audience'. I spoke to the dealer this morning. They said they'd never had any problems with Octavia radios.

Do you have the 12 speaker upgrade, or the normal 8 speakers. You can tell by the number of speakers fitted to each door.

I have the audience HU, and through the normal 8 speakers the sound is pretty good, far better than some OEM systems I have listened to.

The other thing to consider is the sound source (radio/audio cd/mp3 cd) and the type of music. If you are playing MP3 disks, then what bit rate are they.

There must be something up with the system for it not to produce any bass, as has already been said the Octavia OEM setup is very very good indeed especially seeing as you have the premium Audience unit. Have you tested each speaker to make sure all 8 are running? use the fade/balance controls to test this.

Failing anything obvious it could just be a duffer and might need replacing.

Do you have the 12 speaker upgrade, or the normal 8 speakers.

Just the 8 speakers. I haven't tested each individual speaker, but will give it a go.

I've been using audio CD's rather than MP3's.

After more tweaking today, I've found that I can improve things if I bias the balance over to the other side of the car - which isn't going to sound great for the passenger!

Most certainly a hardware problem as I can make the door mirrors rattle with my OEM setup. That means either my stereo is pretty good or my mirrors are crap

From what you say about the balance I would think a large speaker has popped or there is a loose connection.

I think a lot of this is down to what you are expecting.

I had a mid-price Alpine unit in a Fabia and when I got my Octavia, with a 'Stream' unit, I found/experienced all the faults and negatives you have. Overall the Stream unit is IMHO quite reasonable but I wanted better; my main problem was poor radio reception particularly on MW and a lack of definition and depth to the sound as a whole.

Solution; I had kept my Alpine unit, had it fitted and way hay, even with the OEM speakers, the sound was fantastic. I could hear parts/instruments of my favourite tracks that I did not even know existed, particularly bass.

Have a search for other threads, of which there are quite a few, to give additional feedback.

Finally, DieselNick; WELCOME to Briskoda!

Finally, DieselNick; WELCOME to Briskoda!

Good point there Mr Bahnstormer,

Welcome aboard Nick

Glad to be a member! I can already see that this place is a mine of useful information and knowledge. Thanks to all who've taken the time to respond.

This is my first Skoda - previously had a Seat, several VW's, a Saab and a Renault (company car - not my choice!).

I managed to pick-up a nice spec nearly-new 'Elegance' at my local dealer. It's got the multi-function steering wheel + Maxidot, ESP, & curtain airbags. Very impressed with the DSG gearbox. Other than the issue with the sound system, so far so good!

I managed to pick-up a nice spec nearly-new 'Elegance' at my local dealer. It's got the multi-function steering wheel + Maxidot, ESP, & curtain airbags. Very impressed with the DSG gearbox. Other than the issue with the sound system, so far so good!

I must say, quite a nice spec and good colour; well done. i'm sure you'll enjoy it.

It's an 'Audience'.

Oops - I thought it was an Audience, but given that it has 'Stream' on it, that should have been a clue. Doh!

Does it say, Stream or Stream MP3 on the HU.

Stream MP3

The stream mp3 shares a lot of components with the audience, including the amplifier. It could be that for some reason one of your speakers has been wired out of phase, either way its not how it should be and it should be sorted under warranty.

My dealer said I could go play with the radio in another of their Octavias and see if that sounds any different. If it does, I'll book mine in and get them to look at it under warranty.

My dealer said I could go play with the radio in another of their Octavias and see if that sounds any different. If it does, I'll book mine in and get them to look at it under warranty.

Sounds like a straight forward and simple ideas. Do let us know how you get on.

If you are slightly interested in car audio, the std stereo will become annoying very quickly.

When I got my vRS with Stream mp3 it sounded ok initially. After a couple of days, the bass sounded wooden and trebble fizzy.

Good for a std car setup, but in relation to aftermarket it is poor.

Now I have changed all of it and it sounds so much better. Not really comparable though as the cost and instalation practice are miles away from std.

Stream MP3

I have the Audience with "Sound System" - 12 speakers, so not sure about Stream. Spent some time in the beginning playing with settings and found out that for the best sound settings, equalizer needs to be at "natural" (I guess that's the name) and "loudness" needs to be off. After that I've menaged to adjust the bass, trebble and mid to desired level. Not sure if Stream has the same kind of settings.

personally, i have the 8 speaker Stream MP3. i think its a bit naff.

My colleague has a Mondeo ST and the sony unit in there is soooooo much better.

I have played with settings but cannot get clean deep bass from it like the sony. I think 1 of the major problems is the location of the woofers in the front doors. they fire directly into the seat or the person sitting there (depending how tall you are). They would have been much better where most speakers are near the hinge in the footwell.

Interesting - A colleague of mine has a Mondeo ST and we did a side by side comparison of the OEM sounds systems.

I have the MFD2 with an ipod via the A/V connection and we couldn't tell the difference between the 2 systems using the same source (my Ipod touch).

Maybe you all need to get MFD2's fitted?

I would however agree about the positioning of the speakers in the door - most likely to maximise door storage space.

I have my seat almost all the way back so the door speaker is further forward in relation to my driving position so that may improve my listening experience a little.

I have the Stream Mp3 in my Elegance Octy Mk2, and asside from the common radio reception issues, find the bass excellent for any manufacturers head unit I've come across. Tuned up, my sounds very good.

And i'm VERY fussy about quality of my music. My works Mondy sucks for audio quality IMO.

I suspect you have an issue.

This one keeps coming up and I wonder if there are two sources for the headunits with different internal specs?!

Not sure if Skoda would work it like that but I cant understand people who slate the standard setup.

After just a two minute tweaking in the audio menu I think its the best standard system in this class of car that Ive tried.

Im very fussy on audio btw - my last two cars had full Alpine installs (H/U, component speakers, amp etc) so coming back to a standard sytem like this should have been more of a shock - but it wasn't.

Lee