lefteye

Just a quick question. Just ordered an octy est elegance 2.0tdi. Is it worth upgrading the sound system to the audience and 12 speakers, or is the stream good enough to listen to music and talk radio and cds. Also am i right in thinking the stream is being upgraded to play mp3's at week 22. Mines being built week 28.

Johnnyc

The Streams installed from wk 22 onwards will get an aux input socket in the jumbo box (if you have a jumbo box) but i wouldnt count on the Stream being able to playback mp3's and if it does you can be sure the 6 disk boot changer won't.

Apart from that the stream is fine. I now have my mp3 player installed in lieu of the autochanger and i'm pretty impressed with the sound quality. Be warned though, the Stream and Audience have both been known to have AM radio reception problems.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

Basil

a suggestion only: order it with the cheapest radio option (or none at all but wirring installed if this is possible - put in an aftermarket Headunit and speakers and REALLY enjoy good sound.
OEM sound can be very good generally but many people seem to feel that it cannot compare to an aftermarket sound system.
My $0.02 worth.

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lefteye

Cheers for the advice - any advice on what fits the hu size and is good, also anything that can be linked to the steering wheel mounted controls. If im not going for the audience i've got about £500-600 to play with.

By the way this site is excellent.

Johnnyc

You can get trim adapters to allow you to replace the standard head unit with a DIN or double DIN head unit. There's nothing currently available to allow an aftermarket HU to utilise the the multi function steering wheel controls to my knowledge though yet.

Changing to an aftermarket head unit will also result in the following functionality being lost:-

1. Display of radio frequency/volume/track no. & 'Phone' etc on maxidot display.
2. Automatic attenuation of audio when reverse gear is engaged
3. Graphic display of parking sensor readings on radio display
4. Display of climate control settings on radio display (when changed)
5. Display of temperature on radio display

I think there's a few other bits and pieces too.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

Basil

That's unfortunate - but just think what goodies you can get for 500 quid!
Many units have an available aftermarket steering wheel remote.

Maybe a poll on the ICE section for people to rate the improvement in sound with an aftermarket HU and their satisfaction with it, their feelings on the loss of OEM controls would be of value.

Or as one post said (in capitals) Just do it

Cheers
Bas

__________________
Fab vRS - Black Magic - PD160 intake - Forge FMIC - colour coded front grille -SLC Splitter - K&N Airfilter -SEAT Strutbrace - Jabba ARB - IC Waterspray (need to wire it in!) - 312mm TT brakes - Eibach Springs - Skoda Reversing sensors - Devonutopia Tuning (tm) Custom Exhaust (2 1/4" straight pipe) - Short shifter mod- 5 brake light mod - Helix Steel SMF + Organic Clutch + pressure plate - Peloquin LSD - TD stage 2 Hybrid - Washbrook remapped ECU - Uprated injectors - Cupra bushes -Poly-filled dogbone - Allard racepipe - Pirelli Dragons - Forge Rear Strutbrace - DIY SS upper boostpipe delete -Koni FSD's - elephant pipe CCV mod

Dr Zoidberg

I've heard the 10 speaker system in a Golf and it's excellent.
It really is surprisingly close to the quality you could get from an aftermarket system and much less hassle

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Alex

"I laugh in the face of danger, then I hide until it goes away"

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Johnnyc

The problem with the 10 speaker RCD300 head unit is that it's an 8 speaker unit thats been adapted to drive 2 extra speakers (midrange in front doors). There's actually 6 channels (3 Left & 3 Right) coming out of the head unit so changing it out for an aftermarket head unit isnt that straightforward. Also the vw 10 speaker setup uses a totally non-standard version of the quadlock connector on the head unit. That causes headaches too. I agree that dynamically it's an improvement over the stream system but the audience has the edge on it and the stream head unit has a lot more functionality than the VWRCD 300. In fact the RCD300 in so basic it beggars belief.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

unconfirmed

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the changer does support MP3 if the HU does. Might have been in the tech specs in the manual.

Also, to quote an email from my works skoda dealer:

Hi I've found out that all Octavia 2007 from build week 22 will come standard with a stereo unit that will be able to play mp3 discs and also an mp3 socket in the armrest to attatch an mp3 plater direct.

Steve

My new Octy is on order and arrives september

Johnnyc

The data read from the CD's in the autochanger is converted to analogue audio 'before' it reaches the head unit. The ability of the head unit to decode mp3's from single cd's is irrelevant so the boot mounted autochanger itself would also have to be a new version which is able to decode MP3 discs. I really wouldn't count on it. Fingers crossed for ya anyhow.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

malfean

Is there a way to get SoundSystem amp and all the speakers
work with aftermarket HU?

I mean, do i need to rewire the speakers, if i have soundsystem
and want to change HU?

Bobletrond

Go for it!
I have the audience with the 12 speaker system.
You got a Amplifier under the seat. It's a lot better than the original sound system.
My car is made late 2005 an it takes MP3
I like it

lefteye

would have liked to have it but unfortunately skoda discontinued the audience pack. hope the stream has been improved, will find out v.soon

Bobletrond

If you by a after marked HU that fist to the connector or an adapter cable, I think you can do it. The Ampilfier is just connected to te high level output on the Audiense HU.

malfean

Any links to that cable?

I have stream with soundpack (amp+12 speakers), and would
like to change the hu, but still use the amp and all the speakers...

I know it can be done, but any idea howto?

Johnnyc

are you sure? It's my understanding that the amp gets line level signals from the unused connector on the rear of the head unit. Also, the equaliser is integrated directly to the amplifier but controlled from the HU from what i've heard.

I'd be very surprised if the 12 speaker system just consisted of 4 extra speakers, an amp with high level inputs and a remote turn on connection from the HU.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

neilcaldwell

Guys,

On a similar thread - please help. I have the Audience head unit with the 12 speaker upgrade. I've recently changed the head unit for the Skoda Navigation radio. Just one problem, No audio from any speakers. I've connected a Nokia phone speaker to one of the speaker outputs whilst its connected up to the car and this works and vocals burst into life. (Through the nokia speaker only).

It's as if the Amp isn't switching on. How does the audio connect to the amp on the audience unit, please, please don't tell me it's digital via the CanBus or something stupid like that.

How desperate am I to get this working, well before I went on holiday, I left the car with my local dealer, Parkside Skoda in Bolton. Fair play they had a good crack at the whip in trying, they reckoned it should be posiible. But alas told me the head unit is incompatible with the car's setup. Total cost from Parkside £175 for the labour, for something that still doesn't work!!!

Real shame because the Nav. unit works A1 and even puts up the directions etc on the Maxi-dot display on the dash.

The errors from the VAG-COM when in the dealers were:-
Front left speaker open circuit
Front Right open circuit
Rear left Open circuit
Rear Right open circuit.

Or can someone answer me an easier Q.:-

How do you link the 4 speaker outputs from a "Normal" radio to the 12 speaker amplifier and make it switch on and burst sound from the speakers? You certainly don't just connect 4 pairs of speaker wires up to the connector on the back of the radio.

Be really grateful anyone. There's a case of beer in it for the 1st person to help me!

Neil.

malfean

Neil:
I have heard, that you cant have nexus work with soundsystem,
cause it doesnt have outputs to it. But, the problem is the same,
we need to know what kind of signal and what speakers does
the amp use.

malfean

Any new ideas to fix this problem?

How to use factory 12-speaker system with amp,
with other than factory headunit?

mannyo

At the moment I dont think its possible to use anything but the audience with the amp and 12 speakers. The only way to get things working will be to bypass the amp and rewire all the speakers.

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Manny
2005 Octavia 2.0TDi Elegance combi
my skoda website http://www.octaviars.co.uk

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Johnnyc

That's right. The NAV Head unit doesn't have the audio control functionality of the audience so it can't even communicate sufficiently with the amp to turn it on let alone control the audio. The Bass/Mid/Treble controls on the head unit don't actually affect the audio leaving the head unit. This is all done in the amp. Basically there's no hope of anything other than the audience head unit working with the amplifier.

There's debate over whether the audience amp takes its inputs from the speaker outputs of the head unit or from line outputs on the head unit anyway although its likely to be the former.

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Johnny

"Americans have different ways of saying things. They say "elevator", we say "lift" ... they say "President", we say "stupid psychopathic git."

cheezemonkhai

You could buy a new AMP that takes line level inputs and has the right number of outputs and replace the sound system amp with that.

This would then allow you to drive it from an after market head unit or even from the MFD2 unti via line level outputs.

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