Speaker upgrades?

[SaffaBrit]

I've had my XC90 SE (2007) for a couple of days now and although I really like it, the sound is a bit meh...
I haven't checked everything properly yet, but the tweeters for example are either not very good or not working.
Not sure if the centre speaker is included in the SE model or not?

My question is if you have to get specific speakers if you want to upgrade it or can you use any good aftermarket speakers?

[SwissXC90]

There are 3 stereo levels on the XC90

1. Basic - with no amplifier under front right seat, and I think 4 x fullrange speakers, 1 in each door.
2- High Performance - with amplifier under right front seat, front door tweeters, front door midrange/bass, rear door fullrange/tweeter coaxial speaker, and d-pillar tweeters
3. Premium (DynAudio) - with DynAudio badge on center grill, amplifier under right front seat, and higher power and more and better speakers (low and midrange in each front door), including center speaker.

There's also a subwoofer available, but it was dropped from 2009 as the door speakers were doing such a good job at the bass.

I have the High Power system and the bass is good but treble is a bit weak, so today I'm changing the crossover capacitors on the front tweeters to better caps to see how much of a difference it makes.
Who know if the difference will be audible...??

Otherwise, people have replaced the High Performance tweeters with DynAudio Premium tweeters for better sound.

[SaffaBrit]

Originally Posted by SwissXC90

There are 3 stereo levels on the XC90

1. Basic - with no amplifier under front right seat, and I think 4 x fullrange speakers, 1 in each door.
2- High Performance - with amplifier under right front seat, front door tweeters, front door midrange/bass, rear door fullrange/tweeter coaxial speaker, and d-pillar tweeters
3. Premium (DynAudio) - with DynAudio badge on center grill, amplifier under right front seat, and higher power and more and better speakers (low and midrange in each front door), including center speaker.

There's also a subwoofer available, but it was dropped from 2009 as the door speakers were doing such a good job at the bass.

I have the High Power system and the bass is good but treble is a bit weak, so today I'm changing the crossover capacitors on the front tweeters to better caps to see how much of a difference it makes.
Who know if the difference will be audible...??

Otherwise, people have replaced the High Performance tweeters with DynAudio Premium tweeters for better sound.

Thanks for that. This might be a daft question, but the models that only have the 4 speakers, do they still have the "slots" for the tweeters and centre speaker, or nothing at all?

[owenfackrell]

You can check for front tweeters easily. The cover just pulls off and in fact you have too do that to get the door card off.

[john langrick]

Hi, may be a naive response, but if you have the premium system with amp under the driver seat, have you tried the audio settings on both the radio and audio?

If the ICM has had any work, (mine has been replaced) the settings may be reset to default. Mine was and audio seemed fine, but when I changed the setting to either 3 channel or Dolby, it was as if a door had been opened.

If not already, try adjusting the audio settings, you may be as surprised as me. May just be as simple as this.

John l

[SaffaBrit]

Originally Posted by john langrick

Hi, may be a naive response, but if you have the premium system with amp under the driver seat, have you tried the audio settings on both the radio and audio?

If the ICM has had any work, (mine has been replaced) the settings may be reset to default. Mine was and audio seemed fine, but when I changed the setting to either 3 channel or Dolby, it was as if a door had been opened.

If not already, try adjusting the audio settings, you may be as surprised as me. May just be as simple as this.

John l

I'm not sure what I have to be honest. And I haven't really have time to look into it properly. Is it easy to check if there is an amp under seat? I can also see the tweeters and center speaker on the dash, but I can't hear any sound coming from it...

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by SaffaBrit

Is it easy to check if there is an amp under seat?

Easy:

1. Slide the front right seat backwards.
2. Look at the floor under the seat that has been exposed by moving the seat back
3. Do you see a black ribbed piece of aluminium bolted to the floor?
   If you do, that is the heatsink and the top of the amplifier module, and you have an amplifier fitted.