Radio/Stereo: v70 1997 speaker problem

[gturban]

I have a great v70 and just done 6000 miles round trip to and in Norway this last month..

But on this long trip I noticed that the speaker in the left front door is gone.. I only noticed after playing drum and base loud on the autobahn in Germany..

I have decided to replace it, and need a recommendation on replacement. I like to listen to both classical music and "techno" sound quality is most important, but sometimes I like to play really loud(like when I was going way to fast on the autobahn..) the car has 8 speakers. two on each side on the dash, one in each of the four doors and two in the rear. I was wondering if it would improve sound quality to replace more than the two front-door speakers? would it make sense and grossly improved sound quality to replace the speakers in the passenger doors as well? I don't have money to throw away and I'm not planning to enter competitions, but a good stereo was one of the things I looked for when buying the car..

What size are the front door speakers and the dash speakers? And what would be a recommended replacement?

(If you need any recommendations on driving in Norway feel free to ask..)

Many thanks!
Gunnar

[The Crooner]

I have just relpace the whole sound system in my V70.

I will post up some pictures on a new thread later.

The speakers are easy to change.

Tony

[foggyjames]

The speakers in the 70 series (especially the S70) are excellent for a car of their age. The V70 does suffer from a lack of bass. There's no easy solution to this which doesn't involve a significant loss of boot space. Personally, in a V70, I would fit a subwoofer either into the side of the boot, or into the spare wheel well...in both cases using a primarily fibreglass enclosure. That's not trivial, though...

I wouldn't bother upgrading the rear door speakers, but the fronts are worth a go. The fabric dome HF units in the dash on a C70 are made by Danish hi-fi manufacturer Dynaudio (as is the rest of the system, but only the tweeters are a drop-in). Dynaudio did a system for the V70 and S70, but they barely sold any, and they're essentially unavailable second hand. You can still buy them new, but they cost more than the cars generally do.

Better quality speakers are generally less efficient, so you need more amplifier power to achieve the same sound pressure level. That almost always means an external power amp. It might seem overkill, but it really is worth the hassle. All of the amps Volvo sold for these cars aren't up to the job. Even the "4x100w" unit in the higher spec C70s isn't man enough. For a start, it's nowhere near 100w per channel in real terms. You want to be looking at a unit that delivers at *least* a true 50w per channel to drive quality speakers cleanly at motorway speeds. My preferred budget weapon is a JL Audio e4300, which delivers 70w per channel once the engine is running (and it's being fed 14.4v!).

You pretty much cannot have too much power. Generally, you're far more likely to destroy speakers with too little power than too much. I'm utterly convinced (given how easy it is to drive a C70 system into distortion) that the reason many C70 tweeters are blown is because the amps aren't powerful enough. I wired a set of those speakers up to a 500w RMS (into 8 ohm) professional amplifier (i.e. for use in PA systems) I had at the time, and they lapped up every drop of the power it could throw at them. *That* is how to get a vice-grip on a set of quality loudspeakers.

So...babble over...what would I do?

In terms of speakers, unless you happen to find a Dynaudio kit for a V70 (ooh look, a flying pig!)...I would look at upgrading both the front door speakers, and adding some bass.

Quality 6.5" components start at about £150, but the real action starts at £250. It is worth spending more. More to the point though, you should be able to snag some of the £250 ones second hand for about £100 from eBay. I'm a big fan of the likes of Focal, Morel, JL Audio...there are probably more I should be thinking of, but it's late! Anything less than £100 new really isn't going to be a worthwhile upgrade. I remember a guy years ago fitting a set of cheap Kenwood components to a V40. Since then, I have heard a V40 system, and I'm convinced they would have been a downgrade from what was there already!

You may like to consider trying the C70 tweeters in place of the ones supplied with the components. They mount straight in, and are very high quality items indeed. Dynaudio's RRP for the 3-way components as used in the front of a C70 is over £700. On the other hand, how they will interact with the mid-bass drivers and crossovers in your component set is a big unknown. It's worth experimenting with, and they can be had for £20/pair pretty easily.

As for bass...a quality single 8" or 10" sub in a sealed box will give you all the bass you need unless you're wanting to blur your vision. I'm a big JL Audio fan, and I would use something like an 8w3 (8") or 10w3 (10"), and power it with an amp capable of delivering 250-300w.

Of course you could just stick a set of components in it and drive them from the head unit, but given that you've popped a door speaker, I think you need to raise your game a little! That's exactly what I'm doing with my S70...

There might be more to come...but it's late, and I'm out of inspiration. I'm going to be away for a few days now, but I'll be back after the weekend.

cheers

James

[Juan Tevol]

Originally Posted by The Crooner

I have just relpace the whole sound system in my V70.

I will post up some pictures on a new thread later.

The speakers are easy to change.

Tony

Hi,
Pls confirm if you managed to explain how change the front door speakers on a v70.

[acshortt5]

Originally Posted by Juan Tevol

Hi,
Pls confirm if you managed to explain how change the front door speakers on a v70.

Assuming your V70 is a 1st gen shape one - i.e. similar to an S70, you will need speaker adaptors (available on ebay) which will allow you to fit any 6.5" aftermarket speaker. You need to watch the depth of the speakers - especially on the rear door speakers.

As James mentioned the C70 dynaudio dash tweeters drop straight in and hook up using the existing connectors.

You may want to upgrade your headunit (unless you've already done it??) If you want to stick with volvo then an SC 901 is a good choice but you WILL need an amp. The 901 has an inbuilt customizable EQ curve and lets you adjust the front speakers and rear speakers seperately.

I would slightly disagree with James on the speaker front, you don't need to spend £100's on speakers to get a decent system. I've got Alpine ones in the front doors (£35 from Halfrauds) and Dual ones in the rear doors (Came free with a Sony head unit I got in USA lol!) + a pair of dynaudio's in the parcel shelf + dynaudio dash tweeters (which I got from a crashed C70 for £80) and I'm happy with it.

Of course more money will buy better speakers, no arguement there, but IMO sound is very subjective - my advice would be to listen to as many different speakers as possible and choose the ones you like.

[sarge]

I replaced my V70 speakers for the volvo/dynaudio ones. They cost about £700 but combined with the SC901 they sounded great - not that I'm an expert but I felt it was money well spent. An advantage of that kit is that the speakers are a direct repalcement for the original ones so are dead easy to swap.

Sarge
ex V70 AWD

[foggyjames]

Regarding the quality/cost of speakers...obviously you should have a listen and decide what you want to spend. For reference, the 3-way component set as used in the front of a C70 has an RRP (as a kit from Dynaudio) of over £700...

cheers

James

[acshortt5]

Not everyone has £700+ to spend on speakers though.

£700 could probably get you a high mileage C70 with it fitted in already!

[foggyjames]

Oh indeed...I'm not in the market for spending that either (and I happen to think it's excessive for how good they are...which is very good, but not amazing...).

What I mean is that if you want C70 audio performance...it's going to cost. It can be dangerous to assume that factory-fitted stuff is always nasty...I bet even the non-Dynaudio kit isn't cheap, given how good S70s sound as standard. A few years ago I helped a guy who wanted to fit some bargain basement Kenwood speakers to a V40. Having subsequently heard a V40 system...I'm absolutely sure it would have been a substantial downgrade.

All I've noted being wrong with the front door speakers in an S70 is that they're a bit resonant in the upper midrange (a bit of EQ would at least calm that down)...but mainly that you can't take the bass off them (and onto the 8s on the rear shelf) as standard. I bet the latter is what killed the OP's speakers. A decent quality aftermarket HU (or a power amp) would supply a high-pass filter for the door speakers...but even my £150 Alpine (SPR) components (in another car) needed EQ to calm resonances. I reckon the best bang-for-buck is to leave them in there, and take the bass off them using a suitable HU or amp...maybe calming them down in the 1 kHz range (I've not measured it...but that seems like a reasonable guess) with a touch of EQ.

Incidentally Andrew...do you have pics of your shelf speaker install?

cheers

James

[acshortt5]

Originally Posted by foggyjames

Incidentally Andrew...do you have pics of your shelf speaker install?

cheers

James

You wouldn't want to see it James, its not a pretty sight under the parcel shelf. Did a bit of a bodge job using the existing standard speaker rings, some foam to kill vibration and some black duck tape to make it look ok. But it does the job and holds the speakers securely which is all I wanted.