XC90 adding rear sub woofer.

[cpu_man]

Amp now on order after making sure it had the correct built it filter for a sub.

Will update..

[cpu_man]

So I have not a little brick wall..

Upon waiting for my amp I thought it would be a good idea to test the sub on my hifi in the house, good thing with that is it has HI and LO out puts so I can connect my sub direct.

Well the sub seems to FART a lot with out even pushing it, even if you tap the cone you can hear a rattle, I have looked I the box and every thing is good.

I think the sub woofer had been pushed beyond its limit at some point in it's life..

So I am now thinking can I just replace the speaker in the enclosed box with an after market 8" speaker with the same rating?

[eapowers64]

Hi everyone - you seem to be knowledgeable people on Volvo audio so I will post to this thread. I bought a 2004 XC90 for less than $1,000 this spring and have been repairing its many issues. It came with the High Performance sound system (fully functional) and is a U.S. vehicle so it does not have MOST security enabled. I have been parts-diving at my local self-serve junk yard (a lot of fun!) and have obtained Premium Sound speakers, premium amp, OEM sub and a functioning 6 disc CD player.

I swapped the 4x40 high performance amp with the 4x70 premium amp and swapped the CD player with no problems. I have not grabbed the ICM from the Premium Sound Volvo at the junkyard but can easily do that.

My primary question is integrating the sub. I have the VIDA directions for adding in an OEM sub which requires, among other things. tying into the MOST bus underneath the driver side second row seat. My understanding is that if I do the tie in correctly then I will need a software update from a dealer to get the "system" (is this the amp or the ICM) to understand that a sub is installed and let me control it. Can I just swap in the ICM from the donor vehicle (I would have both ICM and amp from the same donor vehicle) and automatically have a system that recognizes the sub? Would the donor ICM also enable the center dash speaker that I installed? I thought that this speaker would activate when I changed out the amp but that was not the case.

[SwissXC90]

Maybe

The car config is stored in the CEM
The CEM broadcasts the config to all devices

I am not sure if the "Subwoofer is fitted" config item is part of the broadcast

The easiest way for you to find out is to try and see

NOTE THAT you run the risk of a dealer total software update wiping out any config mismatches.
So if you fit a ICM where the subwoofer is enabled now, it may become disabled at the next dealer update

However, getting the dealer to update the audio system may be a problem: as the car config says HighPerformance is fitted, and you have now fitted DynAudio
That's immediately a config mismatch, as the amplifier type does not match

So what will happen at the dealer is a lottery.

And if you are gambling anyway, then you might as well get the ICM from the donor vehicle and just try it out.

[eapowers64]

Thanks SwissXC90 - I will give it a try. The ICM will cost me about $6 plus the $2 entry fee to the junkyard and I know exactly where I tossed it in the donor car when I took out the CD player. The donor is an 04 too so I don't think that I am dealing with a Dynaudio amp, just a more powerful version of the 04 Alpine (I think) amp.

[SwissXC90]

Crikey, that’s the price of a beer. Go for it.

[eapowers64]

As noted in a prior post, I have swapped out the high performance audio bits with Premium audio bits from several donor cars - premium speakers all around + center channel, premium amp, and new cd player (old one was busted). With the premium amp, the center speaker does not get a signal yet because the car (I presume this means the Central Electronic Module) still thinks it is operating a High Performance sound system. I wondered whether adding in the matrix ICM from one of the Premium Audio donor cars would have an effect. The answer is no - the center speaker is still quiet. However, note that the different ICM did not cause any problems - it was plug and play.


My understanding from a prior poster is that I need two software uploads to get Premium Sound and an active center speaker - AUD RELOAD part #8691143 and AUD PREMIUM SOUND part # 6849972.


The other piece of the new puzzle is that I added an OEM subwoofer. I know that the speaker works on the subwoofer (but not sure about the amp). Moreover, I at least did the tie-in with the MOST network via an OEM harness correctly as the audio system still works with the subwoofer as part of the optical cable ring.


I believe that I need a third separate software download to get the car to route MOST information to the subwoofer. Does anyone know what is the part number here? I think that this should be separate from the Premium Audio part #'s listed above as one could have an original installation of a Premium System with or without the subwoofer and one could also have an original installation of a High Performance System with or without a subwoofer. In addition, it is clear that a subwoofer addition later in a car's live an option envisioned by Volvo - why else would they sell a harness for doing this?

When I called my local dealer it was clear that they had never dealt with either item and, over the phone, all that they wanted to do was look up the two part numbers that I gave them. Moreover, they stated that I might have to replace the CEM to get all this to work. That does not sound correct given what I have read from all of you. What are your collective thoughts?

[SwissXC90]

Subwoofer is a completely separate option that can be loaded with a software update

HOWEVER get the rest of the audio system properly configured first, otherwise you may loose the subwoofer update...

The stuff about replacing the CEM is in my view wrong.

The CEM holds the car config and the config needs updating (that's what the software download update does: it just updates the config)

[eapowers64]

Good point about sequencing of updates. Any idea what is the id for the software update for the subwoofer? Dealers are somewhat clueless and charge $135 per hour.

[SwissXC90]

Originally Posted by eapowers64

Good point about sequencing of updates. Any idea what is the id for the software update for the subwoofer? Dealers are somewhat clueless and charge $135 per hour.

The part number is listed in the parts list of VIDA

If you are doing so much work on your car, you need to use VIDA
Or an online parts catalogue, there's a few around: google Volvo parts catalog...