Volvo / Dynaudio Audio System Upgrade for the S70
The Best Kept, Best Secret in Volvo Audio Systems
This document last modified January 15, 2004.
If you have any questions related to this page,
I must ask that you ONLY inquire via the
Swedespeed Audio Forum, or search for an answer
using the forum's search facilities. The fact is that I get so many
questions about this subject that I just can't continue to answer them all directly. So post
your questions to the forum and, if someone doesn't answer before I do, you can be sure that
I'll chime in soon.
For the most part, this is the same document that
I wrote in the Summer of 2000, when I first installed this system. I've updated some information
as I've found it, and cleaned up some bad links and grammar, but the initial review remains unchanged.
Since shortly after purchasing my '99 Volvo S70, I was somewhat disappointed
with the quality of the sound system. The bass was far too heavy, and the
overall sound quality lacked presence and definition. It sounded more like the
type of aftermarket stereo that urban teenagers might put into their Honda
Civics than what should be found in a luxury car. I tested the bass response
with a test CD and sound level meter, and found that there is a wide 20db (!)
peak centered at about 60 Hz. For those unfamiliar with decibels and hertz,
this is the equivalent of playing your home stereo system with the bass all the
way up and the loudness button on -- it might sound fine for some songs, but
for others it will be downright overpowering. This is surprising coming from a
car company that put such a high end sound system in their C70 coupe and
convertible vehicles that many car magazines called it "the best car
stereo that we have ever heard," whether aftermarket or OEM. The audio
system that received such high praise uses speakers made by the high-end Danish
manufacturer Dynaudio.
A little investigating revealed that Volvo had different audio options
available to European buyers than they offered to those of us in the states.
This was reflected in the European literature for the current model line's
audio systems. The literature clearly describes a difference between the
"High Performance Audio System" and the "Premium Sound Audio
System," which was only available on the C70 and the then-new S60, and
it's the Premium Sound system that gets the Dynaudio speakers. Since I wrote
the first revision of this article, Volvo employees in Sweden have contacted me
about their plans for the S/V70 audio systems. They had fully intended to make
Dynaudio speakers available as part of a factory option for these models, but
the plan was rejected because it required modification to the rear parcel shelf
on the S70. (Darned beancounters!) They even had a plan
to include a modified Alpine V12 amplifier and a monster 12” Dynaudio
subwoofer in the V70…. (Excuse me while I wipe the drool from my chin!)
Their efforts were not totally wasted, however, as they were successful in
packaging upgrade kits for the S70 and V70 which include Dynaudio speakers,
driver-mounted crossovers, and all relevant mounting brackets and cables for
these vehicles. Except for the parcel shelf tweeter installation (described
later), these kits are truly drop-in replacements for the OEM North American
speakers.
Through various mailing lists, I was able to find the parts numbers for the
two upgrade kits. Interestingly, the North American Volvo dealers have absolutely
zero information about these upgrades. They are not listed in any Volvo
literature possessed by any of the three different Volvo parts departments that
I visited. Volvo's "Accessories Bulletin" for "High Fidelity
Speaker Upgrades" lists replacement drivers for the 850 and 70-series
vehicles, but the prices are not in line with the expected costs of Dynaudio
drivers, so I doubt that it refers to anything other than the standard US-spec
drivers. For example, the HT170/270 is a set of separate tweeters and
bass/midrange drivers for the front doors and dash, the HT-371 is listed as a coaxial
rear door speaker; and the HT470/471 is a coaxial 8 inch driver for the rear
deck. The HT170/270 was quoted by one local dealer at $144/pr, and the
HT470/471 was quoted at $188/pr. I never got a price on the HT-371 speakers for
the rear door, but let's estimate that it's about the same as for the HT170/270
pair. Total it all up and it comes to $476. In comparison, the equivalent
Dynaudio drivers, if purchased through Dynaudio's US
retail outlets, have suggested retail prices of $269 per pair for the dash and
parcel shelf mounted tweeters, $189 each for the door mounted mid/bass
drivers, and $219 each for the parcel shelf mounted 8" woofers.
Total it up and I come up with $1672. Also, those Dynaudio suggested retail
prices do not include the Volvo mounting brackets or crossover circuitry.
Clearly, what is listed in the Volvo accessories bulletin are not the Dynaudio
drivers.
In spite of the fact that the dealers can't tell you a thing about the Volvo
Premium Speaker Kit, their parts computers do have the part number in them, so
they should be able to supply a price. In the summer of 2000, my local dealer quoted $1216 for the
S70 kit, and $1084 for the V70 kit. (The V70 kit has the same drivers as the
S70 kit, minus the 8" parcel shelf woofers. I expect that some mounting
brackets would be different between the two kits, but I haven't seen the V70
kit to be able to verify that.) If you want to check with your local dealer for
prices, the part numbers are as follows:
S70 Kit: 9452163
V70 Kit: 9452164
Well, after all that research, I finally went ahead and ordered it! And then I waited....
And waited.... And waited some more. Finally, after about 10 days, the dealer called me
to tell me that they had just received a big box of speakers from Europe,
not from any US Volvo parts warehouse as we had previously thought would be the source.
But it was here! Finally!!!
The side of the box is about the best "official" description of
the contents that Volvo is going to give anybody, so I'll quote it here.
Apparently, the same box is used to ship the V70 version of the kit, so I'll
include that description, too:
Volvo Facts S70 (English)
This kit includes all loudspeakers for the dashboard, front
doors, rear doors, and parcel shelf as well as the accompanying integrated
filters.
For dashboard mounting there are two "soft dome" 1.1" tweeters
with ferro fluid damped voice coils and neodymium magnet system which
gives a high power output and efficiency.
For door mounting there are four 6.5" bass/mid-range speakers with rubber
suspended magnesium polymer cones. The ventilated magnet system has a 75mm
aluminum voice coil which has very good heat dissipation capacity.
Two more tweeters are mounted in the parcel shelf together with two 8"
woofers which have a range down to 35 Hz.
The system is compatible with all Volvo radios and amplifiers.
Technical Data:
System frequency range: 35-25000 Hz
Power handling, nom.: 100W
Power handling, max.: 300W
Impedance:
4 Ohm
Sensitivity:
90 db/W/m
Volvo Facts V70 (English)
This kit includes all loudspeakers for the dashboard, front
doors, rear doors, and D pillars as well as the accompanying integrated
filters.
For dashboard mounting there are two "soft dome" 1.1" tweeters
with ferro fluid damped voice coils and neodymium
magnet system which gives a high power output and efficiency.
For door mounting there are four 6.5" bass/mid-range speakers with rubber
suspended magnesium polymer cones. The ventilated magnet system has a 75mm
aluminum voice coil which has very good heat dissipation capacity.
There are two extra tweeters, as described above, for mounting in the D
pillars. They contribute to a very clear and pure sound experience for all
passengers.
Technical Data:
System frequency range: 55-25000 Hz
Power handling, nom.: 100W
Power handling, max.: 300W
Impedance:
4 Ohm
Sensitivity:
90 db/W/m
Inside the box were 10 speakers. The woofers and mid/bass drivers look
substantially different from the US-spec drivers. The stock drivers have paper
cones, and the rear doors and parcel shelf drivers have integrated tweeters.
The Dynaudio bass and mid/bass drivers don't have integrated tweeters, and the
shiny, black polypropylene-looking cones, with huge 3" voice coils, look
like they are well up to the task of handling any amount of power that I'll
ever throw at them. All drivers have a label on the magnet that prominently
states Dynaudio / Volvo, and includes a Volvo part number. Curiously, the
8" woofers are clearly marked, with Volvo parts number labels, as 8 ohm
drivers. All others are marked 4 ohms. This is significant because the Dynaudio
driver that was used in this assembly is appears to be a variant of the
Dynaudio MW170, which is a 4 ohm driver. My friends in Volvo tell me that this
was done for the dual purposes of level matching and to prevent the combined
load of the rear door and parcel shelf speakers from overwhelming the
amplifier. I was also told that these Dynaudio drivers were specially
engineered for the Volvo vehicles, and they are not merely Dynaudio’s
retail products with Volvo labels on them. All drivers are mounted in Volvo
mounting brackets specific to the intended application (S70 or V70) and have
crossover components integrated into the mounting bracket and driver assembly,
exactly like the OEM drivers. Three booklets are included to describe dash
mounting, door mounting and parcel shelf mounting, respectively.
Installation took under 3 hours, and I would describe it as
"easy." This was not the first aftermarket speaker installation that
I've ever done. On the other hand, if this is going to be your first, this is a
great way to start. This kit really is a drop-in installation. I could probably
have done it in 1.5 hours if I didn't have a friend bugging me for help with
his RX-7 while I was trying to do this job. The worst part of the job is
drilling a hole in the parcel shelf panel to accommodate the tweeters. The
instructions tell you exactly where to measure and where to cut with a
2.25" hole saw, but that's of little comfort when you're about to make an
irreversible modification to the interior of your vehicle. (Tip: put a scrap
piece of wood behind the panel when you drill this hole.) All was well 10
minutes later when two tweeters were installed and the parcel shelf was back in
place. The finished product looked like a factory installation, and the rear
deck tweeters are the only indication that this stereo is anything other than
factory original for the US market.
So the big question remains: how does it sound? At first, I made the mistake
of tuning to my favorite local college station, who
are always playing something "new and different," but the reception
is very good. Honestly, I didn't hear much of a difference. Maybe it's the
source material. Time to get some of my CDs....
Same sound!!! What the #&@% !!! I just spent a bundle of money
on this setup, and it still sounds absurdly bass heavy. Midrange and
high frequencies sound cleaner and smoother, but that roller coaster ride of a
bass curve is still present. I broke out my sound level meter and test CD
again, and I'm still getting the same 20 db boost at about 60 Hz. It's actually
about 18 db now, and the response curve seems to be smoother, but that peak is
still there. It has to be the result of a built in equalization curve in the
SC-816 AM/FM/CD/Cassette head unit.
My gut feeling at this point was that the only solution would be to replace
the SC-816 with some other receiver. I looked into a few, but wasn't
comfortable that any aftermarket unit would fit properly into the Volvo dash
and maintain a conservative, stock Volvo appearance. What's more, I found out
that the Volvo SC-901 stereo has a customizable 5-band equalizer built into it,
as well as defeatable pre-set equalization curves for different Volvo
vehicles. The SC-901 also has some other desirable features, so that's what I'm
going to target.
A little more digging, and I found out that the
SC-901 does not have a built in amplifier, as does the SC-816. So an external
amp would be required to utilize the SC-901, but fortunately the SC-816 has the
same external amp output that the SC-901 uses. This means that I can hook up an
amp in advance, before running to my local Volvo dealer for the SC-901. Who
knows -- maybe I'll get lucky and find out that the external amplifier output
doesn't have the same equalization curve on it that the built in amplifiers do.
Volvo doesn't have any bargains for amplifiers in these cars. The 4x50 watt
amp (at a rated 10% THD, so it might give you 25 clean watts per
channel) that's designed for the car sells for a whopping $500 at most dealers,
and you'll still need a very complex adapter cable for $60, and a mounting
bracket for another $15. Throw in tax and/or shipping, depending on who you
purchase from, and you're up around $600. (FYI, the Volvo part numbers for the
amp, cable and mounting bracket are 6816302, 6816303 and 6849820.) Instead, I
thought that I would just buy an aftermarket amp and try wiring it into the
Volvo amplifier connection by myself. It's possible, and there are resources on
the web to find the pinouts or you can find them in the
Haynes Manual, but after digging into
the details of how Volvo's harness is wired, I just felt that this would become
too tedious. (OK, so I'm lazy.) Besides, Volvo's amp is designed to be mounted
in the center console, and I can't see how any other external amp would fit in
the stock mounting location. That would most likely mean that I'd have to run
wiring back to the trunk, and that's going to involve far more effort than I
feel like putting into this project. I guess I'm getting old -- I'd rather
throw money at the problem than come up with a cheap solution that takes a
great deal of work. So I bought the Volvo amp and other goodies, and hoped that
maybe, just maybe, this would be all that I need to solve this frequency
response problem.
No such luck. Same boomy sound.
But at least I now had everything in place for the upgraded head unit.
So I trekked off to my friendly neighborhood Volvo dealer, and handed the
parts man one SC-816 stereo and $166, and in return, he gave me one refurbished
SC-901, in perfect condition. This receiver is normally a nine-hundred-or-so-dollar
item, but by bringing my old unit back, they were able to credit me for the
core charge for the SC-816, so I only had to pay the difference. Installation
was exactly the same as for the SC-816, and I was driving off with tunes only
five minutes later.
Finally!!! I'm listening to the sound that I should have been
listening to 10 months ago when I bought the car. The Dynaudio speakers are
truly incredible -- far and away, the most natural sound that I've ever heard
in any car stereo. Whether I'm listening to acoustic blues guitar with solo
voice, or classic jazz or a Bach organ fugue or the raunchiest modern rock that
I can dig up, these speakers can handle it all. Every instrument can be heard
without being overpowered by any other, just as was intended by the producers
of the recordings. In fact, I'm now hearing subtleties in my music that I
didn't even know were there.
I did some more of the same frequency response testing, and that peak is
completely gone. Bass response is +/- 4 db from 45 Hz to 180 Hz. That might not
seem like a very smooth response curve, but keep in mind that this is in car
response, not in a controlled test environment. As such, response is going
to be effected by every irregular surface within a sedan's cabin. This is about
as good as you're going to get, short of driving around in an anechoic chamber
on wheels. For what it's worth, the Dynaudio 8" subs start putting out
useable bass at just under 30Hz.
It might be tough to justify spending nearly $1800 on a car stereo upgrade, as
I did. But I already spent nearly $30,000 on the car (including the bank's
cut), and I'm going to be living with this car for over five years while I pay
for it, so I may as well set it up the way I want it to be. With some careful
shopping, you can probably do better than the roughly $700 that I put into the
head unit and amplifier upgrade, but it will be very difficult to match or
exceed the value of the Volvo/Dynaudio speaker upgrade kit. I still find it
remarkable that Volvo doesn't publish any literature on this upgrade, even to
their parts departments. This is something that many 70-series owners would
probably love to install, if only somebody knew something about it.
Well, the secret is out!
I've had a few people ask me about how to set the equalizer on the SC-901.
I've copied this text directly from the 2000 S70 Owner's Manual. (It's
available online via the Volvo
Owner's Circle.)
B - Setting the internal equalizer
To select the frequency correction:
· Switch off the radio.
· Hold down preset button 2 (B).
· Switch the radio on again.
· Press button 2 until the desired curve appears :
S70-V70-S40-V40-Custom.
Setting the custom equalizer (Custom EQ) - SC-901 only
· Select "Custom EQ" by switching off the radio, holding
down preset button 2 and switching the radio again. Select "Custom"
(see point B).
· Press Scan.
· Press preset button 1-5 within 5 seconds:
Preset button 1 = set bass (60 Hz)
Preset button 2 = set mid-range bass (200 Hz)
Preset button 3 = set lower mid-range (800 Hz)
Preset button 4 = set upper mid-range (3 kHz)
Preset button 5 = set treble (12 kHz)
· Adjust the setting by turning the Tune knob clockwise (increase) or
counterclockwise (decrease). The change can be seen in the display, as
well as heard.
· Use preset button 6 to adjust the settings of the front or rear
speaker.
F = Front
R = Rear
Please note that the equalizer curves can be adjusted separately for
the front and rear speakers.
· When you are satisfied with the adjustments you have made, press
Scan again to store the settings.
· Press Scan once again to exit the settings mode.
Considering the center frequencies for the equalization bands of the SC-901,
it’s now obvious that my old SC-816 had a similar circuit in it, but that
it isn't adjustable. That 60 Hz peak that I described earlier in this article
matches the bottom bass frequency of the SC-901's equalizer. I suspect that the
tone control for bass on the SC-816 was centered at a different frequency than
60 Hz, because adjusting the bass control on the old unit didn't really produce
the smooth results that I was after. Regardless, an understanding of the
equalization capabilities of the SC-901 helps to explain why the SC-816 sounds
the way it does, and why the SC-901 makes such a big difference in my completed
system.
I’ve since received more information from my contacts in Volvo
corporate headquarters. Word is that the Mitsubishi-manufactured SC-816 does,
in fact, have a hard wired equalization curve built in to it. Keep in mind that
the SC-816 was installed quite a wide range of body styles and vehicle sizes,
all with different speaker layouts and acoustic characteristics. My contact
mentioned the 900 series, 800 series, 70 series and 40 series Volvo sedans and
wagons, but I think the SC-816 made its way into the C70, as well. By far, the
most popular of these were the 900 and 800 series wagons, so an equalization
curve was chosen to best accommodate the cavernous rear and lack of parcel
shelf speakers in those vehicles. That’s why bass was boosted so much. Fortunately,
the Alpine-manufactured SC-900 and SC-901 have defeatable equalization curves,
allowing you to use top quality speakers like the Dynaudio system without any
form of electronic colorization.
He also told me that “[in the latest generation of Volvo] systems, first introduced in the
new XC90, the whole system is digital and software based. Here, the correct EQ
curve is downloaded into the system at the end of the production line. This
gives us the possibility to even further fine tune the EQ for different needs,
like market, car type, upholstery type etc.” (Considering the choices
made by the bean-counters that gave us the SC-816, I’m not so sure that
this lack of user adjustability is a good thing.)
Another addition:
People keep asking me about these two topics:
"How do you remove the factory speaker grills or door panels?" and
"Have you looked into any other speakers besides the Dynaudio/Volvo
kit?"
First off, the factory speaker grills cannot be removed from the door panel.
The entire door panel must be removed. While this is not a particularly hard
job, explaining it without nice diagrams or photographs will be very time
consuming and will result in a very lengthy article. Quite frankly, I just
don't have the time to walk someone through the process. If you’re not
handy with such things, then my best advice to you is to pick up the UK-spec
Haynes manual that IPD sells. It covers the
topic fairly well, and will probably be the only reference you'll ever need for
most service issues on the 1998-2000 70-series vehicles.
As for the second question, the main problem with using any aftermarket
speaker in the S/V-70 is that the all of the stock mounting points require some
kind of proprietary bracket in order to fit standard, aftermarket speakers of
common sizes in the original mounting points. Trying to avoid using Volvo's
speaker brackets will probably mean cutting new mounting holes into the door
frames, with new speaker grills and fabricated mounting brackets, and that's
something that most do-it-yourselfers will not be able to do right. For that
matter, the labor that a really good, conscientious high-end installer
will charge for doing this job right will probably take you well past the cost
of the Dynaudio/Volvo kit that was custom made for these cars. The bottom line
is that the Dynaudio/Volvo kit really is the least expensive way to get any
type of improved speakers installed in these cars.
One last point about improving the sound quality in the S/V70: if all you're
after is eliminating that awful bass hump in the stock stereo, you might do
well to just replace your SC-816 (or lesser model) head unit with the SC-901
and amplifier combo that I mentioned in the article, above. (Don't forget about
the cable and mounting bracket!) The stock speakers are probably not that bad,
if fed a descent, uncolored signal, so this might be all of the improvement
that you'll ever need. If you're not the audiophile type, this might be the
right solution for you. Then again, if you're not the audiophile type, I can't
imagine why you would have continued reading this far!
As I said earlier, these are probably not the answers that folks are hoping
for, but these are the only honest answers I can give you. I hope they help you
make the best decisions for your needs.