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.


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