Replacing speakers, a non audiophile needs help!

[scot850]

Best sound system I had was in our 93 850 GLT. Standard from factory and had a great sound. My 2000 R has the SC-901 and amp and still think the 850 sounded better. Mind you I found recently someone (Volvo) has Pioneer door speakers in the car and they don't have the same bass as the OE in my opinion. I have a standard set 'somewhere' I may swap in at some point.

Neil.

[sleddriver]

I have the 901, Dolby unit, external amp + a full set of Dynaudio drivers. It is indeed, most impressive! The 901 sounds better than the lower unit, probably due to the EQ curve. The Dynaudio drivers elevate the sound even further. Tweaking the Dolby levels is necessary to obtain the best effect I discovered.

[mrbrian200]

My sis' MY03 XC90 has the dolby surround system with the external amp. In '03 I believe XC90 premium setup was a mix of Mitsubishi Electronics, Alpine, and Harman Kardon. It's one of the better sounding factory systems of the era. I found that the speakers aren't well balanced front/back tonally but the HU has separate EQ settings for F/B which allows you to correct it mostly. I wish the HU650 in my S60 had this eq function built into it. There's a lot I wish the HU650 did that it doesn't (digital media, integrated Bluetooth, EQ, time alignment) so eventually it'll meet the chopping block. But for the time being I got it to sound nice by replacing and re-engineering the speaker setup. But only with a CD: the FM Tuner, though it has very good sensitivity/dx reception, has a lot of high end coloration/distortion even with a strong signal and is definitely not on par with the high end aftermarket HUs in this respect.

[LOB]

Put in the amp first and see what you think.
You may be happy with your current speakers.

Actually, if your current speakers aren't actually damaged,
allow me to elaborate. Add the amp, find an SC-901 and drop
in a sub. The SC-816 is not really a unit that I'd consider a
decent HU and the 901 has an EQ you can tweak to suit.
Just Sayin'.

Read this?
http://jimrothe.com/Volvo/volvo-dynaudio.html

If you really want an improvement using OEM drivers...

I've found one SC901 locally (and also a full Dynadio sett with SC 901 Dolby prologic and all you need for a c70 (or was it s/c70?) at 400 USD at British ebay that won't fit my 855....). I've read that the equalization on the SC 816 is tuned for a stationwagon and I was thinking that the difference in sound quality between 816 and 901 might be less in a stationwagon than in a sedan. What do you think?

[LOB]

I finally found a SC-901 (60 USD in Norway!). Since I don't have a center speaker or the processor, can I run one (or two x 4 ohms tweeters, albeit mono sound) 8 ohm tweeter from the center channel? Or does it need the processor to work at all?

In case I find a Dolby prologic processor, has anyone placed the OEM center speaker on 850 without trashing the dashboard? Alternative location for the center speaker?