2016 S80 "premium" audio

twotonekarma · Jun 19, 2017

I'd heard so many stories about how great the sound was in the Volvos. Recently, picked up a 2016 Drive-E with "premium" audio (8 speakers, though I only count 6, two of which are tweeters).

The sound is terrible. Tinny, and almost non-existent in the back seat unless the volume is cranked above 75%.

Did I miss a trick here? There were no pre-owned 12-speaker versions in the time I was looking (about 4 months from Feb-May) that were the 2016's (do they even do them?). 2015s around me had 40k+ miles on the clock and were AWDs (fuel consumption was a factor for my better half).

So, I'm trying to figure out if I got a dud, need to change some settings, or go aftermarket for an upgrade. Under a CPO warranty right now (10k miles on the clock) so if anyone knows if any upgrades affect that then that would also be useful info.

Thanks!

Mige · Jun 19, 2017

I thought that the 8 speaker version is the basic high performance audio model and not the premium one. I never heard of it being premium before.

From the older models it was easy to detect and differentiate it from the 8 speaker performance sound system from the Dynaudio logo on the dashboard speaker and after the facelift under the cd slot were this silver "PS" logo. Maybe they did change the whole system again.

D-man9000 · Jun 20, 2017

I have like 6 speakers just in the front of my car. You probably don't have the high end sound system.

Seamus · Jun 20, 2017

There is 1 speaker in each front door, one tweeter near the mirrors, and two speakers in each back door in my car, which had the "high performance" radio

D-man9000 · Jun 20, 2017

Whoa, you got rid of your V8?

Seamus · Jun 20, 2017

No I still have her, I was just showing where the 8 speakers were. It's hard to tell each back door has 2 speakers unless you really look at the speaker grille

blindkarma · Jun 20, 2017

According to the interwebs, 2016 models have two trim levels, either Premier or Platinum. The Premier has an 8-speaker sound system with 6-CD changer, satellite and HD radio, USB and Auxiliary jacks. The Platinum has a 650 watt premium sound system by Harmon Kardon with 12-speakers and Sensus Connect. Dynaudio was the old premium system dating back to 2007. Either way, have you used the equalizer settings to adjust your sound profile? What is your audio source? Does music from your smartphone sound different than the radio?

twotonekarma · Jun 21, 2017

Haven't played around with anything just yet, just the defaults from the dealer.

Have used audio sources from Bluetooth, radio, and Aux. Not really a discernable difference, though Bluetooth obviously is the worst of the three.

It sounds like we have "premier" - the dealer definitely said "premium" though. Shows how much they know.

whisperingbomb · Jun 21, 2017

Ive always felt my wifes 2008 s60 had better sound than my s80. I wouldnt call it tinny but the range is a bit lacking. Messing with the eq and the bass/treble settings does help.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

D-man9000 · Jun 21, 2017

My complaint is that the stereo is too powerful for the speakers. My R sounds better than the S80 because of this.

whisperingbomb · Jun 21, 2017

The barren rear shelf is an oddity.

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Seamus · Jun 22, 2017

I'm guessing FoMoCo was behind that one

D-man9000 · Jun 23, 2017

My buddy's 2015 3 series doesn't use the hat shelf for speakers.

2016 S80 "premium" audio

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