Are you thinking about going with a 2-way system or 3-way system? The door woofers are a standard 6.5" speaker. You could probably fabricate a bracket to install a mid-range or tweeter in the door panel where the DynAudio mid-range is. The tweeter pods are a challenge to find something to fit.

I installed the DynAudio speakers and door panels in my '05 V50 front doors. I have speakers for the rear minus a woofer and tweeter which are blown and the center speaker. I also installed the amp from the DynAudio system. I found mine at a junk yard and were fairly cheap compared to what they sell for on Ebay. I got a good improvement in sound by replacing the crappy electrolytic crossover capacitors with Clarity Cap film capacitors. All that and maybe I would have done better with aftermarket. Part of the problem is that Volvo hard codes equalization into the system based on what audio system came with the car. I don't have the equalizer adjustments available yet (working on it). Your system should have front and rear EQ controls.

 

Part of the problem is that Volvo hard codes equalization into the system based on what audio system came with the car. I don't have the equalizer adjustments available yet (working on it).

So the P1 audio system doesn't have a "hidden" eq menu like on some HU-series units on P2 Volvos? I managed to straighten the frequency response surprisingly well on my XC70, with REW and a Behringer calibration mic. Not night & day difference but a noticeable improvement compared to what it was from the factory.
I'm still planning on replacing the drivers with one of the Focal 165K2 component kits I have laying around, probably with a JL Audio class D amp, but the crappy OEM head unit is still a major question mark and either Bluepower or a custom setup might be in order. Unless there's a tweak to equalize it with reasonable effort, of course.

 

I was planning on replacing the woofers only although sounds like it might be difficult. I was going to keep the stock tweeters/mids and centre speakers running the new woofers off the factory amp. Would that not work?

I think I'll discuss with a car audio specialist and see what the options are as well.

Thanks for the reply

 

As long as the impedance of the woofer is the same as stock you can use any woofer you want without issue.

 

That's good to know re replacing woofers.

Spoke to a car audio chap who suggested amp is probably faulty but if the tweeters are wired in parallel and working surely it's the woofers not the amp?

Also discovered a parrot ck3100 with autoleads telemute box attached. It's all leaching off the original harnesses. Related? Would be odd for the woofers to be muted and not the tweeters as above. Not massively confident in trying to remove it either. Tryed removing the power supply to the parrot unit which had no effect.

 

Try resetting the stereo

When I got my V50, most of the speakers didn't have any sound. I reset the stereo (somewhere in the menu) and everything started working and has been since (8 or 9 months).

 

For example, the Premium Sound system, including DynAudio, has EQ hard coded but also provides user adjustable EQ for front and rear. The Performance (basic) sound has hard coded EQ and just bass and treble adjustments. I don't have experience with the "High Performance" system.

 

Removed the parrot/autoleads kit. Still nothing from the door speakers.

Is this likely to be amp or the speakers themselves? The amp makes no noise when music is running. Should it?

 

Your door speakers may be dead. Apparently it is fairly easy to blow the DynAudio speakers. If you have another speaker around, try connecting it to the door speaker connector to see if it makes sound.

 

I haven't got any spare. Would any volvo one work just for testing, even a tweeter? In fact could I remove a tweeter and test on low volume?

 

Any speaker would work just to see if there is an audio signal there. A Volvo speaker would be more convenient as the connector would match.

 

Update: opened up the door and removed the speaker. In situ the speaker has open circuit (0 ohms) and there is a signal across the terminals when music is playing but no sound.

Connected up one of the tweeters and immediate music.

Presuming the same scenario through all speakers then it looks like replacement time. I might try and get them repaired. I'm in the UK and replacement is touching £800 so not viable really.

Not sure why all are broken though. I think I'll try taking the dynaudios apart when all is sorted.

Any suggestions for aftermarket?

 

How much do you want to spend? Many folks like Focal.

 

Second that. Nowadays even mediocre speakers can be equalized to a decent sound quality but I prefer to have a good frequency response to start with. I may a bit biased (who isn't?) but Focal Elite-series (Utopia, K2) have proved to be a solid foundation for a sound quality -oriented setup. Access-series is great bang for the buck if you're on a budget.

There are lots of fantastic speakers/drivers out there so this is just one recommendation. IME Hertz ML -series and Morel Supremo -series are excellent alternatives, just to name a few, and it's nothing short of amazing what can be accomplished by combining generic drivers with carefully selected crossovers. I might even suggest looking at a pair of Tangband W6-1139SIF:s combined with either a small mid/tweeter component kit or wideband tweeters to match, if you're willing to spend some time and effort setting everything up properly.

The possibilities are virtually endless.

 

£3/400 realistically. I like music but it's not worth much more than that to me. If that's too low a budget then let me know. Its a tad confusing.

Focal/Hertz was my focus as well as infinity. The latter is quite difficult to obtain in the UK though.

 

£3/400 realistically. I like music but it's not worth much more than that to me. If that's too low a budget then let me know. Its a tad confusing.

Focal/Hertz was my focus as well as infinity. The latter is quite difficult to obtain in the UK though.

It's not about the brand. It's the speaker model. My fondness of Focal is based on very clean-sounding tweeters and balanced midranges, even on moderately priced Expert series. I'm not quite sure what the dimensions of OEM Dynaudio speakers are, but if PS165F3 fits, it's an all-in-one -solution, complete with 3-way crossovers and should fit your budget if you shop around.

Just as an example of what can be had for £400-ish.

Installation can make or break the system, so be sure to add dampening material inside the door and a few strips/sheets of Dynamat or equivalent butyl mat over the openings. Nothing excessive, just a basic treatment to keep vibrations and rattles in check, and to avoid a partial acoustic short circuit.

 

The woofers are 6.5". The for the mid-ranges, there is plenty of room in the door panel to make a mount for the aftermarket mid-range if you want to stay with 3-way. The tweeters can be an issue as there is not much room to work. I have seen some really nice modified pods (search the forum).

Could go 2-way and mount the tweeters where the mid-ranges are located. The sound stage imaging may not be as good though (not that it is great now). The Volvo DynAudio mid-range is really a tweeter with the cutoff frequency set a little lower than the tweeter. The upper frequencies just naturally roll off and overlap the tweeter. I don't really like that they did this because it ends up with multi-path distortions that smear the sound a bit and messes up the sound stage. It smells of marketing to increase the speaker count but limit cost. In the older Premium Sound System, the mid-ranges had a band-pass filter in the crossover instead of relying on the roll-off.

Another solution is to replace the woofers (mid-ranges if you like) and just keep the factory tweeters (assuming they are working).