Hi Dave,

>I am unhappy with the quality of sound of the SC816 radio in my S70. It seems almost muffled(to much bass) at the low to medium volume scale. Is there a fix, possibly an equalizer that one can purchase. Has anyone else found there radio to be inferior. Any suggestions?

My '99 V70 has the SC813 headunit which is similar to the SC816 but without the CD. I fixed the SC813 sound quality by replacing the factory speakers (trash!), adding a CD changer in the glovebox, and I will be adding a 4-channel amp in the rear floor compartment.

Replacing the factory speakers made a BIG difference. I put component speakers in the front and coaxials in the rear doors. The front mid/woofers went in the doors and the tweeters went beneath the dash grills facing straight up. Dispersion off the windshield is good, better than pointing them directly at the passengers.

Adding a CD quality sound source also helped my situation. I read how some put their CD changer in the trunk, but I find it extremely convenient to have it up front on road trips when the wagon is loaded in the back with gear. The CD adapter I used is suppose to support many/all of the Volvo headunits.

The task remaining is to install my amp which will replace the headunit amplifier's 10%THD with the external amp's 0.1%THD. I expect this upgrade to improve sound quality further by driving the new speakers full range with flat, clean, undistorted sound (no noise!). As I read it somewhere, my speakers will "sing"!

Equipment list:

(1) Polk EX Series II 6.5” Component System Speakers EX2560 $180.00

(1) Polk EX Series II 6.5” Coaxial Speakers EX602a $85.00

(1) Alpine 6-Disc CD Changer CHM-S620 $399.00

with Blitz-Safe Electronic Interface Converter VOL/ALP DMX

(1) MTX Thunder Power Amplifier 4200x 25Wx4 0.1%THD

Vendor List:

Alpine

www.alpine1.com

Blitz-Safe of America, Inc.

33 Honeck Street, Englewood, NJ 07631

201-569-5000, 800-597-7233, Fax: 201-569-5042

www.blitzsafe.com, blitzsafe@blitzsafe.com

MTX

4545 E. Baseline Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040

602-438-4545, 800-225-5689

www.mtxaudio.com, technical@mtxaudio.com

Polk Audio

5601 Metro Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215

800-377-7655

www.polkaudio.com

To fix your sound quality, I would first replace all of the factory speakers. I looked at a lot of speakers and finally chose the Polks because:

o Crutchfield said they would fit. Polk makes some compact units.

o These Polks have good specs and appear to be constructed similar to much more expensive MBQuarts gear.

Of course, speakers are a personal choice so suit yourself. BTW, I didn't buy from Crutchfield... too expensive.

Replacing your speakers will probably do it. It's a tedious job that may require custom mounting to the existing Volvo speaker mounts, but worth it. There are also some wiring considerations that can be resolved with some terminals available from Volvo parts.

As for the radio, I've been wondering if an antenna upgrade would help collect a stronger signal?