Stereo

[nine-fiver]

Hi All,

Since transferring to the 9-3 from the 9-5 Aero, it is plainly obvious that the stereo is not much chop. Sure, I had the Harmon Kardon system, but even my Linear 8 Speaker setup beats the 9-3 hands down. I can't balance the sound front to rear and it has no depth or presence. AM radio is particularly bad. ( yeah, we still have that down here and I am a rusted on  listener ).

What to do? Suggestions please...

[johnsonr380]

I'm in the same boat and have been doing a little research.

I have a 2005 93 and will be looking to change the speakers for a start. There are numerous posts were most people wouldn't recommend changing the original stereo as theres fibre optic cables, the sid controls the warning sounds, indicators etc

It all depends on how techincally experienced you are and how much money you want to invest.

I'm a novice so Im upgrading the speakers and boosting the fm signal, maybe throwing in an aux input in too.

Good luck

[nine-fiver]

Agreed. Speaker swap is the easiest option and is an afternoon's work. I love that sort of stuff.

But what gets me is that there are 13 speakers in this car. What do they do?? Not much it seems...

[sgould]

You have all 13?

There are two amps feeding these.  Are they both working?  The one under the passenger seat is prone to water damage.  And they all can suffer from the fibre optics falling out.

On the 13 speaker system the four 3.5 inch corner speakers and the tweeters next to them are driven directly from the Entertainment Head Unit, which is behind the aircon.

The fibre optic pair of cables run from the EHU to Amp1 under the passenger seat.  Amp1 feeds the front door speakers and the centre dash speaker.

The fibre optic pair then run through to the rear to feed Amp2 under the boot floor.  This amp feeds the two 6x9 bass speakers in the rear parcel shelf.  There is a further fibre link to the phone and any rear mounted CD changer.  Possibly the satnav too, but I'm not sure about that.

[sgould]

On signal quality.  The AM aerial in the rear window is amplified. It's some of the brown "wires" at the top of the rear screen that look like heating elements but don't heat up.  Are they intact? Any scratch that has broken them?  They can be repaired with metallic repair paint.

The FM signal is filtered to separate it from the electrics, but the aerial is also the heated rear screen.  There's the amp on the right and a filter to earth on the left behind the rear pillar trims.

Check it all works.

[aerojon]

i've got the 13sp system in mine and it kicks..changed all the speakers bar the doors...

Sports saloon/sedan speakers..

dash,front doors & rear shelf..

2x 3.5" 4ohm either side the dash...

2 dash tweeters(13 speakers only)

2x 6.5" 2ohm woofers in the doors(7 & 13 speakers only)...

2x 4" 4ohm in rear parcel shelf...

2 rear deck/shelf tweeters(13 speakers only)

2x 6x9" 4ohm in rear shelf...(13 speakers only & only bass signal)

1x 4" 4ohm centre top of dash below SID(7 & 13 speakers only)...

[chris aka zaphod]

Yes. The basic spec stereo in our Aero is the worst in any car I have ever owned, the Lexus' system the best by a country.
The Mercedes-borrowed ICE in Doreen's Smart ForFour is superb - even though it has only front speakers.
Guess the GM bean counter was well in play.

[nine-fiver]

Yep. 13.
Looking at the front dash speakers from outside the car in a certain light, it is obvious they are the El Cheapo brown paper variety, and are smaller than you would find in your kitchen mantle radio. I figure nearly all the sound is coming from the front of the car, the way the Saab intended, which I like. So the rears can wait for the moment. I want to change the front set, including the front doors. The little tweeters might be doing all the work judging from the sound. The rear amp in the boot is massive to be sure. But put the fader to the back and there is no volume to speak of. That can't be doing the right thing back there, surely.
So getting the speakers out of the dash needs a few tips, as the clips will surely snap? Do you attack from above, or below?

[aerojon]

http://saabworld.net/f69/saab-9-3-dash-speakers-upgrade-38/

i wouldn't say amp2 is massive,quite small compared to some of the amps i've had in previous cars.As it's located behind the os rear lamp cluster..
if you got no volume you've either got a problem with amp2 or have only got the 7 speaker..

Can't balance the sound !!!!

[nine-fiver]

Yet to try a CD at this point. Only been listening to radio.

After my 9-5 got trashed, all the CDs got stuck in the 6 stacker, never to be seen again. Burning new copies as I type this. But, the iMac has swallowed the CD and at this point things are not looking all that good.

Yes, I counted 13 speakers. 5 in the dash, 2 in the front doors, 2 in the rear doors, and 4 in the rear parcel shelf. 13.
 

[wrighar]

I have to say that the stereo in my 93ss is a lot worse than the one in the wife.

I only have I think 7 speakers  (3 front, 2 front doors, 2 rear shelf) and a small front and small rear amp (no rear door speakers).

Wife has 13 speakers (5 front, 2 front doors, 2 rear doors, 4 rear shelf), and a huge cooling finned bose amp in the rear left which has to be mounted at 45 degrees to fit. Now that sounds nice  (and little bose badges on the front speaker grills).

[sgould]

My WIS has crashed, so I can't check, but I think the Bose has other amps around the car.  Also maybe the later 7 speaker only has the rear amp.

[aerojon]

the MY03-06 9-3ss doesn't have rear door speakers..

[Audax]

The cars with the BOSE sound system do have rear door speakers, it's a rare option and only in cars from 2008 onwards. For this discussion it's best not to confuse the situation which it appears has already happened as the early cars have an entirely different sound system setup to the later cars. The early ones have fiber optics and the later ones don't!

[aerojon]

^^^ that's why i've just added the yrs