160w to Premium hifi conversion
Discussion
You all know I love a project and the latest is to upgrade my current standard 160w system to Premium+ for “not poke your eye out prices”
I’ve read a thread from PHer Paralight from 2015 (now James at Aston Installations) which was talking about doing the same. He quoted new main and sub amps at approx £350 ish each.
I’ve looked on Scuderia, however can only see amps in the £2.5k range for the premium system.
As I’ll be doing a build thread, I’m assembling info first to keep it neat, so would appreciate any information from PHers who have either installed Premium amps or aftermarket in their cars, or indeed anyone who has part nrs for the standard Premium amps.
I think they’re standard Volvo items, so probably available very cheaply on eBay.
Speakers will be upgraded all round, hence the Premium+
One thing I will need to do is to get a new file uploaded with AMDS to tell the hifi system it’s Premium, which will then have the ability to control rear speakers which are currently not part of the 160w system.
Thanks in advance !
I’ve read a thread from PHer Paralight from 2015 (now James at Aston Installations) which was talking about doing the same. He quoted new main and sub amps at approx £350 ish each.
I’ve looked on Scuderia, however can only see amps in the £2.5k range for the premium system.
As I’ll be doing a build thread, I’m assembling info first to keep it neat, so would appreciate any information from PHers who have either installed Premium amps or aftermarket in their cars, or indeed anyone who has part nrs for the standard Premium amps.
I think they’re standard Volvo items, so probably available very cheaply on eBay.
Speakers will be upgraded all round, hence the Premium+
One thing I will need to do is to get a new file uploaded with AMDS to tell the hifi system it’s Premium, which will then have the ability to control rear speakers which are currently not part of the 160w system.
Thanks in advance !
Jon39 said:
All that I can say, is I think the Premium audio is a system produced by Alpine.
It’ll be a journey of discovery with hopefully a positive outcome !
JonnyCJ said:
Jon39 said:
All that I can say, is I think the Premium audio is a system produced by Alpine.
It’ll be a journey of discovery with hopefully a positive outcome !
I believe the front speakers are upgraded too, as well as the additon of the rears and the subwoofer of course. Does the 160W have the centre speaker too in the middle of the dash? Details on number and location of speakers was in the early sales brochures if I recall.
bullet7 said:
There's a bit about the differences in the systems in the FAQ's above.
oh yes - would you believe it, I actually wrote that section in the FAQ! 
Here it is for reference to this thread then
Two system supplied Standard (160W) and Premium (700W). If viewing a car its easy to tell what is fitted just turn it on and if it says Premium Audio its not the standard one! The differences between the two systems are:-
- Door mounted speakers upgraded to 100W
- Two additional rear environment 100W speakers added (each with mid-range and tweeter units)
- Additional 100W centre-fill speaker
- Subwoofer speaker upgraded to 200W
- Dolby Pro-Logic II
- Total power output of 700W
I’ve been a busy boy this morning !
Found an OE used premium amp on eBay, together with the important connection leads to go from the main amp to the sub amp. Hopefully about £300 all in compared to about £900 buying new.
Found a sub amp - exactly same as Volvo C70 and the OE is even branded Volvo, for £80, so the pair of them keeps the system OE premium so far.
Going to be upgrading the front speakers to components and also looking for an alternative to the OE centre speaker, but may have to bite the bullet on that and stick with stock.
Now where to get an OE 200w sub....
Found an OE used premium amp on eBay, together with the important connection leads to go from the main amp to the sub amp. Hopefully about £300 all in compared to about £900 buying new.
Found a sub amp - exactly same as Volvo C70 and the OE is even branded Volvo, for £80, so the pair of them keeps the system OE premium so far.
Going to be upgrading the front speakers to components and also looking for an alternative to the OE centre speaker, but may have to bite the bullet on that and stick with stock.
Now where to get an OE 200w sub....
If you haven't seen this thread at 6Speed, it might be worth a look. Very well documented...
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
yvr said:
If you haven't seen this thread at 6Speed, it might be worth a look. Very well documented...
https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
Read loads but missed that - extremely useful and many thanks !https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin/4...
Jonny, your doing a great job, it'll sound ace once it's done.
The Linn system isn't great, both sounding and reliability as a few years ago the rear bass speaker stopped working on mine and to get it to work the Linn amp needed replacing costing thousands of pounds, The car back then had a warranty with Mcgurks and they found an audio electrician who found a way to get the bass pre-amp signals from the Linn amp, he then installed a stand alone amp for the bass speaker with a bass volume knob if I wanted extra bass.
Sounds good but the original bass speaker soon gets overwhelmed so i'll install a high power pioneer bass speaker later in the year.
The Linn system isn't great, both sounding and reliability as a few years ago the rear bass speaker stopped working on mine and to get it to work the Linn amp needed replacing costing thousands of pounds, The car back then had a warranty with Mcgurks and they found an audio electrician who found a way to get the bass pre-amp signals from the Linn amp, he then installed a stand alone amp for the bass speaker with a bass volume knob if I wanted extra bass.
Sounds good but the original bass speaker soon gets overwhelmed so i'll install a high power pioneer bass speaker later in the year.
but when I did use it, it was great. I converted my base 160w system in my old V12 Vantage S to premium audio.
A number of points - part number wise for my old Vantage variant you just need a central speaker, rear speakers and the amps and amp leads. The sub is the same (edit: in the V12S Vantage S), as are the front speakers.
A number of points - part number wise for my old Vantage variant you just need a central speaker, rear speakers and the amps and amp leads. The sub is the same (edit: in the V12S Vantage S), as are the front speakers.
Edited by yellow_tang on Tuesday 18th May 13:02
All now sorted - full premium set up going in for just under £600, plus my time to fit, although as half the interior is in pieces trying to find my parking module, it won’t take that long to install.
One of the major things that pokes your eye out is the link lead between the main amp and sub amp. They’re approx £330 new and luckily I managed to get a used main amp with all the leads attached, for half the cost of a new amp on its own.
Once it arrives, I’ll be investigating whether the Volvo Premium amps (which can be had for about £15 on eBay) are the same in terms of connections.
One of the major things that pokes your eye out is the link lead between the main amp and sub amp. They’re approx £330 new and luckily I managed to get a used main amp with all the leads attached, for half the cost of a new amp on its own.
Once it arrives, I’ll be investigating whether the Volvo Premium amps (which can be had for about £15 on eBay) are the same in terms of connections.
Gassing Station | Aston Martin | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff