Standard speakers upgrade to Carver 10 spkr

[Jamesgofast]

Ive got a line on a Carver 10 speaker DSP system. I really need to ditch the standard speakers. They lack the bass and depth I crave.
Will the carver system be a significant improvement on the standard business system?

Cheers

 

[SonnyA85]

The carver system is insane but I found upgrading the head unit which also meant replacing the amp and pretty much everything bar the speakers really upped it a level.

The 10 speaker carver system has 4 woofers. Remember it's a 2 seater convertible. That number of speakers and the woofers the bass is out of this world when you have a great head unit providing a good source of audio.

Upgrading the head unit ain't a cheap job since you need to upgrade everything.

I can't recall now how the DSP sounded with OEM head unit but it was definitely holding the speakers back.

 

[Jamesgofast]

The other option, which is three times the cost, is fitting brand new Audison speakers, active sub, amp and a Bit 10 signal processor that promises to rid the crappiness of the OEM headunit. Im not sure which is going to have the best result to be honest.
I got quoted 850 for the Carver fitted.

The reason why the Bit 10 signal processor is such a tasty proposition is because unfortunatley I am stuck with the OEM headunit. I have the satnav unit n dont fancy swapping all that out.

 

[kis]

The sat nav system comes with a upgraded system? At least mine does? Not sure if its 10 but its defo an upgrade of standard.
Speakers behind the seats and in the doors and with an amp in the boot?

 

[Jamesgofast]

The door speakers are omitted. Only footwell woofers, tweeters n speakers behind seats.
The music is so flat, weak bass. Not upgraded, no.

 

[SonnyA85]

The sat nav system comes with a upgraded system? At least mine does? Not sure if its 10 but its defo an upgrade of standard.
Speakers behind the seats and in the doors and with an amp in the boot?

There's 3 different systems and DSP carver is the best. Yours must be the middle one which is much easier and cheaper to upgrade.

In 2022 if you are spending money on audio you cannot have stock oem head unit.

It's far too outdated, missing too many features and doesn't do the speakers justice.

Where are you located? You can listen to my upgraded head unit DSP carver in Glasgow if nearby

 

[kis]

There's 3 different systems and DSP carver is the best. Yours must be the middle one which is much easier and cheaper to upgrade.

How do you check?! Vin?

 

[Zedebee]

[ref]kis[/ref],
Check out the amp in the boot.
The basic 6-speaker set up doesn’t have one.
The Hi-Fi 10-speaker set up has the amp on the right
The Top Hi-Fi Carver system has the one on the left

 

[SonnyA85]

There's 3 different systems and DSP carver is the best. Yours must be the middle one which is much easier and cheaper to upgrade.

How do you check?! Vin?

Yeah VIN will do it or I am sure the display says DSP if you have the CARVER system.

Having the top end system is great for sound quality buy not so great if you want to upgrade the head unit. Having the middle system the head unit is a lot easier to upgrade but then speakers aren't as good so you may want to upgrade everything but honestly upgrading the head unit to a decent pioneer, alpine, sony or kenwood £150-£200 range should get a decent one will make a big difference alone without the need to upgrade speaker. Personally I am a pioneer fan, I buy pioneer AVR's for my home cinema system too and had 3 different pioneer head units across 3 different cars now. But the other 3 companies are also well respected in car audio.

 

[kis]

Just tried this, so in the vin checker it comes back with option S677. So the DSP = carver?
I guess the middle (10 speaker) option is S676 as per the below? (more of a information purposes sort of post for anyone else looking).

S676A HiFi speaker system
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP

Is it possible to have a DSP/carver in a non sat nav spec'd car?

 

[mr.tourette]

Just tried this, so in the vin checker it comes back with option S677. So the DSP = carver?
I guess the middle (10 speaker) option is S676 as per the below? (more of a information purposes sort of post for anyone else looking).

S676A HiFi speaker system
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP

Is it possible to have a DSP/carver in a non sat nav spec'd car?

I believe iirc I have seen it before on the forum yes

 

[SonnyA85]

Just tried this, so in the vin checker it comes back with option S677. So the DSP = carver?
I guess the middle (10 speaker) option is S676 as per the below? (more of a information purposes sort of post for anyone else looking).

S676A HiFi speaker system
S677A HiFi System Professional DSP

Is it possible to have a DSP/carver in a non sat nav spec'd car?

Yes my car was a DSP carver without sat nav. Now it's got the speakers but everything else was replaced

 

[Beedub]

ive mentioned this a few times, and i dont expect anyone to agree with me, but this is my 2p worth, i find the stock DSP system absolutely fantastic. My shop fits high end Audison / Hertz systems and let me tell you, it takes a beefy, expensive setup to sound as good as the carver system in my z4. It lacks some deep bass, but i really like it, my DSP was setup by audison for me.

 

[SonnyA85]

ive mentioned this a few times, and i dont expect anyone to agree with me, but this is my 2p worth, i find the stock DSP system absolutely fantastic. My shop fits high end Audison / Hertz systems and let me tell you, it takes a beefy, expensive setup to sound as good as the carver system in my z4. It lacks some deep bass, but i really like it, my DSP was setup by audison for me.

It's not that hard to believe was it not a £2.5k to £3.5k add on 20 years ago?

The amp alone was funny money. I thought it was great stock OEM but the fact it lacked Bluetooth and other modern features, DAB radio, etc I opted to upgrade the head unit which meant an overhaul of everything bar the stock speakers.

Having a much better source providing the signal has made it even better and a clear difference. The only issue is the 4 woofers are extremely hard to drive. I can only use the vocal equaliser settings or they are too demanding for the amp to max out the volume. But on vocal I can do that and the bass literally rumbles through you even on that setting depending on the song choice.

 

[tomscott]

Ive had 2 Z4Ms with carver and the treble is great it just has no bass to speak of. The two speakers behind the seats have very little. A mod that others have done is add two bass speakers under the seats.

From what ive read on the forum the issue with the amp and obviously change the amp loose the ability to amend the levels through the screen so means a possible change of head unit.

TBH as much as I like music the system isnt great but does the job. Prefer listening to the car.

My mini has the harmon kardon system and is worlds apart its a really well put together system with far more speakers and works really well in the chamber of the interior. Same as the Harmon Kardon system in the 4 series they sound really good for the cost.

My dad has the burmester and Bose systems in his porches and I dont think the Bose is that good its the opposite the bass is way over and the burmester is a silly amount of money for a 15-20% increase on sound quality.

One of those things its a lot of work to improve.

 

[Beedub]

ive mentioned this a few times, and i dont expect anyone to agree with me, but this is my 2p worth, i find the stock DSP system absolutely fantastic. My shop fits high end Audison / Hertz systems and let me tell you, it takes a beefy, expensive setup to sound as good as the carver system in my z4. It lacks some deep bass, but i really like it, my DSP was setup by audison for me.

It's not that hard to believe was it not a £2.5k to £3.5k add on 20 years ago?

The amp alone was funny money. I thought it was great stock OEM but the fact it lacked Bluetooth and other modern features, DAB radio, etc I opted to upgrade the head unit which meant an overhaul of everything bar the stock speakers.

Having a much better source providing the signal has made it even better and a clear difference. The only issue is the 4 woofers are extremely hard to drive. I can only use the vocal equaliser settings or they are too demanding for the amp to max out the volume. But on vocal I can do that and the bass literally rumbles through you even on that setting depending on the song choice.

Excellent feedback . i WISH their was head unit that could control the DSP

Here's a system we are just buttoning up now in a new range rover.