Head unit

This is one essential part in the audio system and it is here where the media information is read and converted to signals for the amplifier. This is one part where I believe that a stock product is actually sufficient and with later models it is also more or less the only solution to use a Volvo head unit.

I would say that the first big front introduced with the 850 series was the beginning of a new era in car audio when it comes to Volvo. First big front was a cassette radio unit with CD control for a CD-changer. There was an update done for the new 850 interior in 1995 with a smoother design on the buttons and a Premium Sound System label on the unit, as I recall. For some market the big front came without RDS. In 1996 big front was once again updated and now there was a CD-player included in the head unit. The CD-changer control was still there, but now you didn’t have to go to the back of the car or open the glow compartment in order to play or change a CD. With the x70 new big front units was introduced in grey finish and also one unit with 3CD-changer and Dolby Pro-Logic (DPL) surround sound and this head unit survived with the C70 (P80).

When the P2-plat form was introduced in 1998 as S80 MY1999 a new head unit with CAN-network was to be found. The old time when a normal skilled person could mount any stereo head unit in their car was about to end. For the P2x the head unit is programmed and adapted to the car with a PIN-number and will not work in any other car without being un-locked and correctly installed with PIN-configuration. When it comes to theft protection this is perfect and I guess that insurance claim regarding audio thefts has been reduced dramatically. The back side is that it is no longer easy to upgrade the car with an after market audio solution. The P2x head unit range is more or less the same as for the P80-series. A simple cassette/radio unit, a CD/cassette/radio unit and a more advanced CD/radio unit with 4CD-changer and DPL surround sound. For a time the XC90 had an MiniDisc-solution and I don’t think that it was really a customer related demand to introduce this feature. As far as I know MD has been no success in the car audio world. In MY2005 the head unit in P2x was updated with a new design and DPL2. My experience is that the sound image in the P2 MY2005 and the P1x (more about sound image under Hifi info) is more artificial and it’s hard to get an open sound and front stage feeling. The sound tends to come too far into the coupe and have the center in height with the driver or sometimes even behind the driver position. One can adjust the audio setting, but I still find it hard to adjust the sound so that a good sound image is obtained with an open sound experience. The MY2005 P2x head unit is much better looking though, so I guess that design won this battle over function and listening experience.

As I wrote in the beginning of this text, I believe the Volvo head unit to be quite sufficient and with a new set of speakers, high end amplifiers with a good power distribution and maybe new speaker wires the Volvo head unit will perform very well!

SC-700 RDS

SC-800 RDS

SC-801 RDS

SC-802 RDS

SC-805 RDS black (850-series)

SC-805 RDS grey (x70 series)

SC-901 RDS

HU-403 RDS

HU-603 RDS

HU-803 RDS

HU-450 RDS

HU-650RDS

HU-850 RDS

Speaker & Power connections for the big fronts

CD-changer solutions

There are two available sizes when it comes to CD-changers and three different solutions for CD-changer. Either you go for a separate 6CD- or 10CD-changer mounted either in the rear or in the glove compartment or you'll settle with a head unit integrated CD-changer solution. Which one to chose is up to each individuals needs. I have no personal experience with either Volvo external CD-changers or external CD-changer from any other brand and I’m quite satisfied with an internal 4CD-changer head unit.

Jukebox MP3/WMA solution

Volvo is quite bad when it comes to promote their own options and I’m not surprised to find that the new Jukebox option is not well known in the Volvo fan community. I have been asking for a MP3 solution to the Volvo head unit since I first bought my S60 early 2001 and the only answer I got back was that MP3 was not a media to count with in the future and that my friends and I who wanted a HU-803 with technical upgrade so that it would be possible to read MP3 from CD was not representative as Volvo customers. I wonder how that is? We all know how the MP3 media has developed over the years and no person with some contact in the modern world can say that MP3 is not a media to count with. I’m sorry to say that “I told you so!” is not solving the issue of wanting a MP3 solution for my Volvo head unit…
Now there’s a solution though and it is adaptable to all P2x as far as I know.
It’s a 20GB HDD Jukebox solution that’s connected to the CD-changer control in the head unit. 20GB equals >400 CD and it will take a very long time to go through all tracks in a full 20GB HDD. I’m sorry to say that the price on this Jukebox is breath taking and in Sweden it’s about 7000sek. What the price will be the US or in Europe I don’t know, but if I convert the 7000sek into USD or EURO it will be 740EURO or 910USD. My guess is that a small upgrade so that the HU-series head unit would be able to read MP3 from CD would have been much less expensive for us as customers…
Mounting kit and a cable kit will also have to be bought adding another 1500sek/160EURO/195USD!

Part number on the 20GB Jukebox: 30732060
Dimension: 220 x 200 x 65 mm
Weight: 3.6kg