Changing the Headrest Speakers (ND - Bose / Recaro)

Technical Area Electrics & ICE
1

got the 2016 ND, with Recaro Seats and BOSE speakers.

I have been gifted with the ‘9 speaker setup’ (to which i had no idea it had a dash mounted sub!)
From the in-car sound, i thought i had 2x door speakers, and 2x a-pillar speakers :smiley:

I played with the Fade to realise there was a little flutter of static noise coming from the seats.
After some searching it seems its a common ‘theme’ that these speakers are great for in-car phone calls, as the audio is right next to your ears. however while listening to audio, they sound like they are turned off. i have to fully tilt my head and ear onto the seat to realise there is indeed ‘some’ sound coming from them.

so, after googling…
This is a 8 year old model now. why cant i find a single how-to, instructions, or review from anyone who has replaced the headrest speakers??? am i using wrong search terms? i cant find anything on any forum, or on utube either. :expressionless:

Can anyone point me in the direction on how to disassemble the seats/headrests to get at the additional 4 speakers which need to be thrown away?
Thanks

2

This any good ?

3

yes!! thank you!
i hadnt found this. bookmarked :slight_smile:

although… just had a read. ive got to do how much removal before i peel off the tape on the headrest?? :smiley:
i’ll go have a look at the seat tomorrow. im not sure i had noticed tape holding the top of the recaro together…

thanks for sharing this

4

There’s also this really useful how-to resource.

Bookmark the top level. Looks like the same steps as Dean’s link in this case though :+1:t3:

Let us know how you get on.

5

Will changing the speakers make any difference to the volume they put out?

6

Unfortunately this is the US manual and does not include the 1.5 engine or the DHS system as far as I can determine.

7

The OP asked if there were any guides to stripping the seats for the headrest speakers.
Not sure if it matters about which side of the pond the manual is from - it shows seat disassembly guidelines.

1 Like
8

im not sure…

My audio skills are basic, and still around what the tech was in the 2000’s :smiley:
but when i move the fade to rear only, and wack u the volume the headrests are still quiet and very, very poor sound quality.
so i’ve got 3 areas in my mind

  • amp is filtering out (or not) frequencies
  • the headrest speaker is called a ‘ultranear’… whatever that is. so erhas it has its own in-line filter?
  • or the speakers are simply poor.

the best outut ive got from them in terms of ambience/sound balance is putting the fade on rear ++2. this makes the sound feel ‘surround sound’, but the quality / distortion is really bad from the headrest.

9

I dont worry about the speakers in the headrests and just focus on the 4 front speakers when listening to music/radio with the fader a couple of notchesfor the front. The headrest speakers work for phone obviously and do that well. Sound quality is going to suffer a bit when you have a 99db exhaust like mine