About The Astra Audio System

[TrumpetBoy]

One of the most frustrating things I found when researching the new Astra was the lack of any review about the audio system. We know that there are 6 or 8 speaker versions but nobody has done a review talking about this - a subject which for me is THE most important thing! You spend enough time in the thing - you may as well enjoy the sound system!

A week or so ago somebody did a review which was interesting for the PHEV version - this can be seen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27z_SM818ug if anybody is interested. Worth a watch. I got very excited about the centre speaker and subwoofer under the boot floor.

My car however was the petrol non PHEV version and hence I wondered what the sub woofer looked like as clearly the under floor space was different. I was NOT disappointed! Takes a bit of tweaking but the sound is awesome. Happy to answer any questions about the audio as there seems to be a lack of info.

[lfin386]

I have the PHEV GS line which confusingly seems to have the upgraded audio system after watching the video you linked to. Here is the sub woofer in the boot which differs from yours. My car seems to be something of a hybrid(no pun intended!) as has 18 inch alloys & HUD which are not standard on GS line

[philc59]

Apologies if I've put this in the wrong place, as I've actually never needed to join an online forum before, so feeling my way a bit here.

I have recently taken delivery of a shiny new PHEV GS line Astra L and am just getting to grips with it's many features. I have a query about the Audio system, which this thread seems to be about, so here goes.

Being a bit old-school I have about 500 CD's cluttering my house up, but of course new cars no longer come with a CD player. My last Astra, the 1.2 SRi came with a USB port which I could play my albums through, so I set about transferring all my favourites to a memory stick and I now have a couple of hundred CD's worth, which I can search, play and generally enjoy.

The GS line does appear to have a USB port, albeit a USB-C one, but even though I have bought a USB-A to USB-C converter, I can't find any way to play the music on the memory stick. Does anyone know if it is possible to do this and if so, how?

I can connect my iPhone and use Spotify, but I don't have anywhere near as much stuff on that and I don't want to start all over again.

Any information gratefully accepted. I'm getting a bit bored with Planet Rock already

[TrumpetBoy]

I just tested this and it worked fine. You need to plug your USB drive into the bottom USB slot in the centre console. I did this with a USB C to USB A adapter (this none came with my Samsung phone) and then a USB drive. Then when you select the audio source you will see the USB drive listed.

On the screen grabs below you will see the three lines icon. If you press that you can the browse your library and albums as you would expect.

One final thing - the USB must be formatted as FAT or FAT32 - exFAT (often the default for USB C flash drives) is not recognised. If you have one of these you must reformat.

[philc59]

Hi

Thanks for the response on this. I should have updated my original post. I tried another USB (once I'd bought a couple of USB-C converters) and it worked fine.... and then my original memory stick started working as well for whatever reason. I did find that it kept disconnecting itself for a few seconds whenever I drove over a bump in the road, so I bought a Sandisk Micro, which is tiny and doesn't have the same problem. Finding the album I want isn't quite as simple as with the previous audio system, but I think if I reorganise the folders on the drive I can get round that easy enough.... Good choice of music by the way. Love Muse.

[Fulton]

Where did you get the sub for the spare wheel well?
I’ve got the 1.2 turbo GS, 2023.
Was it diy or did you get someone to fit it?

[kzaruz]

Where did you get the sub for the spare wheel well?
I’ve got the 1.2 turbo GS, 2023.
Was it diy or did you get someone to fit it?

It comes standard with the Ultimate edition, mine is the petrol Ultimate edition and has the same system as the OP. It seems some people have it put in I'm assuming by accident on the manufacturer, as they shouldn't come with the GS.

[srscott44]

Wonder how big a job that would be to retrofit to a 23 ST GS. Tempting