Stereo Quality

[Mr Pig]

We've had a 2014 SE for years and I recently bought a 2016 FR. As far as I was aware, the stereo was the same in all the cars except for the upgraded Seat Sound System which adds an extra speaker in the dash and a sub.

The 2016 car sounds much better than the 2014 car. It has really good bass and a full sound while the 2014 car sounds tinny with little bass. Definitely doesn't have a sub or extra speaker in the middle of the dash but massive difference in quality.

Anyone know anything about variations in the sound system or maybe the 14 car has something wrong with it?

Thank you.

 

[Walone]

We've had a 2014 SE for years and I recently bought a 2016 FR. As far as I was aware, the stereo was the same in all the cars except for the upgraded Seat Sound System which adds an extra speaker in the dash and a sub.

The 2016 car sounds much better than the 2014 car. It has really good bass and a full sound while the 2014 car sounds tinny with little bass. Definitely doesn't have a sub or extra speaker in the middle of the dash but massive difference in quality.

Anyone know anything about variations in the sound system or maybe the 14 car has something wrong with it?

Thank you.

The SE may have had only 6 speakers whereas the FR should have 8 speakers.

 

[Mr Pig]

The SE may have had only 6 speakers whereas the FR should have 8 speakers.

Really? Four doors and the A-pillars. Where are the other two?

 

[Walone]

Really? Four doors and the A-pillars. Where are the other two?

Bass/mid in front doors, front tweeters in A pillars, and bass/mid plus tweeters in rear doors. The rear door speakers on 6 speaker systems are full range units with less frequency response than the 8 speaker system.

 

[Norbert]

Bass/mid in front doors, front tweeters in A pillars, and bass/mid plus tweeters in rear doors.

I dont think tweeters come with fr. We have/had 2 fr no tweety.new cupra st got it .

 

[Norbert]

I dont think tweeters come with fr. We have/had 2 fr no tweety.new cupra st got it .

Somehow cupra better sound insulated too.and bonnet fitted extra seal around light and wing section.

 

[Walone]

I dont think tweeters come with fr. We have/had 2 fr no tweety.new cupra st got it .

Tweeters ARE definitely in the FR 8 speaker system!

 

[Walone]

Somehow cupra better sound insulated too.and bonnet fitted extra seal around light and wing section.

I doubt if there is any difference in sound insulation between a FR and Cupra made in the same year/month.

 

[Norbert]

Tweeters ARE definitely in the FR 8 speaker system!

Sorry my mistake.fr fitted on front but cupra on the back too.

 

[Walone]

Sorry my mistake.fr fitted on front but cupra on the back too.

FR has them in the back doors as well.

 

[Norbert]

I doubt if there is any difference in sound insulation between and FR and Cupra made in the year/month.

New cupra st different than 2017 dec fr st.i just spotted the bonnet seals but not another thing inside.i will sound insulate so can tell you.

 

[Mr Pig]

The SE has front door speakers and tweeters in the A-pillars. As far as I can see the FR is the same. The bass is coming from the front door speakers, I can hear it.

I'm wondering if maybe something is wrong with the SE stereo. Maybe speakers out of phase. Or maybe they changed the balance between the door and pillar speakers, which is not something you can do in the EQ.

 

[Ninja10R]

My FR has tweeters on the rear doors too.


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[Mr Pig]

My FR has tweeters on the rear doors too.

To be honest, I haven't even looked. It's the full midrange and deep, solid bass that my FR has and SE doesn't. The difference is very big.

 

[KXL]

If my memory serves me correct, back in the day, the standard SE (eg...no LED lights, no Sat Nav, no DAB) came with the base model 6 speaker setup and a weak amp power (10 or 15 watts per channel) headunit I think. The SE TEchnology (which I had) had Sat Nav, DAB, LED headlights, 8 speaker system, (yes there are 2 tweeters on the rear door, I think near the open handles) and a 4x20 (or maybe 25) watt amp on the 5.8" Sat nav headunit. I found this audio setup decent, better than most stock systems I've heard. I moved on to a Seat Ibiza 3dr with the 'Seat Sound' Pack, with sub in boot, and 6 (speaker locations), but rear speakers actually were 2 ways with tweeter on top of the mid-range, so 8.1 system. This had more bass attack, but did not sound as 'full' as the Leon's. Perhaps that's so much 6.5" can do. Move forward now, got a Volvo V40 with 'high performance sound. 8 speaker system with 4x45watt amp under front seat, ok...this blows both the Seat's out of the water sound quality wise, and NOTHING rattles! hee hee..

 

[Mr Pig]

I have the SE Tech. DAB, satnav LED headlights. We also have a 2016 Ibiza FR and the stereo in that sounds better than the Leon SE. Standard stereo, not Seat Sound.

I assumed the amp was part of the head unit? The Leon FR has a slightly bigger screen than the SE, has mirror link etc, but is the sound part of that unit better? I thought it would be much the same.

If I can figure out why they are different I might be able to get the SE sounding better.

 

[ZK_FR150]

2 different cars, also different sizes, less cabin space so the sound doesn't have to travel further in the Ibiza, different manufacturer for the speakers and power outputs for the head unit and speakers, less cavity space in the Ibiza doors, different soundproofing, speaker positioning etc etc.

There's a list of reasons why one could sound better than the other, unless you are comparing the exact same cars and setup it will sound different.

For the 2 Leon's it could just be different speakers may have been used then and now or they have a newer headunit with better quality output and signal and higher watts.
Without going into the specs of the speakers and headunit from both cars you probably won't find out.

 

[Mr Pig]

For the 2 Leon's...Without going into the specs of the speakers and headunit from both cars you probably won't find out.

What I'm trying to find out is whether or not they should sound different. If the head unit has been upgraded then fair enough. But if the 14 and 16 plate cars should sound much the same it might suggest there is something wrong with the SE setup. We're not talking a slight difference here. The FR is a LOT better. The SE sounds like a transistor radio by comparison.

 

[ZK_FR150]

What I'm trying to find out is whether or not they should sound different. If the head unit has been upgraded then fair enough. But if the 14 and 16 plate cars should sound much the same it might suggest there is something wrong with the SE setup. We're not talking a slight difference here. The FR is a LOT better. The SE sounds like a transistor radio by comparison.

Without checking the specs on both the headunit and speakers for both cars can't really tell how they should sound, if clean sound is coming out of all speakers on the SE and the balance/fadar/EQ is set equal then it wouldn't suggest a fault with the system.

If the components are the same then yeah it should sound the same for both cars, or if different then at least you know it could be that then, but it means pulling the speakers/headunit out of the cars to check.

Maybe find another 14 plate SE for sale and go check the stereo out in that and see if it's any different to the one you have or if anyone else has both cars to hand to do a side by side comparison.

 

[Mr Pig]

Maybe find another 14 plate SE for sale and go check the stereo out in that and see if it's any different to the one you have or if anyone else has both cars to hand to do a side by side comparison.

Yeah, I was hoping someone would say they'd had both the SE and FR and they sound the same.