[stupra]

What do people want for £330?!
I'll reiterate what I said, you physically gain a plastic sub enclosure and a dash speaker with the "Sound upgrade", no additional upgraded loudspeakers no additional power amps', no processor (but you do have a subwoofer level control in the sound menu) just marketing ploys which seem to work by the the responses!!
What do people expect from a standard car audio system? 120dB of sub bass? Is that what they're expecting? I'm not sure. The standard system has 4 dome tweeters and 4 bass/mids in the doors. If you wanted to hear a truly nasty sounding car system, listen to a SEAT Altea!! (Mind you, you could swap the speakers over in that car in 10 mins, if you had appropriate adaptor's).

Who here has currently got their graphic equaliser set with full boost at 125hz and the next one (cannot remember the frequency) boosted too? How to make a system sound boomy and dull. Try listening to the system "flat" and listen to some speech, then some music that has no electronic processing. Does it sound "natural"? Graphic equalisers cause more issues than they solve. I had a Mazda with a Bose system, great for "Boom Boom" but I had to fit a pair of dome tweeters in place of the cones treble speakers supplied as the Bose speaker system could not reproduce high frequencies. At least the Ateca has dome tweeters. It also has a surprisingly good sound stage as well. You can hear instruments playing on left, right and centre, not easy to do in a car.
I am lead to believe that there are no phono out connections for additional amps on the standard head unit either. Basically, I'm agreeing with Golfmk56.

Rant over. For now!

 

[Nikkijamie]

What do people want for £330?!
I'll reiterate what I said, you physically gain a plastic sub enclosure and a dash speaker with the "Sound upgrade", no additional upgraded loudspeakers no additional power amps', no processor (but you do have a subwoofer level control in the sound menu) just marketing ploys which seem to work by the the responses!!
What do people expect from a standard car audio system? 120dB of sub bass? Is that what they're expecting? I'm not sure. The standard system has 4 dome tweeters and 4 bass/mids in the doors. If you wanted to hear a truly nasty sounding car system, listen to a SEAT Altea!! (Mind you, you could swap the speakers over in that car in 10 mins, if you had appropriate adaptor's).

Who here has currently got their graphic equaliser set with full boost at 125hz and the next one (cannot remember the frequency) boosted too? How to make a system sound boomy and dull. Try listening to the system "flat" and listen to some speech, then some music that has no electronic processing. Does it sound "natural"? Graphic equalisers cause more issues than they solve. I had a Mazda with a Bose system, great for "Boom Boom" but I had to fit a pair of dome tweeters in place of the cones treble speakers supplied as the Bose speaker system could not reproduce high frequencies. At least the Ateca has dome tweeters. It also has a surprisingly good sound stage as well. You can hear instruments playing on left, right and centre, not easy to do in a car.
I am lead to believe that there are no phono out connections for additional amps on the standard head unit either. Basically, I'm agreeing with Golfmk56.

Rant over. For now!

I just said it's not as good as I think
It should be, which I would have happily paid more for and i feel the Bose or Canton systems seem better in sound clarity

 

[Golfmk56]

Would just have to add to Stupra's response, that a car is probably the worst environment you can have for sound. Sound waves bounce off glass, they're absorbed by materials on seats, carpets etc. Bass needs air to function properly which is relatively easy to produce in a saloon (the boot acting as a natural sound chamber) but very hard to replicate in a hatch or estate. And of course any system has to overcome road noise and various other mechanical noise that a car produces.

Without investing large sums of money not just in to the equipment but in to research adapting each particular model, you're never going to get great hi-fi in a car. If you want to do it for £330, you have to forget investing in more speakers and amps that produce 1000W etc and use that money instead to tackle the problems mentioned above.

Bose, Canton etc - it's just a name. I've recently bought a Skoda and you wouldn't believe the number of folk with the Canton system who complain about wasting their money and are looking to upgrade.

Personally I don't think the system in the Ateca is bad. All those that do complain - can you give me an example of a std sound system in a car you were happy with? If my experience is anything to go by, the choices you have are: just acceptable, poor or bloody awful.

 

[cbcdesign1]

I find the bass in my Leon ST very good, crisp and clean sounding without distortion. The ST is an estate! If the sound system in the Ateca sounds as good as the system in my Leon does I will be happy.

 

[Nikkijamie]

Would just have to add to Stupra's response, that a car is probably the worst environment you can have for sound. Sound waves bounce off glass, they're absorbed by materials on seats, carpets etc. Bass needs air to function properly which is relatively easy to produce in a saloon (the boot acting as a natural sound chamber) but very hard to replicate in a hatch or estate. And of course any system has to overcome road noise and various other mechanical noise that a car produces.

Without investing large sums of money not just in to the equipment but in to research adapting each particular model, you're never going to get great hi-fi in a car. If you want to do it for £330, you have to forget investing in more speakers and amps that produce 1000W etc and use that money instead to tackle the problems mentioned above.

Bose, Canton etc - it's just a name. I've recently bought a Skoda and you wouldn't believe the number of folk with the Canton system who complain about wasting their money and are looking to upgrade.

Personally I don't think the system in the Ateca is bad. All those that do complain - can you give me an example of a std sound system in a car you were happy with? If my experience is anything to go by, the choices you have are: just acceptable, poor or bloody awful.

Like I said my old Bose had better vocal clarity which was in my Seat Exeo

 

[Tango17]

The Media Plus (non-nav) in my Ateca SE does not have pre-outs so to add an amp you have to either use an amp with high level inputs or use a line out converter.
Personally I think the car would greatly benefit a subwoofer. Currently I have the bass turned up on the equaliser but this muffles the sound a bit and creates buzzes from the door panels at times. With a separate sub I could turn the bass down to the door speakers so they'd sound clearer.
I plan on writing a "how to" when I install my sub and will post it on the forum.

 

[ScoobyDoo]

I plan on writing a "how to" when I install my sub and will post it on the forum.

This would be really helpful Tango....

Had I been able to I would have opted for the SEAT sound system - I appreciate it's not brilliant, but I do think a Sub generally improves the sound a bit, if only for splitting out the frequencies and putting less bass demand on the woofers.

My car is a lease, that was already built. I would like to add a Sub, but mindful that it's not really 'my car' so wouldn't want it to be to intrusive - plug and play would be ideal... but I guess that depends on what the head unit supports.

 

[Golfmk56]

My car is a lease, that was already built. I would like to add a Sub, but mindful that it's not really 'my car' so wouldn't want it to be to intrusive - plug and play would be ideal... but I guess that depends on what the head unit supports.

'
A tip for anyone who wishes to do something like this but not cut in to the wiring (i.e. keep car original and all warranties intact).

Companies like Autoleads make ISO adaptors - the intention is so that you can connect the car's wiring harness to a 3rd party head unit. Of course they also make adaptors so you can connect your existing head unit to an ISO system.

What you really want to do is buy both. At the moment you have your cars wiring system connected to the SEAT head unit. The goal is to extend that wiring loom and using the newly created extension for cutting in to the loom.
1: Remove the connector at the rear of the head unit.
2: Attach a connector which converts the head unit connections to std ISO
3: Attach a connector which converts the wiring loom connections to std ISO
4: connect both std ISO's together.

So in effect you've just extended the wiring loom. You can then cut the wires on the extension to your heart's content without the need to cut in to the harness - simply extend the speaker wires to the speaker inputs on your amplifier and connect the speaker outputs from your amp back in to the extension.

It's a fiddly way of installing a system and if you're not careful with the routing of the speaker wires, can create interference, but what it does do is enable you to keep the original headunit + all the original wiring. You can then have more power going to the original speakers (that in itself will improve the sound) and/or feed a sub box.

If you can't find the correct adaptors then you can make an extension up yourself - but this requires a bit of skill. I did this last on a BMW - couldn't find the correct cables so simply purchased an adaptor for a parrot phone system, ditched all the wiring and just used the plug - total cost under £5.

Improving the sound for under £300 is easy peasy as long as you don't have to rely on others doing it for you.

 

[Tango17]

That's essentially what I've done except I made a plug and play wiring loom that only extends the speaker cables. Helix do something similar for their plug and play subwoofer. Making the cable was fiddly but it avoids any cutting of the car's wiring and there's a lot less excess wiring to cram in behind the head unit. I haven't finished my installation yet due to family commitments so I won't be posting a "how to" for a while yet.

 

[stupra]

What Car's review of the Atecas infotainment system. Copied from their Karoq Vs Ateca road test this month;

The Ateca's 8.0in touchscreen is pretty easy to use, with broadly similar menu layouts to the Karoq's. We prefer the easier-to-hit physical shortcut buttons around the screen, although the screen isn't as sharp and tends to respond more slowly. The standard eight-speaker stereo sounds decent, but you can upgrade to 10 speakers for £330. Wireless charging is part of a £595 option pack that adds a powered tailgate and keyless entry.

 

[SteedyCat]

I think I'll take a chance on the upgraded BEATS Sound System and order my Ateca when Beats becomes available in the configurator (as it currently is in France at Seat.fr). I've heard it in the Arona and it's the one to beat.

 

[stupra]

SpeedyCat

What actually imprested you especially in the Arona with tbe Beats system?

 

[SteedyCat]

SpeedyCat

What actually imprested you especially in the Arona with tbe Beats system?

I compared the Beats in the Ibiza and Arona with Seat Sound in the Leon and Ateca, and the Beats had a deeper more "subby" sound while maintaining clarity in the cabin. It felt closest to the 8" Alpine sub enclosure I put in my Fabia.

 

[Nikkijamie]

Got to admit if they do release a Beats system and it's similar to what's in the polo, an 300 watt amped system I'd be a little jealous depending on sound quality that I missed out on that option, but hey the same can be said for a lot of things happen like that

 

[SteedyCat]

The Beats Audio System for the Ateca - already available all over Europe - is a 340-watt 12-channel amp and subwoofer, 9 speakers, and costs 535 Euros.

 

[CyberGene]

Not an audiophile myself and listening 99% to classical and symphonic music so looking for flat response rather than too bassy, etc and I find the SEAT Sound just perfect for my taste! Tested it with some acid jazz and stuff and bass is great, detailed and strong without it being pumped up.

But if you like as much bass as possible just for the sake of it, it might disappoint you.

 

[Nikkijamie]

Not an audiophile myself and listening 99% to classical and symphonic music so looking for flat response rather than too bassy, etc and I find the SEAT Sound just perfect for my taste! Tested it with some acid jazz and stuff and bass is great, detailed and strong without it being pumped up.

But if you like as much bass as possible just for the sake of it, it might disappoint you.

It's not about the bass it's about the clarity of all the vocal range at any moderate volume without speaker distortion. I use to have over 6k of car audio in a vehicle when I was younger but the vocal matched the bass and I could fully adjust via a Rockford Fosgate Symetry every aspect, tweeters, mid bass, bass etc

 

[CyberGene]

What I would like from the SEAT Sound system (having it on my Leon for the last 4 years as well) is some way of audio level compression. Especially with classical music, the music is very dynamic and is not compressed in the studio (as with pop, electronica and most modern genres) so there are parts where the music is so quiet and there's noise from outside coming in I can't hear anything and I need to pump up the volume to a level where in a while the orchestra will make a full blast that can literally tear my ears A compression would be great IMO when in a car which is not the quiet home environment....

 

[stupra]

Hello CyberGene,
Interesting comment. I understand exactly what you mean but theoretically, that's contrary to what hifi should do. It does show, however, you do have a quality source of music. I do enjoy a good dynamic myself! Everybody used to bring Phil Collin's Face Value album into the Hifi shop to be blown away by the drums at the end of "In the air tonight" Then it was "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.
Are you listening to CD, radio or off another digital format?

 

[CyberGene]

I'm usually streaming Apple Music through Bluetooth. Having FullLink now I noticed that the same streamed music through CarPlay (cable) sounds better than bluetooth which is understandable.

As to AppleMusic quality it uses AAC 256 kbps which is consistently shown to outperform MP3 320 kbps and is indistinguishable from CD-quality to even most discerning ears. Furthermore, the format allows storing higher dynamic range than 16-bit 44.1kHz (CD), so Apple has created an initiative called "Mastered for iTunes" which encourages studios not to rip albums from the CD-s, but rather use the digital 24-bit 96kHz studio masters to create the resulting AAC file which uses floating-point arithmetics to store the higher dynamic range. So, in other words a music streamed from Apple Music and labeled "mastered for iTunes" is to some degree better than a CD in regards to dynamics because it comes from the studio master and can represent the original 24-bit dynamic range that's been lost when remastered to 16-bit CD.