Seat ICE - upgrade? - El Dingo
We have just bought a Seat Leon - a great value car in most respects, however, the factory fit 'Aura' radio/cassette isn't really to my liking.

Has anyone out there done a ICE upgrade on a Seat Leon?

In my previous car (A4) I changed the head unit from dealer supplied Sony to a Kenwood without changing the speakers and was happy with the result. If anyone has upgraded, did you also change the speakers?

I'm not looking for anything mega powerful - just good quality sound and about 45/50 watts per channel...

Thanks,
El Dingo (Martin).
Seat ICE - upgrade? - mlj
What is the problem? I have a Leon and the aura unit is the best factory fitted unit I've ever owned. Diesel Car rated it the best they had experienced when they tested the car a couple of years ago. I have had the CD unit fitted in the glovebox, it was about £100 cheaper than list (£349 if I remember - so it cost about £240)by my local Seat dealer. Never had a problem with it and has great sound. If you are still insistent there is a Leon Cupra owners site with forum, I'm sure someone there can give you a more definitive answer.
Seat ICE - upgrade? - DavidHM
That's www.seatcupra.net by the way.
Seat ICE - upgrade? - El Dingo
mlj,

I must admit I'm worried now...

I have the CD unit in the glove box, but on both CD and radio the unit suffers from 'muddy' sound, and without loudness switched on sounds rather lifeless. With loudness on, I have to run bass on -04 and treble on -01 to even be able to listen to it.

I wonder if I have a faulty unit?


El Dingo (Martin).
Seat ICE - upgrade? - mlj
It sounds like it. A mate who goes in for £1000s worth of kit in his Golf (kenwood) admitted that he would probably stick with the standard unit if he had a Leon.
Seat ICE - upgrade? - arnold2
How many speakers has your Leon got - 4 or 6 ?

In my New Beetle (same car as the Leon underneath, of course!) it has 6 - Bass/Mids on the floor front, and Treble in the front pillars (as well as 2 rear units). As a result, the important mid/treble is actually lined up on your ears - most car manufacturers put units near the door bins - I don't know about you, but my ears are further up than this ! The Beetle has, as a result, got a great sound. If your Leon only has speakers near the floor, that's why the sound is muddy...
Seat ICE - upgrade? - muddyboots
I\'ve got a new Ibiza TDI, which comes with 8 speakers as standard and the \"Alana\" HU.

If you turn the fader to the rear, the sound is really crap - muddy like Martin described in his Leon. Not sure why this is.

An obvious thing to check, but have you got the fader set correctly ?

It might also be possible that the wiring polarity on the speakers is wrong ?

There\'s some good forums at:

www.seatcupra.net/forums

In particular, check out the ICE and Leon forums for help.

Regards
mb
Seat ICE - upgrade? - mlj
The Leon has six speakers. An idea that has possibly occurred to you is to go back to the dealer and ask to listen to another Leon. .......With the radio on!
Seat ICE - upgrade? - El Dingo
Update!

Firstly, thanks for all the ideas - especially 'CupraNet', which has a whole range of opinions and advice about ICE in the SEAT range.

My car has eight speakers (two per door, one 'tweeter' and one 'woofer' in each. Anyway, I pulled the head unit out and checked the connections - after I pushed home the top right hand one the sound improved considerably!

Still, I must say that the sound is not as good as the 45W Kenwood system that I put in my A4 (and the Aura is only 20W per channel after all), but its certainly good enough for the time being.

BTW the fader is set to -02 (towards the back) and this seems to be the best compromise for my ears.

Cheers,
El Dingo (Martin).