[Hank]

Hi,

Just wondering if any of you guys that have the Beats Audio system have found it a bit quiet.

I have to have it at a minimum of half volume just to hear it properly above the engine.

And even at full volume it's not overly impressive.
My old car had a Bose system that went a lot louder, could never take that to full volume.

And CarPlay comes through far too quiet I think.

Anyone else have this issue before I go back to dealer to see if there's a problem?

 

[Wheeliethecapper]

I have said Beats system and love it. The sound experience is brilliant. Yes, it seems to be dependent on your sound source as to how high you turn the volume up. Radio (FM) booms through the speakers so has to be turned down relatively low but MP3 files on SD card need to be louder, perhaps louder than using same files on USB stick (moved my 14GB of sounds from USB to glove box's SD2 slot for aesthetic purposes only). I haven't tried using the Jukebox fuction of the internal drive yet but suspect this will attract a different volume setting, also not tried CD or DVD yet.

 

[Simol]

Dab radio is fine, but the bluetooth connection into the Spotify account on my iPhone is absolutely fabulous and receives admiring comments from passengers!

 

[Hank]

Thanks for replies guys. Good to know how others have found it. I'll have to try different sources and see how they sound.

 

[pch]

I upgraded to Tarraco w/Beats from Ateca w/SeatSound and indeed noticed it's not as loud as Ateca.
In Ateaca I was a bit scary to touch max volume while on Tarraco I have no this fear.

I compare with the same music from the same files on the same SD card (some of them are flacs, some 320kbit mp3). Other sources are quieter too.

It's still pretty loud though...

Enough for my ears at least.

 

[Hank]

I'm now finding that anything below half volume is barely audible, that can't be right.
Doesn't seem to make a difference what source either.

 

[Wheeliethecapper]

Another issue I have with Beats Audio System relates to the rear speakers and subwoofer. I normally drive in the car solo but a rear seat passenger implied my rear seat speakers were turned off. Not quite true but almost! If you change the sound focus/fade to just the rear speakers (allegedly sending all sound thereto), it is barely audible, about 10% output of front speakers. Can other owners advise whether my car is unique in this not working correctly? Is anybody aware of a fix/adjustment required (apparently same issue on some Jeep Renegade cars (Google search answer) which was fixed by software update)?

Thank you.

Seat Tarraco 2.0 tdi auto 4drive, launch edition (everything but the kitchen sink and tow bar in specifications).

 

[Hank]

I'm going to be booking my car in with Seat so they can look at this and the DSG lag issue. I'll let you know what they say.

 

[Wheeliethecapper]

Thanks Hank. I have an email query in with the dealer to check the sound system in the showroom car(s) and querying a fic for iffy almost non-existent rear speaker sound.

 

[martinizi]

I had my car at the dealer. They're impliing that everything is fine. They say back speakers are only middle range and bass. But I can't hear any bass when fading back with subwoofer turned off. Sound is really low.

I tried every car with the same stereo at the dealer and it's the same for everyone.

Mechanic implies that back speakers is like back speakers in a home cinema. They don't play the same as the front speakers. I think he's wrong and that someone messed up the sound design. Either back speakers are so cheap they can't play any better or the software in the stereo is messed up. ON ALL SEAT MODELS WITH THIS STEREO.

 

[rickards]

Any news? Bought a 2019 Tarraco and have the same problem with rear speakers with low volyme...

 

[vib1288]

I don't have Beats in my car but I have done some research into speaker sizes and performance.

The front door speakers are much bigger than the rear doors (cant remember exact size) and acoustically have a much better low frequency output. So much so that on my car whenI tried a spare wheel subwoofer and could not hear it as the front speakers were dropping so low!

Doesn't matter how much you complain about to SEAT, acoustically, there is no solution due to different physical speaker sizes and thus different outputs.

My normal non Beats car is set up with a DSP and an amplified Sub (so I guess very similar in hardware to the Beats) and I have also set it up similar to the factory Beats cars. Not because of copying the Beats but that is the result I got from maxmising the speakers efficiency. Front rolls off from around 80hz and the rear rolls off around 120hz. Any lower on the back and they will distort from not being able to handle the bass frequency. All the frequencies lower than those are handled by the amp'ed subwoofer.

I competed in the 90's in IASCA soundoffs and we always aimed for front staging. This is how my car is set up and although I haven't heard a Beats in person, the descriptions from the Beats owners sounds like this is what Seat have done with the Beats version.

So from a technical point of view, it seems that the Beats cars have been set up correctly, with proper staging and maximum utlisation of the availble physical speaker frequencies.

 

[FR_Sport]

I don't have Beats in my car but I have done some research into speaker sizes and performance.

The front door speakers are much bigger than the rear doors (cant remember exact size) and acoustically have a much better low frequency output. So much so that on my car whenI tried a spare wheel subwoofer and could not hear it as the front speakers were dropping so low!

Doesn't matter how much you complain about to SEAT, acoustically, there is no solution due to different physical speaker sizes and thus different outputs.

My normal non Beats car is set up with a DSP and an amplified Sub (so I guess very similar in hardware to the Beats) and I have also set it up similar to the factory Beats cars. Not because of copying the Beats but that is the result I got from maxmising the speakers efficiency. Front rolls off from around 80hz and the rear rolls off around 120hz. Any lower on the back and they will distort from not being able to handle the bass frequency. All the frequencies lower than those are handled by the amp'ed subwoofer.

Vib - would you know what size the front mid range and tweeter are? Information online is very thin on the ground for the Tarraco but most vw group stuff appears to utilise 6.5"/16.5cm mids. I'm looking to upgrade the audio system once my car arrives and this will be my starting point (combined with sound deadening, an amp and sub). Surprised to read the rears are physically smaller than the fronts! Thanks.

 

[vib1288]

This info I got from the Tiguan Forum and makes total sense to why the bass is so different.

Front woofers are 180mm, rears are 145mm.

Have a read of this thread, they have a lot more experience than our small group here.

https://www.tiguanforums.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=6823