Thanks for the info, back to the drawing board it is then. The sound system is the concern for me, the rest of the car was fine but the sound quality wasn’t great. Just trying to explore ways to improve it. Other than the beats retrofit, any ideas?
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Beats Audio? Formentor
- Thread starter sgunston86
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The options on the configurator now carry the Beats option at £390!!! I've kept well away from Beats in the past, but at that price it'd be crazy not to, especially as I'm coming from a Merc with a Burmeister system. 
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Yeah it's not a bad price at all! The amp costs double that on its ownThe options on the configurator now carry the Beats option at £390!!! I've kept well away from Beats in the past, but at that price it'd be crazy not to, especially as I'm coming from a Merc with a Burmeister system.
I'm waiting on word to see if I can add Beats to my build, as like you I'm coming from cars with premium sound systems. My BMW has the Harman Kardon in it, and I don't fancy having the stock sound. Although in saying that, the salesman I ordered through said he has driven a Euro specced Formentor with Beats, and he said he thought it was poor, and if it was his own car he wouldn't pay for it.The options on the configurator now carry the Beats option at £390!!! I've kept well away from Beats in the past, but at that price it'd be crazy not to, especially as I'm coming from a Merc with a Burmeister system.
TBH, most of the systems sound crap because they have poor DACs that can’t be circumvented and/or the sample rate of the input (like pre June Apple Music) is bad too. The DAC in my Merc is crap, so the system has never really lived up to expectation unfortunately.
This is the thing. You have to have realistic expectations around what a “car” can deliver from an audiophile point of view.
move had my VZ2 since yesterday. Have listened to DAB, music streamed from phone, music from a pen drive. Dance. Hip hop. Indie. The standard system, to my ears, with a reasonable and realistic expectation level, sounds OK to me. No rattles or distortions. The bass is there. So I’m absolutely fine with it. I’ve also seen quite a few reviewers saying that Beats isn’t worth having. But then I’ve also seen some reviewers saying it’s decent. Having said that, at only £390, if you spec and it’s garbage, you’ve hardly blown a large amount on it. But like I say, my standard system sounds ok to me. I like my music too, so it is a big part of my drive.
I have a VZ2 310 on order. I don't have a build date as yet so asked my dealer if I could add Beats audio to the order. They've been in touch with Cupra who've said that it could be done, but I'd have to pay the yearly price increase (£600 + VAT) as well as the cost of the option itself. I've declined the offer (but I've found out that I'll still get the 2022 model year at the 2021 price.
Backlit temperature sliders would be the first thing I’d have sorted out (pretty fundamental really)!
CUPRA Formentor and Leon 2022 model year updates - SEATCupra.net
Formentor can now have Beats audio, new paint colours on both models and DSG models will get a heated steering wheel as standard.
www.seatcupra.net
I was quite disappointed that all Cupra offers is only slightly upgraded sound system. At first I was not impressed at all. Sound was flat and rough. After few weeks I picked up some tracks on the radio which did sound quite decent. Then I gave it a shot and put my flac collection on a stick to explore a very detailed sound with nice punch. Now I have to say I like this audio very much. Don't have a comparison to other recent OEMs though. For me the best settings is second button on equalizer (below B-eats, looks like a home or arrow up) with sub and 125 Hz slighlty turned up. There is also something like a burn-in phase for new set of speakers, so maybe thats the reason for polarized opinions.
The worst part is they haven't even included an Aux port so we could use our own DACs. I'm sure the standard speakers could be so much better but there's no way I can see of piping HD audio through to them. I can't even find an equaliser to fiddle with in the infotainment??
I'd happily pay to have a retrofit solution to get HD audio to the speakers, be it an analogue input or even a HD bluetooth codec.
Absolutely. I still despair that the design was signed off without backlights. There’s no way it’s a penny-pinching accounts thing either - LEDs are dirt cheap. Plain and simple design failure.
CUPRA Formentor and Leon 2022 model year updates - SEATCupra.net
Formentor can now have Beats audio, new paint colours on both models and DSG models will get a heated steering wheel as standard.
So no change at all for VZ2/VZ3, and just addition of Heated Steering Wheel for those that didn’t previously have it.
Probably was the same designer who came up with the idea of a touchpad instead of a headlight switch
Thing is, while I also dislike touch controls used almost everywhere, it’s more likely an accounts-driven exercise. There is significant money to be saved (parts-wise and in passing design verification) by replacing mechanical switchgear with capacitive sensors behind a panel.
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Made a start the wiring loom for my Beats audio retrofit, No rush at the moment as I'm waiting for a beats equipped vehicle to land in the UK so I can take an adaptation map & adapt the new amplifier online with it. - Any willing volunteers willing to help by letting me plug in? (authorised independent workshop using genuine diagnostic tools, with legitimate & up to to date subscriptions so 0 risk involved)
If you spec the Beats Audio you also have to take the space saving spare wheel which is another £120, so it actually costs £510. I was going to spec it last week when I ordered my new Formentor, but decided against it.The options on the configurator now carry the Beats option at £390!!! I've kept well away from Beats in the past, but at that price it'd be crazy not to, especially as I'm coming from a Merc with a Burmeister system.
As well as what was posted in the other thread linked above, they have changed the black headlining on the V1 and V2 for a grey one, which IMO doesn't look as good.
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The beats sub fits into the spare wheel
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