Fitting non standard head unit.....

[Leon Mike]

Just fitted a non standard head unit in my leon, really wasnt something I wanted to do as I was so happy with the standard sound quality but was fed up of having the cd changers repaired (have had two fail on me!)

Was desperate for a cd player before a long trip to the south of france so opted for a £350 rrp Alpine Mp3 unit after my first alpine stereo in my nova back in 1997 I was so impressed i thought id buy another and all I can say is..................

















What a crock of ****



Anyone found this with fitting after market stereos or is it just this alpine is terrible? I know uprating the speakers would be a wise move but thought it would be ok as It sounded imo so good with the original stereo! I'm sure my kenwood that I fitted a while back didn't sound this bad...i'd put that back in if I hadn't had lost the blue key chip thingy!

 

[Wrighty]

i changed the aura in my leon for a Becker Mex pro and the difference on the OE speakers was incredible.

I used to be of the same opinion as you, had a couple of alpines in the late 90's which i thought were fantastic, then i changed to a JVC reference line and the JVC won hands down on SQ.

Its all down to what your ears like the sound of ultimately, some like the alpine sound, some down. I prefer something a little warmer and laid back, which is why i have a Becker

 

[dobber]

I upgraded mine to an Alpine and teh sound quality is amazing. Much much better. Clarity, punch and crispness plus it matches the dash colour.

What HU did you get?

I got a CDA-9856R http://www.caraudiodirect.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=4819

 

[Cupraboy4]

Kenwood

I changed my stanard unit in my cupra to a kenwood MP3 player the 1st day i had the car, the sound is fantastic, even more so with a sony explode bass speaker in the boot with a sony explode amp fitted

 

[Icecavern]

What a crock of ****



Anyone found this with fitting after market stereos or is it just this alpine is terrible? I know uprating the speakers would be a wise move but thought it would be ok as It sounded imo so good with the original stereo! I'm sure my kenwood that I fitted a while back didn't sound this bad...i'd put that back in if I hadn't had lost the blue key chip thingy!

What's wrong with the sound? It could be set up in a funny way, it shouldn't sound worse than the standard kit

 

[Mucus]

I changed mine to a kenwood Mp3 player, and it sounds great. But there is one of my albums that now sounds terrible. I'm guessing it's the sample rate of the MP3's though, as all my others sound spot on.
Caused me a lot of head scratching though, as it was the album that was in when I swapped the head unit over.

 

[Leon Mike]

maye I should talk to caraudiodirect and ask them for a possible refund or swap...

I'm really dissapointed...

It's this one...

CDA-9812 RB

£199.99

 

[Leon Mike]

Oh and it's bleedin garish aswell!

Looks quite tacky in the dash!

 

[Legohead]

I upgraded mine to an Alpine and teh sound quality is amazing. Much much better. Clarity, punch and crispness plus it matches the dash colour.

I got a CDA-9856R

Snap and snap, thought exactly the same, I have the same head unit and sounds far more dynamic than the standard cack plus I needed it for sub install

love the Biolite display, really tastefull, but the tuner recpeption is shite even with the booster that puts 12v down the aerial.

 

[A16NS V]

I didn't really rate the standard speakers TBH they do sound very boom tiss even with an aftermarket H/u.

However, the tweeters are strangled by the standard high-pass crossover capacitor stuck on the back. The ones in mine are fairly large dome types made by Blaupunkt and when I put my own 2 way cross over on, it lowered the frequency the tweets got and the whole system sounds a lot better....... to me anyway!

 

[paul26982]

some people think i have a sub in the car etc, all i got is the jvc avx2, it brings the best out of the speakers, bass is quality too

 

[Copra]

i changed my standard unit for a pioneer deh-55bt (cheap really) and im seriously impressed with the difference, especially so becasue ive kept the stock speakers.
i think you probably need to play with the settings on yours and tweak it abit.

 

[D3DNA]

I've got one of the 2005 model Alpines and its a great unit, but to get the best out of it you will need to set the crossovers and timings within the car. I had the same unit in my old car and with stock speakers set correctly it sounded ace. Even better when I put new speakers in.

 

[December]

ok silly question..
i noticed that the original Seat Sound System CD Player is quite wide.. how do you fit a smaller MP3 Player and not leave room on the sides ? :| I'm also thinking of buying a new MP3 Player to replace the Original Seat Sound System onboard.

The only thing i will miss is the way the CD Player lights up in red along with the dashboard at night.

 

[Leon Mike]

one of those adaptor plates...just adds two black blocks either sider of the stereo....