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Are you kidding? We're supposed to tell our WIVES that we bought Teslas. I'm screwed--she's totally going to kill me. (Well, she knows, but she really doesn't know that my need for XM radio cost me $2500--)A scanner and MS paint. More creative measures may be required depending on your wife's astuteness
Yeah, I was kidding lol. My wife's actually really stoked, so much that she said if the sales rep wasn't in the car during her test drive, she would've jacked me in the arm out of excitement. And to think she was supportive of me getting another Corvette. Ridiculous...
I'm just out of a 2013 with the UHFS into a 2016 facelift without it (my choice). No regrets so far, in fact most of the time I don't even notice. The UHFS was/is so front-heavy, and I don't like have the sound stage in front of me. I know that logically makes sense, but in a car I find it weird. But in reality 80% of what I listen to now are books and Podcasts, so the benefits of the UHFS would be lost anyway. But in my 2013, I was still disappointed when I turned it up (all the way - to 11), which is why I decided to take the base system, and invest in Reus upgrade.
Obviously from this thread it's entirely subjective. I've no idea how anyone could think the UHFS system is amazing, but I respect that view, we're all different, in terms of age, ears, musical tastes and expectations. I've always had the upgraded sound in my cars (Audi's and Mercs, so nearly always Bose, not that I'm normally a huge fan of Bose), and they all blow away in the Model S, in my opinion.
Obviously from this thread it's entirely subjective. I've no idea how anyone could think the UHFS system is amazing, but I respect that view, we're all different, in terms of age, ears, musical tastes and expectations. I've always had the upgraded sound in my cars (Audi's and Mercs, so nearly always Bose, not that I'm normally a huge fan of Bose), and they all blow away in the Model S, in my opinion.
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
Recommend contacting your local owners club to see if at the next coffee gathering there will be cars with any or all of the following 4 options: base audio, base audio with Reus, premium audio, and premium audio with Reus.
Bring the best FLAC or similar files you can lay hands upon (of music with which you are already familiar) via a USB stick and go to town. I'd recommend melodishop.com or hdtracks.com for the FLAC files if you haven't any handy. There's FLAC and there's FLAC, but for a quick listen, any FLAC will do.
Anecdotally, I found there to be more midrange in the premium audio package versus the base audio package. Beyond that, any Reus upgrade will make either sound better, via, in part, the addition of an active center channel, and amp/subwoofer combinations. In the end, I went with the base audio and a Reus upgrade, which is to say the $2,500 for premium audio went towad the Reus instead. The thing with Reus is that once you buy the package, you're done - they'll transfer it from car to car for the cost of labor. Just something to keep in mind.
Bring the best FLAC or similar files you can lay hands upon (of music with which you are already familiar) via a USB stick and go to town. I'd recommend melodishop.com or hdtracks.com for the FLAC files if you haven't any handy. There's FLAC and there's FLAC, but for a quick listen, any FLAC will do.
Anecdotally, I found there to be more midrange in the premium audio package versus the base audio package. Beyond that, any Reus upgrade will make either sound better, via, in part, the addition of an active center channel, and amp/subwoofer combinations. In the end, I went with the base audio and a Reus upgrade, which is to say the $2,500 for premium audio went towad the Reus instead. The thing with Reus is that once you buy the package, you're done - they'll transfer it from car to car for the cost of labor. Just something to keep in mind.
Where are the controls located for the Reus? I know they're not integrated into the 17" but I've never seen the equalizer or how any of it is controlled. Could you show screenshots?
cman8
Member
I agree as others have stated the bass is not that great. Not bad IMHO but not great for a 100k car. Would I pay for the upgrade? No I wouldn't, but thats my preference.
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
That's kinda the beauty of it; there's little to see. Under the trunkwell cover is where the subwoofer(s) live - but it looks factory. Mine are covered with stuff in the trunk at the moment so I'll defer to someone who has an empty trunk. Oh - and the amp(s) live in the sidewell(s), but again, it looks factory so there's not a lot to see there either. I thought I would miss the space but it turns out there's still plenty left, so no worries with that. Although given what Tesla has done with the microfrunk these days, I might rethink that after the next car. But still, the Reus adds represent an unobtrusive use of space.
There is *one* visible modification apart from the above - a small knob located forward of the seat controls on the left side of the driver's seat. This knob controls the bass/subwoofer(s) output. I usually leave this about halfway unless there's a track that must be felt to be heard, as it were.
No touchscreen impact at all.
Got it and thanks. So it uses the original stock wiring harness and the Tesla equalizer controls with the exception of the base knob you mention. Do I have that right?
TaoJones
Beyond Driven
Well, I'm embarrassed to say I didn't watch a lot of the installation, even though I was made to feel welcome to do so. Similar to having surgery even with a local - I'd just rather not see what's going on/temporarily disassembled.
As an aside, their shop is pretty interesting, in a surgically precise sort of way - one of the times I was there there were... let's see.. a Porsche, a Lambo, a Fiskar, and a Rolls. Although the Rolls is as I understand it more of a permanent fixture.
But as you say, yes - aside from any wiring differences, which I just didn't notice, definitely the same Tesla eq controls, which I've got set to a wee bit less bass and a wee bit more midrange and treble (personal preference - and I probably wouldn't need the midrange adjustment if I had the premium package instead of the factory base package), with the exception of the bass knob.
Thanks for the info. I too like the footwell storage area so that's a lot to give up.
Of course the UHFS is "better" it should be. It just depends on your need for "better" when it comes to sound. When you look at 10 TVs at the same time you see differences between them. When it's hanging in your family room, you don't. That's how I felt and went with the standard. To me, it sounds great. I love Sirius/XM and it plays flawlessly through Bluetooth and the app. I can even control it (fast forward through Howard Stern, pause, etc) via the 17 inch display. I personally am thrilled that I saved the $2500.
By the way, you will love the car. It has exceeded all of my expectations and I love more every day.
By the way, you will love the car. It has exceeded all of my expectations and I love more every day.
Thought I would bring some life to this thread. There have been improvements to the sound system with recent firmware updates that apply to both the Model S and X. Below is a picture of an EQ plot I took of my 2012 Model S that initially was delivered with the Tesla premium audio system and later updated to an aftermarket Reus audio system. This reading is after my most recent Firmware update (2.32.65). It was a very quick reading and the response you see here may not be exactly what you will see in cars with the stock Tesla system since I have different drivers in the A pillars as well as a center channel installed behind my rear view mirror by Reus. I don't have a picture of what the response was before, but I did many tunings of my system and am very familiar with what the response was before the recent update. Before the updates, I had to tweak my Low, Mid and High EQ settings a bit to smooth out the frequency response. After the update, the below reading is with everything set to zero. I have two subs in my trunk, so my bass response reading here represents how I like to have the bass boosted, but that improved as well with the update. Prior to the update, I would say the response above 1K with everything set to zero on the EQ controls was a few DB lower than it is now and also not quite as smooth as it is now. The frequency response above 8kHz was previously more rolled off with a peak happening a bit lower, more around the 4kHz or 6kHz region. So the audible effect I hear is more clarity and a much more even presentation across all the bands. Also it seems as if the Dolby surround implementation has improved and the stereo separation is better as well. I now run my EQ's flat and use the dedicated sub control that Reus installed to adjust the subs and amps in the trunk to achieve what you see below. Where I was happy with the sound I was getting out of my system before, now I'm estatic with the sound I'm getting (especially with 192k/24bit source material) and find it is very balanced, pleasing and musical.
Do you get any hissing in your music from USB, noticeably heard at higher volumes 10+ and if the treble is set to positive. I have been using music purchased from Apple in AIFF format, and I hear the hiss in my car as well as the loaner I have. So its either the USB implementation or the tracks themselves. If you don't hear any hiss, any chance you can send along a track that you know is clear or a link to one so that I can test on my USB? thanks
hingisfan
hingisfan_Mark_V
I'm happy with the base sound, I've heard the premium in a loaner, and IMHO it sure isn't worth even half the cost to upgrade. I've heard the base system plus the nvx upgrade is far better than the premium sound. I just use slacker though, no flac.
Setting make a huge difference on the base system. I think I am at base 7.5, mid 8.5, treble 8.0
Setting make a huge difference on the base system. I think I am at base 7.5, mid 8.5, treble 8.0
I did some tests on the way in to work this morning. I rarely every turn the volume up on my system past 8, so going to 10 and 11 was a bit difficult on my tired ears and I couldn't take the SPL levels at that volume setting for very long. My quick observations were that the hiss in my situation depended on the particular audio track I was playing.
First as a test, I turned the volume up to 11 with music paused and there was absolutely no hiss or sound coming from the speakers. Next I tried various tracks and listened to content that has very sparse instrumentation and others that had a lot of musical content going on. On tracks where there was a lot of space between playing, there were varying levels of hiss. But to me it seemed as if it was more related to the noise floor of the recording, rather than the car system. When content was heavy, I could not notice any hiss at all.
My thoughts would be that the Tesla system is not going to be as quite as an audiophile system at home, but that the hiss level on good quality recordings should be tolerable at a volume of 10 or 11 with the high EQ turned up. Also I would say that there is audible hiss at high levels when there should be silence while running a track, but that audible hiss will be increased more if the noise floor of the particular track is high.
That being said, my ears probably have lost sensitivity above 12kHz or so, so I may not be hearing some more of the higher frequency hissing going on. Hope that helps a bit.
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