Anyone just upgrade midrange dash speakers?

[beatle]

In my 2015 I put a bunch of money into upgrading the base stereo. I did this in a few revisions, including installing and then replacing the midrange speakers (Infinity to AudioFrog). This produced one of the biggest upgrades to sound quality. The Audiofrog GS25 speakers just dropped into the factory locations with no adapters and they sounded incredible. My 2019 has the UHFS system like all of them do, and I am considering just upgrading the mids again - and possibly the center channel as well.

Last time I used external amplification with a DSP. The Infinity speakers were 2 ohm, and the AudioFrogs were 4 ohm. I didn't notice much of a difference in output, despite the effective power decrease when I upgraded. The factory ones are 2 ohm as well so I know I will lose half the effective power again, but being 3.5" speakers, they shouldn't need a lot of juice anyway. I am not sure how Tesla alters the signals going to the mids. I am guessing they are done with a DSP, but the factory tweeters just had caps on them. I'm thinking they should be plug and play if I adapt the factory plug to the terminals on the Audiofrogs.

TL;DR: have you replaced your dash midrange speakers without doing anything else? How did you like the results?

 

[mhperlman]

I would consider starting with the door speakers. Much easier to change and the Light Harmonics made a big difference in my 2018 X. I found the pillar tweeters to be grating and changed those out - also not a ton of labor. My installer wasn’t excited about the dash speakers. I will probably do those only if I decide to go full DSP.

 

[beatle]

When I upgraded the door speakers in my 2015, I found they made the least difference in sound. Mids made the biggest difference.

The dash speakers are the most challenging to replace, but not impossible. Having a mini ratchet that takes screwdriver bits will let you remove the speaker screws close to the glass. The GS25s needed no adapters.

When you replaced the tweeters, how did you cross them over? The stock ones just have a little cap, so I assume the signal going to them is full range.

 

[BigTex68]

beatle, how did you wire the dash speakers? In my 2015 base audio system, I have five(5) forty-watt channels, Left front/rear, Right front/rear, and center channel for the dash speaker. For the two dash speakers you installed, did you use the Left and Right front speaker output, or the center channel output? If you used the L/R front speaker outputs, I can see where sharing only 40 watts between the door speaker, tweeter, and new dash speaker would cause the center channel speaker, operating on a full 40 watts, to overpower the new dash speakers. What if you tapped into the center channel AND L/R front output for the new left & right dash speakers? May create balance issues, but would supply more watts to the new dash speakers.

 

[beatle]

In my 2015 I had an Audison AP8.9bit amp/DSP installed by a local shop. Channels 1/2 ran the tweeters, 3/4 ran the dash mids, and 5/6 + 7/8 were bridged and sent to the woofers in the front doors. The center channel had factory amp power, but I disconnected it since it could not be tuned and did not match the dash speakers. I'm not sure if the center was wired in as a line-level input to the DSP.

 

[BigTex68]

Thanks for your detailed reply beatle

 

[BigTex68]

Now that you mention it, the unused dash center channel would make a good line out for several uses

 

[maximizese]

Upon the recent software update it sounds like the navigation voice is coming from the center channel. I'm looking to replace the speakers (front door, A-pillar, and rear doors) for our 2013 S with the base audio system and install a Sony XM-G6DSP to power the 4-channels and leave the 5/6 channel for a possible small subwoofer. Not sure if adding mids is possible with the base system. I'm sure they drop in but I'm not sure about wiring or how the UHFS powered them. I recall some were powered by the MCU and others by external amp.

 

[beatle]

Good info from TeslaTap here on what powers each of the speakers in the different systems:

Ultra gets an additional 7 channel 360-watt class A/B amplifier that resides below and behind the instrument display. The Ultra configuration moves two of the 40W channels from the primary amplifier’s front doors to the two additional 3” dashboard mid-range speakers. The added amplifier provides 20 watts to each of the tweeters, 80 watts to each of the larger 8” front door speakers, 40 watts to each of the 3” rear hatch speakers, and 80 watts to the rear 8” sub-woofer.

I don't know if the wiring is there for the mids on the base system. I had new wires run.

BTW, don't bother with the rear doors. They make practically zero difference in the sound.