Audio: Sound System Quality?

[smorgasbord]

When playing with the extreme corners of 2D Balance/Fader control, it seems that Tesla did the straightforward thing of sending power to where the speakers are located without worrying about the frequency balance. For instance, if you put the "center" of the focus at the back the sound is very tinny. Two questions:

1) Does this bring to light deficiencies in the sound quality? I'm assuming not.
2) Maybe this control needs to have limits on where the center can be located, such that all speakers are on, or that speakers needed for sound frequency coverage remain on?

 

[Andrew Wolfe]

The system is very deficient below 60-80Hz, but otherwise I think it is pretty good. No good way to solve the bass issue without larger 8-15" speakers.

Having the car be quiet makes a much bigger difference than any sound system upgrades.

 

[v12 to 12v]

@JAG
Mentioning Alan Parsons and McIntosh in the same post gives you some street cred in my book.
Did they really contact him while he was in the area?

 

[Johan]

JAG: Your post was very enticing and entertaining. If I did 1/10th of what you propose doing I'd be proud But the centered driver position I think you best forget about - that's not going to happen :tongue:

 

[DrComputer]

I agree with what other's have said. The Mark Levinson Reference system in my (former) Lexus LS600hL was better than the system in the S. I think with some sound balancing between the front and rear and more granular controls, Tesla can improve the quality without making any hardware changes.

 

[JAG]

Jag, would love your thoughts on the eq settings with the sound system.

Please excuse my typos, I have am using a tablet without glasses.

So today I went back to the Fashion Island Tesla showroom shortly after they opened so I could spend a little tie trying to dial in the system with less likelihood of interruption.

They had a White Model S Signature Performance with the $950 audio option.

The test conditions were limiting for a few reasons.

1. The sales staff could not roll up the windows.

2. There was a stereo in the store going.

3. The Model S Signature would not connect to my iPad via USB. The sales staff said it would connect, provided a 30 Pin to USB cable, and even called Headquarters... no go.

Under these conditions... I would not expect much. So I connected via Bluetooth not having a mini stereo cable on me.

Without being able to roll up the windows I don't have a handle on the true interior reflections on this car. But with the slope of the glass inward and down at the angles I saw-a good amount of the reflected sound would be dumped lower than the ear (good).

I turned the Dolby Pro Logic off for tuning, as I was interested in its stereo. I could repeat the test tuning with Pro Logic from scratch.. but did not have time.

I noticed a lot of the Hass effect so Iused the balance and fader to try and get the instrumental timbre to be better. I wanted for instance to hear more than an floating eviscerated head singing, I hoped to hear the throat and body of the singer..hard.. to do BTW.

sigh....
I wrote a long post... took me over an hour detailing the EQ- songs listened to and the process... the Tesla server signed me out... I lost it all. And since I don't get paid for this..I'm not willing to do it again. I helped start two large web forums... and this type of thing... well it makes me stop participating. It's like my time is not respected for its value.

Try +1.0 bass, +2.0 midrange and +3.5 treble I prefer cuts... but it did not work this way on this system but it won't sound right unless you go through the right process of getting the fader and balance just right using a sequence of songs with things to confirm and adjust for.

too bad...it was a heck of a great post with lots of informative detail.

Who knows,,,,maybe teh Mods can find the auto saved copy somewhere on this server...

 

[contaygious]

Thanks for trying.

 

[JAG]

I have no idea if they met with him..I just read it on this forum. I had a conversation yesterday with a Grammy award winning singer about the importance not just of your composition but of how the final mix sounds, to get a real hit it helps to have both great composition, performances and recording down. But sometimes just 2 out of three can get you pretty far. Alan Parsons is associated with great recordings, I do have his albums on vinyl, but I really wish he had engineered more music....so much talent in an area that is a veritable drought for getting the performance down on tape.

 

[v12 to 12v]

I have no idea if they met with him..I just read it on this forum. I had a conversation yesterday with a Grammy award winning singer about the importance not just of your composition but of how the final mix sounds, to get a real hit it helps to have both great composition, performances and recording down. But sometimes just 2 out of three can get you pretty far. Alan Parsons is associated with great recordings, I do have his albums on vinyl, but I really wish he had engineered more music....so much talent in an area that is a veritable drought for getting the performance down on tape.

I think you may have read my wishful thinking and loud hinting... unless I missed a post. He is engineering one now with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.

 

[STxTesla]

I think you may have read my wishful thinking and loud hinting... unless I missed a post. He is engineering one now with Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.

I hope that this is true. That would be one fabulous compilation of sound. Alan Parsons is a sound engineer/musician like no other.

 

[v12 to 12v]

I hope that this is true. That would be one fabulous compilation of sound. Alan Parsons is a sound engineer/musician like no other.

Alan Parsons is working with Steven Wilson on his next album in LA. They were supposed to start in September, I believe. Steven Wilson is giving Alan Parsons run for the money when it comes to engineering and music.

My daydream was that Tesla might look to Alan Parsons and Steven Wilson for some guidance on current audio formats while they were in town so that we can do great music justice in the Model S. Shortly after that George Blankenship said that he thought that the Model S Sound Studio system sounded great. I kinda went limp after that.

For now I'm just hoping that we can get discrete 5.1 to play in the Model S someday. I have a copy of Pink Floyd DSOTM and WYWH in 5.1 that are designed to play just as Alan Parsons engineered them in quadraphonic. But, alas, they are on BluRay. I would love to hear that music swirl around in the car.

 

[rcc]

JAG,

Thanks for your posts. Please post more when you get the chance!!

 

[W.Petefish]

I took a test drive of an S with the Sound Studio package at Dania Beach last week and the Tesla rep there told me there is no sub. Was he wrong?

It is in the rear of the car. Trunk area on the passenger side. Estimating the size at about 6". (at least that is the location found on my sig.)

 

[rbmartin]

I just discovered this thread. I've been fiddling with the stereo in my Model S also. As a disclaimer, I've never heard any car audio system I really liked. My taste runs toward a very flat, analytical sound. I listen mostly to jazz, both acoustic and electric.

After listening to the most revealing sources I know of, namely pink noise and swept sine waves, and also actual music, the best I've come up with for settings are:

Dolby Prologic off
Bass at 0
Mid +2.0dB
Treble -2.0dB
Fader left centered or a little forward, I haven't decided

The low end is reasonably good sounding, maybe the very bottom octave isn't there but the rest is pretty flat and tight. The mids are noticeably sucked-out when listening to test tones, and the high end is very harsh and brittle. There is also some wierd comb-filtery stuff going on in the midrange which may be my sources (256k AAC) but I don't notice it on other systems.

 

[STxTesla]

My daydream was that Tesla might look to Alan Parsons and Steven Wilson for some guidance on current audio formats while they were in town so that we can do great music justice in the Model S.

Wow...that would have possibly resulted in the best sounding car in the World. I once owned a Hyundai Genesis....and the sound system was fabulous. They bragged about how it was the same stereo system that is used in the Rolls Royce Phantom vehicles. The overall layout of speakers, the total number of speakers and the quality of sound was amazing. One day, Tesla may take the sound quality in the Model S seriously. It seems that it really wouldn't take much to make it an outstanding system.

 

[shokunin]

Car audio has been on a steady decline for a while now... back in the 80's/90's I had high end car audio systems when IASCA was beginning. I had my car done by SpeakerWorks aka USD audio in Orange, CA. They built the famous Buick Grand National and Harry Kimura's Acura legend on the sound circuits.

Now I'm mostly into home audio where you can treat the room, optimize room size/dimension/position (golden ratios), bass traps to reduce room modes, tune for RT60 and eliminate first reflection points through diffusion and absorption. All of that is near impossible in a car. Reflections everywhere, forget RT60, but you can try and get good frequency extension and set tonal preference (warm/neutral/cold/bright/etc).

Since the car is so high-tech, they should have put something like a TacT/Lyngdorf room correction system or even Audyssey like correction. Using a supplied mic, have the stereo measure, correct and tune based on your preferred listening spot. That way they could digitally delay the driver side speakers if you decide the drivers seat to be the optimal position. Multi-band parametric EQs to reduce peaks, and other settings. Have presets, so that passenger has best sound or back to middle position for all passenger listening.

 

[contaygious]

Anyone tried jl audio tools to tune the stereo yet? Or something similiar?p for ios/android?
JL Audio Tools for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

 

[rbmartin]

Did some more experimenting - my educated guess is that bluetooth streaming only supports the SBC codec. I think this would account for the artifacts I'm hearing. I will get a USB key and see if that sounds better.

 

[rbmartin]

Here's something new to try. Put all the tone controls at +12dB. You heard me, put them all at the top. (Turn the volume down to compensate of course). I think it sounds better. It shouldn't, but it does. Maybe some math issues in the equalizer are truncating bits at normal settings. Or on the other hand, maybe my ears are playing tricks on me. Audio is tricky stuff.

 

[jerry33]

Audio is tricky stuff.

Especially in a car with all the reflective surfaces. Not exactly an ideal sound studio.