That space does seem like it would be good, but I'm not sure how well it would sound. I would imagine that manufacturers design car subs to go in the back, since that's where most people would put them. But if it sounds good in the frunk than hell yea. No one would know where they were lol.
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Audio: Sound System Quality?
- Thread starter STxTesla
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That space does seem like it would be good, but I'm not sure how well it would sound. I would imagine that manufacturers design car subs to go in the back, since that's where most people would put them. But if it sounds good in the frunk than hell yea. No one would know where they were lol.
William13
Active Member
They may build the speakers "in house" by modifying someone else's speaker. The iPad like display may do the processing and then they might have "made" their amplifier by again modifying someone else's.
goyogi
Member
goyogi
Member
AndyM
Member
100thMonkey suggested I go 'public' with my review. Thanks for the encouragement! Here it is.
This review is based on my Get Amped test drive in VIN#115 in Portland.
Audio Quality:
To be honest, the sound system was crystal clear, but I expected it to be louder. It's pretty loud, probably louder than I would want it to be while doing a long drive - and I tend to crank it. At full volume, there's no distortion or crackling, so I suppose that's good. Some have said that the bass is deep enough, some have said that it isn't... I haven't tested the settings, eq, etc. enough to be sure, because I didn't want to make my kids' eardrums bleed during the test drive and didn't want to be "that guy" in the showroom.
Volume granularity:
Also, some on these forums have said that they want more granularity on the volume controls... I don't think the same way. I want a nice low volume for background music while chatting, and a nice high volume for cruising along. Maybe a couple of steps on either side of those two focal points on the scale to adjust for pavement quality. What else do you really need?
Speed Adaptive volume:
I was wondering about adaptive volume for speed. After doing the test drive, I think I know why this wasn't included in Model S. That feature exists in ICE cars to overcome the engine noise of the car. In Model S, at 80 mph, there is no engine noise, and the road noise isn't loud enough to drown out the music previously set at a comfortable level. So, that's another feature that can be made obsolete by EV advances.
Formats:
I am still planning to do finish checking on the support for FLAC, OGG, and other lossless formats, and multi-channel audio support (request is in to Troy). The car is not soundproof, and it is doubtful anyone could make out the difference between lossless format and high-bitrate MP3 format while in motion on the road in this vehicle. [ please no trolls - show me the proof! ] The still-audible road noise in the Model S would would drown out the ability to discern that much from the music.
Overall, I believe the premium sound system is better than the non-premium, and that a better after-market system that so tightly integrates with the rest of the car would be more than $950. So, I'm getting the premium system as a delivered option.
This review is based on my Get Amped test drive in VIN#115 in Portland.
Audio Quality:
To be honest, the sound system was crystal clear, but I expected it to be louder. It's pretty loud, probably louder than I would want it to be while doing a long drive - and I tend to crank it. At full volume, there's no distortion or crackling, so I suppose that's good. Some have said that the bass is deep enough, some have said that it isn't... I haven't tested the settings, eq, etc. enough to be sure, because I didn't want to make my kids' eardrums bleed during the test drive and didn't want to be "that guy" in the showroom.
Volume granularity:
Also, some on these forums have said that they want more granularity on the volume controls... I don't think the same way. I want a nice low volume for background music while chatting, and a nice high volume for cruising along. Maybe a couple of steps on either side of those two focal points on the scale to adjust for pavement quality. What else do you really need?
Speed Adaptive volume:
I was wondering about adaptive volume for speed. After doing the test drive, I think I know why this wasn't included in Model S. That feature exists in ICE cars to overcome the engine noise of the car. In Model S, at 80 mph, there is no engine noise, and the road noise isn't loud enough to drown out the music previously set at a comfortable level. So, that's another feature that can be made obsolete by EV advances.
Formats:
I am still planning to do finish checking on the support for FLAC, OGG, and other lossless formats, and multi-channel audio support (request is in to Troy). The car is not soundproof, and it is doubtful anyone could make out the difference between lossless format and high-bitrate MP3 format while in motion on the road in this vehicle. [ please no trolls - show me the proof! ] The still-audible road noise in the Model S would would drown out the ability to discern that much from the music.
Overall, I believe the premium sound system is better than the non-premium, and that a better after-market system that so tightly integrates with the rest of the car would be more than $950. So, I'm getting the premium system as a delivered option.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I don't just listen to music in the car. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and the audio levels on them vary quite a bit. I need to be able to adjust the volume level so that I can clearly hear the people speaking, while not having it so loud that it's uncomfortable. I suspect that this is a bit more demanding than a music application, where the audio there as more of a background (and is probably familiar), as opposed to something that needs good intelligibility.
I don't just listen to music in the car. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and the audio levels on them vary quite a bit. I need to be able to adjust the volume level so that I can clearly hear the people speaking, while not having it so loud that it's uncomfortable. I suspect that this is a bit more demanding than a music application, where the audio there as more of a background (and is probably familiar), as opposed to something that needs good intelligibility.
Ditto the podcast thing, but I still think 10 or 11 settings is enough. I doubt I'll ever have a state where 5 is horribly low but 6 is way too loud.
More adjust would be nice however. But I think it'll be fine in practice.
SByer
'08 #383
Tesla seems to be following software best practices, and in that case, it's a reasonable bet there's proper MVC separation for the volume control, and the controller/view of 0-11 probably doesn't describe the volume model behind that. 0-11 is just a cute controller/view thing, and if it doesn't already have finer gradients, that would be just a small software tweak away.
chrissam42
Member
I drove a non-Performance car in Seattle, and I was seriously unimpressed with the sound system. I am not an audiophile, but I am a musician and I can generally appreciate sound quality. The quality in the car I drove was just fine, no distortion that I noticed, even loud, but there was just no bass at all. I asked the co-pilot to adjust the EQ, and it didn't make much difference. (However I did enjoy the visual method of adjusting the left/right/front/back balance!)
I'm hoping it wasn't a finalized system. It wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me but I was really looking forward to the sound in this quiet car.
I'm hoping it wasn't a finalized system. It wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me but I was really looking forward to the sound in this quiet car.
I test drove the Tesla last weekend in Mahwah. I wasn't blown away by the sound system, which was supposedly upgraded. It wasn't bad. But the upgraded sound system in my BMW blew away what I heard in the Tesla. That said, it was a pre-recoded track of music I didn't like, and I only listened for a few minute. I was way too excited about the car itself, which is awesome!
It's obviously tweakable in software. But I think they'd have to change the 1-11 display unless they wanted to make it feel like an analog dial. Otherwise, what would you do? Start on 6, tap the up button, and it... still says 6?
Anyway, I'm more worried by the reports of anemic bass. I play bass, so that would be really disappointing.
6.1 or 6.01
Hold it down and it moves through the numbers faster.
It's not like volume dials haven't been done a thousand different ways in shareware form over the last two decades.
I was also very interested in this. I did get an official answer that the car does not support any discrete multichannel formats, but does support Dolby Surround EX. I didn't get an answer on codecs (e.g. FLAC).
spatterso911
P100DL - Raven
Same here, 20+ year bass player, and so I'm definitely going to make sure the bass is coming through one way or another.
It looks as though a number of us are musicians. Next month will mark the 40th year that I have played guitar.
So...bass is important as well as the high notes that you usually experience through a tweeter. I enjoy the whole
spectrum of musical sound and hope that there is clarity and fullness in the sound. If not....I guess I will have
to figure out a way to fit aftermarket products into the onboard system.
So...bass is important as well as the high notes that you usually experience through a tweeter. I enjoy the whole
spectrum of musical sound and hope that there is clarity and fullness in the sound. If not....I guess I will have
to figure out a way to fit aftermarket products into the onboard system.
The thing about the bass is that many systems are configured to over-emphasise the bass. These same complaints were brought up in the Prius groups for the Prius' premium sound system (which won't actually be very premium compared to the Model S'), with the exception of the couple of recording studio engineers that are in the groups. They thought the Prius' sound was very clean. I'm guessing that the Model S' sound system is similar.
AndyM
Member
I know that other formats are supported, and some with multichannel. I've heard them first-hand. But I'm waiting for an official word from Troy ( in turn, from one of Tesla's audio engineers) for the real word.
AndyM
Member
I may need to retract my bass comment. In the showroom yesterday, I set the position to center, and slid the low-range EQ slider up (it was below the centerline!). I listened to a little Infected Mushroom's "Dancing with Kadafi" and fell in love with the bass response again. I will be very happy with the premium audio.
SCW-Greg
Active Member
Good sound check music.
Not to date myself, but this seems appropriate to test the cranking capability "The only thing that looks good on me is You" (Model S), by Bryan Adams (use the live unplugged version).
But I digress from the thread (not to divert to everyone's sound check music).
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