contaygious
Active Member
I have premium, dolby off, flat eq except boosted bass. It is better but still no rear sound obviously. The spectrum seems improved though. Make sure your dolby is off! What a dumb feature.
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Audio: Sound System Quality?
- Thread starter STxTesla
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- Model S User Interface
With lossless media I personally find the Dolby enhances the sound field, makes the music breathe more. I use it all the time with my FLAC files. It generally makes compressed media sound worse to my ear, however, for which I leave it off. The Dolby experience is sensitive to fade as well. I may be in the minority but am very glad Dolby is an option.
I also concur that improvements have been made in the EQ in recent software updates. I have turned down both my significant bass boost and have now set my mild treble boost to flat. I have always kept my midrange flat and worked the treble and bass EQ around it.
I also concur that improvements have been made in the EQ in recent software updates. I have turned down both my significant bass boost and have now set my mild treble boost to flat. I have always kept my midrange flat and worked the treble and bass EQ around it.
While improvements may have been made in the EQ and signal processing they are to the detriment of the bass frequencies. Even my wife commented the other day that the subwoofer in the back rarely fires.
Putting music tastes aside, Ludacris' track "Area Codes" used to have the best sounding bass in our Model S. Now it is laughable. Tesla should not have changed any of the bass signal processing without at least ensuring that the changes did not make things worse!
Putting music tastes aside, Ludacris' track "Area Codes" used to have the best sounding bass in our Model S. Now it is laughable. Tesla should not have changed any of the bass signal processing without at least ensuring that the changes did not make things worse!
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Do you fade to the back? They heavily stage audio to the front speakers, and the subwoofer input, at least to my ears, seems to be tapped off of or otherwise associated with the levels at the rear speakers. Fading to the rear substantially improves immersion and bass response, IMO.
I think I have mine set in the -8 to -11 area, but I can check if you want. The sub is then loud enough that the SPL changes hurt my ears if I have the volume up and the bass EQ above +2.5 or so.
Alternatively, perhaps you injured the sub? For some reason they left it unprotected, so anything rolling around in the rear footwell compartment can damage it.
I don't fade to the back nor did I before the firmware update that changed sound quality. I've examined the sub as have the local Service Center and it appears to be working normally.
I can test the fade to back settings later but I think this whole thing has to do with the various settings that govern subwoofers; LFE, crossover point, levels.
I can test the fade to back settings later but I think this whole thing has to do with the various settings that govern subwoofers; LFE, crossover point, levels.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
It might, but you can't change those, so...
... might as well dial it in as best you can with what you're able to change, and hope they add more control in the future.
Here is my opinion. I spent an hour in a car without the Premium sound system and and hour with one that had it. I played the same songs. I set both system to my liking and found both acceptable. You do have to add more bass and treble and leave the mid range a little flat to the base system to get a good sound. It was easier to find a good balance with the premium system and it did sound better (mainly more bass). However, it did not sound $2,500 better than the base system to me.
Both systems had a very clear sound with plenty of volume and little distortion. I saw no reason to get the premium sound system. I know there are people who can truly tell the difference, but I doubt most could tell in a blind test with both system set to the same sound levels.
One of my last cars was a 2008 Corvette. There was much controversy about the sound systems in it as well. At a local car show we did this exact test with the base sound system and the premium system in the Corvettes. About 2 in 10 could repeatedly tell the difference. Most could not...
Both systems had a very clear sound with plenty of volume and little distortion. I saw no reason to get the premium sound system. I know there are people who can truly tell the difference, but I doubt most could tell in a blind test with both system set to the same sound levels.
One of my last cars was a 2008 Corvette. There was much controversy about the sound systems in it as well. At a local car show we did this exact test with the base sound system and the premium system in the Corvettes. About 2 in 10 could repeatedly tell the difference. Most could not...
Gizmotoy
Active Member
You probably need to determine the ages of the two cars, as well. Many have noted that there have been significant improvements to the upgraded system since the early cars. I did a similar, though shorter, test as you with FLAC on a USB drive on showroom cars and came to a different conclusion: the difference was night and day after some tweaking. They were both brand new September builds, and had the most recent components.
Being worth the $2.5k is highly subjective, though. I suspect the answer is 'no' for most people, even if they felt the difference was obvious.
I decided I wanted better sound but didn't want the hassle of mucking about with it, and the lack of a subwoofer was particularly disappointing. I haven't regretted the upgrade, but it certainly has room for improvement.
They were both 2013 november builds. I do agree that the lack of a sub is the biggest draw back to the base stereo....
Any fade to back more than 2 or 3 kills my sound, and totally kills the bass. Dolby on my lossless AIFF off the USB stick also sucks. The premium sound in my car is only in the front. Looks like its time for a visit to the service center.
Mine is the same. The more I fade to the back, the less bass. If I fully fade to the back, it literally sounds like it's a transistor radio my grandpa owns to listen to cricked on long wave. No exaggeration. So I'm not sure that's not 'normal'. We often fade to the back when the kids want to listen to their crappy music (One Direction, Kesha etc) but even they complain it sounds horrible.
cross posting from the software thread. I had mentioned that the 5.8.4 improved my sound. our first Tesla P85 with premium sound had the same issues described in the previous couple of posts. It was very difficult to get good sound, certainly not surround sound and the fade caused the fidelity to drop off drastically, sounded even worse with Dolby on. Our much newer P85+ sounded much better, and better yet with the latest update, even sounds good with dolby on. I just had the car in for a minor service and got a loaner, very close VIN, also a P85+ and also 5.8.4. strangely the stereo, sounded like our first P85, kind of flat and muffled, did that same thing where if you drop the fade to the rear speakers the sound abruptly drops out nearly completely. Maybe Tesla is doing a similar thing with the stereo components that it seems they are doing with the battery, intermingling old and new components so some new VINS have older parts... can't explain it, maybe there is a common component glitch that is going under the radar that is handicapping some sound systems (blown fuse in the booster amp?), dunno... Maybe I just really like my new car and it's all in my head, but I don't think so. got back in my car after dropping off the loaner, streamed from the my phone on the same station and it sounded remarkably better, go figure...
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As mentioned, I had the same issues with our first S and unfortunately service looked at me cross eyed when I tried to explain it... it seems that they are largely in the dark with respect to how each of our sound system setting are tweaked. I'm no longer convinced it's a matter of newer vs older builds, I've heard good and bad on both older and newer cars. I suspect there is something commonly malfunctioning. I read, perhaps a while back in this thread or another that someone discovered a blown fuse in the booster amp and having it replaced made a big difference. the amp has to be taken out to see if the fuse is blown... don't take my word for it, just passing on a vague memory from a while back. this is a shame, because the experience of the sound system can really effect one's overall impression of a car. What may turn out to be a relatively minor glitch has the potential to seriously diminish the overall user experience of the vehicle.
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As mentioned, I had the same issues with our first S and unfortunately service looked at me cross eyed when I tried to explain it... it seems that they are largely in the dark with respect to how each of our sound system setting are tweaked. I'm no longer convinced it's a matter of newer vs older builds, I've heard good and bad on both older and newer cars. I suspect there is something commonly malfunctioning. I read, perhaps a while back in this thread or another that someone discovered a blown fuse in the booster amp and having it replaced made a big difference. the amp has to be taken out to see if the fuse is blown... don't take my word for it, just passing on a vague memory from a while back. this is a shame, because the experience of the sound system can really effect one's overall impression of a car. What may turn out to be a relatively minor glitch has the potential to seriously diminish the overall user experience of the vehicle.
AC1K
Member
Grey on Grey, what the hell are you talking about? Both the Genesis Sedan and Rolls Royce outsource the sound system from Lexicon, the Genesis Sedan is also the first vehicle i know of that uses all fiber optic connections between control modules in the car, is that crap to you?
my coworker owns a Genesis Sedan and it sounds infinitely better than the garbage i have in my Tesla (i have the upgraded stereo and its the worst sound system ive ever heard for $1000), i used to own a Genesis Coupe with the 380W Infinity system and even that was 10x better.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Hmm. Pretty unusual. Have you tried isolating individual speakers (to the extent possible with only balance/fade) to see what that does? Kind of sounds like you have an issue with your system. I can pin the sound to any of the four corners of the car and still have it sound pretty good, and if anything, fading to the front kills the bass.
100th may be right. Perhaps there's a widespread failure case.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
I'd take your USB drive to test on the other cars in the showroom, provided your service location has one. That's probably the easiest way to demonstrate a problem. Otherwise you'll probably get the "It sounds good to me" routine.
I noticed the sound wasn't right after the firmware update but once I rebooted both consoles my sound returned and it sounded to my ear like the bass had been bumped up. I have the standard sound system and have had to increase the bass and treble to get decent sound out of the car. In order to get the best sound on this stereo I find that I need to bump the volume up to at least 9.5 or 10.
Thats exactly what I did. The other car had exactly the same problem. Service guy said I was the first person who had mentioned the problem to them. On the other hand, he did hear the difference. He described it as if you were hearing the front sound through really good headphones, and listening to the back sound through a cell phone speaker.
Am not happy about it, but it looks like this is the way the system is built. I'll just keep my fader controls more to the front.
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