Audio system upgrade

[rengel79]

Hi all, has anyone put in an aftermarket audio system upgrade to their Model Y's with bigger sub's, amplifiers, etc?
The stock system is good as it is, but to add some extra oomph to the system wondering if anyone has gone out there and installed some other options?
Are they cost effective? Easy to install (self) or does it require experienced audio folks, wiring, etc?
Tx.

 

[elambo]

I'm an audio enthusiast (it's also my day job) and have been following the site for a few months. There's not much talk about audio upgrades partially because the stock options are quite good. I'd posted something about the tweeters (they are awful, smearing at very high frequencies) and literally received zero interest in the discussion.

There's also quite a lot of pride within the average Tesla owner. To discuss an audio upgrade would be accepting that it isn't currently perfect.

 

[Gigga]

I'm an audio enthusiast (it's also my day job) and have been following the site for a few months. There's not much talk about audio upgrades partially because the stock options are quite good. I'd posted something about the tweeters (they are awful, smearing at very high frequencies) and literally received zero interest in the discussion.

There's also quite a lot of pride within the average Tesla owner. To discuss an audio upgrade would be accepting that it isn't currently perfect.

I don't think that your conclusion is correct. There are conversations here and there on audio upgrades, especially the subwoofer, but it isn't a big topic for reasons that are in my opinion well founded. First as you observe, the stock system in the Y is quite good for a car, enjoyable and well designed. Second, if you do a search for upgrade systems they are mostly very expensive. Third, there are speakers advertised as plug and play replacements but they are less efficient (energy use) than what Tesla has provided and it is not clear at all whether they are voiced properly to fit in with the stock system.

Alpine has an upgrade system, $3,000 (check amazon). I've seen others also very expensive. I like fine audio, but for me the stock system is certainly good enough and spending thousands on an upgrade is not in my budget, nor would I be interested. I don't trust the supposed drop in "upgrade" replacement speakers. I'm sure my reasons are the same as most other Tesla owners. No one here hesitates to criticize their cars, it is just that the stock system is very nice and the upgrades overpriced or unreliable.

 

[TesLEEZ]

The Tesla was the first car I've owned where I though the factory audio system was great. I, like most others, don't feel the need to upgrade it for the first time in my life. I've upgraded all my previous vehicle with amps, sub and dsp. If you're into more hip hop music though, it could use more thump, the little 8inch isn't enough.

NVX makes a 10inch sub enclosure for the Model Y for $450. It fits into the rear cubby on the drivers or passenger side, or both if you choose. It's 500Wrms. That's alot of power, on a typical 3 hour drive between superchargers, that's about 2kwhr of range from your battery, when you consider efficiency loses through the wires and amp. Not a problem for normal day to day driving, but I would wire the amp to a switch to turn it off when you're on road trips just to save power.

 

[Dangaurd_Ace]

Aloha,
I've worked in a few ""studios"" also got friends/family that work at BOSE, Boston Acoustics, Tascom, and Panasonic. Every car I've owned the first thing after getting the keys has been the sound system gets replaced.

Last EV had a full BOSE system..was good enough, I griped about bass, and tweeters.....

current Tesla- the sound is decent on the medium quality scale, with the fine tuning, HIGH/MID/LOW range bothers me a bit (again studio nit-picky), THE BASS IS REALLY GOOD, AND THE TWEET-ING, IS MID/HIGH QUALITY....

if your whole life has been a BOSE/or (insert $10-$20K system) YOU WILL NOT BE HAPPY...personally, if I'm listening to most genre of music. i'[m very happy

 

[Dangaurd_Ace]

I don't think that your conclusion is correct. There are conversations here and there on audio upgrades, especially the subwoofer, but it isn't a big topic for reasons that are in my opinion well founded. First as you observe, the stock system in the Y is quite good for a car, enjoyable and well designed. Second, if you do a search for upgrade systems they are mostly very expensive. Third, there are speakers advertised as plug and play replacements but they are less efficient (energy use) than what Tesla has provided and it is not clear at all whether they are voiced properly to fit in with the stock system.

Alpine has an upgrade system, $3,000 (check amazon). I've seen others also very expensive. I like fine audio, but for me the stock system is certainly good enough and spending thousands on an upgrade is not in my budget, nor would I be interested. I don't trust the supposed drop in "upgrade" replacement speakers. I'm sure my reasons are the same as most other Tesla owners. No one here hesitates to criticize their cars, it is just that the stock system is very nice and the upgrades overpriced or unreliable.

Any sound system can be improved with 100 rockford-fozgate speakers and 1million amps, of amp

 

[alain99]

I also find the system in MY decent but it lacks sound stage dept and width are all muddied up so all the high speakers (mid tweeter) need to be replaced with better ones but I am not ready to invest over 1,500$ to do that.
Yes I did play with the settings sound is way better after adjusting to my taste but it still lacking.

If any one is ready to test different speaker combination and not suggest upgrade packages that cost over 2k, I am ready to listen to the suggestions, I simply don't have the coin to do the testing my self.

 

[elambo]

I don't think that your conclusion is correct. There are conversations here and there on audio upgrades, especially the subwoofer, but it isn't a big topic for reasons that are in my opinion well founded. First as you observe, the stock system in the Y is quite good for a car, enjoyable and well designed. Second, if you do a search for upgrade systems they are mostly very expensive. Third, there are speakers advertised as plug and play replacements but they are less efficient (energy use) than what Tesla has provided and it is not clear at all whether they are voiced properly to fit in with the stock system.

Alpine has an upgrade system, $3,000 (check amazon). I've seen others also very expensive. I like fine audio, but for me the stock system is certainly good enough and spending thousands on an upgrade is not in my budget, nor would I be interested. I don't trust the supposed drop in "upgrade" replacement speakers. I'm sure my reasons are the same as most other Tesla owners. No one here hesitates to criticize their cars, it is just that the stock system is very nice and the upgrades overpriced or unreliable.

So which part of my conclusion was incorrect?

 

[elambo]

I also find the system in MY decent but it lacks sound stage dept and width are all muddied up so all the high speakers (mid tweeter) need to be replaced with better ones but I am not ready to invest over 1,500$ to do that.

There should be basic tweeter upgrades for less than that. I'm not suggesting that there are, only that there *should* be. I'd asked that exact question before but no one was interested. It's the tweeters that stand out as most-lacking in my experience. They are surprisingly brittle and incapable of faithful reproduction before distorting (and in a very unpleasant way).

 

[mreynolds767]

Forum member Jae the Dev has a Youtube channel and he has posted both speaker and subwoofer upgrades to his model Y's.
I know he recommends an amp and sub combo as plug in play that fit within the sub-trunk compartment areas so about as simple as it gets install wise.
He disconnected (did not remove) the existing Subwoofer.

I believe he replaced the tweeters with better ones from Alpine upfront and the install seemed no different than any modern car would be (removing interior panels, etc...)

My feeling is the stock system is "good enough" that I don't feel the need to spend the money it would take to upgrade it.