Do the rear hatch speakers only come with premium sound?

[Vinc]

I apologize in advance for the exceedingly stupid question

My CPO has the speaker grille in the hatch, below the back window. Now, no sound seems to come out of there. I assume that the grille is always there, but only those cars with premium sound have actual speakers inside. So it is not that my speakers are broken, it is that I don't have those speakers at all. Correct?

Please prevent me from making a fool of myself at the service center.

 

[JohnnyG]

You nailed it! The hatch speakers are only included with the UHF system, although the grille panel is used regardless.



Here's a diagram of the speaker placement in the standard system...

Here's a diagram of the speaker placement in the UHF system...

 

[Vinc]

Awesome! Thank you for the thorough explanation! I come from a BMW i3, where the premium sound option also adds the additional grilles. Probably to shame you into getting it

 

[davidc18]

We really like our i3, welcome to the Tesla club.

 

[BlueRocket]

Thanks for bringing this topic up. I checked the speakers in the hatch of my 2016 S and they make no sound... I have the UHF system. Hmm... Been driving around for almost 2 years without them. No wonder the sound sucks Will be paying a visit to the SC. I want to see if there are actually speakers mounted in there! If not, heads will roll!

 

[dark cloud]

Thanks for bringing this topic up. I checked the speakers in the hatch of my 2016 S and they make no sound... I have the UHF system. Hmm... Been driving around for almost 2 years without them. No wonder the sound sucks Will be paying a visit to the SC. I want to see if there are actually speakers mounted in there! If not, heads will roll!

Interesting. Is your sub working?

 

[tccartier]

Thanks for bringing this topic up. I checked the speakers in the hatch of my 2016 S and they make no sound... I have the UHF system. Hmm... Been driving around for almost 2 years without them. No wonder the sound sucks Will be paying a visit to the SC. I want to see if there are actually speakers mounted in there! If not, heads will roll!

How do you have your EQ set? I've got UHFS also those speakers mostly add surround affect. Only when I move my EQ to the rearmost setting can I really notice them from the drivers seat.

When I have passengers in the rear they usually mention that they can hear sound coming from behind them they usually like it. They probably add something from the driver's seat perspective to but it's not really noticeable in and of itself.

 

[croman]

Can you retrofit the extra amp and speakers from UHF into a standard audio car (Dec 2016 Model S)?

 

[BlueRocket]

How do you have your EQ set? I've got UHFS also those speakers mostly add surround affect. Only when I move my EQ to the rearmost setting can I really notice them from the drivers seat.

When I have passengers in the rear they usually mention that they can hear sound coming from behind them they usually like it. They probably add something from the driver's seat perspective to but it's not really noticeable in and of itself.

I played around with eq and could not hear any sound coming from them. I actually crawled into the trunk area and put my ear up against each side of the grille... Nothing. I can hear the subwoofer and other speakers but not those. I shined a light into the grille and could see the speakers so they must not be connected.

 

[Krash]

Anyone know if the wiring harness for the hatch window speakers exists on the non-premium sound version?

 

[Razlak]

I believe the hatch speakers are only used if you have Dolby enabled in the EQ settings.

 

[Flyguy]

Can you retrofit the extra amp and speakers from UHF into a standard audio car (Dec 2016 Model S)?

I don’t know the answer to your question, but if you were going to go through the hassle of doing that work it would make more sense to upgrade the standard audio components with aftermarket components. There are many posts about stereo amp/speaker upgrades, including mine “aftermarket stereo upgrade”

 

[BlueRocket]

I believe the hatch speakers are only used if you have Dolby enabled in the EQ settings.

Thanks, tried that as well. If I have Dolby on and set the balance all the way back and center, the only speaker I hear is the subwoofer.

 

[Krash]

I wonder if the rear speakers are unplugged, either at the rear or the amp harness. Seems more likely than two 100% bad amp channels, or that the wires got completely severed.

 

[Oldschool496]

Thanks, tried that as well. If I have Dolby on and set the balance all the way back and center, the only speaker I hear is the subwoofer.

Do you have a Front and Rear dash cam? If so who installed it and perhaps they forgot to plug the speakers back in after reinstalling rear VERY large and complicated lower hatch inside trim? This could be the cause.

Or perhaps you had rear hatch Cinch latch replaced as many of us have had done for varying reasons and Tesla forgot to plug them back in after that process. Most issues due to malfunctions in autos are human related because someone has been there "fixing" something or adding equipt. Or Simply they are not working, and/or were not plugged in at the factory.

When I get a chance, I am going to try the crawl back with the setting just right and some EQ settings (differing frequency response probably midrange or higher) as well to see if I am getting anything on my UHF setup.

 

[BlueRocket]

None

Do you have a Front and Rear dash cam? If so who installed it and perhaps they forgot to plug the speakers back in after reinstalling rear VERY large and complicated lower hatch inside trim? This could be the cause.

Or perhaps you had rear hatch Cinch latch replaced as many of us have had done for varying reasons and Tesla forgot to plug them back in after that process. Most issues due to malfunctions in autos are human related because someone has been there "fixing" something or adding equipt. Or Simply they are not working, and/or were not plugged in at the factory.

When I get a chance, I am going to try the crawl back with the setting just right and some EQ settings (differing frequency response probably midrange or higher) as well to see if I am getting anything on my UHF set

Do you have a Front and Rear dash cam? If so who installed it and perhaps they forgot to plug the speakers back in after reinstalling rear VERY large and complicated lower hatch inside trim? This could be the cause.

Or perhaps you had rear hatch Cinch latch replaced as many of us have had done for varying reasons and Tesla forgot to plug them back in after that process. Most issues due to malfunctions in autos are human related because someone has been there "fixing" something or adding equipt. Or Simply they are not working, and/or were not plugged in at the factory.

When I get a chance, I am going to try the crawl back with the setting just right and some EQ settings (differing frequency response probably midrange or higher) as well to see if I am getting anything on my UHF setup.

Thanks, none of the above. My guess is they were never connected from the beginning. Dolby setting has always lacked depth. I periodically get the immersive sound control showing up and that sounds better than Dolby.

 

[BlueRocket]

So I believe I am now an "expert" on the rear hatch speaker issue I took the car into the SvC and after 4 days they gave the following explanation:

Concern: VSC[Cat 2] Customer: I have the UHF sound package and there is no sound coming out of the rear speakers in the hatch. I believe it has been this way since I owned the car.
Pay Type: Goodwill - Service
Corrections: Audio System - Speakers Subwoofer Amplifier General Diagnosis
No faults Found.When the Dolby Surround option is turned on , the volume of the rear speakers will be reduced because surround. processing favors the front speakers.Only cars with the premium audio package are equipped with the Dolby Surround processing. . Car is operating as designed.​

So here's the problem. I received a 2015 P90DL loaner (nice car!) and did some listening tests on the rear hatch speakers. They produced sound under all conditions except possibly when fader was all the the way forward. I had sound with and without Dolby enabled. The guy at the SvC was surprised so he and the technician went to listen. Then apparently the tech (never met the tech) said that my VIN model car had a different premium sound system than the 2015 MS and there is not supposed to any sound from hatch speakers when Dolby is enabled. They said I had sound coming from the speakers when Dolby was disabled but it is supposed to be very faint [note to self: do not believe any statements from SvC until first doing a reality check]. So I drove home and decided to test speakers again in the privacy of my own garage. Guess what...no sound under any conditions from the rear speakers. I played music from multiple sources (USB, streaming, TuneIn Radio, Radio), multiple mixer settings, +/- Dolby but no sound. Now, I'm getting hard of hearing so my next step would be to grab the kid next door (before his eardrums are blown out like mine) and ask if HE can hear anything.

In the off chance that Tesla is installing speakers in the hatch for the UHF sound system but not using them in my VIN range (unlikely at best not to mention they advertised 12 speakers when I coughed up the extra $2500 for the UHF), can anyone else verify that on an October or November 2016 build Model S90D with the UHF Sound package that their rear hatch speakers are producing sound with or without Dolby enabled? It would be much appreciated.

My next step may be to go back to the SvC and ask them to tell me straight to my face that there is sound coming from those speakers under some set of circumstances...Any other suggestions?

 

[GWord]

So I believe I am now an "expert" on the rear hatch speaker issue I took the car into the SvC and after 4 days they gave the following explanation:

Concern: VSC[Cat 2] Customer: I have the UHF sound package and there is no sound coming out of the rear speakers in the hatch. I believe it has been this way since I owned the car.
Pay Type: Goodwill - Service
Corrections: Audio System - Speakers Subwoofer Amplifier General Diagnosis
No faults Found.When the Dolby Surround option is turned on , the volume of the rear speakers will be reduced because surround. processing favors the front speakers.Only cars with the premium audio package are equipped with the Dolby Surround processing. . Car is operating as designed.​

So here's the problem. I received a 2015 P90DL loaner (nice car!) and did some listening tests on the rear hatch speakers. They produced sound under all conditions except possibly when fader was all the the way forward. I had sound with and without Dolby enabled. The guy at the SvC was surprised so he and the technician went to listen. Then apparently the tech (never met the tech) said that my VIN model car had a different premium sound system than the 2015 MS and there is not supposed to any sound from hatch speakers when Dolby is enabled. They said I had sound coming from the speakers when Dolby was disabled but it is supposed to be very faint [note to self: do not believe any statements from SvC until first doing a reality check]. So I drove home and decided to test speakers again in the privacy of my own garage. Guess what...no sound under any conditions from the rear speakers. I played music from multiple sources (USB, streaming, TuneIn Radio, Radio), multiple mixer settings, +/- Dolby but no sound. Now, I'm getting hard of hearing so my next step would be to grab the kid next door (before his eardrums are blown out like mine) and ask if HE can hear anything.

In the off chance that Tesla is installing speakers in the hatch for the UHF sound system but not using them in my VIN range (unlikely at best not to mention they advertised 12 speakers when I coughed up the extra $2500 for the UHF), can anyone else verify that on an October or November 2016 build Model S90D with the UHF Sound package that their rear hatch speakers are producing sound with or without Dolby enabled? It would be much appreciated.

My next step may be to go back to the SvC and ask them to tell me straight to my face that there is sound coming from those speakers under some set of circumstances...Any other suggestions?

What is the approximate build date of your car? I'm sure some of us here are in your construction range and can subjectively test for you.

 

[BlueRocket]

What is the approximate build date of your car? I'm sure some of us here are in your construction range and can subjectively test for you.

Thanks .Build date is October 2016.

 

[GWord]

Thanks .Build date is October 2016.

I have December 2017, but regardless, I'll check tonight when I get back to the car.