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No Bass and high pitched whine under hard acceleration

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Hi all. I went to go drive a 2013 today that I ultimately ended up making an offer on. I'll find out tomorrow if that offer is accepted. In the meantime, the car had two issues. Neither really bothered me as it's still under warranty but I'm curious if they are common.

No Bass on the stereo - Ok I know this is a common complaint but this isn't me complaining about a lack of bass. The stereo genuinely had no bass, as if someone turned the bass down to zero. Moving the bass slider did nothing. Do the subwoofers in the sound stage package cars fail?

High pitch noise under hard acceleration
- At a certain point in the throttle range the motor would start emitting a high pitched noise, not in line with it's standard light whine. I just got out of a week rental with a P85 which didn't have this sound at all. Is this a drive unit issue or just a known thing?

Anything else I should really check out on the car? My intention would be to buy the extended service plan either way.
 
The experience around here is that Tesla will only sell the extended warranty to the original purchaser. If this is a private party sale, have them buy the warranty and roll it into the price. If it's a dealer sale, you're probably SOL.
 
No Bass on the stereo - Ok I know this is a common complaint but this isn't me complaining about a lack of bass. The stereo genuinely had no bass, as if someone turned the bass down to zero. Moving the bass slider did nothing. Do the subwoofers in the sound stage package cars fail?
does the car have the upgraded sound system? the standard sound system does not have a subwoofer.
High pitch noise under hard acceleration - At a certain point in the throttle range the motor would start emitting a high pitched noise, not in line with it's standard light whine. I just got out of a week rental with a P85 which didn't have this sound at all. Is this a drive unit issue or just a known thing?

this is normal and present on all vehicles. there is nothing to "fix" hear as the "balloon squeal" noise (as its commonly described as) under heavy acceleration is normal and different from the light whine "milling noise" (which would warranty DU replacement).
 
The experience around here is that Tesla will only sell the extended warranty to the original purchaser. If this is a private party sale, have them buy the warranty and roll it into the price. If it's a dealer sale, you're probably SOL.

I just got out of a week with a P85 with the base sound system. That system, while not very good, had some semblance of bass. This system had none. It's as if someone slid the bass slider to 0. Don't get me wrong though, what I'm complaining about is not that it's putting out bass but I just don't find the level to be acceptable; it's literally outputting no bass as in something is broken.
 
No Bass on the stereo - Ok I know this is a common complaint but this isn't me complaining about a lack of bass. The stereo genuinely had no bass, as if someone turned the bass down to zero. Moving the bass slider did nothing. Do the subwoofers in the sound stage package cars fail?

LOL. Thank you. I haven't received my Model S yet but I already feel fully justified in springing for the premium sound system.
 
My takes:

1. On the radio (UHF) system. It all depends on the source really it seems. If using Slacker, most songs are a little lacking but some do hit with decent bass at times. TuneIn seems light on bass but better than slacker (more clear). XM is blah quality in all directions. HD Radio seems to sound the best, strong bass sometimes, actually too much since the settings are not source independent and have it up a little for others. Haven't tired great quality MP3/lossless quality items but would expect to sound pretty good.

This is a system where I've had to play with its basic equalizer more and even fade some to back so it doesn't sound like everything is coming from front speakers quite so much..
 
For that amount of money though, an aftermarket system would be much better value for your money. $2500 for the upgraded system is ridiculous.

My takes:

1. On the radio (UHF) system. It all depends on the source really it seems. If using Slacker, most songs are a little lacking but some do hit with decent bass at times. TuneIn seems light on bass but better than slacker (more clear). XM is blah quality in all directions. HD Radio seems to sound the best, strong bass sometimes, actually too much since the settings are not source independent and have it up a little for others. Haven't tired great quality MP3/lossless quality items but would expect to sound pretty good.

This is a system where I've had to play with its basic equalizer more and even fade some to back so it doesn't sound like everything is coming from front speakers quite so much..

I agree with both of the above.

My take on UHFS:
I listened to both the UHFS and regular sound before making a decision, I originally thought they were both lacking and my old cars sound system which was 1/3 of the price of the Tesla was better. After driving around a bit, I broke my speakers in, and the regular sound system isn't half bad.

I juggled the idea of getting the rues upgrade (or some other higher end aftermarket audio), but realized I mostly listen to slacker, so that would be a complete waste.

I'll likely spend the $1k on the NVX subwoofer when my kids stop sitting in the trunk. It'll give me the bass that the regular system lacks, and it's not a $2500 upgrade.
 
I don't get why people complain about the base sound system. For a base system, I think it's excellent. I had no expectations so I was very pleasantly surprised. There is not a great deal of bass and pressure, but it really depends on the song. In songs with a lot of bass there is very noticeable bass. The sound is very neutral and clear and it sounds pretty good. It's obviously designed by someone who cares about good sound, not necessarily just loud or bass heavy sound (which, unfortunately, is what a lot of people think equals good sound - usually the same people who think Beats headphones sound good). If you want to play hip hop loud enough to make the windows rattle and wake the entire neighbourhood, it's not for you, but if you like to enjoy really well produced classic rock, for instance, it's actually quite good.
 
This is a bit frustrating. Either I'm doing a really poor job of explaining myself or most of you simply aren't reading my posts and are simply responding as if I'm complaining that the system doesn't output enough bass. This is not the case. I'm going to make it bold: ​I'm not complaining that the system doesn't have enough bass.

The stereo in this particular car is not working properly in that it is putting out no bass, as in nothing. It doesn't matter what source I choose and doesn't matter where the slider is for bass. It simply does not exist. If I put the bass slider all the way up there's no bass. If I put it all the way down? You guessed it: no bass. Something is broken. As I mentioned, I just spent a week in a car with the base system and while crappy, it had some semblance of bass. This has none. Clearly this is not a common problem as nobody even seems to grasp that I'm describing a technical problem versus a subjective sound quality issue.