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thecloud
As rhythm raced inside, the ship came alive
My front-to-back balance is pulled back slightly from the default position, so the sound doesn't appear to originate from way up above the front dashboard. On cars without the upgraded audio package, as in the OP's photo, this behaves like a traditional fader control and you'd probably want to pull it back to center the sound in the car. Dolby Surround (part of the UHFS package) is a different animal: the outputs of the front and back speakers are not designed to be equal, as the back is playing a synthesized surround channel. I've found that pulling it back too much will make everything sound weaker because too much prominence is given to the surround channel in the mix.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
We should probably include details that might affect acoustics etc.
Base audio system. Solid roof. Not a fan of loud music. Normally listen at 5 or 6 volume level. No obvious hearing impairment yet. Not an audiophile by any means. Streaming and bluetooth connected music has acceptable sound quality to me. Music lover with over 16,000 songs on my iPhone. I'm very happy with my Model S's stereo system. I think if you like your music very loud, then this system may not meet your needs.
arcus
Active Member
And I thought 4 was already too loud
I'm with you there. I usually have it at 2-3 when the car is stopped/low speed. 4-5 when at highway speeds <-- makes me want to add sound insulation just so I can keep it at 2-3.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
Maybe I do have some hearing impairment, but my wife and kids are always turning it up to 7 or 8. Do you have the upgraded sound system? What do you have your settings at?And I thought 4 was already too loud
skitown
Member
My front-to-back balance is pulled back slightly from the default position, so the sound doesn't appear to originate from way up above the front dashboard. On cars without the upgraded audio package, as in the OP's photo, this behaves like a traditional fader control and you'd probably want to pull it back to center the sound in the car. Dolby Surround (part of the UHFS package) is a different animal: the outputs of the front and back speakers are not designed to be equal, as the back is playing a synthesized surround channel. I've found that pulling it back too much will make everything sound weaker because too much prominence is given to the surround channel in the mix.
You wrote exactly what I would have written!
thecloud
As rhythm raced inside, the ship came alive
My volume setting is normally at 3 in city driving, and turned up to 4 on the highway. This is with either radio, Slacker/TuneIn, or USB music sources. 5 is loud, and anything past 6 is eardrum-shattering territory. If you have to turn it up to 8 then something sounds wrong to me. I remember reading a post by someone else who had the same issue, and I think it turned out that not all the speakers were actually connected. (Looked for the thread just now but couldn't find it.) You might want to ask about it next time you're at the service center.
Edit: to figure out whether this huge difference in listenable volume levels is due to a defect with your car, we should first try to eliminate standard vs. UHFS audio as a variable. @arcus and @Takumi , do you have the standard or premium audio package?
Edit 2: I never use Bluetooth streaming from my phone, so maybe that's the difference. If that source has a low input level, it might need to be compensated with a higher output level?
Edit: to figure out whether this huge difference in listenable volume levels is due to a defect with your car, we should first try to eliminate standard vs. UHFS audio as a variable. @arcus and @Takumi , do you have the standard or premium audio package?
Edit 2: I never use Bluetooth streaming from my phone, so maybe that's the difference. If that source has a low input level, it might need to be compensated with a higher output level?
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skitown
Member
I would add that streaming a song from Slacker is considerably louder for me than playing the same song over bluetooth from my iPhone. I just went and tested this again to make sure I wasn't crazy. For example, from Slacker, and with the volume on say 4 in my car - is probably what I would listen to most of the time on a highway. Now that same song being played on my phone (with the phone's volume up all the way and its EQ set to "Rock"), I would need the car to be at 8 or 9 to be at the same loudness. I swear my last Model S was the same too.
Should at least one of the above settings be set at zero dB for everyone, but one, that has posted?
thecloud
As rhythm raced inside, the ship came alive
This is a great comment, and sent me down an Internet rabbit hole reading about graphic equalization.
Essentially, what I had done was to adjust each slider up and down individually (with music playing), listening for the frequency response that changed as a result. Then I left it at the setting where it sounded "best" to me. When I was done, it turned out I had boosted all frequencies.
Apparently professional sound engineers will tell you that's the wrong approach, and you should really cut instead of boost where possible (i.e. move some sliders below 0dB to lessen some frequency responses, which will enhance the others.)
I'm going to try playing around with that approach, but I suspect that I will eventually just end up at "what sounds best to me."
GaryREM
Member
This is a great comment, and sent me down an Internet rabbit hole reading about graphic equalization.
Essentially, what I had done was to adjust each slider up and down individually (with music playing), listening for the frequency response that changed as a result. Then I left it at the setting where it sounded "best" to me. When I was done, it turned out I had boosted all frequencies.
Apparently professional sound engineers will tell you that's the wrong approach, and you should really cut instead of boost where possible (i.e. move some sliders below 0dB to lessen some frequency responses, which will enhance the others.)
I'm going to try playing around with that approach, but I suspect that I will eventually just end up at "what sounds best to me."
Yeah. That is why you have loud volume at low volume levels. You've essentially increase sound levels across the board by increasing all the levels.
arcus
Active Member
Yes, I do. I keep the equalizer at default (0) setting across the range. I mostly listen to FLAC anyway.
Dbj77
Member
When I first got my car I had to turn it up to 11, it was cool because I realized it went to 11, but I knew something was wrong. I figured out that the Bluetooth phone I was playing from had the sound turned way down on it, so definitely check your source volume!
Dbj77
Member
skitown
Member
Thanks - yeah it is all the way up in my tests. I need to test this with another phone to see if it's just mine that's funky. So sounds like everyone else's loudness levels remain consistent across sources: streaming from Slacker vs. their phone via bluetooth?
thecloud
As rhythm raced inside, the ship came alive
I started over with my equalizer settings at zero (flat) across the board, keeping in mind that the settings are relative to each other rather than absolute values. The bass and high end were clearly lacking, so I bumped them up by 1, then by 2 since 1 wasn't enough to make a difference. This led to the universal "smile" curve: 2.0 - 1.0 - 0 - 1.0 - 2.0. But the bass and upper midrange were still lacking, so I bumped them up slightly (possibly to compensate for my ears being over 50.) At the moment, I've settled on 3.0 - 2.0 - 0 - 3.0 - 3.5. Since the frequencies are boosted far less than my previous settings, I've had to increase the normal volume level to 4 or 5 (instead of 3), but that's probably a good thing since there will be more amplitude range before clipping occurs.
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