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Sound system lost it's "punch" after latest update
- Thread starter skrtskrt
- Start date
Received a call back from a Tesla Mobile Service Agent but I didn't catch the call in time so it went to voicemail. Going to call him back shortly. Here's the transcript of the call. Luckily it sounds like they are aware of the issue and working on a fix:
Hi this is Devon from Tesla mobile. I'm just calling about the issue you're having with the diminished sound quality especially with the subwoofer. So we had a couple technicians look into the situation, they are currently still working on part of the fix for it but there was one issue that had been noted from the older firmware that was causing this, but the newer version should be clearing it up. We did load it onto your vehicle a couple days ago, so I was calling to see if that resolved it and if not then we can schedule an appointment to have somebody come out to give a listen to it and see where we go from there. I do have a couple spots open tomorrow so please give me a call and I can get you booked in. My number is xxx-xxx-xxxx, thank you.
Hopefully we have some forward progress now.
IM_1406
Member
MidwestM3P
Member
What does it sound like in the rear seats for everyone? In mine it sounds very bad. Literally like music playing from iPad speakers by someone in the front - there is absolutely no bass, and no sounds at all coming from the rear. The two times I've checked in the rear seats, I had to climb forwards to confirm my phone didn't get bluetooth disconnected. Is this normal or perhaps I have some issues with my rear speakers?
I had a Mobile Ranger check mine out last week. He confirmed that there was obviously a problem. We played around with the balance and put our heads near each speaker to check them. The front door speakers put out a lot of bass. When the balance is centered they cover for the lack of bass in the rear pretty well. The speakers in the back doors and rear deck only output mid and high range frequencies. I think this is normal as they have relatively small cones. In my case the subwoofer IS putting out some bass but it is at an unusually low volume. When adjusting the balance fully to the rear there was a big drop in bass output. So the subwoofer is working but not at the full power that it used to. The mobile tech said he would order a new amplifier and subwoofer and would contact me when they came in so I could schedule him to come back to replace them. I'm thinking that will be sometime in February. I'll post back here with an update when that happens.
Oh BTW, I just installed 2018.50 today and it didn't make a difference. So I'm pretty sure my problem is a hardware issue. I've never been able to get rear bass response back since it went out weeks ago.
EDIT
I also just tried the pause, mute, volume up to normal trick and no change. Once again seemingly confirming, or at least not ruling out, a hardware issue.
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It sounds like you have the same symptom as me. The best way to check this is to play a song with a lot of bass and go into the balance settings and shift the balance from full front to full rear. You will notice an obvious dropoff in bass response. Actually, now that I think of it, maybe your balance is already set to the front. That would explain why it sounds like nothing is coming from the back speakers.
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I’ve got an appointment scheduled for this Friday with a mobile service tech. The guy I spoke to on the phone confirmed to me that this is indeed a software issue and that 2018.50 was supposed to potentially resolve it, but obviously that is not the case. It’s nice to have confirmation from Tesla that this really is an issue and many of the observations by others in this thread are valid. Crossing my fingers that this gets fixed for good ASAP.
I'm pretty sure my issue is different than others here. I've never had the full bass sound come back since it disappeared. So even though 2018.50 didn't help me it still might help those experiencing an intermittent issues.
mtndrew1
Active Member
I don’t want to jinx it but for the last week or so my stereo is back to normal. I have not had a firmware update and have not changed how I use the car but it’s bumping again.
Probably just a coincidence. Anyone else?
Probably just a coincidence. Anyone else?
silentcorp
Member
Mine comes and goes. It works something like this.... if I'm showing the car off to someone the bass vanishes, if I'm by myself and not caring about the music it works just fine!
I don't have this issue. I do note that bluetooth sound quality is not very good, which is why I want Tesla to start routing phone audio through the wired connection, but I can't confirm a universal issue with low frequencies. That said, for those of you that do have this issue, I wonder if the problem could be related to air pressure in the car and possible pre-loading of the subwoofer? This would be unusual of course, but several of you have mentioned variability and dependence on things like windows/doors/passengers. I notice that the seal in my 3 is very good, when the doors close, even with the window leak I can perceive a very tight seal. Perhaps it is so tight in some cases that it either positively or negatively impacts the lows. The HVAC status -- recirculating or open -- could also play a role if this the issue. Closing the trunk could also play a part as that might pressurize the cabin slightly, if the doors are all closed. I would not expect any of these to impact the performance of a sub, but some systems are pretty tightly tuned and slight changes to the mechanics / system can have major impacts. This is especially true with lows. I work with in-ear monitors and the slightest leak at the ear can cause massive loss of lows.
mtndrew1
Active Member
The problem in my case is that from April of 2018 to about October of 2018 my sound system kicked ass in all environments with all load scenarios and with all input options (streaming, Bluetooth, USB).
Then it didn’t.
Many of my coworkers have Model 3's, including one who swore his Model 3's bass would shake the entire car. We went down to do some tests, and sure enough, out of two additional cars I tested, they were exactly the same as my Model 3. The bass they thought was the subwoofer was in fact the bass coming out of the front door speakers and nowhere near rattled anything apart.
A great test was to play Five For Fighting - Superman. At about the 35 secondish mark, two huge, long bass notes drop, and any good system with a subwoofer will no doubt rattle hard. The notes seem to be low enough where it bypasses most of the front speakers, and sure enough, although you could just barely hear the bass drops, it was clear the subwoofer wasn't doing much, if anything. They agreed that there seemed to be something wrong with the subwoofer.
I think there are many people out there and even on this forum who think their subwoofer is working and probably haven't had a subwoofer to know what a working subwoofer should sound and feel like, just like the coworker who swore his system's bass was amazing and then found out it wasn't (I'm ready for the hate that comes from this statement...lol). The fact that up to this point, I've tested 4 model 3s and all 4 had the weakest, most garbage subwoofer bass with bass settings set to 8 makes me think this likely impacts most, if not all cars.
For those on this forum who say their subwoofer is amazing, I'm curious if you use your home theater system, assuming you have a great subwoofer attached - play Five For Fighting - Superman and listen to what those bass notes do to your house. Then, play the same song, around the 35 second mark in your model 3, and see if it produces a reasonably similar response - just scaled down a bit. Clearly, I know a car sub won't be more powerful than an amazing home theater sub, but you'll get the point.
A great test was to play Five For Fighting - Superman. At about the 35 secondish mark, two huge, long bass notes drop, and any good system with a subwoofer will no doubt rattle hard. The notes seem to be low enough where it bypasses most of the front speakers, and sure enough, although you could just barely hear the bass drops, it was clear the subwoofer wasn't doing much, if anything. They agreed that there seemed to be something wrong with the subwoofer.
I think there are many people out there and even on this forum who think their subwoofer is working and probably haven't had a subwoofer to know what a working subwoofer should sound and feel like, just like the coworker who swore his system's bass was amazing and then found out it wasn't (I'm ready for the hate that comes from this statement...lol). The fact that up to this point, I've tested 4 model 3s and all 4 had the weakest, most garbage subwoofer bass with bass settings set to 8 makes me think this likely impacts most, if not all cars.
For those on this forum who say their subwoofer is amazing, I'm curious if you use your home theater system, assuming you have a great subwoofer attached - play Five For Fighting - Superman and listen to what those bass notes do to your house. Then, play the same song, around the 35 second mark in your model 3, and see if it produces a reasonably similar response - just scaled down a bit. Clearly, I know a car sub won't be more powerful than an amazing home theater sub, but you'll get the point.
Tesla mobile tech stopped by a short while ago. He hooked a laptop up to my car and was also texting back and forth with a software engineer at Tesla HQ who was connected to my car remotely. The engineer did notice a few anomalies with my audio settings that he is going to investigate further. He also did a complete reset of the audio system remotely and played around with some other settings that are not accessible from the GUI. For now my sound is back to normal. Unfortunately the mobile tech wasn’t able to reproduce the problem while he was here (figures, heh), but they did gather some useful data from my car. The next time I experience the problem they asked me to submit a bug report using the voice commands and also to send a text to the mobile tech to let him know that I submitted the report. When I submit a new bug report they’ll take a fresh look at the logs and remotely connect to my car again if necessary. The mobile tech said when you submit a bug report from the car it sends a screenshot of the display along with some other data, so I need to make sure the song I’m currently listening to that’s having the bass issue is showing up on the screen when I submit the report. I’m actually kind of hoping that the problem pops up again so I can send in a bug report for them to look at.
I watch this thread with interest as I too think I lost some subwoofer / bass punch compared to when I first got my car.
This thread on the Tesla company forum discusses the same concerns:
How to know subwoofer is working | Tesla
I wonder if this could be a feature they implemented to try to protect the subwoofer from wearing out?
For instance, if you crank up the level too high, they could activate an output lowering feature?
The front speakers are still powerful and sound great, and can jiggle the sideview mirrors when there is bass, but is feels like the "sub-bass" from the rear just isn't there anymore.
And yes, if I pan the playback to the rear, I don't hear much bass coming from the subwoofer back there.
This thread on the Tesla company forum discusses the same concerns:
How to know subwoofer is working | Tesla
I wonder if this could be a feature they implemented to try to protect the subwoofer from wearing out?
For instance, if you crank up the level too high, they could activate an output lowering feature?
The front speakers are still powerful and sound great, and can jiggle the sideview mirrors when there is bass, but is feels like the "sub-bass" from the rear just isn't there anymore.
And yes, if I pan the playback to the rear, I don't hear much bass coming from the subwoofer back there.
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