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Sound System Upgrade

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There are all sorts of risks when modifying the car. Most are relatively trivial. Given your goals of spending less than $1k and keeping modifications to a minimum, I would buy the SoundQubed sub to replace the stock sub (keep stock enclosure), replace the front door speakers with a pair of 2 ohm 6.5s, and apply sound damping material to the front doors. You'll want some sound

I run these coaxials in the rear doors, but they will work just fine in the front doors($100):
https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-62IX-Coaxial-Speaker-System/dp/B075ZHJ683

You'll want some new mounts for the front speakers so you don't have to hack up your originals ($130):
2012-2020 Tesla Model S Custom Speaker Adapters

There are several sound damping materials out there. Amazon has several that I have not used. You'll want something to make the panels heavier (to prevent resonance) and some foam to help absorb sound waves and keep parts from vibrating against each other. I used RAAMmat and Ensolite, but there are plenty of good products out there. ~($100) In my experience, the door modules in the front doors are notorious for rattles. I loaded them up with damping material and they're still not silent, but it sure helps. Lining the doors will also make the cabin quieter.

Even if you have all of the stuff I listed installed by a shop, you should still come out below your $1k budget. The NVX sub/amp kit will get you much more bass, but it will push you over your budget including the labor for an install which typically runs $400-$600 depending on the shop, and you may still want to upgrade the door speakers or deaden the cabin.
 
Hi Model S Community!

I recently purchased a used 2016 85D Model S directly from Tesla and the first thing I noticed was the poor audio quality (bass especially) in comparison to my 2009 BMW 650i. I was wondering if anyone has ever upgraded the sound system directly through Tesla or if they offer this service? I'm concerned to have after-market sound system changes external from Tesla since I can foresee that this will be a complicated process for EVs due to power management limitations.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much!
I have the exact same car with basic sound. The sound was trash compared to my previous cars. I upgraded mine all for less than $1K. I did all the work myself so I didn't have to pay for labors. For bass, I got the NVX box with the subwoofer like a lot of people do here but i took out the subwoofer and replaced it with 10" JL W6. It took a little work to modify to make it work with the box but it was worth it. I replaced the four speakers with 2 infinity kappa for front and 2 focal speakers for the back. I used the AudioControl lcq1 to grab the factory signals. Huge difference compared to stock. Definitely worth the upgrades.
 
I have the exact same car with basic sound. The sound was trash compared to my previous cars. I upgraded mine all for less than $1K. I did all the work myself so I didn't have to pay for labors. For bass, I got the NVX box with the subwoofer like a lot of people do here but i took out the subwoofer and replaced it with 10" JL W6. It took a little work to modify to make it work with the box but it was worth it. I replaced the four speakers with 2 infinity kappa for front and 2 focal speakers for the back. I used the AudioControl lcq1 to grab the factory signals. Huge difference compared to stock. Definitely worth the upgrades.
For amp, I went with JL 500/1v2, old school but one of the best around. For amp kit, I went with Kicker or if you want to save a few bucks, NVX is pretty high quality for a much lower price. I used all stock mounts and modify slightly with the 2 back doors. I did all sound deadening in the 4 doors and the trunk. If you have time, I highly recommend installing sound deadening on the doors. Well worth it!
 
I've decided to spend a little extra on the NVX Tesla BOOST in hopes that there will be less technical difficulties than other options. What I'm not sure of is what the difference is between the old version of the NVX Tesla BOOST and the new version of the NVX Tesla BOOST. Does anybody know? Is it just a cost-cutting redesign or does it actually affect the quality or performance (i.e. sound quality, power usage, etc.).
 
Light Harmonic's solution is to reuse the existing stock wiring, harnesses, connectors, etc. and provide an upgraded premium amp and upgraded speakers. Other aftermarket solutions typically replace many more components, including wiring, and then integrate with vehicle user interface and other audio features - these can be as customized as you want and are willing to pay for. Reus fits in this category and has had excellent reviews on this forum.

I decided to go with Light Harmonic's approach as it was less invasive (I installed it myself) and did not require rewiring, but I eventually ended up replacing all of my speakers with a combination of LIght Harmonic in the doors, SoundQubed as a drop in sub in the stock sub enclosure, Morel tweeters, and Hertz mids (these are all top notch drivers). This combination has produced an excellent and balanced system with a decent front stage and plenty of bass and clarity at all volumes (at least according to my listening preferences). It was incrementally very nice and good enough with just the LH amp, door speakers, and SoundQubed sub, but I wanted to go the extra mile since I had a level of expectation I wanted to achieve. I am pleased with the results.
I did the same and love it!
 
I've decided to spend a little extra on the NVX Tesla BOOST in hopes that there will be less technical difficulties than other options. What I'm not sure of is what the difference is between the old version of the NVX Tesla BOOST and the new version of the NVX Tesla BOOST. Does anybody know? Is it just a cost-cutting redesign or does it actually affect the quality or performance (i.e. sound quality, power usage, etc.).

That sounds like a good option. The NVX setup has plenty of bass. I'm not sure what changed between the old and new. Maybe they changed the line level converter? The amp that comes with the kit is very good and puts out just under 800w RMS on a dyno, and the woofer has no problem taking it. I have found that the amp runs cool even with a cover over it, so it is pretty efficient.
 
just a quick update:

I received the NVX BOOST amp and sub but they forgot to include one of the screws for the fuse and so I had to fork out another $40 to the shop (Car Audio Specialties in Belmont, CA) which isn’t that much but was definitely an inconvenience.

So far, the sub is much more powerful than what I imagined and more than what I need but I can’t complain. I’m now just trying to figure out how to balance the EQ so the sub isn’t drowning out the highs... this is with the sun turned all the way down.
 
Are you sure the amp's gain is all the way down? When I mine was installed, the sub's gain was all the way down and I thought it was pretty nice and not offensive at all. Also make sure the low pass filter is around 80hz. Consider lowering the filter even more if you want to reduce the boom.
 
Are you sure the amp's gain is all the way down? When I mine was installed, the sub's gain was all the way down and I thought it was pretty nice and not offensive at all. Also make sure the low pass filter is around 80hz. Consider lowering the filter even more if you want to reduce the boom.

It looks like the shop only installed the gain knob. I see that they left a second knob in my fronk. Are you referring to the second knob? They had mention that it’s not needed for my system (can’t remember the rationale). Should they have installed this as well? The sub is not too offensively loud but it definitely is drowning out the mids and highs making it hard to hear vocals.
 
Hi Model S Community!

I recently purchased a used 2016 85D Model S directly from Tesla and the first thing I noticed was the poor audio quality (bass especially) in comparison to my 2009 BMW 650i. I was wondering if anyone has ever upgraded the sound system directly through Tesla or if they offer this service? I'm concerned to have after-market sound system changes external from Tesla since I can foresee that this will be a complicated process for EVs due to power management limitations.

Any tips would be much appreciated.

Thank you so much!

Tesla uses CHEAP paper cones and on the stock (or HF utilizes a 60hz rolloff which virtually kills the bass which is a big part of the reason why it sounds so poor
However you are quite lucky to be in the bay area. Take a trip to Milpitas and visit Simplicity in Sound, Bing and Jesse lterally transform the crap system in the S (even the "high fidelity") into an insanely good listening room. definitely not cheap but if you add up the cost of the gear he uses (Arc Audio, Morel, Mosconi, Audiomobile etc) his labor is not that pricey. He literally removes most of the interior to dampen the panels which has the added bonus of making an already quiet car virtually silent. You COULD buy the equipment and DIY for 2/3 the cost but you are paying for what he knows from doing 100's of custom installs.

I had a basic stealth install done on my 2016 MS and it was completely worth it
 
The car has a regular 12V system so power connections for aftermarket audio is not a problem. If you are just adding a sub/amp its standard car audio stuff. Things only get a little tricky if you go full replacement.....its necessary to get a full range signal from the factory head unit that includes all the chimes, turn signal, and other noises the factory stereo creates. Its not that difficult for a decent shop but requires someone who knows what they are doing and knows their way around a Tesla to design and install.

According to the sources I read (and my installer) there is no full spectrum sound source on the stock system. It has a built in rolloff at 60 hz. My system uses a direct 96K AMAS bluetooth reciever into the DSP (both Mosconi) which is light years better sounding than the tesla stock or HF system.
 
The NVX amp should only have one knob; it is for gain. It will have the NVX logo on it. If that is the knob the shop said was not necessary, they are correct - however you may find you want more or less bass depending on the recording.

There is an adjuster screw on the amp itself for gain, and then you use the remote knob as an attenuator for reducing the gain from that level. If you don't have the knob installed, you will need to adjust the gain on the amp itself.
 
The NVX amp should only have one knob; it is for gain.

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Actually, it comes with two knobs. One is the gain and the other appears to be a QC Pass knob. I have no idea why this was not installed and whether it would help or not.
 
It looks like a gain knob, but it's slightly different than mine. Mine is upside down, sitting right in front of the driver's side seat slider. It does not have a power indicator LED, and the endpoints of the knob's sweep area are not pointed - they end in little dots.
 

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According to the sources I read (and my installer) there is no full spectrum sound source on the stock system. It has a built in rolloff at 60 hz. My system uses a direct 96K AMAS bluetooth reciever into the DSP (both Mosconi) which is light years better sounding than the tesla stock or HF system.


Im using a Helix DSP and I have the front 3 sets of channels summed to give me all of the audio that it should have. As I recall (its been years since I did this so I may be mis-remembering) at first I only was only using one set of channels (might have been the rear door channels?) and still got mostly full range (don't remember the details, lumpy response I think, but it worked) ......BUT......No chimes, dings, gongs, etc.... changed it around to use the fronts, added in the mids and highs so all the sounds worked right and its been good since. "Joe mode" helped too so that those noises were relatively quieter, gave me more usable volume for music without the gongs being too loud.

I'm not seeing a roll off at 60hz though, I've got solid response down to 30hz (even had to EQ down a bit at 35hz). Rolls off after that but thats to be expected both for the speaker and subsonic filter I'm using.