Speakers Upgrade

[TheLex]

Rather than going with the Light Harmonics or Othello speaker replacements, apparently this retailer out of Hong Kong has put together an Alpine DP series speaker kit that comes with adaptor brackets to retrofit into our existing speaker holes. These look like a quality higher end Alpine speaker that are much more robust than the typical component speaker.

My big concern is whether the resistance of these speakers work with the stock amp. I'd rather have a full active system with a Helix DSP, but that would be a tremendous amount of work. This is pretty simple plug and play. BTW, check out the crappy flexy subwoofer box! It might be a good idea to dynomat the inside of it while the box is being work on.

Here's the video of the install:
Speaker Upgrade Install

And here's the link to the retailer:
HEPA King | Tesla Model 3 | Y Audio Upgrade Package

 

[Vicj]

The factory speakers are extremely efficient to match the low power amplification in the car. Any aftermarket speaker will lose output. Also, the factory amplifiers are EQ'd for the factory drivers. If you replace the factory speakers and use the factory amps, the equalization built in to the all will not longer be accurate, creating peaks and dips that didn't exist before. "Upgraded" drop in diskettes usually are not upgrades with the factory amplification, period. I took out the Light Harmonic stuff I installed.

 

[Vicj]

Sorry... no edit button anymore?? Speakers...not "diskettes"... lol

 

[TheLex]

The factory speakers are extremely efficient to match the low power amplification in the car. Any aftermarket speaker will lose output. Also, the factory amplifiers are EQ'd for the factory drivers. If you replace the factory speakers and use the factory amps, the equalization built in to the all will not longer be accurate, creating peaks and dips that didn't exist before. "Upgraded" drop in diskettes usually are not upgrades with the factory amplification, period. I took out the Light Harmonic stuff I installed.

That's exactly what I was thinking. These are Alpines sold outside the USA and the website doesn't show impedance curves, resistance or any other speaker parameters. Judging by the materials and construction, these are high quality speakers though. At the very least, swapping out the subwoofer seems like a worthwhile endeavor. The stock driver is woeful.

What was it about the Light Harmonics that you did not like?

 

[Vicj]

There are many great aftermarket speakers, high quality speakers, that will not sound better in your factory system. It has far less to do with the speaker quality , and more to do with efficiency, and the amplification and equalization processing in your factory system.

The Light Harmonic stuff was EXACTLY like that. Great, high quality, well made speakers that don't sound as good in the factory system as the factory speakers. They're underpowered by the Tesla amplifier. The midrange speakers lack warmth compared to the factory mids. The lower midrange is noticeably lacking with the LH stuff. The midbass drivers are the same, not enough power to drive them efficiently. You actually lose midbass output. I never tried their sub, as I have a much beefier subwoofer set up, with far more power.

Overall, when I returned to the factory speakers, I immediately had more gain, and far FAR better warmth in the midrange, especially the upper midbass and lower mid frequencies.

Again, I'm not knocking the LH speakers. The quality is evident. Put them in a system that's not EQ'd to make up for the deficiencies in the factory speakers, and feed them more power than the Tesla Amp provides, and I'm sure they would sound great. In my Tesla, they simply sounded thin. Cold.

I see LH has come out with a new generation of TESLA drivers in the last couple of weeks, that they claim are even better. There's an old saying...Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I have the entire front stage of the LH speakers. Installed about 8 months. Perfect condition. I'll basically give them away, or maybe try them in a home built system for my computer.

 

[TheLex]

There are many great aftermarket speakers, high quality speakers, that will not sound better in your factory system. It has far less to do with the speaker quality , and more to do with efficiency, and the amplification and equalization processing in your factory system.

The Light Harmonic stuff was EXACTLY like that. Great, high quality, well made speakers that don't sound as good in the factory system as the factory speakers. They're underpowered by the Tesla amplifier. The midrange speakers lack warmth compared to the factory mids. The lower midrange is noticeably lacking with the LH stuff. The midbass drivers are the same, not enough power to drive them efficiently. You actually lose midbass output. I never tried their sub, as I have a much beefier subwoofer set up, with far more power.

Overall, when I returned to the factory speakers, I immediately had more gain, and far FAR better warmth in the midrange, especially the upper midbass and lower mid frequencies.

Again, I'm not knocking the LH speakers. The quality is evident. Put them in a system that's not EQ'd to make up for the deficiencies in the factory speakers, and feed them more power than the Tesla Amp provides, and I'm sure they would sound great. In my Tesla, they simply sounded thin. Cold.

I see LH has come out with a new generation of TESLA drivers in the last couple of weeks, that they claim are even better. There's an old saying...Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I have the entire front stage of the LH speakers. Installed about 8 months. Perfect condition. I'll basically give them away, or maybe try them in a home built system for my computer.

What you experienced makes a lot of sense. The equalization curves have to be right and so does the timing. I'm ok with the stock system. I might try and fiddle with replacing just the sub driver.

I was hoping for something easy with this system, since I'm doing a full active build on my other suv - Helix and Stereo Integrity stuff. I'm thankful for having your input. It saves me a bunch of money and work!

 

[Kwame]

There are many great aftermarket speakers, high quality speakers, that will not sound better in your factory system. It has far less to do with the speaker quality , and more to do with efficiency, and the amplification and equalization processing in your factory system.

The Light Harmonic stuff was EXACTLY like that. Great, high quality, well made speakers that don't sound as good in the factory system as the factory speakers. They're underpowered by the Tesla amplifier. The midrange speakers lack warmth compared to the factory mids. The lower midrange is noticeably lacking with the LH stuff. The midbass drivers are the same, not enough power to drive them efficiently. You actually lose midbass output. I never tried their sub, as I have a much beefier subwoofer set up, with far more power.

Overall, when I returned to the factory speakers, I immediately had more gain, and far FAR better warmth in the midrange, especially the upper midbass and lower mid frequencies.

Again, I'm not knocking the LH speakers. The quality is evident. Put them in a system that's not EQ'd to make up for the deficiencies in the factory speakers, and feed them more power than the Tesla Amp provides, and I'm sure they would sound great. In my Tesla, they simply sounded thin. Cold.

I see LH has come out with a new generation of TESLA drivers in the last couple of weeks, that they claim are even better. There's an old saying...Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

I have the entire front stage of the LH speakers. Installed about 8 months. Perfect condition. I'll basically give them away, or maybe try them in a home built system for my computer.

Great information in this thread. I actually was looking into upgrading my factory speakers but your experience has dissuaded me. The factory system is great for what it is but I’d love to get it to sound closer to the fully active McIntosh/Morel system I have in my project car without going fully custom.

 

[Vicj]

I think you'd be disappointed replacing just the subwoofer driver. Just like the regular speakers, the factory sub is designed for extreme efficiency, and the sub enclosure (such as it is) . It will be next to impossible for you to find an aftermarket, dual voice coil subwoofer that will work in the small, plastic enclosure, and be nearly as efficient on the factory amplifier power. Unfortunately, there's no EASY upgrade for the sub. New sub, New enclosure, and New amplifier are what's needed for any real benefit.

 

[Vicj]

My sub set up is a JL 12W3, in a completely new, custom enclosure, with a JL VXI600/1 powering it. The digital processing in Amp was necessary to get sound correct with the rest of the system.

 

[TheLex]

I think you'd be disappointed replacing just the subwoofer driver. Just like the regular speakers, the factory sub is designed for extreme efficiency, and the sub enclosure (such as it is) . It will be next to impossible for you to find an aftermarket, dual voice coil subwoofer that will work in the small, plastic enclosure, and be nearly as efficient on the factory amplifier power. Unfortunately, there's no EASY upgrade for the sub. New sub, New enclosure, and New amplifier are what's needed for any real benefit.

Yeah that cheap flexy plastic enclosure is a total joke. Unfortunately the NVX sub upgrade is not available for the 3 row MY. I'm toying with the idea of creating my own custom fiberglass enclosure for the MY since I'll be building one for my suv anyway.

Your sub set up looks awesome. Unfortunately because this is a family vehicle, we utilize the sub trunk quite often. So I can't steal that space. The side cubby however, would be perfect.

How'd you grab the signal for your sub and amp? I know Tesla has a small little amp back there.

 

[Vicj]

We took the signal directly from the post Amp output to the subwoofer. Fed it through a high end, high power line level converter, then ri the JL Amp. Stuck with the original crossover point the factory system uses, as it rolls off nicely.

 

[TheLex]

We took the signal directly from the post Amp output to the subwoofer. Fed it through a high end, high power line level converter, then ri the JL Amp. Stuck with the original crossover point the factory system uses, as it rolls off nicely.

That make sense. I guess I'll be fabricating two subwoofer boxes lol. A JL 10 or 12 TW3 should work nicely.

 

[Vicj]

I'm not a huge fan of JL's TW series, not of sealed bass in a car (unless you have ENORMOUS amounts of power), but that's a personal decision.

 

[TheLex]

I'm not a huge fan of JL's TW series, not of sealed bass in a car (unless you have ENORMOUS amounts of power), but that's a personal decision.

I ran WinISD FWIW and it shows the 10TW3 will get to a F3 of about 35 Hz at 105 db with 500 watts. Most of what I listen to is classic rock and jazz, so I don't need huge output. Hopefully with the natural gain from the corner location, that'll be enough output. I just want kick drums to sound natural lol.

 

[Vicj]

Enjoy!

 

[Kwame]

My sub set up is a JL 12W3, in a completely new, custom enclosure, with a JL VXI600/1 powering it. The digital processing in Amp was necessary to get sound correct with the rest of the system.

Very very nice, but similarly to The Lex this is my daily and I can’t afford to give up my sub-trunk.

Yeah that cheap flexy plastic enclosure is a total joke. Unfortunately the NVX sub upgrade is not available for the 3 row MY. I'm toying with the idea of creating my own custom fiberglass enclosure for the MY since I'll be building one for my suv anyway.

Your sub set up looks awesome. Unfortunately because this is a family vehicle, we utilize the sub trunk quite often. So I can't steal that space. The side cubby however, would be perfect.

How'd you grab the signal for your sub and amp? I know Tesla has a small little amp back there.

I was also considering the NVX sun upgrade as well as the JL Audio Stealthbox for the Five-Seater but I feel like it’s overpriced for what it is.

SB-TE-YG1-10TW1

Stealthbox® for 2020-Up Tesla Model Y (5-Seat)Tesla’s popular compact crossover delivers quick acceleration and a roomy cabin with plenty of space for both passengers and cargo. Sadly though, the factory audio options offer very little to satisfy in the bass reproduction department. Featuring an...

www.jlaudio.com

 

[TheLex]

Very very nice, but similarly to The Lex this is my daily and I can’t afford to give up my sub-trunk.


I was also considering the NVX sun upgrade as well as the JL Audio Stealthbox for the Five-Seater but I feel like it’s overpriced for what it is.

SB-TE-YG1-10TW1

Stealthbox® for 2020-Up Tesla Model Y (5-Seat)Tesla’s popular compact crossover delivers quick acceleration and a roomy cabin with plenty of space for both passengers and cargo. Sadly though, the factory audio options offer very little to satisfy in the bass reproduction department. Featuring an...

www.jlaudio.com

The NVX sub upgrade has generally good reviews. NVX isn't typically regarded very highly in the car audio community, but in this case it's a relatively easy way to get a sub installed. I'd probably be tempted to go this way as well, but my MY is a 3 row car and the NVX kit won't fit. Given the space constraints of the cubby off to the side, I doubt you can fit much more than a 10" driver in there, and the volume will be fairly small. That means that you'll need a great driver like the JL TW3, but you'll also need to run it with quite a bit of power to get decent SPLs. Again, I don't listen to bass beat and rap, so I'm not looking to vibrate my rear view mirror and the cars around me. I just want good clean dynamics when I'm listening to rock and jazz.

I'm going to mock up a box using some cardboard. Then I'll fill the mock-up with some packing peanuts. That way I can get a sense of the volume a box would be. The JL 10TW3 will hit an F3 of 40 Hz in a 0.5 cu ft sealed box per the manufacturer. You'll get some gain from the car itself. My WinISD calculations show it'll get down to about 35 Hz, which is typically enough for the type of music I listen to. Certainly it'll be a vast improvement.

An interesting experiment would be to apply CLD or Dynomat to the inside and outside of the plastic sub box and see if that yields some sonic benefit. If you're going to build a custom box with a 10" driver anyway, you could pop that driver into the factory box that's been lined, and see what kind of results you get.

 

[Vicj]

It would be way too small. The factory sub is a small box 8 inch driver. Not a 10.

 

[TheLex]

It would be way too small. The factory sub is a small box 8 inch driver. Not a 10.

Ah, I didn't catch that. In that case the Alpine sub from the kit I linked to above might work. It looks much higher quality than the oem unit. But then you'd have to commit to building a box for the 8" driver and Alpine doesn't list the parameters for this driver.

 

[Vicj]

Any quality sub, in the proper enclosure, with enough power, will be an upgrade. I was going to get the NVX kit too, but then had a chance to listen to it...meh. it sounded like a small box woofer in an enclosure that was still too small. My Y is a daily driver as well. It's actually my work truck. I found though that was never using the sub trunk anyway, so I put it to work. A ported 12, with 600 watts gives me easy more than I need. I'm able to keep everything turned down.