When I first test drove a Model 3, I tried a few things, just never paid attention to the difference between the Partial Premium and the Premium. Given the ride in this neck of the woods is usually less than 25 mins, sound is not a big deal. As it turns out, my mistake. After time, the tweeters don't seem to tweet and the woofers don't woof. Bit exaggerating (Elon, you got to put bigger woofers in the partial premium!). To be fair, the high and mids on the M3 is acceptable. But its really is a big difference between the Premium.
After intense amount of researching, best effort. Though, I managed to get replies/feedback from M3 owners from several different countries (kudos to the Tesla community). Weighing the fear of triggering an error message with the 12V, balancing an adequate sub, that's not too power hungry, and identifying a place to put it (without a huge box or tearing up the interior). After talking to several car audio places, (they all claim they know what they are doing. When I asked one guy how he plans to trigger the sub on and off, he replied "it will turn off when you turn off your car, and on when you start the ignition with your key). In the end, I put my faith in one installer, and ended up putting a compact sub 8" in the trunk, on the left hand side "deep well". That type of sub is normally installed underneath your seat. Mind you, there is not enough room to put a sub underneath the front seat of a M3. Yeah...raised a few eye brows. But hey, don't knock it till you tried it. Not bad at all. Its small, but the bass really resonated well inside the trunk. True to his work, this shop does seem well versed in Teslas. Knew exactly where to get the signals, etc. So far so good. I rebooted the car after the installation, no problems. Incidentally, I got a system update today as well. Not bad at all, price was .. 2800HKD. Took about 3 hours.
I didn't do a side by side comparison with a premium, but my guess is the bass quality would be better in my setup. But the premium, gives you more speakers, and I suspect the mids in the car would be better as well. But given the M3 made after mid 2020, there really is no speakers in the rear, A piller, and side mirror, there will be no Tesla sound upgrades. This is likely the best you can do with minimum alterations.
After intense amount of researching, best effort. Though, I managed to get replies/feedback from M3 owners from several different countries (kudos to the Tesla community). Weighing the fear of triggering an error message with the 12V, balancing an adequate sub, that's not too power hungry, and identifying a place to put it (without a huge box or tearing up the interior). After talking to several car audio places, (they all claim they know what they are doing. When I asked one guy how he plans to trigger the sub on and off, he replied "it will turn off when you turn off your car, and on when you start the ignition with your key). In the end, I put my faith in one installer, and ended up putting a compact sub 8" in the trunk, on the left hand side "deep well". That type of sub is normally installed underneath your seat. Mind you, there is not enough room to put a sub underneath the front seat of a M3. Yeah...raised a few eye brows. But hey, don't knock it till you tried it. Not bad at all. Its small, but the bass really resonated well inside the trunk. True to his work, this shop does seem well versed in Teslas. Knew exactly where to get the signals, etc. So far so good. I rebooted the car after the installation, no problems. Incidentally, I got a system update today as well. Not bad at all, price was .. 2800HKD. Took about 3 hours.
I didn't do a side by side comparison with a premium, but my guess is the bass quality would be better in my setup. But the premium, gives you more speakers, and I suspect the mids in the car would be better as well. But given the M3 made after mid 2020, there really is no speakers in the rear, A piller, and side mirror, there will be no Tesla sound upgrades. This is likely the best you can do with minimum alterations.
