Reus Audio Upgrade - Dallas Group Buy

Just curious if anyone would be interested in a group buy from these folks. They design upgrades to factory systems for Mercedes, BMW, Ferrari, and now Tesla. There are a number of threads about them on the Tesla Motors website. Anyway, they have designed 3 different upgrade packages for the S. Rick who works with them described the first two packages in detail. He said the Tesla Studio System is hampered by not enough power and some of the speakers are pretty poor.

Level 1 - upgrades a number of the speakers and adds an amplifier. Biggest difference is the A pillar speakers which produce 70% of the sound. Big upgrade for general listening. ~$3,000
Level 2 - level one plus adds subwoofer in the footwell (a detachable one should you need the space) that takes up ~ 1 cubic foot of space. ~$3,700. Most people are interested in this.
Level 3 - was vague on this, I wasn't really interested anyway, says they haven't sold many. 4k+


Says the first 2 levels are aesthetically unobtrusive to the car. Level 1 completely so. The only thing that changes is the way it sounds. You can still use all the sound controls on the touchpad. Level 2 adds the subwoofer but says it looks like it belongs in the car.


People rave about their systems. Here's the man thread:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...udio-upgrade-for-quot-Watt-ME-quot-Reus-Audio



You can also check out their website here:
http://www.reusaudio.com/



Their site is pretty vague. Rick said this is intentionally so as other companies will try to clone what they do and produce cheap knock-offs of their packages. Makes sense...


Folks in Boston and Southern California are organizing group buys. Apparently they come through Dallas quite a bit anyway so it's likely they will swing by as a matter of their normal business. However, if we can organize a group buy, the price per person drops (because they amortize the travel costs over more people).


If anyone is interested, post here or message me. Apparently there are over 100 Model S cars in DFW so if we can get 8-10 we'll be in good shape.

pete8314 said:

I'm intrigued, but might be too rich for my blood (I'd want the Option 2)....will keep an eye on this thread though. Do you if they also add acoustic panels to get rid of some of the panel vibration/oscillation?

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spatterso911 would be the guy to ask. He had his car done already (check the main thread). Apparently they are still tweaking it a little with software. I'll pm him.

Here's the response I got from spatterso911:

For the purposes of this description, I'm assuming the changes were made to a vehicle with Sound Studio package upgrades previously done by Tesla. Mine was the first Tesla they ever upgraded, so although it is a Level II, the sub is an 8", replacing the sub from the Sound Studio Package. They will replace it with the 10" upon request for me, given that they technically changed the package, although I'm having second thoughts on changing anything because it sounds so good as is.


I did help them with shaping the enclosure for the 10 and saw the final product, though.


The enclosure is located in the trunk footwell, passenger side, and is a full enclosure, covered in matching carpet. They make it look well integrated, and the woofer fires downward. The enclosure is removable, although I don't know what connects the sub to the system. The cover can completely cover the footwell and look inconspicuous. Very tastefully done.


They definitely upgraded the A-pillar speakers from tweets to mids, likely with crossovers to control the input frequencies. The front dash board tweeters were left alone, as they felt that they were sufficient and remain powered by the Tesla amp. I believe the center channel was replaced, and an additional center channel tweeter was added, mounted behind the rearview mirror mount. Cliff and Rick wanted to mount it in the mirror, but couldn't figure out how to dismantle the mirror housing. They were only able to remove the mirror and the mount housing. I think the mirror is sealed, but they said the mirror is about $700 so they decided not to pay that exorbitant amount for the purposes of R&D.


The door speakers are capable mids mounted in their own enclosures. They could theoretically be replaced (a la Dr.Taras and his Focal speaker upgrades), but decided that they met the needs of the system and after listening to them for a month (I have even played Skrillex - "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" on volume 11 and it plays clean and sounds amazing if you are into Dub Step music!). We talked about the rear hatch speakers and those were left alone as well...


The amp is a low power consumption Class D amp that outputs about 550 watts RMS. It is incredibly powerful, and is way more than you would need for any in-car audio system. It is wired to a volume control knob located at the drive's side knee. I keep it at about 1 out of 10 and that is more than enough power for the sub. It's really quite incredible sounding actually. I'm a semi-professional bass player, have played in many bands over the years (20+) and I am very bass-oriented. I have to say that the bass response is very tight, and on my spectrum analyzer, gives response down to about 12 Hz. My previous vehicle, also done by them, had factory subs located underneath the driver and passenger seats (M-Audio upgrade for the e60 M5) and this exceeds the quality of bass response and "butt-o-meter" feeling.


The amp is mounted in the trunk area, underneath the beam which forms the driver-side wall of the trunk well. As you may already know, that space connects to the storage area on the driver-side, but after installation of the amp, they are more like two separate compartments. It is also covered in carpet, and I probably would never have noticed the change if they hadn't showed me.


All Tesla controls work, and as a bonus, there is much better output and realistic response with the Dolby Pro Logic setting on, particularly if you are listening to encoded music. I encoded several DVD-A albums (Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Sting - Sacred Love, Enigma) to test out the system, and all I can say is "Wow!". I used to have an Acura TL-S with the ELS sound system, set up specifically for the DVD-A platform with Pro-Logic encoding, and although most discs are encoded with 5-channels, it handles the 7 channels well, and the rear hatch speakers come alive when they need to. Very well integrated!


No additional acoustic panels were added as far as I know. The car is so quiet that it doesn't need much more acoustic isolation. Volume 5 fills the cabin nicely and eliminates the road sounds. What was missing in the stock system was a spatial presence of the mids and very poor bass response. It required too much volume to get a satisfactory experience. This system fixes that. Volume 7 is perfect for contemporary jazz pieces. I especially like the Four Play song "Karma" at this level.


After the install, the only visual cue to the upgrade is the center channel tweeter located on the mirror mount. It's really quite invisible and everything looks stock afterwards, no damage to the original parts or adjacent panels during teardown.


That's it for the upgrade changes for the Level II upgrade package. I know that the Level IV system includes their custom self-designed low profile speakers, but I think they are about $4000 each! I have heard the system and it sounds phenomenal, but I'd only spend that much if there was a real need. I don't see it, personally.


Only real nit pick is that the sub is so powerful, that it can overpower the rest of the system if you increased the volume to more than about 5 (the individual volume control knob I mentioned previously). I think it is very well priced system, and the nice part about them is that once you install a Reus system, if you sell your car, you can have system removed and installed in your next car for only the labor costs, even if they use new custom components. These guys have worked on just about every mobile audio solution imaginable and really know how to match your sonic needs. I am a very eclectic audiophile, listening to everything from country, blues, jazz, and rock to punk, rap and dub step music. Most systems can match one or the other, but this system handles all of them well, with only minor adjustments to the Tesla EQ.


I hope this helps you and those who are interested in upgrading their system.

Well we got two interested then...LOL...wish we could get 5-10...

I just heard from Cliff Johnson from Reus. He's working on planning a trip to Texas, hitting Houston, Austin and Dallas. If anyone is interested in the upgrade, please post a note here. Cliff is following the thread and will likely get in touch with you (or I can PM you his contact information and pricing list).

Thanks,

- Andy

texex91 said:

In Austin and interested. I thought they have a location in Houston??

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Apparently Cliff works out of California and travels to do his installations. The group in Houston apparently doesn't do the installs. Go figure. Cliff is talking about hitting Houston, swinging though Dallas and Austin then returning home.

So Cliff is planning on being in Houston next week for 6-7 installs and then plans to drive up to Dallas for our installs. He's thinking Sept 21st-22nd. Sounds like it would work best if the Austin folks can come up to Dallas for the installs. I am emailing him regarding the logistics of all this.

The prices are the same as those offered at Teslive and pretty close to what was quoted in this thread. I will PM the folks who have expressed interest on this thread with the information I have so far. He does have travel expenses of $400-$500 per install which will be less if we can get more people to commit.

There are 5 different packages (3 of which are identically priced). The price list is confidential so I will PM anyone who wants to know but don't feel right posting it on the forum. I am PMing everyone on this thread so check your inbox.