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Rookie Audio Question
- Thread starter Jau24
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- Model S User Interface
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Anything that uses power will have an impact on range. How much will depend on the power draw and efficiency of the amp. Considering the battery is of the motorcycle variety, you probably need to be careful with your amp selection.
A 500 watt rated amp means at max continuous power for a full hour straight you'd use .5kW in an hour. Obviously you'd actually only use a small fraction of that in real usage, especially with a good class D amp. For comparison, turn your heat on high and run that max for an hour and you'd use 6-8kW in an hour. In other words, audio upgrades like this would have such very little impact on range. Maybe a loss of 1 mile every other hour or so lol. So have at it.
Runs Kwh
Member
oh yeah. big time. Tesla's "ultra high fidelity sound" is nothing "ultra spectacular". i've had custom systems in my previous vehicles and it's really night and day. The upgraded Tesla factory system is "ok", but nothing great at all when your speaking on really high end performance systems. It's REALLY lacking a lot of bass. The 8" woofer only sounds good at one specific frequency. One single 10" or 12" JL Audio subwoofer would really put Tesla's 8" woofer to shame. In addition, the mid to highs is also just "ok" compared to some real hi fidelity speakers like Focal. If you've ever seen the factory speakers, they are pretty poor construction and nothing good enough to call ultra high fidelity. I will admit that it's the best "factory" system I've personally seen. but this is still far short of a real high fidelity system.
I did not choose the premium sound system. Instead the original speakers (apart from the front center one) were replaced with Focal speakers (PS165FX, PC165). In the trunk we put a Rockford Fosgate sub (Slim punch 12") and a small amp (Mosconi 120.2, 350W) to drive it. To reduce the road noise the trunk and rear wheelwells were covered with the same bitumen mat Tesla has put small pathces here and there. All doors had the same treatment. Total cost EUR3000 (parts 1500, work 1500).
The effect is a much better sound quality, better than the premium sound system I would say. Noise level at 100 kmh and above was reduced by 2 db (S85, 19 inch wheels). Now my car is 1-1.5db quieter than my old Audi A7, which is a meaningful difference.
When you put in a sub, do use some time to get the level and phase right to get the bass you want.
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... forgot to mention that a level controller was installed below the dashboard. You can adjust the sub level from the drivers seat, better than diving into the trunk...
The effect is a much better sound quality, better than the premium sound system I would say. Noise level at 100 kmh and above was reduced by 2 db (S85, 19 inch wheels). Now my car is 1-1.5db quieter than my old Audi A7, which is a meaningful difference.
When you put in a sub, do use some time to get the level and phase right to get the bass you want.
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... forgot to mention that a level controller was installed below the dashboard. You can adjust the sub level from the drivers seat, better than diving into the trunk...
can you provide a bit more detail? aka where did you get your audio inputs for the sub amp , any crossover, eq, etc used to clean up sound ?? also where did you mount the amp? what level controller did you use? pics would be great!
The sub amp gets signal from the front speaker terminals of Tesla's amp. The Mosconi amp has low/highpass filter where I put the limit to the lowest possible so that the sub does not affect mid bass too much. I adjusted the sub almost totally out of phase. Thus I got a clean bass that extends quite low. It is a matter of taste, some like to have the sub in phase with the main speakers to produce the maximum bass. I went for more resolution instead. The Focal PS165FX includes a crossover. No extra eq unit used. The amp is mounted in the pocket on right side of the trunk. The sub lies in the compartment under trunk floor. The level controller is Mosconi RTC.
Pictures would be of little use since the speakers fitted in the original slots and the amp is a black box in a black trunk. I'll take a pic of the sub & co. Good luck with your project!
Pictures would be of little use since the speakers fitted in the original slots and the amp is a black box in a black trunk. I'll take a pic of the sub & co. Good luck with your project!
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forgive me for the following noobish questions, every other system I've installed and worked with had line outs so I'm not as guru-ish when getting signals from speaker lines, lol ->
why would you pull the signal from the front speaker terminals of Tesla's amp instead of their subwoofer speaker terminal? and did you just pigtail it to split it? I'm assuming you didn't permanently disconnect any of the front speakers, right? would pigtailing like this affect quality to the front speaker or to the aftermarket sub amp? and wouldn't their built in amp/eq already filter out low bass from the front speaker lines thus degrading the signal you are sending to your aftermarket amp?
Sorry, can't tell, did not do the job myself, had it done and the guy said the sub amp gets the signal from the same source as the front speakers. I assume there is no line out for the front channel and thus i assumed it is connected the same way as a REL sub, of which i have two at home.
a sub amp can have two types of input, high and low level. Signal from speaker terminals go to the high level input. With my REL subs there is no degradation in the sound from main speakers. The connection is parallel, the signal goes to both the main speakers and the amp in the sub.
a sub amp can have two types of input, high and low level. Signal from speaker terminals go to the high level input. With my REL subs there is no degradation in the sound from main speakers. The connection is parallel, the signal goes to both the main speakers and the amp in the sub.
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