Miss the rumble of a mighty engine? AM radio to the rescue!

flashflood · Jul 11, 2014

This is arguably a bug, but I think it's the coolest thing ever.

(1) Come to a full stop.

(2) Tune your AM radio -- your otherwise worthless, static-filled, analog, crappy AM radio -- to the lowest station number on which you don't get signal. For me it's 530 -- YMMV. Anything in the 530 to 620 kHz range seems to work pretty well.

(3) Crank up the volume.

(4) Crank up the bass.

(5) Floor it!

Love it, love it, love it. It's like someone's spooling up the warp drive.

Caloncho · Jul 11, 2014

really? I'll definitely try it (hope you are not pulling my leg)

MikeC · Jul 11, 2014

Noticed the same effect with FM radio in a parking garage with really poor reception - I was wondering if the sound was really triggered by the accelerator or if I was going crazy.

mhpr262 · Jul 12, 2014

Perhaps Tesla should offer that as an update ... optional V8 and V12 sounds over the loudspeakers ... might be fun from time to time.

bonnie · Jul 12, 2014

You miss noise? What? Huh? You do?

-confuzzled-

NigelM · Jul 12, 2014

flashflood said:
This is arguably a bug, but I think it's the coolest thing ever.
<snip>
Love it, love it, love it. It's like someone's spooling up the warp drive.

Curious folks want to know how you discovered this?

dirkhh · Jul 12, 2014

bonnie said:
You miss noise? What? Huh? You do?

-confuzzled-

More like "speechless".
Not having that noise is one of my favorite features

flashflood · Jul 13, 2014

NigelM said:
Curious folks want to know how you discovered this?

Like most discoveries: by accident. I was listening to a real AM station and noticed a faint sound that correlated with speed. It made sense: AM radio is notoriously sensitive to EMI, and the antenna is three feet away from a 300,000 watt AC induction motor. I figured that an unused band would amplify the noise more, and than some bands would pick it up better than others. From there it was just trial and error to locate KTSLA, 530 on your AM dial.

flashflood · Jul 13, 2014

mhpr262 said:
Perhaps Tesla should offer that as an update ... optional V8 and V12 sounds over the loudspeakers ... might be fun from time to time.

Indeed, that could be a lot of fun. However, a word of caution: I have discovered anecdotally that this kind of audio feedback encourages bad behavior...

mhpr262 · Jul 13, 2014

bonnie said:
You miss noise? What? Huh? You do?

dirkhh said:
More like "speechless".

Only optional of course, like I said. Why not, it can't be more than a few kilobytes on the internal memory. No weight or mileage penalty. Just some fun gadget you can play around with. When one reads critical comments about the Model S some people really seem to miss the sound (or are afraid they're going to miss it)

bonnie · Jul 13, 2014

mhpr262 said:
Only optional of course, like I said. Why not, it can't be more than a few kilobytes on the internal memory. No weight or mileage penalty. Just some fun gadget you can play around with. When one reads critical comments about the Model S some people really seem to miss the sound (or are afraid they're going to miss it)

I don't understand this 'miss noise pollution' argument.

flashflood · Jul 13, 2014

bonnie said:
I don't understand this 'miss noise pollution' argument.

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

Of course, I agree completely about road noise, wind noise, random rattles, etc. But there's something magical about the deep, powerful rumble of a V-8 engine.

I wouldn't want to hear the motor (or engine imitation) all the time, but it's fun to hear now and then.

The cool thing about AM 530 is that it's not just a sound effect, it's what your motor really sounds like – you just can't hear it. This might sound corny, but I feel closer to my car having heard its voice.

FLDarren · Jul 14, 2014

Gave this a try last night. It worked! Mine worked with 550AM. Of course I did this with no nearby passerbys. Most people don't know Model S is 100% electric. I sure don't want to confuse the people who know Model S is electric or misinform the ones who know nothing of Model S.

It it may be fun to tell friends I downgraded and had an ICE installed. Haha

Yet another conversation starter.

teslasguy · Jul 15, 2014

I use an iPhone app called xlr8 to Bluetooth stream a dodge hemi rumble when I wanna mess with my ICE buddies. Turn the volume up on car and open all windows and sunroof.

tliving · Jul 20, 2014

flashflood said:
This is arguably a bug, but I think it's the coolest thing ever.

(1) Come to a full stop.

(2) Tune your AM radio -- your otherwise worthless, static-filled, analog, crappy AM radio -- to the lowest station number on which you don't get signal. For me it's 530 -- YMMV. Anything in the 530 to 620 kHz range seems to work pretty well.

(3) Crank up the volume.

(4) Crank up the bass.

(5) Floor it!

Love it, love it, love it. It's like someone's spooling up the warp drive.

Unfortunately I seem to get this on all my AM stations. Going to have them check the antenna next time its in... Was amusing until I found out I couldn't get any AM for traffic updates.

Dialing through AM/FM Radio on the Tesla Model S Touchscreen - TESLARATI.com

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Miss the rumble of a mighty engine? AM radio to the rescue!

flashflood

Member

Caloncho

LongerTelomeres?

MikeC

Active Member

mhpr262

Member

bonnie

I play a nice person on twitter.

NigelM

Recovering Member

dirkhh

Middle-aged Member

flashflood

Member

flashflood

Member

mhpr262

Member

bonnie

I play a nice person on twitter.

flashflood

Member

FLDarren

Member

teslasguy

MSP P#1117

tliving

Member

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