Disappointed with sound system...

roystep · Jan 10, 2015

Hi all.
Extremely happy new owner of a P85D here. Amazing car!!
2 gripes though.
The iphone app is quirky, on and off as far as communicating with the car...
and
I am disapointed in the audio quality of the sound system. I did spring for the supposedly ultra-high fidelity system. When you read the description, they talk about concert hall quality, and sound tuned with musicians... Really??
I don't hear this at all, i hear an average system at best....to the point where i wonder if they didn't by mistake forgot to upgrade my system??
How can i know for sure i have the UHF in there?

Thanks,

Steph

richrootes · Jan 10, 2015

Hi Steph

i believe the UHF system has a sub woofer in the trunk, rear right

i heard the upgraded audio prior to ordering, and left it off the list (the quality wasn't as elevated as expected)

What type of files/music have you tried?

pgiralt · Jan 10, 2015

Do you have XM radio listed as a choice on the media app? On the right corner of your trunk, is there an opening on like there is on the left or is it sealed? The subwoofer for the UHF audio is in that corner if you have it and only UHF has XM.

They do hype it up a bit in the description but I do find that it is much better than the non high fidelity version. I'd say it's better than average but you can do better. Many have done the Reus upgrade on top of the UHF and have been really happy with that.

roystep · Jan 10, 2015

richrootes said:
Hi Steph

i believe the UHF system has a sub woofer in the trunk, rear right

i heard the upgraded audio prior to ordering, and left it off the list (the quality wasn't as elevated as expected)

What type of files/music have you tried?

Only music from Slacker and streamed with BT from my iphone.
I know, not the best sources, but still very average sound, very thin highs IMHO...

- - - Updated - - -

pgiralt said:
Do you have XM radio listed as a choice on the media app? On the right corner of your trunk, is there an opening on like there is on the left or is it sealed? The subwoofer for the UHF audio is in that corner if you have it and only UHF has XM/QUOTE]

Ok thanks, i will take a look!

Gizmotoy · Jan 10, 2015

roystep said:
Only music from Slacker and streamed with BT from my iphone.
I know, not the best sources, but still very average sound, very thin highs IMHO...

Part of the issue, IMO. I have no idea why, but the Tesla system is extremely sensitive to source quality, to a degree I've never heard in another vehicle. Put some FLAC (or high bitrate MP3s) on a USB drive and compare.

Also, the stock settings are poor. You really need to kick the bass up a moderate amount and the treble slightly in the EQ. I've found pushing the fade a bit towards the back of the car helps as well. There's a thread around here somewhere where people share their settings, but I think I use Bass +3.5, Mid 0, Treble +1.5, Fade -7.

That said, it's pretty well agreed upon around here that the system isn't great. You would have been really disappointed with the standard system, though. The sub absolutely adds much-needed low end to fill out the sound, and the upgraded front speakers do a much better job as well.

roystep · Jan 10, 2015

pgiralt said:
Do you have XM radio listed as a choice on the media app? On the right corner of your trunk, is there an opening on like there is on the left or is it sealed? The subwoofer for the UHF audio is in that corner if you have it and only UHF has XM/QUOTE]

Ok thanks, i will take a look!

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Gizmotoy said:

Part of the issue, IMO. I have no idea why, but the Tesla system is extremely sensitive to source quality, to a degree I've never heard in another vehicle. Put some FLAC (or high bitrate MP3s) on a USB drive and compare.

Also, the stock settings are poor. You really need to kick the bass up a moderate amount and the treble slightly in the EQ. I've found pushing the balance a bit towards the back of the car helps as well.

That said, it's pretty well agreed upon around here that the system isn't great. You would have been really disappointed with the standard system, though. The sub absolutely adds much-needed low end to fill out the sound, and the upgraded front speakers do a much better job as well.

Click to expand...

Don!t really have access to FLAC...

I noticed that if i move the fader to all the way in the back, the sound is ridiculously thin and muffled...
Anybody else?

- - - Updated - - -

Bear with me guys, i am making a mess of those Reply with Quote buttons here

Gizmotoy · Jan 10, 2015

roystep said:
Don!t really have access to FLAC...

I noticed that if i move the fader to all the way in the back, the sound is ridiculously thin and muffled...
Anybody else?

You responded as I was updating my post, so see above.

No CDs to rip? Use a high bitrate MP3, maybe 320kbps, or something instead. Pretty much anything is better than our low bitrate Slacker.

Don't fade all the way to the back. The best speakers are in the front. The rears are all small, so fading all the way to the back hurts quality. You want to fade back enough to bring in the sub a bit more, but not enough that you're hiding those front speakers.

roystep · Jan 10, 2015

Gizmotoy said:
You responded as I was updating my post, so see above.

No CDs to rip? Use a high bitrate MP3, maybe 320kbps, or something instead. Pretty much anything is better than our low bitrate Slacker.

Don't fade all the way to the back. The best speakers are in the front. The rears are all small, so fading all the way to the back hurts quality. You want to fade back enough to bring in the sub a bit more, but not enough that you're hiding those front speakers.

Ok i will try that. Something like a + 4 rear bias i suppose.

And yes i will try to get a better source to listen to, just to see the potential...even though i find the conveniencecof Slacker pretty fantastic ...and so do my teenage girls who control the music in hte car anyways...

GaryREM · Jan 10, 2015

roystep said:
Ok i will try that. Something like a + 4 rear bias i suppose.

And yes i will try to get a better source to listen to, just to see the potential...even though i find the conveniencecof Slacker pretty fantastic ...and so do my teenage girls who control the music in hte car anyways...

If you are going to fade to the rear, turn off Dolby surround sound. Huge difference (unless they've made changes with latest firmware).

drsaab · Jan 10, 2015

And make sure you select "best" quality for slacker in the settings menu.

I have bass and treble up about 3.5. Faded to 9 back.

EarlyAdopter · Jan 10, 2015

I think everyone covered the basics, but to sum up:

1. Turn off Dolby Surround.
2. Make sure to select "Best" audio quality for Slacker in Settings.
3. Don't judge based on highly compressed audio, like XM or low bit rate mp3s. Use high bit rate or lossless.

sataponw · Jan 10, 2015

This setting works great for me:
Bass +1 Mid -1.5 Treble 0 Fade -4 Dolby off

Just another choice for you.

andrewket · Jan 10, 2015

Contact cliff at reusaudio.com. Aftermarket mods to the tesla system that improve it quite a bit.

ra-san · Jan 10, 2015

I got the ultra blah blah system and was hoping for the best but fearing the worst based on threads from the past. I will admit to being pretty unimpressed for the first few hours of listen time, no matter the source, including lossless. However in the last few days, the system has really started to sound better to me. Recently, I'd been cranking it up louder (8 +/- 1) to help break in the speakers, and I don't know whether it was the few hours of that, or whether it was some change in 6.1, but the bass has really started to come through, and the sound in general just sounds a lot fuller. I'm satisfied with it enough now to not be thinking of modifications.

KalOrtPor · Jan 10, 2015

I'm glad I sprung for the premium sound, but it doesn't really sound premium. I directly compared the same lossless music to my 7 year old S550 and the latter sounded much better by a wide margin. It's hard to explain, but everything seems to have a tinny, somewhat digitized sound quality to it (snare drum beats and "S" sounds especially, like it has some kind of slight lisp), no matter what the source or material, and the sound has a thinness to it, that just doesn't sound as punchy and full as other systems I've heard. Definitely not $2,500 better.....I'd be willing to upgrade to something like the Reus, but not sure who the go-to is for these cars in the Northeast.

gzerninplatz · Jan 10, 2015

I keep Dolby on, even with the rear fade and EQ mods....whether it is better seems to depend on program source.

jerry33 · Jan 11, 2015

The best sound comes from lossless tracks on a thumb drive (FLAC is what I use). Even then, if the recording isn't done well--and many aren't--it will still sound not so good.

My understanding is that some audio systems have software which masks the effects of poor original recording or lossy tracks. That makes a lot of music sound better, but it does introduce distortion from the way it was recorded. With the Tesla system, as far as I can tell, you get what was recorded minus any loss from lossy sources. And a car isn't the best listening environment to start with. The Reus system is certainly better, but it's also $3-7K additional, so it's a subjective call as to whether it's worth it or not.

Merrill · Jan 11, 2015

I agree with jerry33, I burn my cd's to iTunes and use MAC program to convert to FLAC then download to usb. Most of the time depending on where the cd came from they sound very good but once in a while they need pumping up with bass or volumn. I have one beatles album that came from Russia, do not know why that is purchased from Amazon but just not re-recorded very well.

Vger · Jan 11, 2015

jerry33 said:
The best sound comes from lossless tracks on a thumb drive (FLAC is what I use). Even then, if the recording isn't done well--and many aren't--it will still sound not so good.

My understanding is that some audio systems have software which masks the effects of poor original recording or lossy tracks. That makes a lot of music sound better, but it does introduce distortion from the way it was recorded. With the Tesla system, as far as I can tell, you get what was recorded minus any loss from lossy sources. And a car isn't the best listening environment to start with. The Reus system is certainly better, but it's also $3-7K additional, so it's a subjective call as to whether it's worth it or not.

I also agree with jerry33's impressions. We have the mid-level Reus upgrade (front centre channel, upgraded front tweeters, additional sub) on top of the original UHF system on our Sig P85. With really great-engineered recordings (Dylan "Blood on the Tracks"; Dead "American Beauty" come to mind, along with any classical from Reference Recordings) on high-sample-rate FLAC, the sound is better than anything I have ever heard in a car.

Soon we get our P85D, with whatever improvements Tesla have made to UHF. It will be really interesting to do side-by-side back-to-back comparison listening with the same lossless source source materials. :wink:

wayner · Jan 11, 2015

I am no audio expert but I think the sound from Slacker is pretty good, except the sound from XM radio. But I believe that XM only uses 64kbps.

Where do you up the quality for Slacker? And does it differ if you pay for the Slacker premium account?

I am not the familiar with Slacker but I have used a Spotify Premium account for a while. With S;acler you get the option of Normal (96kbps), High (160kbps) and Extreme (320 kbps). I could understand if Tesla didn't like us upping the bitrate of the data since they are on the nut for our data charges.

Disappointed with sound system...

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