Gen2 premium sound front door speakers

[Jivian]

I've noticed that the speakers in the front door (gen 2 R1S Tri, premium sound) are only outputting low end sounds and almost no midrange or higher. This is different than the speakers in the rear door which are outputting low and midrange frequencies and the highs are being produced by a tweeter higher in the door. Additionally, the speakers near the grab handles of the rear doors are producing nothing. I do have 3d sound turned off and not listening to Atmos.

My question is, is this intended behavior or is something wrong with my particular system (software 2024.47)?

The reason I checked this in the first place is that I felt the sound mostly felt like it's coming from the dash in the front and it gives the effect of nothing coming from the door-- different from all other cars I've had.

On the whole, with a good source (Amazon music built in app) the system sounds pretty good but it feels like the distribution of sound is suboptimal. Essentially, it feels like Rivian has set the crossover frequencies for the front speakers incorrectly for the speaker drivers in the door.

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[Woo]

I noticed the same thing from the day I picked mine (R1T Tri Max) up from the delivery location. It "feels" like one of my speakers isn't correctly connected. When I have something that really pans some audio elements to the extreme right and left, the audio starts to sound "normal".

It seems that the current processing is heavily emphasizing "surround" efects in a weird way. As if the system puts everything in the center unless it's only on one side. If it's only slightly panned, it seems to go right to the center. If it is hard panned, it moves way over and sounds pretty good.

Atmos music is a different situation and within that there is the subset of Apple and Tidal.

I'll do some testing with a variety of tracks later and pay attention. I've been meaning to do this but now that I'm not the only one, I'm more motivated

 

[Vivsies]

I only have the std gen2 audio (after the prior update, I wish I got the premium) but I've noticed that the front speakers have very little low end . The bass is pretty much all from the rear speakers (which sucks bc the kids don't like it too loud in the back but that's where all the low end comes from ?)

 

[Golfer04]

I only have the std gen2 audio (after the prior update, I wish I got the premium) but I've noticed that the front speakers have very little low end . The bass is pretty much all from the rear speakers (which sucks bc the kids don't like it too loud in the back but that's where all the low end comes from ?)

I noticed the same thing from the day I picked mine (R1T Tri Max) up from the delivery location. It "feels" like one of my speakers isn't correctly connected. When I have something that really pans some audio elements to the extreme right and left, the audio starts to sound "normal".

It seems that the current processing is heavily emphasizing "surround" efects in a weird way. As if the system puts everything in the center unless it's only on one side. If it's only slightly panned, it seems to go right to the center. If it is hard panned, it moves way over and sounds pretty good.

Atmos music is a different situation and within that there is the subset of Apple and Tidal.

I'll do some testing with a variety of tracks later and pay attention. I've been meaning to do this but now that I'm not the only one, I'm more motivated

I have Tri with premium sound also. Have the same issue. I put a ticket in. Mobile tech tested it and said "to be honest this just isn't a good system". It tested "within spec"?. He did say they hope to improve it with an OTA, but wasn't sure when.

 

[Woo]

OK so did some testing and also did a couple of infotainment resets. I don't think this is conclusive but there seems to be something going on with the audio processing that an infotainment reset seems to help. I did it a couple of times.

Tested with a few different tracks and definitely had the "everything is in the center" experience, then tested with tracks I knew had hard separation. Shake It Up - The Cars, the beginning of The Way by Fastball goes from a mono center to an expanded sound stage. There were others and it was clear that only the hard pans were coming from the sides. The opening keyboard sound on Girls Just Want to Have Fun was cool to hear but then a lot of the song was dead center.

After a couple of infotainment resets (stopped after the playlist icons stopped coming up as blanks) the problem was mostly gone. Hard pans still sounded great but the whole sound stage was better. Not perfect but better for sure.

I'll keep poking around but at this point I think that outside of infotainment resets, I think their processing needs to be adjusted further to widen the soundstage.

 

[Jivian]

After a couple of infotainment resets (stopped after the playlist icons stopped coming up as blanks) the problem was mostly gone. Hard pans still sounded great but the whole sound stage was better. Not perfect but better for sure.

I'll give that a try too and report back.

Have you tried actually putting your ear near the speaker on the door to hear what's coming out? It's a little tricky to do if you want to do it with the door closed but pretty easy if you get out and listen with the door open (though the vehicle lowers the volume by 8db according to the guide, I believe).

That's how I determined it's missing most of the frequency range.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

For me these sound issues seem song dependent. Most of the EDM I listen to sounds good but rock stuff is really hit or miss. That must be a digital processing issue, and I'm sure it will be improved. Overall my experience is close to the Meridian I traded in but not quite there.

 

[Woo]

I'll give that a try too and report back.

Have you tried actually putting your ear near the speaker on the door to hear what's coming out? It's a little tricky to do if you want to do it with the door closed but pretty easy if you get out and listen with the door open (though the vehicle lowers the volume by 8db according to the guide, I believe).

That's how I determined it's missing most of the frequency range.

I'll test that. I have not done exactly that as I can hear the difference sitting in a normal position. I'm pretty sure that the door speakers reproduce what's sent to them fairly faithfully. The problem being that they get sent hardly anything normally.

More to come...

 

[SJC]

I have an R1S gen 2 with premium sound. I was really excited to hear the system with its 18 speakers. After listening to a wide range of music from classical to rock to acoustical guitars and vocal harmonies and podcasts, I will say that it is mostly very good. However, with higher octave frequencies with acoustical guitars, piano and vocals, especially harmonies, there is a noticeable annoying reverb is how I would best describe it. I am hoping this isn’t a speaker quality issue, but something future updates can clean up. I’m also wondering if anyone else notices this.

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