Door speakers not putting out much sound... normal?

[rkalbiar]

My R1T front door speakers are not putting out much sound.. definitely no highs or mids. Maybe just bass??
The Rear Door speakers sound …. Full range.

is this normal? Are the front door speakers not full range drivers?

thanks

Sponsored

 

[COdogman]

Do you possibly have it faded more to the rear?

 

[rkalbiar]

Welp. Just found out it is normal. Hmm. Not a fan of that choice.
For those who do not know:
https://www.meridian-audio.com/media/8d9e24b1af5e762/rivian-r1t-meridian-at-a-glance.pdf

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Why do you need the door speakers putting out highs/mids at your feet when you've got multiple tweeters and midranges near ear level in the dash?

I've owned a range of luxury vehicles and this is the best sound system any of them has ever had. I don't personally have any issues with speaker placement.

 

[COdogman]

Welp. Just found out it is normal. Hmm. Not a fan of that choice.
For those who do not know:
https://www.meridian-audio.com/media/8d9e24b1af5e762/rivian-r1t-meridian-at-a-glance.pdf

I don’t have my truck yet but it sure sounded pretty sharp when I had my test drive. You don’t like the overall sound? It seems like they have the entire range covered between all the speakers.

 

[madgrey]

This is the first car audio system I've owned in a long time that I've been able to listen to out of the box with a variety of music. I had a Meridian system with similar specs about 4 years ago in a wagon that I was constantly messing with depending on music choice.

High frequencies in a sound system need to be pointed at the listeners. I'm guessing that having the higher frequencies covered by low speakers would actually degrade the system. But I'm not a sound engineer...

 

[rkalbiar]

IMO the audio system in the R1T is good, but it is not great. Not the best I have ever had in a vehicle for sure. I still have some hopes the speakers are not broken in yet and will improve.
You can tell the highs/mids are coming from ‘above’. The sound is a bit separated. That sound separation is how I discovered this…. Again, I genuinely thought my drivers door Speaker was not functioning, at first.
Again, the system is good but not great. Seems like a few tweaks or design choice differences could have made it great.

 

[Prime]

IMO the audio system in the R1T is good, but it is not great. Not the best I have ever had in a vehicle for sure. I still have some hopes the speakers are not broken in yet and will improve.
You can tell the highs/mids are coming from ‘above’. The sound is a bit separated. That sound separation is how I discovered this…. Again, I genuinely thought my drivers door Speaker was not functioning, at first.
Again, the system is good but not great. Seems like a few tweaks or design choice differences could have made it great.

From my multiple experiences and 2 day rental I concur it’s not other worldly audio quality. Model Y to my ears has better clarity and instrument separation - may not be better speakers, but better software. That said I do think it’s better than most if not all mid tier Bose / B&O / HK systems. I don’t think it matches the ultra high end Mark Levinson and B&O in Lexus and Audi, but those are also typically several thousand dollar upgrades just for the sound system. So for a stock system I thought it sounded great without any tuning, maybe with software updates it can get even better over time.

 

[jffkm]

Im pretty convinced the tweeters/drivers in the headliner aren’t working at all. Do they only selectively fire under certain conditions? I’ve tried messing with the 3d settings as well as playing a full range of electronic test tones but no sound seems to be coming from them. Also done a full vehicle reset etc. I read that some taller people complain they are too loud but I’m literally jamming my ear against them and can’t hear anything at all. Anyone have a similar problem and successfully resolve?

 

[Michaewh]

Why do you need the door speakers putting out highs/mids at your feet when you've got multiple tweeters and midranges near ear level in the dash?

Its nice to open the door to continue listen to my music when I'm getting ready for my activity (mt. biking). I can open the rear door, but its a bit cramped while I'm using the gear tunnel door as a seat...

 

[SparkyR1t]

I have also noticed I only have significant sound out of the rear door speakers regardless of the fade/balance settings. Not sure what the issue is as of yet. Not 100% sure there are speakers behind all the grills??

 

[Inkedsphynx]

Its nice to open the door to continue listen to my music when I'm getting ready for my activity (mt. biking). I can open the rear door, but its a bit cramped while I'm using the gear tunnel door as a seat...

Use the camp speaker. I dunno, that seems like a pretty niche use case to have required us all to pay more money for better/more complex speakers so you can listen to better audio with your door open for 5 minutes while you get your gear on

 

[Prime]

I have also noticed I only have significant sound out of the rear door speakers regardless of the fade/balance settings. Not sure what the issue is as of yet. Not 100% sure there are speakers behind all the grills??

As others have noted the door speaker in the front only has a woofer for bass tones. No midrange or tweeter. The rear door has all three. The front doors don’t require tweeters or midrange drivers as there’s several facing you from the front dash and a-pillars. If you’re not listening to a bassy track or just listening to a podcast or news you likely won’t hear much out of the front door speaker.

Meridian schematics attached

 

[SparkyR1t]

So help me out the speakers labeled as “Heights” they do what?

Sponsored