Meridian Speaker Swap to Elevation System Speakers?

[Dr Gonzo]

Has anyone tried swapping in the OEM meridian door speakers to an elevation system? I see others have tried non OEM speakers with factory system and gotten error codes, but has anyone tried the meridian speakers? My thinking was to pull some door meridians and see if it a) worked and b) improved the elevation sound. Thanks.

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[AYAYRON]

meridian speakers aren't good sounding to begin with if they worked you'd end up with nearly an identical sound performance.

Rivian's audio is extremely lackluster

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Yeah totally agree on the lackluster sound, but meridian does make acceptable gear for the top end Range Rover audio packages, and the meridian Rivian speakers seem to have quite a bit more magnet vs elevation. Swapping the meridian door speakers isn’t going to 100% improve things, but if it made the mid less muddy and I can buy them for a couple hundred pulled from a wreck, maybe it’s worth it. My concern is compatibility. Still can’t believe on the delivery day I was told “elevation system sounds better, and with LESS rare earth magnet…”

 

[R1Tom]

Yeah totally agree on the lackluster sound, but meridian does make acceptable gear for the top end Range Rover audio packages, and the meridian Rivian speakers seem to have quite a bit more magnet vs elevation. Swapping the meridian door speakers isn’t going to 100% improve things, but if it made the mid less muddy and I can buy them for a couple hundred pulled from a wreck, maybe it’s worth it. My concern is compatibility. Still can’t believe on the delivery day I was told “elevation system sounds better, and with LESS rare earth magnet…”

Plenty of people have bought into the Rivian marketing that claims the Elevation costs less, has less magnet weight, and sounds better story.

It was a cost cutting move. And when they had customers lined up around the block to buy trucks...maybe it made sense.

Not anymore....

Hoping the retool brings a premium audio package back to the offering...

 

[vandy1981]

Plenty of people have bought into the Rivian marketing that claims the Elevation costs less, has less magnet weight, and sounds better story.

The audio quality is one of my biggest non-CarPlay gripes about our R1S.

I have a sublime Meridian system in my Jaguar I-Pace and the R1S sounds jarringly bad compared to that.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Do you know the Rivian and Meridian branded speakers are not in fact from the same factory? You don't. In fact, some vehicles delivered with Rivian audio had Meridian branded speakers. I've said this repeatedly, in the auto business, audio gear is often just a licensing deal and the hardware is usually made by a 3rd party. And consumer impression of quality, associated with brand names, is more or less a placebo effect.

If you're going to take the trouble of removing trim panels to get access to the speakers, you might as well just swap to higher end aftermarket speakers, instead of OEM-level gear (branded or otherwise). IMO, the speakers are adequate, just not as sexy as aftermarket ones made of audiophile quality materials like aramid fibers. The problem is lack of vibration deadening. Willing to bet audio performance will be noticeably improved if the interior and trim panels were treated with Dynamat or similar product—to reduce rattling. I would do that before dropping coin on a whole new speaker system and amps to power them.

 

[kcsly]

I've swapped the elevation door speakers for Kicker 6x9s. very nice improvement and well worth the time and effort. Was seriously thinking about adding powered subwoofer but with the replacement speakers and with the graphic EQ recommendation (big benefit), probably not.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

You simply swapped some in some kicker 6x9 to the doors and no issues? Awesome. That simplifies things.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

These were 4ohm coaxial?

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