Sound system sounds bad

[rivs505]

Hello all,

Is it my R1S or the sound system is poor in general or I should get it checked. Don't feel the woofer is powerful, very poor bass.

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[Firstlast]

Depends on if you have the Meridian system or Rivian's in house system. I found the in-house system in my loaner R1S to be terrible. Poor sound stage, poor bass response, highs and mids were off. I prefer the Meridian in my R1T. I still prefer the ML system from my wife's Lexus or Bowers & Wilkins from my my previous Audi overall.

 

[LL75]

Apparently, the in house speakers you are talking about still have Meridian in them. Some member here open up the panel and it still said Meridian on there. I absolutely agreed that the sounds system is subpar compared to other vehicles. I am comparing to my 2019 Tesla model 3.

 

[MidnightRivian]

Get Tidal and adjust your equalizer.

I’m extremely happy and I used to install car audio for a living for 5 years in high school / college / university.

My previous vehicle had Focal components and JL Audio W7 subwoofer.

Again, get Tidal and adjust the equalizer.

Edit: use this as a baseline with Tidal

 

[LL75]

Get Tidal and adjust your equalizer.

I’m extremely happy and I used to install car audio for a living for 5 years in high school / college / university.

My previous vehicle had Focal components and JL Audio W7 subwoofer.

Again, get Tidal and adjust the equalizer.

Edit: use this as a baseline with Tidal

We don't use Tidal, just spotify. is that custom setting gonna work with spotify?

 

[MidnightRivian]

We don't use Tidal, just spotify. is that custom setting gonna work with spotify?

Yes it will help with everything but changing the source to Tidal will give you the most improvement.

 

[BHWhite]

Get Tidal and adjust your equalizer.

I’m extremely happy and I used to install car audio for a living for 5 years in high school / college / university.

My previous vehicle had Focal components and JL Audio W7 subwoofer.

Again, get Tidal and adjust the equalizer.

Edit: use this as a baseline with Tidal

I have Tidal and Meridian, I think the sound it quite good but I'm no audiophile. Are you suggesting the EQ settings about, combined with turning off 3D Surround and setting Dynamic to Low" will improve the listening experience? Thanks!

 

[Prime]

Get Tidal and adjust your equalizer.

I’m extremely happy and I used to install car audio for a living for 5 years in high school / college / university.

My previous vehicle had Focal components and JL Audio W7 subwoofer.

Again, get Tidal and adjust the equalizer.

Edit: use this as a baseline with Tidal

I have similar presets but to less extremes. I dipped the 125 as well because I was getting boomy slow bass and upped the 63 as you did. i upped 1k a bit for mids as I thought they were lacking a bit for my ears.

I turned off the 3D surround completely as with most tracks it created an echo like effect I didnt like, in general even at home I prefer stereo to surround, so I might be a bit biased.

Glad they have the EQ but I cant get the system to sound amazing, just good. I have the Meridian audio and to me compared to an older build R1T with the same audio system (I had as a loaner) mine sounded much worse with the same presets and source. With drivers and processing being the same, I have no idea what's going on other than blaming some "break-in" for the better experience. I do feel like my sub sounds out of phase, but have no idea how id fix that in a car audio setup.. home audio is easy with the phase change dial.

 

[MidnightRivian]

I have Tidal and Meridian, I think the sound it quite good but I'm no audiophile. Are you suggesting the EQ settings about, combined with turning off 3D Surround and setting Dynamic to Low" will improve the listening experience? Thanks!

Start with these settings as a baseline and then change sources, EQ settings and 3D surround to find what you like.

Everyone has a different definition of what sounds good to them.

I have similar presets but to less extremes. I dipped the 125 as well because I was getting boomy slow bass and upped the 63 as you did. i upped 1k a bit for mids as I thought they were lacking a bit for my ears.

I turned off the 3D surround completely as with most tracks it created an echo like effect I didnt like, in general even at home I prefer stereo to surround, so I might be a bit biased.

Glad they have the EQ but I cant get the system to sound amazing, just good. I have the Meridian audio and to me compared to an older build R1T with the same audio system (I had as a loaner) mine sounded much worse with the same presets and source. With drivers and processing being the same, I have no idea what's going on other than blaming some "break-in" for the better experience. I do feel like my sub sounds out of phase, but have no idea how id fix that in a car audio setup.. home audio is easy with the phase change dial.

I prefer a little more bass and a little less highs so I added some to 125 Hz and removed some from
16k Hz.

 

[rivs505]

I have inhouse Rivian system, I will try this setting in EQ. I like more bass and I am disappointed that with this expensive vehicle, I am not getting better quality sound.

 

[bhlackey]

Absolutely positively turn off the 3D sound. Listen for several minutes before thinking it's bad. 3D sound tends to disperse things a lot and gives a hollow sound. It also tends to make the kickdrum feel spread out and not punchy. I was a LOT happier once I turned it off.

 

[Prime]

Absolutely positively turn off the 3D sound. Listen for several minutes before thinking it's bad. 3D sound tends to disperse things a lot and gives a hollow sound. It also tends to make the kickdrum feel spread out and not punchy. I was a LOT happier once I turned it off.

Definitely agree with this.

 

[bhlackey]

I do feel like my sub sounds out of phase, but have no idea how id fix that in a car audio setup..

This should be as easy as a swap on the wires to the driver. This means pulling it out which you may not want to get into, but an A/B comparison would tell you pretty instantly.

 

[Prime]

This should be as easy as a swap on the wires to the driver. This means pulling it out which you may not want to get into, but an A/B comparison would tell you pretty instantly.

I dont mind tinkering, but from what I remember getting into that Meridian sub box is not a pleasant experience. I'll have to do a bit more research and see if I can test this. I have a mobile tech coming in 2 weeks might ask how to do it or if he's willing to do it for me.

 

[electruck]

For my R1S, one of the biggest improvements was adjusting the fader to move the sound toward the back of the second row instead of the default position over the first row.

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