Meridian vs. Premium Audio: an objective comparison

[CrazyOne]

Well I notice a massive difference between the Meridian in our 22’ R1T LE versus our 23’ R1S Adventure Quad with the Elevation System. The 23’ R1S Elevation is hollow, weak and just sucks. I hate even turning it on. Extreme pet peeve for me.

I mean daily I think about just trading in the R1S on a low mile 22’ R1S LE in the exterior color I wanted originally just to get the Meridian system. There is zero wrong with our R1S Adventure and we have just shy of 40,000 miles on it. Been great. Just audio system is embarrassingly horrible.

Truthfully, we also have a reservation for an R2 (planning to keep all three) and hope to get one of the first R2s with trimotor or whatever the top is, fully loaded. BUT the sound system is extremely important. Unless RJ and team have paid some major attention to the sound system, it might be the one thing that makes us hold back. Sound system, rims(look and size) and interior, exterior color options.

Rivian really needs their back side kicked for every audio option post Meridian. They can take berthing in house but audio engineers they appear not to be.

Make sure you like Meridian in R1S. T and S are completely different vehicles for acoustics. I am not saying one should be inherently better than the other.

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[ksumnole]

I don't think the current hardware in the Premium is capable of matching the bass performance in the Meridian. To get there, new speakers and maybe an upgraded amplifier is needed.

This is precisely it, and this is also why most people are replacing the OEM subwoofer in the "premium" system with an aftermarket.

 

[Splitime]

I really wish I had thought to crank the Meridian louder until reaching the point of failure. Maybe a current R1T Meridian owner can test that out and see what you get. It is important to keep the EQ flat and use the same source and sound program I did, and at 25 Hz. Of course if you have the same phone, even better. Put the phone on the center console with the microphone end facing the rear of the truck.

I have a Samsung S25 (not ultra, but I couldn't find anything online about possible microphone variations between models) and a Gen1 with the Meridian. Happy to do the additional test mentioned, just need a few more details like the exact YouTube source and what extra baseline comparisons might be helpful?

 

[mikehmb]

Well I notice a massive difference between the Meridian in our 22’ R1T LE versus our 23’ R1S Adventure Quad with the Elevation System. The 23’ R1S Elevation is hollow, weak and just sucks. I hate even turning it on. Extreme pet peeve for me.

I mean daily I think about just trading in the R1S on a low mile 22’ R1S LE in the exterior color I wanted originally just to get the Meridian system. There is zero wrong with our R1S Adventure and we have just shy of 40,000 miles on it. Been great. Just audio system is embarrassingly horrible.

Truthfully, we also have a reservation for an R2 (planning to keep all three) and hope to get one of the first R2s with trimotor or whatever the top is, fully loaded. BUT the sound system is extremely important. Unless RJ and team have paid some major attention to the sound system, it might be the one thing that makes us hold back. Sound system, rims(look and size) and interior, exterior color options.

Rivian really needs their back side kicked for every audio option post Meridian. They can take berthing in house but audio engineers they appear not to be.

FWIW the difference between my G2 R1S and G2 R1T - both premium audio - is substantial. It must come down to the cabin space, but the difference is big to my ears. I much prefer the T.

 

[skyguyscott]

I think the lack of a true subwoofer fully explains why I find the audio disappointing, especially when compared to my previous ride which had a remarkably good Bose system, that included a killer woofer for a fraction of the money. The older I get, and the more my hearing inevitably deteriorates, these differences should get less annoying, but I doubt they will. Acoustics is not rocket science, or even BEV science. The inherently quieter ride should yield a potentially awesome listening environment, but sadly, no. I keep telling myself, hey, it's a pickup truck, but it doesn't really help.

 

[mkhuffman]

I have a Samsung S25 (not ultra, but I couldn't find anything online about possible microphone variations between models) and a Gen1 with the Meridian. Happy to do the additional test mentioned, just need a few more details like the exact YouTube source and what extra baseline comparisons might be helpful?

Do you want to share some of your measurements here? I think the differences between the listening space in the R1S vs. the R1T has a significant impact on the ability of the listener to hear the bass. At least based on what you have measured compared to what I measured in the R1T loaner.

 

[NeedSumCoffee]

This is an awesome idea. But I have to say using the embedded microphone in a cellphone is going to be a pretty useless test. The shitty microphone built into a phone isnt going to have any level of precision to make a worthwhile comparison. You need a calibrated microphone if you want to measure frequency response or dB SPL with any level of accuracy.

 

[mkhuffman]

This is an awesome idea. But I have to say using the embedded microphone in a cellphone is going to be a pretty useless test. The shitty microphone built into a phone isnt going to have any level of precision to make a worthwhile comparison. You need a calibrated microphone if you want to measure frequency response or dB SPL with any level of accuracy.

Yes, but.

But it is good enough to make volume comparisons. And it is good enough to show a pretty even white noise distribution across the entire audible range. And the measurements correlate with my subjective listening.

I also used Bluetooth as the audio source which isn't high quality either. Yet still, the results were pretty good IMO, and confirm what people are complaining about.

 

[Jason]

Would you be willing to try this fix and test it again! I really would love to see the difference: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...udio-subwoofer-out-of-phase.51724/post-886466

 

[CrazyOne]

I have R1 with Meridian. Looking at some basic measurements using the phone app, I see that My Acura TL with ELS goes all the way down to 37 hz while R1 seems to top out at 48hz for the same music. This is probably why it feels like Meridian lacks at the low end.

Again, this is using a phone app and not using my calibrated mic. I don't know how good the phone mic is at low frequencies.

 

[Colosaleen]

Make sure you like Meridian in R1S. T and S are completely different vehicles for acoustics. I am not saying one should be inherently better than the other.

Have played with the EQ settings more than care to admit. It’s just hollow sounding in R1S. My friends 22’ LE R1S with Meridian is significantly better sounding. I usually just listen to Apple App.

The S is different than T due to spatial, placement and equipment. Sometimes sounds like not all the sound channels are working.

In the end, it is disappointing. Love our Rivians and it really is one of a very few small list of disappointments. Have upgraded many stereo systems over the years but on a bus system, it is not as simple. Upgrades can cause all kinds of weird interference and frequencies on bus. Like the Comma AI issues, it needs to be by manufacturer to do it right. I just don’t want fight that battle.

All can hope is R2 has real thought put in. Stereo options designer by actual audio engineers. Maybe there is something that can be handled through OTA updates but needs to be by someone that knows what they are doing. Does not seem that person is at Rivian right now. Real World results would dictate that to be the case,,

 

[mkhuffman]

Would you be willing to try this fix and test it again! I really would love to see the difference: https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...udio-subwoofer-out-of-phase.51724/post-886466

I may give this a shot this weekend. I have noticed the bass really drops off when turning up the volume, but I just assumed it was because of weak speakers and Rivian dropping back the bass when the volume goes up to protect the speakers. Maybe there is some phase thing happening.

It would explain why I could not hear much coming from the subwoofer until it got down to 20 Hz, and then it seemed all the bass was coming from the sub. I thought that was strange at the time. Why direct most of the bass to the doors at higher frequencies? If the subwoofer is out of phase, it would sound like what I heard.

How in the world does Rivian wire a subwoofer out of phase? It makes little sense. (I would say "no sense", but I guess there could be a reason why they did it on purpose.)

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Have played with the EQ settings more than care to admit. It’s just hollow sounding...

Are you listening with surround sound on? Turn it off.

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