Photo: Audio
On January 7, Sawyer Merritt disclosed “several changes” to the Model 3 and Model Y. Among them was the elimination of the “center instrument panel speaker.” The Tesla unofficial spokesman said the company did that “to reduce complexity and redundancy with no appreciable difference in sound quality.” One Tesla owner called that nonsense and grabbed the bull by the horns, replacing the missing tweeter.
At his request, we won’t use his true name because he is concerned that Tesla will make his life harder, solving a long list of quality issues that he still has to address with it. Ironically, this list is closely related to the reason that made this customer discover the problem and decided not to accept it. We’ll call him Audio.
As the nickname suggests, this man loves a premium sound system and can tell the difference between ordinary equipment and something really special. That’s what he had in his 2019 Model 3. Everything changed when he got delivery of his 2022 Model 3 Performance, which Tesla still sells as if it had premium audio. According to this customer, although the sound system is still above average, removing the tweeter made a noticeable difference.
Unaware of the change, Audio felt the difference immediately. When he disassembled the cover to check what was going on, he just found a piece of aluminum tape covering the hole that should house the tweet, giving that a pretty poor aspect. He discovered Merritt’s tweet looking for more information. Unlike what that Tesla advocate stated, he felt that the only purpose of the change was to cut costs. Think about it: why would any company suddenly discover that the car it must have spent years developing did not need a tweeter?
Tesla saved money not only by eliminating the $25 component: it also suppressed the wiring harness to connect it. Audio had to find a different solution to make his sound system premium again: he inserted its wires into the existing harness clip for the center mid-range. That did the trick and restored the sound quality he used to have in his former car.
Ironically, Audio did not manage to buy the tweeter from Tesla: the company would not sell him a tweeter for his car because it should not have it (even if it did until very recently). He also had trouble getting it from eBay. Luckily, he found the perfect component at Amazon and bought a set of Pioneer tweeters for $60. He selected one that had an inline high pass filter, like the tweeter Tesla used to offer.
According to Audio, his car is living proof that Tesla’s alleged excuse that sound quality wouldn’t be affected was as genuine as a three-dollar bill. In his opinion, the idea that “the new speaker set up gives them more flexibility in the future or sound audio improvement” is another lousy excuse for spending less on making the car.
Audio told us that Tesla would have separated the channels for the mid-range and the tweeter if it was really concerned about sound quality or improvements to it. The company just removed the tweeter and the wiring harness that connected it to the audio equipment.
Tesla would better have just said it wanted to keep its cars as affordable as possible. Technically speaking, the company did not even mention the change: it relied on its unofficial spokespeople to do that. Those who were unaware of it – as Audio initially was – are left with discovering that on their own. In this Tesla customer’s case, he was also in charge of solving it, and he is happy to report he did not fail the mission.
As the nickname suggests, this man loves a premium sound system and can tell the difference between ordinary equipment and something really special. That’s what he had in his 2019 Model 3. Everything changed when he got delivery of his 2022 Model 3 Performance, which Tesla still sells as if it had premium audio. According to this customer, although the sound system is still above average, removing the tweeter made a noticeable difference.
Unaware of the change, Audio felt the difference immediately. When he disassembled the cover to check what was going on, he just found a piece of aluminum tape covering the hole that should house the tweet, giving that a pretty poor aspect. He discovered Merritt’s tweet looking for more information. Unlike what that Tesla advocate stated, he felt that the only purpose of the change was to cut costs. Think about it: why would any company suddenly discover that the car it must have spent years developing did not need a tweeter?
Tesla saved money not only by eliminating the $25 component: it also suppressed the wiring harness to connect it. Audio had to find a different solution to make his sound system premium again: he inserted its wires into the existing harness clip for the center mid-range. That did the trick and restored the sound quality he used to have in his former car.
Ironically, Audio did not manage to buy the tweeter from Tesla: the company would not sell him a tweeter for his car because it should not have it (even if it did until very recently). He also had trouble getting it from eBay. Luckily, he found the perfect component at Amazon and bought a set of Pioneer tweeters for $60. He selected one that had an inline high pass filter, like the tweeter Tesla used to offer.
According to Audio, his car is living proof that Tesla’s alleged excuse that sound quality wouldn’t be affected was as genuine as a three-dollar bill. In his opinion, the idea that “the new speaker set up gives them more flexibility in the future or sound audio improvement” is another lousy excuse for spending less on making the car.
Audio told us that Tesla would have separated the channels for the mid-range and the tweeter if it was really concerned about sound quality or improvements to it. The company just removed the tweeter and the wiring harness that connected it to the audio equipment.
Tesla would better have just said it wanted to keep its cars as affordable as possible. Technically speaking, the company did not even mention the change: it relied on its unofficial spokespeople to do that. Those who were unaware of it – as Audio initially was – are left with discovering that on their own. In this Tesla customer’s case, he was also in charge of solving it, and he is happy to report he did not fail the mission.
BREAKING: Tesla's made several changes to the Model 3/Y that were highlighted in a new internal post. Some of these were previously reported. These changes apply to both Fremont & Shanghai built 3/Y models, & will be phased into new regions. Transition completed by Q2 2022.
— Sawyer Merritt ???????? (@SawyerMerritt) January 7, 2022
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