Transforming the Porsche Taycan’s Audio: A Guide to Achieving Unmatched Sound Quality
Introduction
The Porsche Taycan is superb. Awesome power, torque and acceleration coupled with a practicality that allows it to be a daily drive. The comfortable interior is spacious and bristling with technology… then you turn on the audio and everything changes! To describe the audio as mediocre is doing the word an injustice. Whilst the Burmester option is not too bad (although I couldn’t put up with it), the Bose and base audio systems are dire. I have upgraded lots of these now and thought it was time to update my installation blog.
Whenever I install any system, I want to make sure that it is going to suit the customer and be sympathetic to the vehicle. What I mean is that I will ensure that I achieve the level of performance the customer desires and that there will be minimal visible alterations to the car.
As ever, there are three main parts to an audio upgrade. Improving the speakers, adding a suitable DSP-equipped amplifier and adding a subwoofer. Of course, there are many other essential parts to maximise the performance such as sound deadening and speaker baffles, but we can consider the three components as the core.
Taycan Speaker Upgrade
Since the front is where I want the best audio staging and detail to be, I would always recommend investing in the best speakers here. I favour the Hertz Mille Legend series components. In my opinion, these are unmatched for detail, accuracy and performance. The Mille Legend tweeter is quite large but fortunately there is ample room in the Porsche Dash location. The 70mm door mid-driver is a very subtle performer with none of the usual harshness associated with smaller speakers. Couple these with the incredible 7-inch woofers for maximum punch and you have a very special front array.
The tweeters are mounted in the original locations and then I form a foam collar around the driver to completely isolate it. This minimises spurious reflections interfering with the sound.
I manufacture acoustically inert mounting collars to install the mid drivers to the door card. These need to be sealed to prevent phase cancellation. All cables are wrapped in cloth tape to ensure there can be no rattles.
I again manufacture custom mounts for the door speakers, and I treat the outer door skin with a layer of sound deadening to reduce noise and absorb any reflected sound from the speaker. This is essential as Porsche apply very little sound deadening to the Taycan door. The speaker is mounted in a drip proof collar and foam is applied to couple the speaker to the door card. This ensures all the performance is directed into the cabin.
Finally, a layer of closed-cell foam is applied to the inner panel to offer further noise insulation. I also apply more sound deadening to the door card itself as many Taycan owners have complained to Porsche about noisy door cards. By applying sound deadening to the seams of the panel this noise can be eliminated.
The rear doors have a similar three-way speaker system. These speakers are not as critical to the front performance so do not need to be to the same performance level. I often use the Hertz Mille Pro series components, these are excellent and, of course, I treat the door with the same sound deadening and installation regime.
Once the tweeter covers and door cards are refitted there is no indication that anything has been altered.
Amplifier Solution
Any audio system can only be as good as the signal available to it. If the input signal is poor, then the output will be similar. It is, of course, impossible to change the media player components in the Taycan as is the case with most modern cars and, unfortunately, the signal these deliver can be far less than ideal. If we just add a conventional amplifier to this signal, we will improve the dynamic range, but the quality of the audio will remain the same.
What we need is the ability to modify that audio to create a cleaner, flatter signal. Fortunately, Audison have developed a range of superb amplifiers all equipped with a sophisticated digital signal processor (DSP) on board. These are now in their second generation and are to my mind, class leading.
Without getting into too much detail, with the tools available to me, along with my experience as a musician and audio engineer I can tune the audio signal in the preamp section of this amplifier to a suitably clean and flat response. This then can be fed to the main amplifier section free from distortion or colouration. The output will still need tuning, but I will describe that later.
The original Bose amplifier in the Taycan is located in the passenger footwell and the new Forza M12.14 will replace this perfectly. The wiring is significant but I always ensure this it is neat, carefully tied and wrapped to ensure reliability and is rattle free.
Once the original cover is replaced, there is no indication that anything has been altered.
Amplifier Solution
To ensure a full bandwidth audio performance with no stress on the speaker system I would always recommend a subwoofer of some sort. Sometimes these must be free standing in a load space like the boot but fortunately, the Taycan comes with a space under the boot floor which is ideal for hiding the woofer. Indeed, if the car has Bose or Burmester audio then this is where Porsche mounts it. If the car has only base audio, then I can manufacture an enclosure to mount here. If it has Bose or Burmester then I will use the original Porsche enclosure and mount a new woofer in this.
In this Taycan, I manufactured an enclosure to mount under the boot floor.
I commonly use the Audison 8-inch, dual coil woofer unless the customer prefers a big bass performance. In this case, I use the incredible Hertz Mille Legend 8. It is always worth installing more sound-deadening material under this area to help isolate the boot floor from transmitted vibration. Again, when the boot floor is replaced, there is no indication that anything has changed.
Final Tuning
When all this is installed correctly it is always going to be better than the original system. However, it takes careful tuning to realise the full potential of this superb audio equipment. I have been an audio installer for over 35 years and a musician for longer. I pride myself in having a superb ear for sound. I have had a great deal of experience in producing and engineering recordings for my bands and that skill transfers perfectly to the art of tuning an audio system.
A lot of DSP-equipped amplifiers come with an auto setup suite and some of them are quite good, but I have never found one that can get it exactly right. After all, everyone has their personal preferences when it comes to the way they like their sound, and I know I can tune better than a pre-programmed algorithm.
I prefer to use these tools as a starting point, to round off the roughest edges. Once this is done, I can start the real job of tuning for the car acoustics. To start with, each speaker has its crossover frequency set and is carefully tuned for the desired response. Once this is correct, I can then start pair tuning where opposite pairs of speakers are blended to make sure there are no cancellations or boosts to the spectrum. I can also adjust level, distance and phase measurements to ensure image accuracy. When happy with this I can then start introducing more groups and adjusting further to ensure I keep the stereo image where it needs to be and create a truly immersive response. Finally, the subwoofer is added to the mix and adjusted to place the bass response right in the middle of the audio.
Of course, it will not be me who will be using this system, so I always want to have some tuning time with the customer. This might need to be a few weeks after installation and initial tuning. The new speakers need to run in, and this time also gives the user an opportunity to get used to the system and discover if they need it adjusting to personal preferences.
I really enjoy this process and when complete the resulting experience is breathtaking. It is always satisfying to see a big smile on the face of the owner when they hear it for the first time.
Although this piece is primarily about the Porsche Taycan, this process can be applied to any car: conventional, hybrid or EV.
Whatever you drive, I can make it sound incredible. If you would like more information, please call me on 01625 432707 or pop into the shop for a chat, I am on Sunderland Street in Macclesfield.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
hey im looking to do the same to my taycan, can you go into detail what wiring harness you need to connect the audison amp? and any other equipment required to make it work?
Hi Tony, please can you email me on [email protected]? Thanks, Tim