Clever Tesla engineering uses Cybertruck frame as acoustics chamber for superior bass sound

The Cybertruck's vaunted sound system is a shining example of Tesla's current creative approach to vehicle assembly, according to its lead engineer Wes Morrill.

As many a Cybertruck driver can attest, the electric pickup delivers one of the best stock cabin audios in the industry, with bass that hits almost the whole frequency range, populated mids, and clean highs that don't overwhelm.

Teslas have long provided a stock car audio quality that is way above average, but the Cybertruck takes musical prowess to the next level with a complex sound delivery system that includes 15 speakers and two dedicated subwoofers, as well as distributed amplifiers.

The two 8-inch woofers sit below the back bench, and deliver a rich and powerful bass sound that, at first blush, is rather uncharacteristic of their comparatively small enclosures. Audiophiles with Cybertrucks, however, have been thoroughly impressed how its subwoofers can go from, say, one end of the 40-200Hz range to the other without rattling door panels in the cabin as happens with so many stock car audios.

While waxing poetic about Conway's Law that stipulates why big organizations make inferior products, the lead Cybertruck engineer explained how Tesla managed to avoid falling into this trap with the structural battery pack that doubles as a floor of the pickup.

On this iteration, we ended up with the structural battery, which is an integral part of the body and crash structure. Without it, the vehicle body will not work. It's the literal floor for the vehicle. But the redundancy is gone and the design is more efficient as a result. This vehicle also achieved one of the highest crash safety ratings measured at the time.

The other examples Wes gave were the air suspension tank used to pressurize the battery in the water-tight Wade Mode, as well as "the subwoofer, which utilizes the air volume of the body side instead of making the enclosure larger."

This last claim has now been confirmed by a Cybertruck owner who happens to be an audiophile and posted pictures of the subwoofer enclosures to explain how they are mounted. Tesla, it turns out, uses a foam gasket to expand the woofer enclosure size into the hollow space of the frame, thus enabling a fuller bass without cabin rattling.

Needless to say, Tesla is not the only car maker that uses the air in the structural frame to enhance acoustics, and many a custom audio shop also resort to such an approach. The sound system of the Cybertruck, however, is just another example of the creative cross-utilization that went into the making of its first electric pickup.

Get the Alphasonik AS10DF vehicle subwoofer with sealed enclosure on Amazon