Any idea which version is lightest weight ?

[FlyNavy01]

Here's an interesting bit of info. It looks like the standard factory sound system has 7 speakers, and the KEF has 10, and weighs 7.2 lbs more than the base system. This is from Lotus.

View attachment 3754

Sounds like I'm getting base audio then I don't buy a sports car for the gimmicky speakers. The premium audio comes from the two pipes sticking out the rear. 7lbs weight savings is just a bonus.

 

[FederGigant]

Sounds like I'm getting base audio then I don't buy a sports car for the gimmicky speakers. The premium audio comes from the two pipes sticking out the rear. 7lbs weight savings is just a bonus.

I‘m not so sure about the premium audio from the back anymore after seeing the reviews, therefore I‘m glad that I get the KEF system, even if I‘m not sure about it‘s qualities either
Let‘s just hope that Lotus exceeds my expectations and that the car itself as well as the KEF system will sound great and that the standard system will be decent as well.

 

[forest]

I cant read Japanese, but am excited to hear two subwoofers, should have a nice well rounded audio system

I've uploaded the English version, which is an automatic translation.

 

[Clam]

I‘m not so sure about the premium audio from the back anymore after seeing the reviews, therefore I‘m glad that I get the KEF system, even if I‘m not sure about it‘s qualities either
Let‘s just hope that Lotus exceeds my expectations and that the car itself as well as the KEF system will sound great and that the standard system will be decent as well.

Okay, time to digress: I'm surprised that other audiophiles haven't spoken out on this, but KEF is a highly-regarded, multi-award winning hifi speaker company that, as a generalization, puts Bose to shame and Burmester wouldn't be regarded any better than KEF. Bose is known for innovation and marketing over sound quality, i.e. their noise cancellation technology is pretty great and they can generate decent sound pressure level (SPL) in small packages.

In any case, cars present a huge challenge because of odd shaped/miniscule space constraints inside a mobile vibration machine. Even great companies often fail to meet the standard that they typically set for themselves. So, if you're questioning the brand that Lotus chose for sound reproduction, don't. They did a good job. But at the end of the day, the speaker brand matters very little in comparison to the mobile vibration machine itself.

 

[FederGigant]

Okay, time to digress: I'm surprised that other audiophiles haven't spoken out on this, but KEF is a highly-regarded, multi-award winning hifi speaker company that, as a generalization, puts Bose to shame and Burmester wouldn't be regarded any better than KEF. Bose is known for innovation and marketing over sound quality, i.e. their noise cancellation technology is pretty great and they can generate decent sound pressure level (SPL) in small packages.

In any case, cars present a huge challenge because of odd shaped/miniscule space constraints inside a mobile vibration machine. Even great companies often fail to meet the standard that they typically set for themselves. So, if you're questioning the brand that Lotus chose for sound reproduction, don't. They did a good job. But at the end of the day, the speaker brand matters very little in comparison to the mobile vibration machine itself.

Don‘t know if you read the whole thread, but we already had a discussion about that. The reason for my concerns is that the Uni-Qs are placed very odd, right next to our knees. I already stated that KEF should be compared to Burmester rather than Bose. Another fun fact is that we will get speaker grilles in the a pillars with no speakers sitting behind them. It just all seems weird and doesn‘t look like KEF had a free choice where to put their speakers.

 

[Leonard]

Another fun fact is that we will get speaker grilles in the a pillars with no speakers sitting behind them. It just all seems weird and doesn‘t look like KEF had a free choice where to put their speakers.

That sounds very strange

 

[digilotus]

Lets get the facts first before we panic on the audio front!

On the lotuscar website it says:

• Base edition - 7 speaker audio (128W)
• FE - 10 channel KEF audio (340W)

In audio terms, a channel refers to an amplification channel (or independent amplifier). Where things get a bit complex for the uninitiated is that each amplification channel can be connected to multiple speaker drivers (e.g. midrange + tweeter) using a passive crossover (frequency filter circuit).

We know from the Japanese spec sheet that there will be an 8 channel Harmon Kardon amp and 3 KEF UniQ speaker units. (Left and right doors plus centre dash).

Technically each UniQ speaker unit has both tweeter and midrange drivers with built-in passive crossover circuit so the marketing folks typically cheat a bit and count each UniQ as two "speakers" (but what they really mean is two drivers (tweeter + midrange) within the one speaker unit.

So each UniQ is just a two-way speaker unit that connects to one amplification channel as evidenced by them having a pair of electrical connection terminals per speaker.

So this is all terribly confusing. It shows that Lotus isn't an audio company!

What we don't know:

• Will all 8 amplification channels be used? (e.g. Some BMWs have an 8 way HK amp and only use 7 channels).
• Does Lotus really mean 10 speaker (drivers) instead of 10 channel KEF audio?
• Will tweeters be installed in the A-pillars in the KEF audio setup? (I would expect so)
• The japanese spec refers to two speakers within "a" fresh-air sub which seems odd. I've not seen an open air sub with two drivers inside (if this is true they would likely be configured in a push-pull configuration which may be too big to fit). Is this a mistake?

The mystery continues! l'll try to ask Lotus to clarify all this for us.

 

[TXEMIRA]

Lets get the facts first before we panic on the audio front!

On the lotuscar website it says:

• Base edition - 7 speaker audio (128W)
• FE - 10 channel KEF audio (340W)

In audio terms, a channel refers to an amplification channel (or independent amplifier). Where things get a bit complex for the uninitiated is that each amplification channel can be connected to multiple speaker drivers (e.g. midrange + tweeter) using a passive crossover (frequency filter circuit).

We know from the Japanese spec sheet that there will be an 8 channel Harmon Kardon amp and 3 KEF UniQ speaker units. (Left and right doors plus centre dash).

Technically each UniQ speaker unit has both tweeter and midrange drivers with built-in passive crossover circuit so the marketing folks typically cheat a bit and count each UniQ as two "speakers" (but what they really mean is two drivers (tweeter + midrange) within the one speaker unit.

So each UniQ is just a two-way speaker unit that connects to one amplification channel as evidenced by them having a pair of electrical connection terminals per speaker.

View attachment 3800

So this is all terribly confusing. It shows that Lotus isn't an audio company!

What we don't know:

• Will all 8 amplification channels be used? (e.g. Some BMWs have an 8 way HK amp and only use 7 channels).
• Does Lotus really mean 10 speaker (drivers) instead of 10 channel KEF audio?
• Will tweeters be installed in the A-pillars in the KEF audio setup? (I would expect so)
• The japanese spec refers to two speakers within "a" fresh-air sub which seems odd. I've not seen an open air sub with two drivers inside (if this is true they would likely be configured in a push-pull configuration which may be too big to fit). Is this a mistake?

The mystery continues! l'll try to ask Lotus to clarify all this for us.

Will a normal, average person, who cares more about the car than the audio, be upset at all about the audio? Asking for a friend.

 

[digilotus]

Will a normal, average person, who cares more about the car than the audio, be upset at all about the audio? Asking for a friend.

Not if you do the third catalytic converter delete so that you need to wear earplugs when driving down the freeway!

 

[xen]

Not if you do the third catalytic converter delete so that you need to wear earplugs when driving down the freeway!

On this topic because I’ve heard this mentioned…Will doing this essentially approximate the Evora exhaust note?

 

[FederGigant]

Lets get the facts first before we panic on the audio front!

On the lotuscar website it says:

• Base edition - 7 speaker audio (128W)
• FE - 10 channel KEF audio (340W)

In audio terms, a channel refers to an amplification channel (or independent amplifier). Where things get a bit complex for the uninitiated is that each amplification channel can be connected to multiple speaker drivers (e.g. midrange + tweeter) using a passive crossover (frequency filter circuit).

We know from the Japanese spec sheet that there will be an 8 channel Harmon Kardon amp and 3 KEF UniQ speaker units. (Left and right doors plus centre dash).

Technically each UniQ speaker unit has both tweeter and midrange drivers with built-in passive crossover circuit so the marketing folks typically cheat a bit and count each UniQ as two "speakers" (but what they really mean is two drivers (tweeter + midrange) within the one speaker unit.

So each UniQ is just a two-way speaker unit that connects to one amplification channel as evidenced by them having a pair of electrical connection terminals per speaker.

View attachment 3800

So this is all terribly confusing. It shows that Lotus isn't an audio company!

What we don't know:

• Will all 8 amplification channels be used? (e.g. Some BMWs have an 8 way HK amp and only use 7 channels).
• Does Lotus really mean 10 speaker (drivers) instead of 10 channel KEF audio?
• Will tweeters be installed in the A-pillars in the KEF audio setup? (I would expect so)
• The japanese spec refers to two speakers within "a" fresh-air sub which seems odd. I've not seen an open air sub with two drivers inside (if this is true they would likely be configured in a push-pull configuration which may be too big to fit). Is this a mistake?

The mystery continues! l'll try to ask Lotus to clarify all this for us.

First the Uni-Qs do not have a built-in passive crossover. There are no filters fitted at all to them and a Uni-Q has one pair of connectors for tweeter and one for midrange. Of course KEF could build passive crossovers nonetheless and drive each Uni-Q with one amp channel. The Japanese document clearly states which drivers are used AND where they are built in. They say three Uni-Qs (counted as six speakers), two woofers and two subwoofer chassis for the fresh air sub. This means that there are definitely no tweeters in the a-pillars, which would be nonesense anyways because two tweeters per side is usually a very bad idea.
there are two possible ways of amping: using passive crossovers for the Uni-Qs and drive each Uni-Q with one channel plus every woofer and every subwoofer with one channel. This would lead to seven channels used in total. The other possibility is to drive every tweeter and every midrange individually as one channel and filter them active via DSP. There would be two channels left. One for the woofers used parallel and filtered with a DSP bandpass (or lowpass) filter, and one for the subwoofers parallel with a lowpass filter. Probably they will choose the first way with passive crossover filtering plus some DSP equalizing on the Uni-Qs, because the (sub-)woofers require the most power and the amp probably has the same amount of power for every channel, so one distinct channel per (sub-)woofer seems more logic, if you only have eight channels for ten drivers.

 

[digilotus]

First the Uni-Qs do not have a built-in passive crossover. There are no filters fitted at all to them and a Uni-Q has one pair of connectors for tweeter and one for midrange. Of course KEF could build passive crossovers nonetheless and drive each Uni-Q with one amp channel. The Japanese document clearly states which drivers are used AND where they are built in. They say three Uni-Qs (counted as six speakers), two woofers and two subwoofer chassis for the fresh air sub. This means that there are definitely no tweeters in the a-pillars, which would be nonesense anyways because two tweeters per side is usually a very bad idea.
there are two possible ways of amping: using passive crossovers for the Uni-Qs and drive each Uni-Q with one channel plus every woofer and every subwoofer with one channel. This would lead to seven channels used in total. The other possibility is to drive every tweeter and every midrange individually as one channel and filter them active via DSP. There would be two channels left. One for the woofers used parallel and a DSP bandpass (or lowpass) filter, and one for the subwoofers parallel with a lowpass filter. Probably the will chose the first way with passive filtering on the Uni-Qs, because the (sub-)woofers require the most power and the amp probably has the same amount of power for every channel.

I found no information stating that a UniQ speaker unit has two sets of terminals. Do you have any data on this?

 

[FederGigant]

I found no information stating that a UniQ speaker unit has two sets of terminals. Do you have any data on this?

I had lots of them in my hands and figured out passive and active crossovers for them for private projects Fitting crossovers to them makes no sense, because KEF is using the same Uni-Q drivers in different speakers with different baffles. The crossover has to compensate for that. Another thing is that in a LS50 for example, the Uni-Q is used as a midwoofer which requires a low pass filter. In a bigger speaker they have dedicated woofers and therefore require a bandpass filter on the Uni-Q midwoofer. It has to be flexible.

 

[digilotus]

I had lots of them in my hands and figured out passive and active crossovers for them for private projects Fitting crossovers to them makes no sense, because KEF is using the same Uni-Q drivers in different speakers with different baffles. The crossover has to compensate for that. Another thing is that in a LS50 for example, the Uni-Q is used as a midwoofer which requires a low pass filter. In a bigger speaker they have dedicated woofers and therefore require a bandpass filter on the Uni-Q midwoofer. It has to be flexible.

Fair enough! I couldn’t find a photo of one with two terminals showing hence my comment above!

 

[FederGigant]

Fair enough! I couldn’t find a photo of one with two terminals showing hence my comment above!

Maybe I can find a spare one at my parents house and take a pic. I also only find pictures of Uni-Qs for ceiling mounting and they obviously have a crossover fitted to make them easy to install

 

[FederGigant]

@JPorter900, @xen, @digilotus: we discussed about whether CarPlay will be wireless or not and like digilotus, I'm pretty sure it is not, because the Emira lacks the WiFi capability. However there's a really easy fix to it. I just bought a thing called Carlinkit 3.0 from Amazon and tested it in my Miata and my VW Crafter. You simply plug it to your cars USB port where you would usually have to plug your phone to connect to CarPlay. Then you can connect it to your phone via your cars display and the phones Bluetooth menu and voila, you can have wireless CarPlay in every car that supports wired CarPlay only. Of course you have to do the pairing just once. It's dead easy and takes one minute. If I now get in the car it automatically starts the wireless CarPlay after only a few seconds. And to get back to topic: I would say it weighs roughly 50 grams together with its cable.

 

[PaulP]

First the Uni-Qs do not have a built-in passive crossover. There are no filters fitted at all to them and a Uni-Q has one pair of connectors for tweeter and one for midrange. Of course KEF could build passive crossovers nonetheless and drive each Uni-Q with one amp channel. The Japanese document clearly states which drivers are used AND where they are built in. They say three Uni-Qs (counted as six speakers), two woofers and two subwoofer chassis for the fresh air sub. This means that there are definitely no tweeters in the a-pillars, which would be nonesense anyways because two tweeters per side is usually a very bad idea.
there are two possible ways of amping: using passive crossovers for the Uni-Qs and drive each Uni-Q with one channel plus every woofer and every subwoofer with one channel. This would lead to seven channels used in total. The other possibility is to drive every tweeter and every midrange individually as one channel and filter them active via DSP. There would be two channels left. One for the woofers used parallel and filtered with a DSP bandpass (or lowpass) filter, and one for the subwoofers parallel with a lowpass filter. Probably they will choose the first way with passive crossover filtering plus some DSP equalizing on the Uni-Qs, because the (sub-)woofers require the most power and the amp probably has the same amount of power for every channel, so one distinct channel per (sub-)woofer seems more logic, if you only have eight channels for ten drivers.

Tweeters in the lower doors will sound like crap. Full stop. Uni-q doesn’t change high frequency directionally.

If they don’t have tweeters in the a pillars I will be shocked. It’s next to impossible to get a decent high end frequency response curve unless high frequency drivers at ear level.

 

[FederGigant]

Tweeters in the lower doors will sound like crap. Full stop. Uni-q doesn’t change high frequency directionally.

If they don’t have tweeters in the a pillars I will be shocked. It’s next to impossible to get a decent high end frequency response curve unless high frequency drivers at ear level.

But if they would fit tweeters in the a-pillars, they would interfere with the Uni-Qs tweeters, which would also sound like crap and would make using the Uni-Qs senseless. If there would be tweeters, there would be no need to use Uni-Qs in the first place and normal midrange drivers would be a way better fit. My guess is that there will be massive EQing with a DSP to (try to) compensate for the poor mounting position. Let's just wait and see what they can get out of this weird setup.

 

[PaulP]

But if they would fit tweeters in the a-pillars, they would interfere with the Uni-Qs tweeters, which would also sound like crap and would make using the Uni-Qs senseless. If there would be tweeters, there would be no need to use Uni-Qs in the first place and normal midrange drivers would be a way better fit. My guess is that there will be massive EQing with a DSP to (try to) compensate for the poor mounting position. Let's just wait and see what they can get out of this weird setup.

I’m afraid you are likely correct. But uni-q in the lower door panel vs a proper split time aligned dual driver is just seeing everything as a nail when all you own is a hammer.

Uni-q design really doesn’t make any sense in a car environment vs a home listening position. A leg in front of the tweeter is far more damaging than off axis refraction.

 

[FederGigant]

right. I hoped that they could fit the Uni-Qs in the a pillars, maybe in a new 3" version or even the 4" ones from the KEF LSX which are doing a very good job at the price point. Unfortunately the couldn't. They could have also fitted them in the dash like they do for the center. Not perfect, but way better. They sure have to spend a lot of effort to compensate for this, but no matter what they do, you probably don't want to see the frequency response curve measured around ear position. If they get this system working decent, I will applaud KEF as they probably were not the people who decided to put the Uni-Qs down to the drivers knees.