Here is the answer to my question:

1. No Obligations
Each Preorder you submit for a Vehicle acts as a deposit for a future purchase of the Vehicle. You are under no obligation to purchase a Vehicle from us, and we are under no obligation to supply you with a Vehicle.

These Terms do not constitute an agreement for the sale of a Vehicle and do not lock in pricing, a firm production slot, a firm delivery date, or specific Vehicle configuration. To complete the purchase or lease of a Vehicle, you will need to execute Rivian’s standard final Rivian Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement (“Final Sales Agreement”) which will include additional terms and conditions, including the final price sheet for the vehicle you ultimately select (“Your Selected Vehicle”). The Final Sales Agreement may be made with another Rivian entity. Additional payment for Your Selected Vehicle, including taxes and other governmental fees, will be required at that time.

7. Vehicle Configuration and Battery Range
You understand that we may not have completed the development of the Vehicle or begun manufacturing the Vehicle at the time of your Preorder and specifications are subject to change at any time. You understand battery range and other available features have not yet been determined and may change, even after features are announced. By agreeing to these Terms, you represent and warrant to us that you understand that the Vehicle configuration may change prior to execution of any Final Sales Agreement.

Don't trust these guys. When you take delivery, make sure you go over the vehicle thoroughly. They will not tell you if they have eliminated any features or downgraded the equipment on the vehicle. They don't have to tell you. Its call the "success syndrome". If you don't like it, the next person in line does. Take it or leave it.
Good luck. I hope you have a better experience than I have had.

 

Can you confirm your front door speakers don’t say “Meridian” on the grills?

 

I just took delivery of my R1T and gave the “new “ sound system a decent flogging over the last 3 days Although it’s not the best sound I’ve ever heard in a car ( own a Porsche with Burmeister) it’s def good enough to satisfy 99% of us an audiophile might take some exception to a difference in the midrange it’s definitely not a dealbreaker given all the other features in this truck I am disappointed in how this change seems to be somewhat snuck in but after a side by side comparison the difference is def not worth canceling And still beats the similar competition (IMO- don’t fricken attack me)

 

The sound system isn't the biggest draw for me, what concerns me is if you keep taking feature after feature is feels like been killed by one thousand cuts.

With the queue been so deep the amount of changes are exacerbated can be quite large and impactful.

 

Meridian custom tailors every audio system to the vehicle so does Harmon Kardon, who has about 15 brands of in-vehicle audio. You can look up the initial press release when they announced the Meridian system in the RIvian). With such a positive spin put on that letter (sounds like a political speech writer), you would think RIvian would have sent a notice to all of the order holders and put a message on our R1 order website celebrating, but nothing.

Not a word about cost savings in that memo, which is so strange, but to Wall Street, a different message, we saved money, the speakers are lighter, we took a few out and transferred the frequencies to other speakers (good they did or you don't hear those sounds) OLord, the irony. The lawsuit is not worth the time or expense.

Can't believe RIvian named it Rivian Elevation, the same as Meridian's system; that's cold. Meridian may do something about that or let them out of their contract early with a nice payment; the buyer will never know.

Considering a Land Rover Defender, but have to see if they can get their reliability out of the basement, have similar towing capacity, and seat seven. Had one about twelve years ago, when it worked drove fantastic, though an electronical nightmare. Went back to the big three. Land Rovers have great looks but bad dependability, maybe where Rivian ends up.

 

I agree the new Rivian audio is not worthy of a 85K+ SUV. My 2023 Tesla MYP sounds 3x better!

I had high hopes from Rivian, now I’m a little sad (

 

I picked up a new R1T at the Normal plan before Thanksgiving. I ordered the R1T and R1S in April of 2019. I picked up the R1S on March 14th at the Normal plant. I just asked my guide if the R1S has a Meridian sounds system that I ordered. He informed me that it does not. It has the Rivian in-house audio system. I was never told by anyone at Rivian that there was a change to the sound system. I don't think this is right. I ordered an R1S with a Meridian sound system. Rivian did a bait and switch and snuck in a different sounds system without advising me.

I think the R1T Meridian system sounds much better than the R1S Rivian system.

Here is the guides explanation:

Hi Timothy,

Thanks for reaching out. I just checked your R1S and it looks like it comes with the in-house designed audio system.

We made the decision to develop our own audio solution in order to bring an auditory experience to our owners that is completely tailored to our R1 vehicle interiors. Our testing has shown listeners prefer the Rivian in-house audio through all dynamic ranges and music genres.

The in-house Rivian Elevation Audio system allows the R1 vehicles to use a common 1,200 Watt, 18-channel amplifier.

Stay adventurous,
William
Rivian Guide

Phone: 1-888-712-3204
SMS: +13092372791
Email: guidewilliamb@rivian.com
Hours of Operation: M-F 8:30 AM- 5:00 CST
Click here to schedule a call with me.


Did anyone else have this experience. I would think I have some legal recourse here.

Tim

Thank You for posting your concerns, I have the same situation and I’m really very upset about the Bait and switch.
I think this should be a class action lawsuit because this happened without any notification to the owners at all.
We were not offered a choice to accept the R1S under those conditions.
ANY OTHER OWNERS WITH THE SAME EXPERIENCE PLEASE SPEAK UP…
That’s almost the same as the presentation of the 400 plus miles offered with the max batteries then did not provide,
Again
BAIT AND SWITCH ‼