Interesting thread...
Neil Gader from TAS actually did a little article on high-end sound in auto's for Winding Road, David E. Davis' (founder of Car & Driver and Automobile Magazine) latest project.
http://www.windingroad.com/features-...premium-sound/
There is strong evidence that auto manufacturers are paying more attention to in-car entertainment systems than thekid may believe. Orders for DVD based entertainment systems are way up and if a car doesn't have an iPod dock, it's considered out of date. These are massive profit centers and the manufacturers know it. You can now find Dynaudio in Volvos, Linn in Aston Martins, B&W in Jags, Mark Levinson in Lexus, B&O in Audis, and even Burmester in Bugatti. Bose, obviously, is found everywhere...including Ferrari's flagship 599 Fiorano.
I've had a number of Bose systems in my cars, some were pretty good while another was so bad I actually had the dealer check it to make sure something wasn't terribly wrong (it wasn't, it was just that bad). The H/K system in my BMW is so awful, I was actually offended. To drop that kind of coin on car and have a stereo with zero bass that audibly clips at anything above low volume is insulting. I'm not expecting it so sound like my home rig...but COME ON!
It's intersting to see the biases come out. I for one, wouldn't consider taking a car off my list simply because it only carried Bose. The way the engine & exhaust sounds is far more important to me than the way the stereo does, but I'm twisted in that kinda way. :crazy: I'm also surprised to see B&O isn't "high-end", whatever definition that is this week. The Beo5 is a pretty impressive piece of equipment, from a sound and technology standpoint, even if it does look like Robbie the Robot.
http://www.topsalon.ru/img/bang-olufsen-BeoLab-5l.jpeghttp://www.galacticvoyager.com/mod/robbie/rrobot.jpg