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Sunday, February 22, 2015 9:41:27 AM
Stereo systems evolve from minor to major
By Tom Voelk
Special to NWautos
The speaker system in a 2015 Cadillac Escalade is spread throughout the vehicle. Locations: mirror patches (1); sides of instrument panel (2); instrument panel (3); front doors (4 and 5); rear doors (6 and 7); D-pillars (8); front center console (9); and under the cargo area (10). (General Motors)
Cars can take you from Point A to Point B, but music transports you to another world. Next time you're rocking out to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the car, marvel at what goes into a factory sound system.
Your car's audio system might be the best one you own. That's a relatively new phenomenon. For decades, we grooved exclusively to monophonic AM radio. Even with the advent of FM and cassettes (let's not even discuss eight-track), factory stereo gear was largely an afterthought and speakers were stuck wherever there was room.
That changed when Bose teamed up with Cadillac to provide a powerful system specifically tuned to a 1983 Seville. That Seville had four speakers. A 2015 Escalade now packs 16. Fans of Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen and Burmester can get those systems in a car. They aren't for the thin of wallet, though.
Audio for all budgets
Fortunately, the concept of custom audio has trickled down to cars for the budget-minded. Martin Dluzansky, senior marketing manager at Bose, says the company has come a long way since its first GM partnership. Automakers provide interior mockups of cars under development for precise speaker placement and electronics tuning. The result might mean a smaller door pocket or the elimination of a tray on the dashboard for a center fill speaker, but it's a sound investment.
Think of the cabin as an acoustical chamber. Cloth and passengers absorb sound waves. Leather, plastic, wood and glass reflect them. Bose takes 1,000 acoustical measurements, running a frequency sweep in each seating position. Side-window and windshield angles are taken into consideration since they affect what hits the ear.
Small details pay big dividends. Pete Wendy, senior manager of sales and marketing at Harmon International (makers of JBL, Harman Kardon and Mark Levinson brands), says they created custom inserts in the 2015 Toyota Camry that plug small holes in the doors where window and mirror wiring is run. Sealing those spaces allows for better backpressure, resulting in a fuller, richer sound.
Challenges unique to cars
Unlike your quiet living room, cars produce engine, transmission, tire and wind noise that interferes with listening pleasure.
Engineers can't always test on the open road since automakers sometimes keep the new model a secret. So dynamometers are sometimes used. Such tests can reveal when sound insulation is needed. Electronic noise reduction, which uses microphones and signal processing to create reverse waveforms, can cancel out unwanted noise, as well.
Automotive systems must withstand harsh temperatures and sound as good through Alaska winters as they do during Arizona summers. Dluzansky and Wendy agree that automobiles are torture chambers for electronics. Vibration is constant, water often gets into doors, and dust is an issue. Consumers expect the system to last the life of the car.
Most people don't buy a car simply for the audio system. But here's what to listen for if you're making it a tiebreaker.
Different fields of sound
Great systems set a sound stage, placing the instruments in identifiable fields. Concentrate and you'll clearly hear the lead singer placed front and center while the rhythm guitar might be located toward the front right with a saxophone in the left rear.
Signal processing can auditorily reproduce not only the physical distance between, say, the string players and the pianist, but the space between them and the audience.
Audio engineers can work magic, but it's up to drivers to provide high-quality media. Much like high-resolution photos provide more clarity and depth than fast-loading Internet images, digital audio with a high sample rate rewards the ears.
For a real treat, get a surround-sound disk of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and play it on an Acura ELS Studio or Lincoln THX system. The stunning performance may temp you to buy the car on sound alone.
By Tom Voelk
Special to NWautos
The speaker system in a 2015 Cadillac Escalade is spread throughout the vehicle. Locations: mirror patches (1); sides of instrument panel (2); instrument panel (3); front doors (4 and 5); rear doors (6 and 7); D-pillars (8); front center console (9); and under the cargo area (10). (General Motors)
Cars can take you from Point A to Point B, but music transports you to another world. Next time you're rocking out to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in the car, marvel at what goes into a factory sound system.
Your car's audio system might be the best one you own. That's a relatively new phenomenon. For decades, we grooved exclusively to monophonic AM radio. Even with the advent of FM and cassettes (let's not even discuss eight-track), factory stereo gear was largely an afterthought and speakers were stuck wherever there was room.
That changed when Bose teamed up with Cadillac to provide a powerful system specifically tuned to a 1983 Seville. That Seville had four speakers. A 2015 Escalade now packs 16. Fans of Bowers & Wilkins, Bang & Olufsen and Burmester can get those systems in a car. They aren't for the thin of wallet, though.
Audio for all budgets
Fortunately, the concept of custom audio has trickled down to cars for the budget-minded. Martin Dluzansky, senior marketing manager at Bose, says the company has come a long way since its first GM partnership. Automakers provide interior mockups of cars under development for precise speaker placement and electronics tuning. The result might mean a smaller door pocket or the elimination of a tray on the dashboard for a center fill speaker, but it's a sound investment.
Think of the cabin as an acoustical chamber. Cloth and passengers absorb sound waves. Leather, plastic, wood and glass reflect them. Bose takes 1,000 acoustical measurements, running a frequency sweep in each seating position. Side-window and windshield angles are taken into consideration since they affect what hits the ear.
Small details pay big dividends. Pete Wendy, senior manager of sales and marketing at Harmon International (makers of JBL, Harman Kardon and Mark Levinson brands), says they created custom inserts in the 2015 Toyota Camry that plug small holes in the doors where window and mirror wiring is run. Sealing those spaces allows for better backpressure, resulting in a fuller, richer sound.
Challenges unique to cars
Unlike your quiet living room, cars produce engine, transmission, tire and wind noise that interferes with listening pleasure.
Engineers can't always test on the open road since automakers sometimes keep the new model a secret. So dynamometers are sometimes used. Such tests can reveal when sound insulation is needed. Electronic noise reduction, which uses microphones and signal processing to create reverse waveforms, can cancel out unwanted noise, as well.
Automotive systems must withstand harsh temperatures and sound as good through Alaska winters as they do during Arizona summers. Dluzansky and Wendy agree that automobiles are torture chambers for electronics. Vibration is constant, water often gets into doors, and dust is an issue. Consumers expect the system to last the life of the car.
Most people don't buy a car simply for the audio system. But here's what to listen for if you're making it a tiebreaker.
Different fields of sound
Great systems set a sound stage, placing the instruments in identifiable fields. Concentrate and you'll clearly hear the lead singer placed front and center while the rhythm guitar might be located toward the front right with a saxophone in the left rear.
Signal processing can auditorily reproduce not only the physical distance between, say, the string players and the pianist, but the space between them and the audience.
Audio engineers can work magic, but it's up to drivers to provide high-quality media. Much like high-resolution photos provide more clarity and depth than fast-loading Internet images, digital audio with a high sample rate rewards the ears.
For a real treat, get a surround-sound disk of "Bohemian Rhapsody" and play it on an Acura ELS Studio or Lincoln THX system. The stunning performance may temp you to buy the car on sound alone.
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