Throughout its history, Harman has steadily gobbled up automotive audio brands. JBL was among the first, bought out in 1969. Infinity was acquired in 1983, AKG joined the fray in 1994, then Mark Levinson and Revel in 2003. Most recently, Harman International acquired Bang & Olufsen’s automotive division in 2015, before Harman International itself was bought by Samsung in 2017. However, just because all of these brands are owned by Harman International doesn’t mean that every single stereo under these brands will be alike. Let’s start with a really solid example, the 13-speaker Mark Levinson audio system available in the Lexus LC 500. Packing 915 watts of power, this system is a great example of what can be done when product planners know that customers will be serious about sound quality. Thanks to the LC’s fairly high price tag, acoustic engineers were able to produce a system with reasonably low distortion, clean staging, and a relatively balanced sound signature. No wonder it’s a massive hit with LC owners. On the other end of the spectrum, you have the B&O system in the Ford Bronco Sport Outer Banks I tested a few weeks ago. In contrast to the pricey Lexus LC500, this baby Bronco’s premium audio system is part of a $1,285 package on a vehicle that starts at $36,045 (including a $1,595 freight charge). This means that Harman International likely didn’t have a huge budget for equipment and tuning, seeing as the system will have a fairly low take rate and has to recoup development costs while turning Ford a profit. As such, this system was engineered to a lower price point and therefore lacks the quality of higher-end systems.
Of course, this audio system monopoly has benefits for car manufacturers. For instance, the new Genesis G90 has a Bang & Olufsen audio system instead of a traditional Lexicon audio system. There’s no change in supplier here, just a change in branding. It’s a similar deal with BMW’s re-adoption of the Harman Kardon brand in the late 2000s. Late E90 3-Series models featured an available Harman Kardon stereo with exactly the same speakers as the earlier Logic 7 system and an interchangeable amplifier. Just slap a new name on it and call it done. In addition, manufacturers can benefit from shared technologies. Take Clari-Fi, a digital compression restoration algorithm that attempts to reconstruct detail lost to compression. While it’ll never be as good as CD-quality or FLAC files, it’s proliferated across almost every corner of Harman’s car audio empire from the JBL system in a Toyota Camry to the Revel system in a loaded Lincoln Aviator.
However, this sharing of brands and technologies results in some audio systems that feel remarkably homogeneous. Compare Harman-made systems in competing cars, and similarities greatly outweigh differences. For example, the available Revel Ultima system in a Lincoln Nautilus features fairly similar sound quality to the Mark Levinson system available in the outgoing Lexus RX in terms of distortion. Due to Harman’s dominance in the automotive space, few premium audio systems really stand out from what competitors have to offer. Moreover, Harman International has done some really strange things to famous audio brands in pursuit of market share in the automotive segment. The previously-mentioned B&O system in the Ford Bronco Sport Outer Banks is rubbish, which clashes with Bang & Olufsen’s stellar reputation. On the other end of the spectrum, the 36-speaker AKG system available in the Cadillac Escalade features a noticeable bass boost that’s at odds with AKG’s reputation for building reference-grade monitors. Despite the brand on the speaker grilles, it’s hard to know what to expect if Harman International is actually building the system.
However, there are still independent players clawing for market share in the OEM premium audio sector. If you want the best factory stereo in any car under $100,000, pick up a Volvo with the Bowers & Wilkins system. It’s exceptionally clean, balanced, and just joyous in standard studio mode. There’s no staging weirdness, reproduction is great, and overall quality is well worth the steep price tag. On the more reasonable side of things, the Burmester stereo is an $850 option on the Mercedes-Benz GLB and is worth every penny. While it certainly doesn’t have enough bass to rattle windows, distortion is impressively low.
More importantly, new players are either entering or re-entering the automotive space. McIntosh reappeared in several Jeep products, the Lucid Air features Dolby Atmos surround sound, and the new Audi Q4 e-Tron features an available Sonos audio system. The longstanding dominance of Harman International dominance have made things a bit audibly beige, but things are changing.
However Audis shift to Sonos is a disaster.
When I get a lone car during servicing, which now feature Sonos, I do what I always do to get Sonos sounding the best. I switch it off.
Sonos have done absolutely nothing to design for the acoustic interior of a car, so along with their trade mark muddy sound and rubbish DAC harshness, you get interior modal boom.
And then we repeat the conversation when he remembers that I dare use the television speakers instead of investing hundreds or thousands into a home audio system.
If he manages to see my cheapy Skullcandy earbuds, he absolutely loses it. Nah, I’m not buying nice headphones to go get all sweaty at the gym and lose six months from now.
These people with their magical ears are unbearable and refuse to believe that it sounds just fine to everyone else.
Years back I helped a friend pick up a used equipment shelf. It’s maybe 2′ x 2′, with 3 layers or so, intended to support small components such as the CD reader.
That effing thing had (4) 1 1/4″ diameter steel threaded rods as posts. Each shelf weighted maybe 30lbs or so.
1 1/4″ diameter rods are equivalent to #10 rebars in construction. I’m an effin’ structural engineer and I’ve never used #10 rebars for effin’ buildings I designed.
Somehow they think a heavy shelf makes the sound more pure. It wasn’t even a speaker stand.
But when it comes to TV speakers, you can improve the quality by such a dramatic amount that literally anybody could tell the difference for very little money. It’s hard to see any logic in spending many hundreds or even thousands on a decent TV and then using whatever tiny speakers the thing is pointing at the wall. Even $80 in the soundbar aisle at BestBuy will get you a significant upgrade over what’s in even higher end TVs.
If you’re getting a little el-cheapo TV too, then by all means use its shitty speakers.
There’s nothing wrong with Skullcandy earbuds.
However Audi’s shift to Sonos is a disaster.
When I get a lone car during servicing, which now feature Sonos, I do what I always do to get Sonos sounding the best. I switch it off.
Sonos have done absolutely nothing to design for the acoustic interior of a car, so along with their trade mark muddy sound and DAC harshness, you get interior modal boom.
The only reason I think Sonos exists as a brand, is for the simple multi room set up and streaming. I find their attempts at reproducing music unlistenable.
I’m an acoustics engineer.
A few dictation spelling issues.
Now, I am no expert but there was no comparison between those three.
I had a 2016 with this system and it was impressive, both in quality (while not moving, the Wrangler of course has tons of road noise once on the move), and in listenability with the top down.
https://youtu.be/b25jj_zzINQ
They took the same system and put it in other VWs afterwards, but without the same level of engineering put into the original in the GLi. They sounded “good”, but definitely not the same.
When the Fender systems came out a number of dealerships had Fender guitars in the showrooms though.
I’ve always enjoyed the sound from Bose.
However, the radio in the car (mine has Bose) is only to provide background when cruising on the highway.
Any other time, the background is filled with the beautiful soundtrack of the LS3 roaring, snorting and popping. Holden really did a good job on tweaking the exhaust sound on the (in the US) Chevy SS
Their car systems had cheap paper drivers with custom tuned plastic housings with small amplifiers at the speakers making it very difficult to repair or replace. Cars with factory Bose systems were an absolute pain to work on and when one of the speakers or amps failed, it was very expensive to get a replacement. Many a time someone would come in with a bad Bose speaker and we would have to tell them you can’t replace it with a regular speaker, you either have to pay through the nose for a replacement from the dealer or we would have to replace your whole system (head unit and all speakers). You’d end up with a better system, but it would cost you. Either way, it was gonna cost you (unless you got lucky at a scrap yard).
Overpriced junk about sums it up for me. What they did with that junk via custom enclosures and tuning could be pretty impressive. They squeezed everything they could out of those inefficient paper drivers. With vehicles you often don’t have much of a choice. If your vehicle of choice has a Bose system, what can you do? I had one in my last car and it sounded decent, I just had to hope and pray nothing happened to any of the modules. Gave it to my daughter 2 months ago and she loved it (the car). Unfortunately, Ian showed up and flooded it death. RIP 09 G37 sedan, you served us well.
They were an early seller of their name. And sold products like they were much more premium than they were.
That said, the Bose Panaray 36-speaker setup in my Cadillac CT6 is probably the best factory audio I’ve ever had.
What are the development costs of some coked up sales goon picking which premium brand is at the right price/exclusivity level on the scale and then choosing some auto-audio lego out of the catalog to print the name on and plug into whatever speaker holes the manufacturer had room for? Do those costs include drinks at lunch? I’m sure plenty of high end cars have more thought put into the audio system than that. But not mass-market vehicles having a premium audio option added as an afterthought.
Trademark muddy sound, harsh DAC, distortion from speaker surround, and in the loan car Audis I’ve driven, unchecked cabin boom from interior modes.
Since every manufacturer only offers one premium branded sound upgrade, what brand is on the grille has never mattered. It only matters what the individual system sounds like.
A Mark Levinson brand system in a Lexus was never inherently better than a branded system in another car. Listening really is the only useful way to tell. It would be very different if several brands were offered next to each other, and buyers could choose which sound signature they liked better. But that would be an inventory nightmare of options.
On the plus side, I do think that engineering, innovation and manufacturing efficiencies has snuffed out most of the concept of individual speaker brands needing to have a “signature sound”. Drivers can be so very neutral these days that most of sound quality is left to driver size, crossover selection and equalization.
And does anyone else remember how incredibly awful Samsung audio products were before they bought Harman International? I don’t like what excessive consolidation does to competition, but Samsung itself never developed any speakers I’d even call passable. So for them, Harman was a great company to buy.
