According to a recent article in Automotive News there is a battle for audio supremacy coming to a new car near you. Two audio giants are going head to head in the branded in-car audio segment. Bose Corp originated the branded in car audio system beginning with the 1983 Cadillac Seville.
And rival Harman International Industries Inc. is taking a big punch at Bose, saying it would pay $154 million, to acquire the Bang & Olufsen Automotive car audio business. Harmon’s acquisition adds to their existing high-end audio brands offered in Lexus, Audi, BMW, Lincoln and more.
Each of these suppliers are taking their own view of what’s new and next for car audio. Harmon is leveraging two of its technologies for 2016 in car audio offerings. They are the company’s Clari-Fi™ music restoration technology and its QuantumLogic™ Surround Sound.
Some of the audio quality in today’s music is lost because of the compression used by the digital format used. Harman’s Clari-Fi rebuilds the sound details lost during the digital compression of the music. The 2016 Kia Optima sports an Infinity Premium Audio system with 630 watts driving 14 speakers in 10 locations and includes both QuantumLogic Surround and Clari-Fi music technologies.
Bose on the other hand doesn’t have a car load of exotic audio names. Bose is just the possibly over exposed single name brand providing sound almost everywhere between a tabletop speaker for iPods and top of the line audio systems.
The Bose Panaray ® system will be showcased in the 2016 Cadillac CT6. According to the company, the Panaray “reproduces music with more clarity, precision, and deep bass than any other system preceding it”. It combines advanced, Bose digital signal handling with 34 speakers. Most of which measured less than 4 inches were positioned throughout the Cadillac CT6. This tops the 29 speaker system in the Range Rover Autobiography edition for most speakers in one vehicle.
In addition to the many small speakers firing straight at the listener, Bose has taken an idea long used in custom car audio shops everywhere. Several compact high excursion woofers like those found in Bose home entertainment systems were added to a bass box design producing the low frequency output of a much larger enclosure. Plus custom enclosures are built into the floor under the front seats. These speakers were designed to provide deep bass without shaking and buzzing. The result is a bass that you can feel as well as hear.
If you would like to experience the world class audio quality like that of Harmon or Bose, stop by either of our shops. Find out how we can provide you top of the line sound in any vehicle and budget.
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