I remember distinctly when Volvo introduced a mode for its top-end Bowers & Wilkins audio system that included the ability to make your car sound like the Gothenburg Concert Hall located near the company’s HQ in the Swedish city. This was a big deal, and journalists rushed to borrow the 2014 XC90 to listen to what Papa Roach might sound like if Papa Roach were ever invited to perform with the National Orchestra of Sweden.
Have I ever been to the Gothenburg Concert Hall? I have not, but I’ve been to the Wortham Theater in Houston, Texas, and I imagine it’s quite similar. I wish I could recollect exactly which song I played in the first so-equipped Volvo. There might have been some pre-loaded songs, like ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” as well as Sweden’s orchestra performing Wagner. It was 2014, and my tastes run weird, so it’s not entirely impossible I played either the mid Lily Allen album or the even more mid, sorry-about-that-whole-Blurred-Lines-thing Pharrell Williams apology joint.
Either way, it’s fun to get a Volvo and swap between the full-on Concert Hall experience, the recording studio, and the full stage environment setting. Here’s what Volvo and Bowers & Wilkins said about the system at the time:
“The XC90 uses our tweeter-on-top technology, which has a number of advantages in the automotive environment. Fundamentally it increases the ratio of direct to reflected sound, as more of the signal reaches the listener directly from the tweeter, rather than reflecting off the windscreen first. All of this means that the Bowers & Wilkins audio system in the XC90 sounds incredibly tangible and lifelike,” said Stuart Nevill, Head of Engineering, Bowers & Wilkins.
The system is comprised of a 12-channel HARMAN 1,400 watts Class D amplifier serving a total of 19 Bowers & Wilkins speakers – 7 Nautilus tweeters (25 mm) with the latest treble technology, 7 midrange speakers (5×100 mm and 2×80 mm) with the characteristic yellow Bowers & Wilkins Kevlar cone clearly visible behind the cover, 4 cone woofers (200/165 mm) and the new, ground-breaking air-ventilated subwoofer (250 mm).
I’m not a huge audio guy, so I’ll defer to Thomas on what that means.
In the coming weeks, Volvo ES90 and EX90 owners with a B&W system will get a new upgrade in the form of a new sound design meant to mimic one of the most famous recording studios in the world: Abbey Road Studios.
Before it was “Abbey Road Studios” officially, it was known as EMI Studios At Abbey Road, and then a small Liverpudlian concern called (the?) Beatles recorded their last-to-be-released album of the same name, and the rest was history.
Everyone wanted to capture some of the magic of Abbey Road, and some of the most famous albums of all time have been put to wax there, including:
- Kid Rock “Devil Without A Cause”
- Various Artists “Music From The Motion Picture Happy Feet”
- Wings “London Town”
- The Clint Boon Experience “The Biggest Horizon”
Did I just go through Discogs to see what albums were recorded there for a bit? Absolutely, 100%.
In reality, most people probably know Abbey Road for a bunch of classic records from The Beatles and Pink Floyd, to Massive Attack. Even Radiohead recorded “The Bends” there, and that’s the album universally understood to be their best and most important.
Car And Driver played with it, and you can the functionality above. Obviously, you’re limited to only seeing how it works; you can’t hear how it works because you’ll be limited by your own speakers.
I think this is cool and, though it’s limited to the newest cars now, my sense is that future models will also get this ability since that’s how Volvo usually does it.
Which album recorded at Abbey Road would you listen to seriously, and which would you listen to ironically?
Top Photo: Volvo, Depositphotos.com
I remember when Kid Rock dropped Devil Without a Cause. Album blew up bigtime – total banger!
Did David make you add the Beatles to the article and ruin the joke?
Can it make everything like it was recorded in a shower in a bathroom? Because even I sound good in there and I would expect an actual professional singer would sound exceptional.
Only can we filter out the dude in the corner stall adding random bass notes that aren’t always on key?
Fun fact: the ’68 VW Beetle in the background of the Abbey Road photo kept having its license plate, LMW 281F, repeatedly stolen after the album came out.
And in 1986 someone, who owned a local musical instrument shop, immediately bought the Beetle at a used car dealership when he saw that the dealership apparently didn’t know about the Beetle’s historical significance.
VW then acquired the Beetle in 1999 and has it on display at one of their museums (the one at Autostadt in Wolfsburg.)
Ah nostalgia. Back when tweeter was on top.
please no more kid rock on this website haha
COTD
Seconded
Fixed it for you.
I would read his obituary
I’d only read his obit if I knew it was from a source who would not try to avoid speaking ill of the dead.
Show Kid Rock some respect, he is probably going to be our next Secretary of Defense or some other important position.
I’m surprised he wasn’t brought on as the director of the Kennedy Center.
That’d have been one of the more qualified appointments of this administration.
Relatively speaking, of course.
I hate that you’re so right.
For real though… dude’s a scumbag and is kind of a fraud.
I’m not even talking about politics here, the whole fake rural fake trailer park shit…
He’s a rich kid that wants to LARP as someone who is a good musician and is blue collar.
He is neither of those things.
He’s actually a really good DJ and not too shabby on the drums. He’s obviously no Billy Joel, but he ain’t bad at piano and guitar either.
I respect your firm (ha) opinion, but to say he isn’t talented is false.
I think there’s a distinction between technically skilled with instruments and being a good musician. There have been good musicians without a lot of technical skill and technically skilled players who need a good musician to work with.
I truly don’t know if he’s got what it takes to be a good musician because he has found a profitable niche that doesn’t require it.
That’s a pretty wild statement. I’m not the biggest fan of his music, some of it is excellent, others are bombs, but that is neither here nor there.
For you to wonder if he has “what it takes” is kinda bonkers. He crossed over to like 4 different genres and has made a couple of hundred million dollars. I’m pretty sure that is a sign that his music works, which is what happens when you make music in more than one niche.
This comment section love the TDS stuff so much that they overlook classics like what he did with Sheryl Crow or the crushers with Yellawolf.
I saw a comment on a picture of him that said
“Kid Rock looks like a Patriotic Magician that can turn Bud Light into Domestic Violence.”
The Bends is…”the album universally understood to be [Radiohead’s] best and most important.”
I know this is sarcasm, but it’s still my favorite.
That was sarcasm? I really agree, too. Those pretentious art wanker critics can have Kid A and Amnesiac all they want. Good albums, but they don’t pass the “I’m hopping in the car and want to listen to something that won’t make me suicidal in 15 minutes.” That’s an underappreciated metric for music. Especially in the car. I love Sigur Ros, but you’ll never find me jamming out to them on the way to Home Depot.
Without actually speaking for Hardigree, I guarantee he’s thinking of OK Computer.
Probably so. That’s my second favorite 🙂
Paranoid Android is just amazing. I might have to go watch the video now.
You know, with Abbey Road, it’s going to depend on which room you want to hear. 1 is a HUGE space for orchestras (the best known Beatles track done in 1 is the live satellite All You Need is Love)
Most of the rock stuff was done in Abbey Road 2 – which is where they were working on this Volvo stuff. That’s still a big space.
3 is different and smaller.
And what is “authentic”?
Do they emulate EMI REDD or TG12345 consoles? Or maybe the Neves or SSLs? Which era? 80s is going to sound different than 60s.
“sonic purity” is something people say about mainstream recordings when they have no idea how mainstream recordings are made.
I can crack open a copy of The Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences, flip to any random page, and understand more of the terms there than in this post.
If you really want ot nerd out, find the Recording The Beatles book. No less technically dense, but lots of pictures.
REDD consoles – the sound of nearly all the Beatles records. (that gnarly distortion on the Revolution guitar riff (a lift from “Do Unto Others” by Pee Wee Crayton) was a pair of REDD channels pushed into overload. Rubber Soul gives a good sense.
TG12345 consoles – very modern. Transistor. Very similar to modern consoles with a lot more features. Ringo’s new calf-skin tom heads aside, this is the sound of the Abbey Road record.
Anomaly: Let it Be – a pastiche put together by Phil Spector and then re-done in the early 2000s and soon to be (if not out) re-redone.
Also, are we talking about acoustic spaces or control rooms? Yeah, differences in consoles, but amps and monitors as well. Near fields? Far Fields? Mid fields? Eh, marketing.
Looking at the C/D video, it appears to be basically surround DSP, most likely using modeled rooms. It reminds me of the Waves plugins everyone wanted on their Pro Tools systems back in the PT5/888 days. (“The renaissance compressor is so warm! Oh no! My serial dongle isn’t being recognized!”)
Great if the material is mixed specifically for that playback environment (wonder if it’s kinda like Atmos, instead?).
A real mental challenge to listen to stuff you know super well through the new format, because it’s going to sound radically different and kinda like an uncanny valley thing.
Fulcrum does have that 3D processor that they showed at Infocomm last year. It was pretty neat, but I still ask what the heck am I listening to as far as the space?? I’m with the shower too as suggested by @Hoser68
That’s usually what this stuff winds up sounding like, anyway!
Plates and chambers FTW. In mono.
Through Auratones!
Ah, the Horrortone!
These days that’d be an Avantone Mix Cube (or their NS-10 knockoffs, if you hate yourself – don’t forget to put TP over the tweeters)
I did like those big ol’ Ureis with the upgraded crossovers
Paul is out of step and barefoot! Paul is dead!! /s
One of the most famous photos in the world.
On another note.
Happy Birthday to Paul.
Wow… you can’t make this shit up! Happy Birthday to possibly the greatest songwriter ever.
Still 64 after all these years!
Wish You Were Here is better than Dark Side, so that would be my serious, and for the lolz, Sammy Hagar by Sammy Hagar
Wish You Were Here is a masterpiece.
I want to agree, but if you’re not the biggest fan of Diamond (parts I-MCMLIV) then there’s only 3 songs left. Yes, 3 of their best songs of all time, but still. I think some people are just frustrated that DSOTM got a little overexposed for 50 years straight. Myself included.
There’s a lot of “Shine On, You Crazy Diamond” on there. I love the album, but I don’t think it’s their best. “Animals”, OTOH…
Concept albums are rarely more than a lyrical exercise. And for me–as well as everybody I’ve ever played with–it’s a hell of a lot easier to write four 4-minute songs than it is to write one 17-minute song. So yeah, Animals all the fucking way.
And yet Iron Butterfly managed it flawlessly – just give the drummer some slack on the leash and the rest of the band gets a 15 minute break to go grab a beer or toke back up!
Sorry, I meant “one listenable 17-minute song.” ha
And I struggled with how to word my comment, because what I really meant was “three songs that clock in at forty minutes compared with ten 4-minute songs,” because a one-off like Inna Godda Davida (or whatever) is just an extended jam whereas Dogs/Pigs/Sheep together are worthy of awe, compositionally.
I mean DSOTM is still my go to stereo tuning album and is really really good, but all 58 hours of Shine On You Crazy Diamond about Syd Barrett are amazing
I know me. Whatever I choose to listen to ironically would likely become something I listen to seriously.
So “Happy Feet” for both, I guess. I’ve never seen it or heard the soundtrack, so I don’t know how this is going to work for me. It might just symbolize my (further) descent into madness.
I appreciate the laugh on this grey morning. I assume this is just regular old impulse response modeling, if you’d like a light explanation of how it works, see this Tape Op interview from 22(!) years ago that discusses the “duck quack room.”.
Ayy! Fellow TapeOp reader.
Surround in cars always sucks and sounds phasey and weird.
The best OEM audio systems I experienced so far have been the ELS stuff in Acuras – made by Panasonic.
Instead of the typical Boom and Sizzle of all the Harman stuff, the ELS systems had much more midrange detail (without cheating the rest of the spectrum).
Midrange (and mono) are EVERYTHING.
Yeah, midrange is hard to pull off with all those funny shapes and materials.
Some time between now and when I go the rest of the way deaf, I’ll have a car that’s quiet enough for me to hear the sound system.
“Boom and Sizzle” is a great way to describe the H/K system in my car. It sounds great for a lot of things but gets a bit muddy in the mid range.
It’s impressive at first, but tiring to listen to.
“smiley face” eq curve with boosts at either end.
I love me some Baxandall bass and treble controls as much as the next guy, but when there’s nothing in the middle, it’s awful.
Like a good Bose curve.
As an uncultured heathen, I’ll probably use this remarkable step in automotive audio engineering that allows music to be heard as the artist created it to listen to some podcast about comedians discussing the top Florida Man arrests of the week.
Down here, that’s called “the local news”.Oddly enough, we still call them “Florida Man”.
Volvo clearly doesn’t know its customers if they haven’t yet launched a “make any piece of music sound like a Tiny Desk Concert” mode yet.
I am a bad NPR listener because the first (and, so far, only) Tiny Desk Concert I’ve knowingly listened to was GWAR, and that was mostly just for the shock value of hearing GWAR do public radio (and profess their love of Terry Gross).
Tiny Desk should be mandatory watching on youtube. It’s so hard to even pick a favorite “episode”, There are some sad milestone ones like Mac Miller or The Cranberries, but there are some absolute banger ones that showcase how insanely talented the musician is.
I would suggest watching a few that are your favorite artist, and then watch a few of “artists you know” but don’t really know. If one is going to burn time on the internet, one can do waaaaay worse that watching 4 different tiny desks.
Florence and the machine was pretty good too
Yep. There are like 30 ones i’d watch again, just because they are that good.
I met a guy, a kid at 27 really, who said he has never met anyone famous. That kinda blew my mind. His opinion was that famous people were like some kind of unapproachable aliens. He really thought that. Tiny Desk is a great antidote for people like him, just to see that humanity is universal.
Maybe that was too deep, lol.
I was hoping for the authentic sound of cash registers clanking during the intro to Pink Floyd’s Money, but if you want that, just visit the Volvo dealership.
Money! To fix my car. Turbo, super, charging’s gooooone too far. Money! To buy some gas. All these EVs can kiss myyyy ass. I’ll drive my new car, not too far, no chargers around guess I’ll hit the bar.
Assuming that any actual Beatles albums are off-limits for being too obvious. then: Seriously: Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon”. Ironically: Oasis “Be Here Now”.
Lol, BE HERE NOW. I almost made that joke.
Oasis have a big UK tour this year, which sold out in about six seconds, so there’s clearly enough people around for whom that would be their favourite album.
I was always more of a Blur fan myself.
An Oasis concert is like a hockey game. You’re mostly going for the fights.
looks like there have never been more Hockey fans in history. Not a single ticket available for the rest of the year in North America.
I never liked Oasis. But very much enjoy Blur.
Any word on if we’ll be able to remix music with that level control while travelling 85mph down a highway? It will be a good distraction from looking at that boring road.
To your question, Motörhead’s ‘Overkill’ might be an appropriate one to try out.