Auto matters: Sound in motion

It seems these days that every car manufacturer offers a flagship model, a high-performance version tuned to the nines, offering the ultimate in power and delivery. Earthshaking results, perfect timing and a sound that is pure music to your ears.

We’re talking high-performance hi-fi, of course. It looks like every prestige and performance carmaker has partnered with an equally impressive name from the high-end audio world to create an acoustically awesome audio system for the options list.

Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Aston Martin all feature some form of high-end installation by Scandinavian stylemasters Bang & Olufsen. Danish-perfectionists Dynaudio developed a unique system for the Bugatti Veyron, but you’ll also find its systems in other slightly less exotic models from the Volkswagen Group.

In the UK, Jaguar has tied up with another paragon of British performance and offers bespoke multi-driver installations by hi-fi aficionados’ favourite speaker maker Bowers & Wilkins.

Meanwhile, Bentley offers music-loving drivers the option of a bespoke ‘Naim for Bentley’ installation. And so it goes on, all the big names in the hi-fi, cinema sound and professional audio equipment world are offered as options somewhere.

But there’s the rub, they are options. Another box to tick on the list and often an expensive one at that. Anyone into the rarefied world of ultra-high performance hi-fi will fully understand the implications of ticking the ‘Tuned by Mark Wilkinson’ box on a car’s spec sheet.

So is there an alternative? Certainly, as a wide range of alternative head unit and in-car entertainment equipment manufacturers would suggest. Pioneer is one. A company with a long and illustrious history of innovation in audio electronics including the world’s first DVD car navigation system, has a new range of high-end multimedia in-car AV receivers. In cars, just as in home hi-fi systems, source is everything.

The better the signal you put in at the beginning of the system, the better every other component ‘downstream’ of that will perform. It’s no use buying the world’s best speakers and then sending them a duff signal. All they will do is reproduce that signal in all its glorious duffness in exquisite detail. On the other hand, send a pair of cheap speakers a decent signal and they’ll rock their little socks off. The message is simple, buy the best signal source you can possibly afford — and consider going down an alternative route before you tick that box on the order sheet.

In Pioneer’s case, you have a great new range to consider. New for 2011, its AVH and MVH series multimedia AV receivers are already available here.

Hiroharu Kato, senior manager, marketing department, Pioneer Gulf FZE Ltd explains, “Our trademarks are connectivity, quality and convenience. All the products in our 2011 line-up support higher visibility, multi-format compatibilities, seamless connections, unparalleled dynamics, greater power and personality-driven interfaces, making the in-car entertainment experience better than ever.”

Other big names to look for in the in-car entertainment industry include Kenwood, distributed by Mid Asia Trading, and both JVC and Nakamichi (another great high end hi-fi brand), distributed by the Al Shirawi Group. There is plenty of advice available from specialists, and Yellow Hat would be a good starting point in your journey. The advice is simple — buy the best you can afford, and trust your own ears. If it sounds like music to them, it probably is.