At a private event at Max M. Fisher Music Center in downtown Detroit, Lincoln took a big step forward its commitment to offering a first-class in car experience by announcing a new partnership with ultra-premium speaker manufacturer Revel.
Prized by audiophiles for their uncompromising sound quality and craftsmanship, Revel, a division of Harman Audio, has become one of the most respected names in home entertainment with speakers ranging in cost from $3,000 to over $20,000. They’re able to command such prices because of the remarkable clarity and realistic presentation of the sound. Revel’s claim to fame is their “Point Source Architecture” which locates tweeter and midrange speakers in such a way that sound waves at all frequencies maintain their integrity thus presenting a truer replication of the original sound.
Revel is bringing this technology to a car for the first time in a ten year partnership with Lincoln and the system will be available at every new vehicle launch beginning with the all-new MKX which will make its debut next year.
I was able to listen to both a Revel Ultima home audio system and the Revel Ultima system in a prototype vehicle and was absolutely stunned by the clarity, power and presence the music had. No matter what genre or format the music was presented in, it sounded as good as I’ve ever heard. Even at the highest volume settings, the 19-speaker Revel Ultima system performed with no discernible distortion.
Two technologies that help achieve this level of quality are QuantumLogic Surround and Clari-Fi sound recreation technology.
QuantumLogic creates a multidimensional surround sound experience letting you choose to listen to the music in a traditional stereo mode, in audience mode as if you were sitting in the auditorium or in stage mode, which presents the music as if you were right on stage with the musicians. The effect is stunning.
Clari-Fi uses complex algorithms to expand compressed digital music formats like MP3 in shuch a way that it helps restore the original sounds that are lost in most speakers. The effect is both noticeable – and to this musician’s ear – welcome.
And while the Revel Ultima system sounded great in the car that was standing still on a soundstage, it’s a whole other thing to listen to a music in a moving vehicle. So we’ll wait until the MKX is available for test drives to determine whether this system sounds as good at speed as it is in the showroom.
The early results however, are very, very promising.