It seems that manufacturers don’t just want to be the first to launch a 10-speed transmission or the smallest engine capacity, but that competition between automakers also extends to the audio systems. That’s certainly the case for Audi, as it plans to be the first to launch a 23-speaker 3D sound system in the 2016 Q7.
You read correctly. The new Q7 will feature a 23-speaker 3D sound system. Although it may be difficult to fathom why Audi would go to such an extreme, it can’t be argued that the sound quality will be clearer and more vivid.
Creating this unique system was not just a matter of placing and positioning the speakers. Audi took its motto, Vorsprung durch Technik (Advancement through technology), to heart and utilised a complex algorithm that determines the control signals for each speaker.
Two stages are involved in providing the 2016 Audi Q7 with the best sound quality possible.
In the first stage, the software breaks the data for the music source down into its 3D components. This means that wherever the sound has been recorded, the environment and objects that deflect the sound is detected by the software. Each of these deflections gives the same sound, but with different time lapses. The algorithm used in the sound system can calculate a mathematical model of the environment the sound is played in.
The second stage uses the sound portions detected in stage one to recreate the sound found in the original recording environment. Eleven channels work in tandem with a digital signal processor to send the sound to the 23 speakers to produce the 3D sound. A key feature, is that this new sound system can work with almost all type of audio; including streaming internet music, a CD, FM radio, or even a high-quality 5.1 surround-sound recording.
The 2016 Audi Q7, which goes on sale late in 2015, will feature the new 3D function with either the Bose or range-topping Bang & Olufsen sound system.
