Land Rover thinks it has discovered the future of in-car audio, and it’s not about noise cancellation or ultimate fidelity when your tunes are turned up to 11 but vibrations through your seat that enable you to actually turn down the volume. And it’s a curiously stimulating experience.
Packed into the front perches of two of Land Rover’s latest high performance 4x4s — the Range Rover Sport SV and box fresh Defender Octa — are a number of low-frequency transducers that convert electrical signals from the sound system into vibrations, much like subwoofers.
The resulting pulses are sent through your body and are designed to — in the words of the marketing bumpf — create a “multi-dimensional audio experience” that “raises that sense of connection even higher”.
“The seats allow you to feel the music at a much lower level, without your ears bleeding,” explained Guy Boulton, JLR’s product manager for the Defender and Discovery models. “But we’ve also got wellness programs on the Pivi Pro infotainment that you can use almost as a massage function, but it’s much less severe than a massage. You need to feel it to understand it.”
The six settings range from “Calm” through “Soothe”, “Serene”, “Cool” and “Tonic” to “Invigorate”. The latter, it is claimed, has been proven in studies to boost cognitive response, while the former was engineered to reduced anxiety.
Would YOU want this new option in your car?
Click the link for a full review of the new tech and the Defender Octa
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