Bentley partners with Naim for new stereo systems

Forget the German horsepower wars, carmakers are now competing just as fiercely to produce the best audio system for your car. Bentley today announced that it will partner with audio company Naim to produce what it calls “the world’s best in-car sound system.”

Each car will get a massive 1100w amplifier connected with up to 15 speakers to provide a true surround sound experience. Naim spent 18 months doing acoustic research on various Bentley models and tuning their system to match each car perfectly. Resonance levels were measured throughout the cabin and bodywork to allow the engineers to design unique speaker drive units for each car.

Developers claim that development of the speakers and amplifiers was tough because they needed to create a fanless design that would work between temperature ranges of -40 degrees Celsius up to 70 degrees Celsius. In addition, they created a new DSP setting for different speeds of the car. As you accelerate or slow down the system automatically compensates for road noise.

The Continental range will get 15 speakers (14 speakers in the GTC), while the Arnage limousine, Azure convertible and Brooklands coupe get 11 speakers.

Like Bentley, Naim is also based in England. Recently both Jaguar and Aston Martin have announced new audio partnerships with Bowers and Wilkins and Bang & Olufsen, respectively.