BEYOND Magazine has a feature on the development of the Mark Levinson audio systems installed in Lexus vehicles:
“The car is an extremely challenging environment,” says Chris Ludwig, chief engineer of acoustic systems at Harman, as diplomatically as possible. The space is small, there are a lot of reflective surfaces, and it’s hard to get the listener in “the sweet spot” between speakers.
Ludwig works at the Harman facility in Novi, Michigan, where he and his engineering team spend as many as four years designing the Mark Levinson sound systems for each new series of Lexus.
It takes from 30 to 40 people – designers, engineers, specialists in a variety of fields – to develop each new audio system. They’re trying to get as close as possible to listening in a living room – and then, of course, transcending that, so you’re listening somewhere else entirely.