New Bentley Continental

It's still bang and olufsen though .... ?

otherwise Bentley is owned by VW and should by known as a VW car

analogmusic posted:

It's still bang and olufsen though .... ?

 

Nope. The clue is in "(aka Harman aka Samsung)"

Analog, on that logic the same should apply to Lamborghini, Bugatti, Porsche etc..?

I'm told the underpinnings are all new compared to the outgoing Continental GT and it's lighter as a consequence.  The styling has some nice elements of the EXP 10, and that boot and rear roof line...  hmmm... reminds me a bit of the old DBS.

Oh yes, and the Naim system is significantly more powerful than before.  I haven't heard it yet but looking forward to doing so soon.

Its just disappointing that B&O have got a foothold there. 

jon honeyball posted:

Its just disappointing that B&O have got a foothold there. 

Indeed, I fail to understand why the B&O is offered at all.

B&O have had a relationship with VAG for a while now.  

The PR says the B&O system is 1500 watts and "...with illuminated speaker grilles is aimed at lifestyle-oriented customers."

"A Naim 2,200 W, 18-speaker system with Active Bass Transducers built into the front seats and eight sound modes is offered for the true audiophile."

The amount of Watts must be important for Bentley Buyers - contrary to the 'normal' Naim buyers.

It surprised me a bit - as well as for the Muso line.

I'm with Jon on this re "aka Samsung"       Its obvious with their acquisitions in the audio industry in recent times that Samsung are focused on gaining market share & in Samsung terms that means global dominance.    With the resources that Samsung have coupled to their expertise in 'marketing',  I can foresee Bentley with only one audio system supplier,    I am sure its relatively easy to spin B&O as an audiophile system, done & said all B&O did that quite successfully themselves & judging by people I know who still have B&O audio (& TV) they do seem have kept the high end reputation.

Not wishing to muddy the waters in any sense, but my ever so 'umble Audi  has a more than acceptable Bose "Symphony" sound system, which, coupled to a hard wired iPod containing ripped WAV files, sounds just fine to me. 

Ditto Dave,  my standard BMW kit playing WAV sounds as good as I need when driving.      

  I don't 'get' the need for high end audio in cars,  how long do we spend on the average road journey,  20 minutes ???  less than an hour whatever.    I've seen some of the audio hifi in action;  I used to travel for work in Dubai (& all the rest of ME) & our local distributor had a passion for cars & had a collection of them.  One was an Aston with a Linn system that had some extra bespoke (expensive) stuff added.  He took me for a drive to 'hear how good it was'  & most of the time it was drowned out with the engine howling around the red line & road speeds that spent some time over 200kph.     Back at his home coincidentally his audio system was B&O.

Yes, I'm with you on this one, and whilst I wouldn't really consider Bose kit for home listening, the upgraded from basic system in my car is more than fine for singing tunelessly along to.

Anything better, and I might find myself "lost in the music", not really what you want when driving. 

Anyway...  getting back to the new Continental GT.  I'm loving the look of the back end - which is good because it's probably what most of us will see of it on the road.

And the interior is also just gorgeous.  Bentley have always been great with their interiors but this one really ups the ante:

It's something that you can only partially appreciate in a picture.  You only really appreciate fully when you can touch, feel and smell all the materials.  A Bentley interior is a lovely place to be, and the Naim system is just icing on a rather delicious cake.

And very nice it is too, Richard.

I know my place, though, tugging forelock, and retreating humbly. 

dave marshall posted:

Not wishing to muddy the waters in any sense, but my ever so 'umble Audi  has a more than acceptable Bose "Symphony" sound system, which, coupled to a hard wired iPod containing ripped WAV files, sounds just fine to me. 

"Muddy Waters ... where's that?"  

Not sure having muddy water in your Audi is a good sign though... perhaps you need to get the door seals checked?

I spend over 2 hours per day in my car, so a good music system is required.

dave marshall posted:

And very nice it is too, Richard.

I know my place, though, tugging forelock, and retreating humbly. 

No problem Dave - enjoy.

p.s. the best thing I did to my old Audi was to remove the Bose system and replace with a simpler but much better sounding Nakamichi head unit and amp.  Sadly I couldn't do that with my current BMW, which, in spite of being a "premium" option, is ruined by the usual awful bass which initially sounds impressively deep but then you realise there's a yawning chasm in the FR and what is being passed off as bass just falls over into a mushy mess.

Richard's picture of the GT doesn't look too bad. On my way home I sometimes go past a (stationary) Bentley SUV and it's the most hideous thing I think I've ever seen!

The rotating centre panel appears to be an option. 

I have a few friends in the motor industry and have listened to several high-end integrated sound systems (Meridian, Kenwood, B&W etc).

The best car hifi I've heard (not the loudest!) was one I had fitted to my Peugeot 306 in the late 90s. Alpine head unit, Kenwood 6x9s on a heavy dense fibreboard parcel shelf, plus some additional front tweeters...struggled to hear it over the Powerflow exhaust at times though.

Max Power anyone?

Richard Dane posted:

dave marshall posted:

And very nice it is too, Richard.

I know my place, though, tugging forelock, and retreating humbly. 

No problem Dave - enjoy.

p.s. the best thing I did to my old Audi was to remove the Bose system and replace with a simpler but much better sounding Nakamichi head unit and amp.  Sadly I couldn't do that with my current BMW, which, in spite of being a "premium" option, is ruined by the usual awful bass which initially sounds impressively deep but then you realise there's a yawning chasm in the FR and what is being passed off as bass just falls over into a mushy mess.

Indeed Richard, I have discovered with my BMWs over the years, the best audio is from their standard and not 'premium' sound systems... just as well BMW focus on designing cars rather than specifically audio replay systems.

And I do remember sitting chatting to you in a parked up Bentley once listening to its Naim system feeling somewhat underwhelmed... but you telling me it really comes into its own when travelling at speed to compensate for road and engine noise... sadly I never experienced  that first hand 

Bentley track day anyone???

Simon, I remember.  A couple of months back we were at Silverstone supporting Bentley for the Blancpain GT series and we went out on the parade lap in a Bentayga.  As if scything through the famous corners of Silverstone at speed in a high-up SUV wasn't surreal enough, doing so with Cantate Domino playing on the Naim for Bentley system really was quite other-worldly...

You tease 

Which Cantate Domino if I may ask? (always interested in choral music)

Richard Dane posted:

B&O have had a relationship with VAG for a while now.  

The PR says the B&O system is 1500 watts and "...with illuminated speaker grilles is aimed at lifestyle-oriented customers."

"A Naim 2,200 W, 18-speaker system with Active Bass Transducers built into the front seats and eight sound modes is offered for the true audiophile."

Sorry I just noted this... 

i couldn't think of anything more cheesy for a marketing dept to say...

"...with illuminated speaker grilles is aimed at lifestyle-oriented customers."

what sort of people are switched on by this? in my circles (and that's across most wealth groups) being 'lifestyle-oriented' is used as a patronising put down for a shallow consumerist .. it's funny how we must all live in our bubbles...

Ardbeg10y posted:

Which Cantate Domino if I may ask? (always interested in choral music)

IIRC it was the famous mid '70s Thorsten Nilsson recording.