Listen to the Premium Sound system in XC90. It is obvious to the ear that Volvo Car is in tune with the art of sound.

"A high-class sound system is essential to the total premium experience in Volvo cars," says Lex Kerssemakers, Senior Vice President Brand, Business & Product Strategy. "We know from interviews with our customers that audio is high on the list of priorities when a car is purchased."

Independent research shows the same results. A high-class audio system ranks among the five most important functions in the car. And 79 percent of automobile customers say that sound quality is "very important" when they choose an audio system (J.D. Powers 2002 and 2003). This puts great demands on the manufacturers of cars and sound systems.

Volvo Cars, which develops its own sound systems and components, has an ambition to remain at the forefront with respect to sound quality. VolvoFs top-of-the-line system, Premium Sound, was developed with very high demands on sound quality and with the use of advanced technology.

Collaboration with quality audio component suppliers Dolby, Dynaudio, Alpine and Bang & Olufsen is important in the development of a premium quality sound system. Volvo is responsible for setting the requirements and for the adaptation to the cabin of a car. And the important thing is the way in which sound is perceived in the car.

"It is quite evident that we prioritise sound quality," says Hans Lahti, technical specialist in the Audio Department at Volvo Cars. "Some manufacturers offer a greater number of technical features and the possibility of making more advanced settings, but we feel that anyone should be able to use the audio system and get the most out of it."

Therefore, many functions are fully automatic in Volvo's audio systems, such as the loudness control and regulating volume and bass in relation to the car's speed.

Digital technology allows the sound to be adapted to the driving situation. Not only the volume but also the tone settings are adjusted automatically in line with the car's speed.

"It is a matter of making things easy and convenient for the driver," says Kerssemakers. "For this reason, we have also designed our sound systems with large controls, an easy-to-read display, and a logical interface. And this is particularly important for Volvo, because ease-of-use also contributes to driving safety."

Volvo's Premium Sound Systems - Always One Step Ahead
Volvo's latest generation of Premium Sound has a surround processor by Dolby, amplifier by Alpine, loudspeakers by the Danish company Dynaudio and an auxiliary plug for external audio sources (AUX) such as iPod or other MP3 players.

The world's first RDS radio was in a Volvo. Radio Data System - RDS - links FM transmitters into a network. An FM transmitter in such a network sends information that gives RDS radio the following functions:

• Automatically switches to a stronger transmitter if reception in the area is poor
• Searches for special program types, such as traffic information or news
• Receives text information on the current radio program

Volvo was again at the forefront of in-car audio technology when it introduced Dolby Pro Logic Surround - a world first - in C70 in 1997.

Dolby Pro Logic Surround is a unique surround processor with the ability to reproduce digitally premium quality audio for all types of music.

Through Volvo's development, the processor was adapted from the outset to the conditions in a car. In 2002 with the launch of XC90, Volvo revealed the second generation of Dolby Pro Logic - Dolby Pro Logic II Surround.

Dolby® Pro Logic II Surround is available in Australia as a standard audio feature in S40 T5 AWD, V50 T5 AWD, XC70 LE and XC90 V8.

There are two sound system levels available for model-year 2007 XC90 model range.

High Performance Sound (standard in XC90 LE & XC90 D5)

• Radio with single CD Player
• 8 Dynaudio® loudspeakers
• Amplifier, 4x40W
• MP3 and WMA capability
• AUX input

Premium Sound (standard in XC90 V8)

• Radio with in-dash 6 CD changer
• Dolby Surround Pro Logic II™ with centre loudspeaker and digital sound processor
• 12 Premium Sound Dynaudio® loudspeakers
• Premium Sound amplifier, 5x130W
• Premium Sound digital sound processor
• MP3 and WMA capability
• AUX input
• Audio sources (radio, CD-player, MP3 player) - all can be used at the same time using the headphone plug auxiliaries at the back seats

Design & Construction - Challenges & Solutions

Dolby® Pro Logic II Surround
When Dolby Laboratories and surround sound veteran Jim Fosgate wanted to develop the second generation digital surround sound, Dolby Pro Logic II, Volvo was a natural partner.

"Dolby Pro Logic II Surround reproduces music in a natural way with a wider soundstage in the front seat and improved stereo effect and full bandwidth in the rear seat," says Lahti. "Furthermore, the sound from the front and rear loudspeakers is mixed into a more natural whole. Even Jim Fosgate was positively surprised when he heard how good the XC90 audio system sounds."

This technology, which was initially developed for home cinema systems, converted two-channel sound to a more natural four-channel listening experience (left, right, centre and surround). The adaptation of the system to cars was the result of collaborative efforts between Volvo Cars and Dolby Laboratories.

"It began with an internal special assignment in conjunction with the project planning for the first C70 generation," says Lahti. "We wanted to determine if it was possible to improve the stereo listening experience in a car. Was it possible to circumvent the problem of always sitting close to the loudspeakers on one side of the car, which was at the outer edge of the stereo sound pattern?"

At that time, home cinema systems were a relatively unknown concept. However, there was expertise on multi-channel sound for cinemas in Volvo's audio group, as well as experience from previous tests with four-channel stereo.

"We tested a Dolby Pro Logic decoder from a cinema system combined with a centre loudspeaker," says Lahti. "And this resulted in an obviously better sound pattern, with a clearer "image" of the soloist's position on the stage."

Through combined efforts, Dolby's decoder was adapted to the acoustic conditions in the cabin of a car. Among other things, this meant that the centre of the soundstage could be moved laterally from the centre of the car to a place directly in front of the listener, regardless of whether that person is in the driver seat or in the passenger seat.

Dynaudio® Loudspeakers
Because of Dynaudio's superb basic design and high build quality, only small modifications were necessary to adapt the speakers to the acoustic environment in a car. This made the prerequisites the best imaginable for the car's interior designers.

"The task confronting Volvo designers was for the first time, with slight exaggeration, to build a car around the loudspeakers instead of integrating loudspeakers into an existing car," says Lahti. "And the strategy was for our best sound system, Premium Sound, to be marketed as a system from Volvo with loudspeakers from Dynaudio."

However, quality loudspeakers are not solely responsible for quality sound. The car itself presents a difficult challenge. The limited and irregularly shaped interior space means that the loudspeakers are actually located too close to the listeners, and are also located at varying distances. This 'variation' makes it difficult to achieve a properly spread, natural stereo pattern. Furthermore, with a combination of hard and soft surfaces and varying surface structures, the car's interior makes sound reproduction difficult to control. The audio experience is also affected by the background noises from the car, the road, and the wind.

"But on the other hand, we are familiar with the space and the audio system," says Lahti. "We also know where the listener is sitting, which simplifies matters when developing and fine-tuning the system. And it is very much a question of fine-tuning. We are probably the only car manufacturer who calibrates the sound in the car ourselves."

Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology is used to adapt the sound to the design of the passenger compartment and the positioning of the speakers. DSP is also used for the fine adjustment of the tone curve, contributing to the creation of natural sound quality.

"One must listen subjectively to attain the right sound," says Lahti. "The ear is a very sensitive instrument, and we use professional ears for our sound tests. We have an exclusive panel of listeners at Volvo Cars, consisting of people with extensive experience of sound in cars, and whose hearing is checked regularly."

Volvo also gets valuable feedback from customers in conjunction with our product clinics.

Alpine Amplifier
With the Dynaudio speakers Volvo also introduce a new generation of Premium Sound amplifier manufactured by Alpine. The amplifier technology is based on the latest digital technology (also known as Class D). This technology, called ICEpower®, is a development of the Danish company PowerHouse that is now a part of Bang & Olufsen. The new digital amplifier delivers 130 Watts in each of the five channels to give a total of 650 Watts in 4 ohms at 10 percent THD (Total Harmonic Distortion).

"High frequency electrical interference in the car can cause problems with a class D amplifier," says Lahti. "This is something that we solved together with Alpine and Bang & Olufsen (PowerHouse) and their innovative ICEPower® technology. The result is very good. The primary advantage is the amplifier's very high damping factor, which makes it possible to enjoy pure and powerful sound all the way down to the deepest bass tones."

AUX Input - iPod Link to Surround Sound
The AUX input is a stereo 3.5mm input jack which can be connected to any type of portable device that has analogue audio outputs, e.g. iPods, MP3 players, Walkmans, laptops.

The XC90's AUX connector will link an iPod, an MP3 player, a Walkman, a laptop to the XC90's audio system. However, you have to control the auxiliary device using the controls on the device itself.

CD Player and In-Dash 6 CD Changer
The XC90's CD player will play normal CDs as well as CD-R and CD-RW that contain MP3 and WMA files. The CD file structure comes up on the audio system display so you can select individual songs or you can choose to play the songs in random order.

Main Unit Design
The Premium Audio System (CD player, amplifier, radio tuner, navigation unit etc.) are connected via an opticaldigital high-speed network called MOST.

MOST allows the audio system to be operated via the centre console or via the steering wheel controls. The XC90 has an elegantand easy-to-use control panel with access to the advanced features of the audio system through an intuitive menu system.

XC90 Main Audio Features
Volvo manages the audio system and its design by keeping the system responsibility in-house. Volvo has a highly skilled Infotainment Department that takes care of the system design in cooperation with suppliers which manufacture the components. "This is a unique approach in the industry because most carmakers have system suppliers that take care of this rather than building the expertise in-house," says Lahti.

"By designing and developing the sound systems in-house, we have the ability to control the project very early to ensure our premium sound requirements and loudspeaker locations are fulfilled."

The XC90 Premium Sound system is a further development from theall-new C70and the Dynaudio speakers that were first developed for the all-new S80. These components were adapted to the XC90. This required new software settings for the amplifier to adapt to the specific acoustic properties of the seven-seat XC90 in combination with the Dynaudio speakers.

One important aspect of our system ownership is that all audio settings are done by Volvo's audio engineers rather than letting a supplier do the tuning. This way we keep control over the "Volvo sound".