A good friend of mine has a LOGIC7 system in his Hyundai Genesis and it sounds quite a bit better than the "Premium" system.
Yes. the Harman Group (of which Harman/Kardon is a part) bought Lexicon and Madrigal (Mark Levinson) some years ago. I have had Lexicon processors in my home theater system for many many years.
I know that their next generation processor (probably coming early next year) will use something very different from LOGIC7, so it may well be true that they want to phase it out. It's been a great technology, but it is awfully long in the tooth. So much so that after over a decade of owning Harman Group gear - which used to be the best made in America - I'm in the process of selling all of mine and switching to something else (Classe from Canada, in this case) if their new processor doesn't blow my socks off.
At any rate, in the grand scheme of things it seems to boil down to something like I can't get what I want no matter what price I'm willing to pay.
I certainly agree with BGM that creature comforts have not traditionally been BMWs market, but as others have pointed out, the same was (and still is to a larger extent) true with Porsche, that still offers fewer such comforts.
But (again, as others have pointed out), if you want to sell in the US, that isn't really going to work for you. All the German marques in their US models start with a luxury car and then add something else to it, usually both convenience, comfort and performance to different levels.
I honestly see no reason why any maker can't excel in many (or all) aspects in a luxury vehicle. Everything is still price-sensitive, but this doesn't happen to be a price range where cost is the primary consideration (as is evident with Acura these days, to name one example).
It is true that Lexus cares MORE about creature comforts than performance - I don't feel bad saying that their market is generally the "older" crowd - but at the same time, the X5 is really a MUCH nicer vehicle. The Lexus seems rather plain to me now (but then, that's why I switched). I wouldn't say they seem more now like a fancy Toyota, but I will say the interior styling and parts sharing between the brands is.. uncomfortable. It's funny what you can see when you LOOK, isn't it?
I need to spend some more time with this system. I know there are some aftermarket speaker solutions, but I'm always a little leery with "warranty" versus "improvement," particularly from reading around here that BMW seems A LOT more particular with what they will or won't honor if you change anything significant, so that's something to consider.
I've owned Bang & Olufsen gear before as well, and it's nice stuff. Audi offers it as something like a $6500 option (gulp!) but I would welcome it with open arms in a BMW, no question.
Incidentally, I thought it was an odd choice for Audi - they otherwise seem to still keep to a bit more of a "austere lux" interior these days. (Obviously, I was more sold on BMWs more "organic" interior)
09-25-2010, 04:52 PM
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