With deliveries of Volvo’s much-anticipated EX90 model finally coming through in the U.S., drivers who are also music fans may be heartened by discovering what the electric SUV’s sound system is made of.
They might even get a cosmic experience if they decide to play The Beatles’ 1965 classic hit Drive My Car on that sound system: The EX90 is the first vehicle ever to feature an Abbey Road Studios’ mode, providing a sound quality engineered straight out of the world’s most famous music recording studios. The Beatles enshrined Abbey Road in history, when they gave the studios’ name to their last album in 1969.
Besides The Beatles, countless artists — from Pink Floyd and Radiohead to Kanye West and Lady Gaga — have recorded at Abbey Road, which is located in London. The studios, where stereo was first patented in 1933, have to this day remained home to numerous innovations in recording technology.
Over the years, Abbey Road engineers studied the sound architecture of the equipment used there before using the data to develop software plug-ins.
Inside the EX90, the Abbey Road Studios mode is delivered via a 25-speaker Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) system, which promises to deliver “an innovative new sound technology designed to transform the in-car listening experience.”
Our review of the EX90’s B&W system found its Dolby Atmos feature produces “an impressive 3D effect.” That B&W system, however, is only available on the higher-level EX90 Ultra grade.
This year’s launch of the EX90, along with that of the EX30, a smaller and more affordable electric SUV, is part of Volvo’s strategy to boost its otherwise slumping sales of EVs in the U.S.
The EX90 is also the Swedish automaker’s first vehicle designed for the U.S. market and also built in the U.S. The first EX90s came out of the product line of Volvo’s South Carolina plant in June.
