Money can’t buy you love, but it can buy you a Volvo or Polestar electric SUV with a Bowers & Wilkins sound system featuring a special Abbey Road Studios Mode.
The two Geely-owned brands are adding the new feature, developed with and inspired by the London recording studio that The Beatles once used. It’s being rolled out to the Volvo EX90 and Polestar 3 as part of a free over-the-air software update.
These vehicles are offered with a 25-speaker 1610W sound system from Bowers & Wilkins with Dolby Atmos. This will also feature in the upcoming Volvo ES90, which will come with the new mode from the factory.
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It offers four presets, which is perfect if you want to hear a guitar gently weeping in rich surround sound. These are:
- Intimate, which offers a “warm, pristine and detailed experience, inspired by vintage sounds”
- Open, which is intended to deliver the “rich, authentic sound of the live studio space”
- Energised, “inspired by the energy and excitement of a performance in the studio’s live room [with] a lively, vibrant acoustic with pristine detail”
- Expansive, which “immerses the listener in the ambience of the live room” and has a “powerful sound that brings the listener closer to the music”
Each preset, curated and designed by Abbey Road engineers, is said to draw on the sound of the control rooms and live spaces while taking inspiration from the studios’ original EMI-era equipment.
There’s also a Producer mode, allowing you to use simple controls to alter the tonality and ambience of the sound to your liking.
“The Bowers & Wilkins sound system in Polestar 3 is already world class, but this new Abbey Road Studios Mode takes it to another level,” said Polestar CEO Michael Lohscheller.
“Its ability to deliver an audio experience so closely inspired by the Abbey Road Studios’ sonic signature means you’d swear you were right there in the legendary London building, not driving a performance SUV.”
“The addition of this world-first experience is a great example of how we bring more value to our customers through efficient and simple over-the-air updates,” said Volvo Cars chief engineering and technology officer Anders Bell.
Bowers & Wilkins sound systems are used not only by the two Geely-owned brands, but also Aston Martin, BMW and McLaren.