WEBVTT - Boffins

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<v Speaker 1>Pushkin In Northridge, California, just north of Los Angeles, off

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<v Speaker 1>the four or five Freeway, surrounded by a series of

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<v Speaker 1>strip malls, there is what looks like a very ordinary

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<v Speaker 1>office park, like for lawyers and accounting firms, or the

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<v Speaker 1>West Coast distributor of some obscure German housewears brand that

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<v Speaker 1>kind of thing, very stealth. But then you see a

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<v Speaker 1>little sign it says Harmon Cardon, and you step inside

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<v Speaker 1>and you're like, Oh, Harmon Cardon manufacturers of high end

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<v Speaker 1>audio systems, home to JBL Infinity, Banganolfsson, Oh and a

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<v Speaker 1>brand called Mark Levins and their flagship product one of

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<v Speaker 1>the most serious names of all for true audiophiles. Imagine

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<v Speaker 1>long corridors, feel with ideas for speakers, prototype speakers, random components,

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<v Speaker 1>things that make you feel like you're at Los Alamos,

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle of the Manhattan Project. And deep inside

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<v Speaker 1>Harmon Cardon is a place called the John Urgel Theater. Plush, dark, hushed,

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<v Speaker 1>everything in soft sound, absorbent fabric. All right, I'm going

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<v Speaker 1>to give you a little about what we have in

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<v Speaker 1>this room. We have a total of I think thirty

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<v Speaker 1>three loudspeakers in this room. It's a full immersive experience.

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<v Speaker 1>I think we're talking about probably half a million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>worth of equipment. We're going to do immersive as good

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<v Speaker 1>as it yet sound wise, this is probably an overkill.

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<v Speaker 1>It's more than as good as it gets. Yes, Yes,

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<v Speaker 1>you basically ruined every listening experience I'm going to have

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<v Speaker 1>after this. Yes you're listening to go and see from

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<v Speaker 1>Lexus and Pushkin Industries, our podcast about all things obsessively

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<v Speaker 1>and perfectionistically Lexus. I'm Malcolm Godwell. In this episode, we're

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<v Speaker 1>going to talk about the sound system on the Lexus

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<v Speaker 1>LS and why it sounds so amazing because it does.

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<v Speaker 1>Lexus loaned my producer Jacob Smith, and me and LUs

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<v Speaker 1>for a few days, and we proceeded to drive it

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<v Speaker 1>the length of La County in violation of as many

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<v Speaker 1>known traffic laws as possible, and every time we cranked

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<v Speaker 1>the music, all we could think of was WHOA why

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<v Speaker 1>does this sound like no other car stereo we have

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<v Speaker 1>ever cranked before. So we had to go to the source,

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<v Speaker 1>the company that makes the sound systems for Lexus cars,

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<v Speaker 1>Harmon's Mark Levinson, to get some answers and too geekap

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<v Speaker 1>if you've been listening to this series, you'll know that

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<v Speaker 1>the inner workings of cars are a lot more complex

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<v Speaker 1>than people think they are. But car stereos I had

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<v Speaker 1>no idea. It may take me more than one episode

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<v Speaker 1>to get to the bottom of this one. Does this

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<v Speaker 1>room have a name? Yes, it's called the MLL, says

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<v Speaker 1>we're multi Channel Listening Lab. Okay, the multi Channel Listening Lab,

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<v Speaker 1>a room just as ridiculously tricked out as the John

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<v Speaker 1>Urgell Theater, where the people up Mark Levinson put us

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<v Speaker 1>through a drill so hilariously complicated that I can't even Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>we were played a song on a series of different

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<v Speaker 1>sets of twenty thousand dollars speakers, all arrayed on a

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<v Speaker 1>complex trolley system. They're swapped out behind a black curtain,

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<v Speaker 1>and after each playback, the audio geeks asked us which

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<v Speaker 1>version we thought was better, when in fact all were

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<v Speaker 1>equally absurdly ridiculously amazing. It's they were taunting us with

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<v Speaker 1>how good their sound was. So let's start with speaker A.

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<v Speaker 1>It could happen to you by Dinah Crawl, Hide your

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<v Speaker 1>heart from sight, Lock your dreams at night. It could

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<v Speaker 1>happen to be Hide your Heart from Sight, lock your

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<v Speaker 1>dreams at night, it could happen to all right, so

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<v Speaker 1>we're so good. Yeah, First of all, all of them

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<v Speaker 1>are so many orders of magnitude better than any sound

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<v Speaker 1>I've ever heard that. I well, you're right about that,

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<v Speaker 1>and you will see why. I mean, when we lift

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<v Speaker 1>up the curtain, you will see why you said. I

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<v Speaker 1>want to say, I like be the best. The Mark

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<v Speaker 1>Levinson of the Mark Levinson brand, was and is a

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<v Speaker 1>jazz trumpeter who's played with Sonny Rollins and stand Getz,

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<v Speaker 1>John Coltrane, Chick Career, and Keith Jared. In the nineteen seventies,

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<v Speaker 1>he founded a high end audio company which ended up

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<v Speaker 1>being acquired by Harmon Carton. Levinson's Mother's name was Hurts.

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<v Speaker 1>Her uncle was the great German physicist Heinrich Hurts, who

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<v Speaker 1>proved the existence of electromagnetic waves, which is why the

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<v Speaker 1>unit of sound frequency to this day is called Hurts.

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<v Speaker 1>The point is Mark Levinson has some serious sound pedigree.

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<v Speaker 1>Mark Levinson components are at the highest of the high end,

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<v Speaker 1>tens of thousands of dollars. And there was a story

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<v Speaker 1>that it kind of I think might be folklore, because

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<v Speaker 1>no one can really confirm this. There's a great bit

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<v Speaker 1>of British slang for someone who has mastered an incredibly

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<v Speaker 1>arcane subject. Boffin, I'm quizzing two of the senior Mark

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<v Speaker 1>Levinson's sound. Boffin's first up, Jonathan Pierce John is very smooth,

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<v Speaker 1>very California. The story that I've heard time and time

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<v Speaker 1>again is mister Mark Levinson refused to allow a company

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<v Speaker 1>to take his brand into a vehicle right because the

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<v Speaker 1>vehicle is not a good environment for acoustics. These are

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<v Speaker 1>people who construct elaborate listening rooms with thirty three speakers

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<v Speaker 1>and components where cost is no object. Now someone comes

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<v Speaker 1>to them and says, would you shrink all that down

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<v Speaker 1>and put it in a car? I mean, that's like

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<v Speaker 1>asking Morimoto to do airline food. Wait, so I'm just

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just trying to capture Mark Levinson's angst when presented

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<v Speaker 1>with a car manufacturer. So he's someone's basically comes to

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<v Speaker 1>him and says, you've got to shrink it all down,

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<v Speaker 1>stuff it inside a car cabin at a fraction of

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<v Speaker 1>the price, and make it sound good. Yes, and then

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<v Speaker 1>you have to add two more things which are crazy.

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<v Speaker 1>One has to be automotive grade. That's the second buffin

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<v Speaker 1>bread Home chiming in Brads from Michigan Bushy Beard. He's

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<v Speaker 1>in the metal and he's a serious car guy. So

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<v Speaker 1>this room is always going to stay pretty much in

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<v Speaker 1>the same temperature. When we test an automotive realm, you've

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<v Speaker 1>got to go down to negative eighty five C all

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<v Speaker 1>the way up to potentially eighty five C. So you

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<v Speaker 1>want to make sure that the amp, the hardware, everything

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<v Speaker 1>absorbs through. All of that tell me about I hadn't

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<v Speaker 1>thought about temperature before. So what happens at very low

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<v Speaker 1>and very high temperatures to a stands to a sound

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<v Speaker 1>system if it's not been properly prepared for that Sure,

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<v Speaker 1>So when non automotive speaker, if you put it into

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<v Speaker 1>a car park, the car in Arizona in the desert,

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<v Speaker 1>not to pick on the state, just temperature and climate.

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<v Speaker 1>You might measure on the dash one hundred and fifty

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<v Speaker 1>degrees fahrenheit. Well, that means the components that you built

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<v Speaker 1>us with have to withstand one hundred and fifty degrees

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<v Speaker 1>without changing shape, and the talances are so tight that

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<v Speaker 1>they can't even start to melt or move any Their

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<v Speaker 1>expansion has to be measured tight enough. So that that

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<v Speaker 1>is not contacting. Speakers have copper wire. Copper expands in

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<v Speaker 1>the heat, shrinks in the cold. If your car is

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<v Speaker 1>sitting outside in that Arizona sun, your speaker is going

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<v Speaker 1>to get all messed up. So an automotive, we have

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<v Speaker 1>to make sure that as that grows or shrinks with temperature,

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<v Speaker 1>it's not shrinking and contracting and breaking or expanding and

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<v Speaker 1>then sticking to the walls of what we're trying to hit.

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<v Speaker 1>You basically have to start from the ground up. You

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<v Speaker 1>have to rethink the construction of the speaker itself. Then

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<v Speaker 1>there's weight. A high end Levens and speaker can weigh

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<v Speaker 1>as much as one hundred and fifty pounds. A serious

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<v Speaker 1>Levenson amplifier weighs over one hundred pounds. Some people might

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<v Speaker 1>want two hundred and fifty pounds of sound equipment blasting

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<v Speaker 1>in their car, but not many. But wait, approach. Give

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<v Speaker 1>me a rough bull pat. If I took all of

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<v Speaker 1>the stereo components in an lys and put them on

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<v Speaker 1>a scale, what am I talking about? Very roughly? Very roughly,

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<v Speaker 1>I'll give you very rough if anybody else can correct me.

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<v Speaker 1>But it's well under twenty pounds. I would say, including

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<v Speaker 1>the sub wilfer and enclosure, the amplifier speakers. Yeah, probably

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<v Speaker 1>right around fifteen twenty pounds at most. They must give

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<v Speaker 1>you a cost constraint too, Yes, can you tell me

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<v Speaker 1>what it is? I don't think so, I mean, but

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<v Speaker 1>we can guess. If you didn't rain in the audio

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<v Speaker 1>files up Mark Levinson, lexuses would cost three hundred thousand dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>They would become the equivalent of a massive, hushed sound

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<v Speaker 1>stage floating down the road. We just did three episodes

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<v Speaker 1>on the engine note of the Lexus Elsie sports car.

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<v Speaker 1>A car is not supposed to be a sound stage.

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<v Speaker 1>So of course Mark Levinson said no to every car

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<v Speaker 1>company that approached them. But then Lexus came call, and

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<v Speaker 1>the boffins said, well, if there was ever a time

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<v Speaker 1>to say yes, this is it, because these people are

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<v Speaker 1>crazy perfectionists like us. I don't need to remind you

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<v Speaker 1>that Lexus is the company where their master level driver Osakisan,

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<v Speaker 1>spent two years convincing the engineers back of Toyota City

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<v Speaker 1>to tilt the steering wheel on the LC forward two degrees.

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<v Speaker 1>Lexis were the windows on the LS slow imperceptibly as

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<v Speaker 1>they reach their Apex, American boffins meet Japanese boffins, and besides,

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<v Speaker 1>sooner or later, even the world's most dedicated audio file

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<v Speaker 1>has to face up to the reality that most people

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<v Speaker 1>do not listen to music in half a million dollars

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<v Speaker 1>sound rooms in their basement. They listen in their cars,

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<v Speaker 1>for better or worse. For all I know, you're listening

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<v Speaker 1>to this in your car. So if you have a

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<v Speaker 1>company devoted did better ways of listening to music, you

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<v Speaker 1>kind of have to say yes eventually to the car,

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<v Speaker 1>which is why we ended up in Northridge. Here is

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<v Speaker 1>the car stereo problem at its most basic. So when

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<v Speaker 1>acoustic energy comes off of a speaker, it obviously doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>just hit our ears. It hits everything else in the room.

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<v Speaker 1>This is Levinson's John Pierce again. And if it's absorbed

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<v Speaker 1>into carpet or absorbed into treatment in the wall, it

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<v Speaker 1>isn't stuck inside of that material. It doesn't then come

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<v Speaker 1>to your ears in the same manner. But bouncing off

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<v Speaker 1>a hard surface as dry wall, hardwood, floors, even certain

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<v Speaker 1>pictures on the wall glass that's going to cause reflections.

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<v Speaker 1>Reflections are what happens to sound in any enclosed space

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<v Speaker 1>in a space like the Urgel Theater. You can manage

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<v Speaker 1>those reflections perfectly. The walls are made of soft absorbent material,

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<v Speaker 1>the speakers are placed evenly. Everything is set up so

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<v Speaker 1>that the sound reflects and reverberates exactly the way people

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<v Speaker 1>at Levinson wanted it to be reflected and reverse berated.

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<v Speaker 1>But a car is about as far from the Urgle

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<v Speaker 1>Theater as is humanly possible. I mean, duh. It moves,

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<v Speaker 1>but also it's a lot of metal and glass. It

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<v Speaker 1>has an engine, a thing that makes its own noise

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<v Speaker 1>in vibration, tires over pavement, and sometimes it has one

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<v Speaker 1>person inside, and sometimes it has four or five people inside.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a reflection nightmare, and you can't solve that just

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<v Speaker 1>by turning up the volume. So the sheet metal in

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<v Speaker 1>a car is becoming thinner to make vehicles more efficient.

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<v Speaker 1>This is brad. When it's thinner, they move more so

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<v Speaker 1>as we have a speaker in there, such as adorable

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<v Speaker 1>for vibrating a lot. Now the sheet metal can buzz

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<v Speaker 1>and it can almost start to sound like a steel drum.

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<v Speaker 1>We're going to start hearing these what we call BSR

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<v Speaker 1>in the industry. Buzz, squeak and rattles that come out

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<v Speaker 1>of the interior or exterior of the car. Brad got

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<v Speaker 1>his start in the industry putting massive sound systems in

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<v Speaker 1>muscle cars driven. I'm going to guess by young men

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<v Speaker 1>Jonathan Loos to make fun of me because I started

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<v Speaker 1>in the aftermarket world, and I was the guy from

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<v Speaker 1>a flea market with the forty three gigawatt amplifier and

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<v Speaker 1>sixty three thousand subwoffers in the back, and my poor

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<v Speaker 1>forward Escort didn't really survive what I did to it,

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<v Speaker 1>So that was a BSR nightmare. I shook the absolute

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<v Speaker 1>living daylights out of that car. In the act of

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<v Speaker 1>putting in this high powered sound system, you created so

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<v Speaker 1>much additional vibration and such in the car that it

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<v Speaker 1>obscured the music of the sound obscured, as a polite

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<v Speaker 1>way to put how bad it was. I could only

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<v Speaker 1>hear bass. But I had moved into then sound quality competition,

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<v Speaker 1>where the goal was to be the loudest that you could.

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<v Speaker 1>And at that point you're designing a system to play

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<v Speaker 1>a single frequency, a base frequency, and that gets challenging

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<v Speaker 1>because you can dent your roof, the roof panel will

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<v Speaker 1>start to flex and you can actually start to get

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<v Speaker 1>indentations in the sheet metal. You know, there's all sorts

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<v Speaker 1>of crazy stories when it gets into that. Yeah, you

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<v Speaker 1>can do that just with a high powered sound system

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<v Speaker 1>instead of a guy. Yeah. If you look at the

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<v Speaker 1>people doing the intense sound competitions, they actually are pouring

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<v Speaker 1>concrete in the doors to try to keep that sound

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<v Speaker 1>and integrity in there because the sound pressure is so

0:14:20.236 --> 0:14:23.596
<v Speaker 1>hard that it'll move these panels. They have external clamps

0:14:23.636 --> 0:14:25.276
<v Speaker 1>on doors to keep the door shut, to keep the

0:14:25.276 --> 0:14:30.436
<v Speaker 1>interior sealed, like replace the glass with bulletproof glass, because

0:14:30.436 --> 0:14:31.716
<v Speaker 1>you can get to a point where you can overdrive

0:14:31.756 --> 0:14:35.796
<v Speaker 1>the stability of that. It's pretty intense. Wow. This is

0:14:35.836 --> 0:14:38.876
<v Speaker 1>an extreme example, of course, but you see the problem.

0:14:39.636 --> 0:14:42.596
<v Speaker 1>And it's not any different for parents driving minivans who

0:14:42.596 --> 0:14:46.156
<v Speaker 1>want to listen to the soundtrack from Frozen. The automobile

0:14:46.276 --> 0:14:49.636
<v Speaker 1>is inherently hostile to good sound. You can put the

0:14:49.676 --> 0:14:52.316
<v Speaker 1>best set of speakers you want inside a car, but

0:14:52.396 --> 0:14:55.116
<v Speaker 1>that's not going to solve your problem. Your problem is

0:14:55.156 --> 0:14:58.196
<v Speaker 1>not the equipment, it's the room you're playing it in.

0:14:58.756 --> 0:15:01.956
<v Speaker 1>Brad gave us a simple demonstration. So what I've done

0:15:02.036 --> 0:15:07.316
<v Speaker 1>is taken a well recorded song, then applied what it

0:15:07.316 --> 0:15:09.476
<v Speaker 1>would sound like for the uncute speed here to be

0:15:09.516 --> 0:15:11.716
<v Speaker 1>in there, and then play the reference, which would be

0:15:11.756 --> 0:15:15.196
<v Speaker 1>back to how it should sound. This isn't doped in

0:15:15.276 --> 0:15:17.116
<v Speaker 1>any way. This is actually how much power we have

0:15:17.196 --> 0:15:36.516
<v Speaker 1>in the vehicle. Sounds good. Yeah, this is a pop

0:15:36.556 --> 0:15:39.636
<v Speaker 1>song played to a high end Mark Levinson speaker that

0:15:39.716 --> 0:15:42.716
<v Speaker 1>Brad has just randomly placed inside a car so we

0:15:42.796 --> 0:15:44.676
<v Speaker 1>can hear. We're missing a lot of what should be there.

0:15:44.676 --> 0:15:46.956
<v Speaker 1>There's a lot of imbalances that really high trouble. You

0:15:46.956 --> 0:15:48.916
<v Speaker 1>still hear that sparkle at the top of the symbol,

0:15:49.316 --> 0:15:51.996
<v Speaker 1>but the mid range is really dulled. Right, So back

0:15:51.996 --> 0:15:53.676
<v Speaker 1>to reference so that you guys don't leave with a

0:15:53.716 --> 0:16:11.796
<v Speaker 1>better taste in your range changes. So we just understand

0:16:12.396 --> 0:16:15.236
<v Speaker 1>the reference was the way the song was intended to

0:16:15.276 --> 0:16:19.316
<v Speaker 1>be played in an ideal sound environment. The first one

0:16:19.516 --> 0:16:24.716
<v Speaker 1>was if you simply played it through a set of

0:16:25.396 --> 0:16:28.796
<v Speaker 1>anyone's car speakers, your car speakers. Before you do, how

0:16:28.796 --> 0:16:30.516
<v Speaker 1>do you get the first Where did the first one

0:16:30.516 --> 0:16:32.916
<v Speaker 1>exactly come from? Sure? So what I did was I

0:16:32.956 --> 0:16:36.836
<v Speaker 1>took one of our speakers, we put it into a vehicle,

0:16:37.196 --> 0:16:40.476
<v Speaker 1>and without any adjustments made, we just measured it from

0:16:40.596 --> 0:16:44.156
<v Speaker 1>both seating positions in the car that first recording. The

0:16:44.276 --> 0:16:47.076
<v Speaker 1>muddy sound, the dull mid range. That's what I've been

0:16:47.156 --> 0:16:49.276
<v Speaker 1>hearing in every car I've ever driven, and I'm going

0:16:49.356 --> 0:16:51.876
<v Speaker 1>to guess it's very close to what you here as well.

0:16:52.396 --> 0:16:55.716
<v Speaker 1>That's what I've always believed a car stereo sounded like.

0:16:56.476 --> 0:16:58.836
<v Speaker 1>But that was before Jacob and I cruised the freeways

0:16:58.836 --> 0:17:02.276
<v Speaker 1>of Los Angeles in a tricked out Lexus LS with

0:17:02.396 --> 0:17:07.316
<v Speaker 1>the music blasting. Next week, we're gonna sit down inside

0:17:07.316 --> 0:17:10.916
<v Speaker 1>our Lexus with the boffins at Mark Levinson and figure

0:17:10.956 --> 0:17:16.156
<v Speaker 1>out how they did it. One last thing. At Levinson,

0:17:16.396 --> 0:17:19.156
<v Speaker 1>they have a series of what are called an echoic rooms,

0:17:19.516 --> 0:17:23.116
<v Speaker 1>which are rooms designed to have no sound, reverberations or reflection,

0:17:23.596 --> 0:17:27.756
<v Speaker 1>completely dead rooms, perfect for testing new equipment. They took

0:17:27.796 --> 0:17:35.716
<v Speaker 1>us in one. Yeah, doesn't some sound. We're not getting

0:17:35.756 --> 0:17:37.436
<v Speaker 1>locked in here. They're just like, oh no, no, they'll

0:17:37.476 --> 0:17:39.076
<v Speaker 1>be pure out there. Unless they hate us, they should

0:17:39.116 --> 0:17:41.636
<v Speaker 1>let us out like a horror movie. Yeah. We stood

0:17:41.716 --> 0:17:45.996
<v Speaker 1>on a platform in a small square room. Above, around

0:17:46.116 --> 0:17:49.796
<v Speaker 1>and below us were pyramid shaped wedges of something yellow

0:17:49.796 --> 0:17:53.716
<v Speaker 1>and soft wrapped in mesh. Dozens of them. There was

0:17:53.756 --> 0:17:57.636
<v Speaker 1>no harm, no echo, nothing, Every single iota of sound

0:17:57.956 --> 0:18:03.756
<v Speaker 1>was soaked up by the yellow wedges. Yeah, can we

0:18:03.796 --> 0:18:06.636
<v Speaker 1>have can we have like thirty seconds of sounds? Because

0:18:06.676 --> 0:18:11.476
<v Speaker 1>I wanted, I'll write everyone listening silence. We almost we're

0:18:11.476 --> 0:18:15.916
<v Speaker 1>almost never in Think about it. It's unnatural, completely unnatural.

0:18:16.396 --> 0:18:20.756
<v Speaker 1>Nothing in nature exists like this, whatsoever. Yeah, it sounds

0:18:20.756 --> 0:18:24.316
<v Speaker 1>like hears you're plugged. Yeah, yeah, yeah, And I think

0:18:24.316 --> 0:18:25.836
<v Speaker 1>if you stay in here long enough, your brain would

0:18:25.876 --> 0:18:28.916
<v Speaker 1>probably go crazy, just just a little bit. The place

0:18:28.996 --> 0:18:31.876
<v Speaker 1>was creepy. This is all like styrophone. It's fiberglass, fiber,

0:18:32.836 --> 0:18:35.796
<v Speaker 1>it's just sucking up everybody sucks up everything. Absolutely, But

0:18:35.836 --> 0:18:38.036
<v Speaker 1>there's enough metal in here to give you a little

0:18:38.036 --> 0:18:40.716
<v Speaker 1>bit more ambiance. The one upstairs doesn't have that. Yeah.

0:18:40.956 --> 0:18:43.876
<v Speaker 1>You if you put someone in here like an under

0:18:43.996 --> 0:18:47.436
<v Speaker 1>insultary confinement, they would lose their mind. They would absolutely.

0:18:48.196 --> 0:18:51.116
<v Speaker 1>It would be a very cruel and unusual twicture for sure. Yes,

0:18:52.036 --> 0:18:54.316
<v Speaker 1>what is this? Where you where you where you discipline

0:18:54.396 --> 0:19:00.516
<v Speaker 1>wayward employees? Of Then I thought about it. It's not

0:19:00.596 --> 0:19:03.356
<v Speaker 1>where they send wayward employees. I think the end of

0:19:03.396 --> 0:19:06.636
<v Speaker 1>cook rooms are where the boffins go and scream when

0:19:06.636 --> 0:19:10.156
<v Speaker 1>the stress of making a decent sounding car system proves

0:19:10.156 --> 0:19:15.996
<v Speaker 1>too overwhelming. If a boffin screams in an anachoic room,

0:19:16.156 --> 0:19:24.476
<v Speaker 1>does it make a sound? Go and See is produced

0:19:24.476 --> 0:19:28.996
<v Speaker 1>by Jacob Smith with Emily Rostek and Carl Nigliari, Edited

0:19:29.036 --> 0:19:32.876
<v Speaker 1>by Julia Barton. Evan Viola composed our theme music and

0:19:32.996 --> 0:19:37.156
<v Speaker 1>mixed and mastered our episodes special thanks to Jacob Weisberg

0:19:37.196 --> 0:19:40.836
<v Speaker 1>had a Fame, Paul Williamson, the Mark Levinson engineers, and

0:19:40.996 --> 0:19:45.556
<v Speaker 1>all the Lexus executives, engineers and designers who participated in

0:19:45.596 --> 0:19:49.436
<v Speaker 1>our recordings. Go and See is a production of Lexus

0:19:49.756 --> 0:19:53.156
<v Speaker 1>and Pushkin Industries. I'm Mountain Gradlin