The 14-speaker setup (including a center channel) in the S8 is not just beautifully finished but has B&O's impressive technology behind it. Of course when you first start the car and see the tweeters on the top of each corner of the dash rise up automatically (while the monitor on the front of the dash flips up and out revealing a sophisticated looking graphic display) you can't help but focus on just that. And the aluminum grilles on the speakers will dazzle you visually - you'll need a couple of minutes before you can pay attention to the sound. However, there's more here than just looks. B&O has employed its Acoustic Lens Technology (ALT) in the Audi. ALT uses high-frequency lateral reflections within a specific playback space, in this case a car's compartment, to enhance the reproduction quality. The engineers at Sausalito Audio Works knew that the technology would work well in a car. By placing the lenses on the dash they could use the windows as reflective surfaces to make for a proper soundstage. I found that while the coated silk diaphragm domed tweeters did exactly what they were supposed to with some recordings, with others I perceived a very narrow soundstage. Listening to a Diana Krall track I was surprised to hear how the song seemed to be coming from a small mono speaker box in front of me. But then with some of the test tracks, like "Boxenkiller" which we utilized on all the vehicles, the Advanced Audio System was quite good at reproducing the feel of the live drums as well as the space in which the drums were recorded. Overall, though, it could be hit and miss. I looked to the built-in DSP to see if I could find a setting that would make the system play more consistently; but whether you chose the "Driver," "All," "Front" or "Rear" settings the result was short of sufficient. In fact, the system sounded best almost all of the time set at "All."
Power, however, certainly wasn't an issue with the system. Each of the many speakers is powered, using B&O's patented ICEpower technology (you may recall we've tested some amps recently by aftermarket manufacturers that have that built into their amps). There's up to 1,000 watts pushing the speakers. Speaking of power: the "subwoofer" on the rear deck, beautifully covered with an anodized aluminum grille - perhaps the best speaker grilles we've ever seen on a factory setup - was definitely there for more than looks. I was surprised just how much mid-bass and bass output the system was capable of. It was fairly realistic in terms of reproducing rap and R&B tracks. For a factory system, you'll be surprised that you can actually crank up the volume with these genres of music to a respectable level.