2006 Volvo C70 Dynaudio Sound System Page 2

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But nitpicking aside, the C70 Dynaudio Premium Sound system sets a new low-bass benchmark among stock systems, and given the choice of not enough bass or too much, I'll always opt for the latter. Along with bass, the C70 Dynaudio Premium Sound system has plenty of power on tap. When I listened to the remastered version of Neil Young's "Down by the River" from his 2004 compilation Greatest Hits, the system played as loud and clean as my ears could stand and revealed new details in a song I've heard hundreds of times.

0609_roadgear2_200Other system details: The DIN-size display above the system's in-dash six-disc CD changer was easy to read, even in bright sunlight with the top down. In addition to a Dolby Pro Logic II surround mode, there's also a unique three-channel mode that engages the center channel. Getting to the surround modes, however, required stepping through three different menus on the somewhat cumbersome controls in the center console.

Still, this is the first system - stock or aftermarket - that I've heard in a convertible that sounds nearly identical with the top up or down at moderate to high speeds, thanks to sophisticated digital signal processing. Blasting "The Blues Walk," the jazzy instrumental opener of Lyle Lovett and His Large Band, while cruising at about 45 mph on a winding Southern California canyon road with the top dropped, I detected very little difference in sound quality compared to driving the same stretch with the top closed. Even more impressive, the deep bass of "World Looking In," from Morcheeba's Fragments of Freedom, was just as tight and powerful with the roof open as it was with it closed. Then it occurred to me as I crawled along Pacific Coast Highway on a crowded sunny summer day with Morcheeba cranked: Isn't this the essence of owning a convertible anyway? World looking in indeed ...

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