[BigChuck]

The Volkswagen Atlas comes with a Fender Audio system. Fender, is definitely not a company I'm familiar with at all and I don't think any other vehicle I've seen actually comes with that. But apparently they make guitars.

But nonetheless, the Atlas comes with 12 speakers in total. The audio system also comes complete with a 12-channel amplifier that pumps out 480W.

12-channel amplifier makes me think sound processor properties which should ensure a great balanced sound out of it.

 

[Dublin]

This could be a good thing. If they make guitars, they definitely have an ear for the fine tuning of sound which theoretically means that it should be reflected in their audio equipment. 12 speakers is quite the amount as well so I'm sure I should be happy with it.

Is it optional or standard?

 

[BigChuck]

That's what I would think as well. Guess we won't really know until we test it out. Thankfully it really can't be that bad and if they're putting 12 speakers in there, there is more than enough to have a "full" sound. Time to go check one out and see it. I'm not too sure if it's optional or standard, I'll have to check again.

 

[Dublin]

It won't be that bad but I'm a little picky. Hopefully they can get the mids and highs down properly so IF need be, All I'll have to do is run some sort of stealth boxes with some shallow mount subwoofers so I don't take up too much space and could possibly conceal it all.

 

[northstar]

Biggest take away is that they have some great sound engineering credentials to be doing this stuff and it can only get so bad. I'm not big on audio so anything better than what some of the base Jetta's have will be more than good in my opinion.

 

[Dublin]

Ah so you'll be golden in that case then as I'm sure this will be leaps better than a base Jetta. Just the shear amount of more speakers would suffice.

What kind of music do you typically listen to? Considering they make guitars, I can imagine their acoustics can hit a great higher range of sound?

 

[Jimmy Crickets]

Fender is the original American electric guitar manufacturer from Southern California, and they continue to have a fantastic reputation since their inception in the 40's. As a musician, I can tell you that guitar sales have dropped over the last 5-6 years as electronic music and DJ equipment continues to rise in popularity and guitar companies do little to successfully market the potential of making music/playing guitar to a younger audience. With that said, many of them are turning to new markets (audio and speaker systems?) to cross pollinate their customer base and broaden opportunities to market their brands.

I can see Fender doing a decent job at making a premium audio system, given their 70 year history making guitar amps with speakers, but we'll have to hear it to believe it since I'm guessing it's one of their first major attempts to penetrate into the car audio sound system market.

 

[BigChuck]

Thanks for the extra info on that.

Now we just have to wait for some audiophiles to really get in there and listen to it. I'm sure it'll be fine for a lot of people, but for those of us that are looking for real quality, we'll be real critical about it.

 

[Atlasuno]

The new GTI we bought last year has a Fender sound system, and it is quite good. I don't have a base Golf to compare it to, though. The subwoofer lives in the spare tire well, and you can really feel it. I have an Atlas SEL on order, and I don't think it comes with it - I believe only the SEL Premium features it as standard. I don't remember seeing the Fender badging in the SEL we test drove.