B&W Name Change Theory

If Bose is in every car and they're the richest audio company around, it stands to reason that they're the best, right? I don't understand why this is so hard for you to understand Albert :-)

The best part about Bose car stereos is that they use non-standard electrical interfaces, so if you want to swap them out, it's a LOT more work / expense.

As for B&W, I have no idea if car audio has anything to do with their name change. As a devoted BMW-driver, I can attest that nobody who has ever heard a BMW car stereo would not want a BMW stereo in their car because they're terrible, even if there was no brand-clash. Even their "upgraded" Harmon Kardon system is lame - terrible in the 3 series, passable in the 5 series.

Buying a car because it has a great stereo may be a little silly, but passing on one brand of car to buy another one of equal quality that has a better stereo is intelligent, in my opinion.

Mark Levinson never made car stereos. He sold the company to Harman International who took one of their Harmon Kardon designs and put a Mark Levinson label on it.

Ignoring the fact that HK does make decent car stereos; if you bought a Lexus because it had a Mark Levinson system in it; then you have fallen for the same market hype that Joe Consumer falls for when he buys a car because of the Bose system.

It's not a name change. They have always been Bowers and Wilkins; they just choose to stop using their initials. I do agree that B&W sound too similar to BMW so I always say "B&W speakers" to avoid confusion. I also think Bowers and Wilkins sounds more elegant.

The cars that are hardest to sell are at opposite ends of the spectrum. They are the ones fully loaded with every option (too expensive) and the ones that come bare bones (no options).

I can remember getting a deal on a Corolla back the in 80s because it did not have the AM/FM/Cassette/4 speakers system that everyone wanted even in an economy car. It only had AM/FM and two cheap speakers in the lower dash. I took the car down to a car audio outlet, and with the savings put in a system that made the better one Toyota gave you a joke in comparison.

I like them using Bowers and Wilkens. The initials probably do sound too much like BMW. Now they can put a Richard E. Lord (REL) subwoofer in the trunk ... :-)