This might sound like a goofy question, but am I the only person who wonders why the RL is the only Acura without the ELS surround? To me, the ELS in the loaner vehicles I drive sounds better than the Bose surround in my 05 RL.

Just wondering.......

 

Not goofy at all. Not sure of the answer, though.

 

I am sure it may be because of a marketing contract with BOSE. Once contract isup expect to see ELS.

V8 RWD on the way in next model change.

 

I too expect the next generation RL to be equipped with an ELS system.

But for the current RL, it is likley due to the RL being a world car (as LEGEND) whereas the ELS was packaged for the North America Acura models (TL, MDX, RDX and now the new TSX). ELS was likley an Acura agreement and Bose was a Honda agreement.

Bose was involved for the RL/LEGEND as not only a DVD-A surround sound, but also as part of the overall noise cancellation and acoustics effort put into the car. The ANC was an attempt to reduce weight penalizing insulation to help offset the weight added by SHAWD....a quandy unique to theRL / LEGEND at that time. ELS technology is a bit younger and mostly audiophile, but was not yet advanced in automotive acoustics as Bose was during the developement of the LEGEND / RL. Bose also had some cache for the flagship effort.

Likely at that time, Bose was the go to vendor to solve Honda's acoustic / weight saving dilemma. However, with the other Acura models, (again, TL, MX, RDX and now TSX) they likley found favor in the ELS system and being higher volume vehicles, increased ELS awareness and acceptance. And now that ANC is also utilized in other Acura models, I would expect the next generation RL will also adopt ELS.

 

That is a straight up awesome explanation. Thanks!

 

TampaRL have awesome answer to everything

 

I drove a 09 TSX loaner today. I would say that the ELS sounds AT LEAST twice to three times as good as the Bose. Makes me sick that the flagship has an inferior sound system to the entry level Acura.