Sound Quality Design and Development for the New Bentley Continental V8

摘要

The introduction of a new V8 engine variant into the Bentley Continental GT presenteda significant sound engineering challenge, create a V8 sound that is clearlydifferentiated from the current W12 variant but, retains an instantly recognisableBentley character. The sound quality development was undertaken using a desktopacoustic simulator created before the first prototype vehicles were built. This combinedacoustic measurements of the prototype V8 power-train on an engine dynamometerwith track based operational data from the current W12 vehicle. Internal listeningstudies identified the dominant power-train sources and allowed the assessment ofinterior noise created by tuning these sources. This work generated three options for theBentley V8 sound signature. These options were trialled against the current W12 andseveral competitor vehicles with a customer listening study at the 2010 Paris Motorshow.Sounds were auditioned by the assessment of fully driveable vehicle models andmore traditional fixed replay events. The listening study clearly identified ourcustomers’ preferences which ultimately influenced the acoustic target setting anddevelopment of the Bentley Continental V8 sound signature.