You Need to Hear This: A Concert Quality Car Stereo, From Acura and Grammy Winner Elliot Scheiner

Acura Rdx Car Stereo System
The Acura RDX audio system. Photo: Scotty Reiss

Your car is the perfect place to listen to music, right? A premium car sound system should be just as perfect.

Elliot Scheiner was mixing an album for the Foo Fighters and needed the band to listen to the tracks he was working on. But he was on one side of LA and they were on the other. Trying to get everyone into the studio was proving to be a challenge.

So, he loaded the files onto a USB drive and sent it over in an Acura. Then, he asked them to listen to it. In the Acura.

Further reading: Meet the all new Acura RDX


A Car as Sound Studio? Elliot Thought it Was a Brilliant Idea, and He Wasn’t Alone

After all, what better environment: the placement of speakers, the hard and soft materials and being surrounded by sound. It can sound like the back up singers are behind you and the guitarist is right next to you.

16 years ago Elliot, a Grammy-winning music producer, suggested the idea to Panasonic, his production equipment partner. They loved it. So they started talking to car companies. Literally every one turned them away. Then, a year later, Elliot got a call from Panasonic: Acura wanted to hear the idea. In 2004 the ELS Surround Premium sound system was born and became the exclusive high end sound in Acura models.

Further reading: Some of our other favorite sound systems and the cars you find them in

Elliot Scheiner Acura Car Stereo
Elliot Scheiner, right, with Dave Russell (left) and Roger Nichols (center) accepting a Grammy Award for work with Steely Dan. Photo: Scott Gries/Image Direct for SteelyDan.com

Meet Elliot Scheiner and His Gaggle of Grammys

What better master chef to have behind the sound in your car than the producer behind Grammy-award winning albums from Beyoncé, Eric Clapton and Steely Dan? As a producer who’s worked with Van Morrison, the Foo Fighters, the Eagles, Faith Hill and Aerosmith, Elliot appreciates the full range of artistry that a car buyers demand.

Elliot has won 8 Grammys and been nominated for 25 for his work producing music, from studio work to live albums to movie soundtracks. What he loves to do most is capture an artist’s true sound so the listener can feel what it’s like to be part of the music, right there with the artist as it’s happening.

As if Bonne Raitt is crooning her soulful strains just for you.

As if Van Morrison is plucking his guitar strings purely for your delight.

As if Marvin Gaye is right next to you, lifting your soul with his magical voice.

Achieving this in a car should be natural, but it’s not always executed well. But Elliot knew he could do it; after all, you’re surrounded by speakers in an enclosed space. By focusing on directing the quality of mechanics and the path of sounds through the car stereo, Elliot creates the perfect sounds and is immensely proud of the sound that Acuras can produce.

Further reading: Take the ELS Surround Premium sound system for a test drive in the Acura ILX

Acura Rdx Els Premium Car Stereo
Elliot Scheiner with the new Acura RDX. Photo: ELS Surround Premium Sound

This is Elliot’s Ideal Playlist

During our test drive of the Acura RDX we listened to a definitive playlist put together by Elliot. It represents the vast spectrum of musical genres and sounds that the ELS Surround Premium sound system produces, no matter your taste. This is just part of his list (our favorites, of course!).

What Does Elliot Listen to in the Car?

Whatever he’s working on now. Currently, he’s finishing a live album by Phish from their 13 day stint at Madison Square Garden. And then, it’ll be on to the next project.

The car, it turns out, is a favorite place for even the most accomplished musicians to listen to music, especially when it is perfectly reproduced. The Foo Fighters Dave Grohl agrees. After listening to the tracks Elliot sent over in the Acura, he approved so much so that he bought the car.

Acura Rdx Car Stereo SystemWin the ELS Premium Sound Experience with our “Stay Cool This Summer” Prize Pack!

We are giving away a pair of Panasonic wireless headphones and an ELS Acura water bottle, a prize valued at $100. Enter to win below; a winner will be drawn on August 6th, 2018.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest Rules:

Participants can enter to win an ELS Premium Sound prize pack of a pair of Panasonic wireless headphones and an ELS Acura water bottle by submitting qualifying entries via RaffleCopter before midnight, August 5, 2018. No purchase necessary to enter. A single prize of one pair of headphones and one water bottle will be given away. Prize has an approximate value of $100, is not exchangeable for cash or other items; the assignment of the prize is at the discretion of A Girls Guide to Cars. A single winner will be chosen at random from among valid entries. Contest open only to US residents 18 or older. Winner will be notified by email or direct message by August 15, 2018. If a chosen winner fails to respond to notification within seven (7) days that winner will be disqualified and a new winner will be chosen. Winners must provide a valid US shipping address, not a PO Box, for prize shipment and may be asked to provide other information to verify qualification for this contest. Void where prohibited and subject to applicable law.

 

Scotty Reiss
Scotty Reiss

Journalist, entrepreneur and mom. Expertise includes new cars, family cars, 3-row SUVs, child passenger car seats and automotive careers and culture. A World Car Awards juror and member of the steering committee, Scotty likes to say the automotive business found her, rather than her finding it. But recognizing the opportunity to give voice to powerful female consumers and create a voice to match their spending power, her mission became to empower women as car buyers and owners. A career-long journalist, she has written for the New York Times, Town & Country, Adweek and co-authored the book Stew Leonard, My Story, a biography of the founder of the iconic grocery company Stew Leonard’s. Her love of cars started when her father insisted she learn to change the oil in her MG Midget, but now it mostly plays out in the many road trips taken with her family.

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