Ford Emulates Home Theater with Escape Sound System

Thanks to Apple the word "playlist" is now part of the American lexicon of terms associated with music listening.

Since the term’s introduction 10 years ago it’s made its way from the portable audio market, into the world of residential home audio, and now thanks to the Ford Motor Company, it’s now something automobile purchasers can consider too.

Proving the audiophile mindset is not limited to the money seat within a killer home theater or audio system, the Dearborn, Mich.-based company’s audio engineers devised a demo list of songs for the testing of the new Ford Escape’s audio entertainment system.

The best thing about this demo list of songs is that it should work great for the home theater market, providing a good cross-section of tunes that A/V installers can try out for clients -- Ford even provided a cheat sheet of particular details to pay attention to while demoing.

Ford’s engineers explain they wanted the sound of the system to rival the quality that Ford owners would experience in a good home system. “We tuned the audio system so that it sounds natural; as if you’re listening to music inside a theater rather than your vehicle,” says Christine Templin, audio engineer, Ford Motor Company.

Related: Six Best Demos from CES 2012

To develop the system the company employed a battery of objective, digitally based testing methods and they combined these methods with a series of tried-and-true listening sessions.

Ford says the new Ford Escape will be available this spring with a choice of three audio systems that includes a Sony-based 10-speaker sound system.

Here is Ford’s test playlist that includes explanations of what to listen for in each song:

• ZZ Top, "La Grange": Listen for the clean snare drum clicks, left and right rhythm guitars and strong bass guitar
• Yello, "The Race": Listen for a sensation of the car racing from right to left, and left to right. “It should sound spacious with transients of doors slamming,” Templin says.
• Lou Reed, "Walk on the Wild Side": Listen for backup singers to move from far to near, testing image depth. Check for tonal balance and loud dynamics.
• Kenny Chesney, "Summertime": Listen for clean vocals; instruments should be clearly defined.
• Eminem, "Remember Me": Listen for loud dynamics and bass extension.
• Rihanna, "S.O.S.": Listen for tonal balance, clean bass; nothing shrill in the tweeter.
• Beyonce featuring Jay Z, "Déjà Vu": Listen for bass to be clean and even. Vocals should not break up or sound overly bright.
• Peter, Paul and Mary, "I Have a Song To Sing O": This is an old recording with vocals panned left-center-right in order to test staging and imaging. Voices should retain a natural timbre.
• Johnny Cash, "Bird on a Wire": This intimate recording—as if Cash were in his living room—tests tonal balance and spatial qualities. Vocals show a close-mike effect.
• Bruno Giuranna, Mozart Piano "Quartets 1 & 2, Allegretto": Listen for a natural piano tone. Strings should be forward.