German Luxury Brands' Audio Secrets Busted: 42-Car Teardown Finds Harman Kardon Speakers Made by Foster

DianMaAuto, July 26 — Chinese automotive media outlet Dongchedi recently tore down more than 150 speakers across 42 vehicle models, then took them to the anechoic chamber at the Guangzhou Quality Supervision and Testing Institute for national-standard objective tests of distortion, sensitivity, and more. The findings pull back the curtain on the car audio industry's open secret: badge engineering.

The teardown revealed that many models advertised as carrying audio systems from internationally renowned brands have speakers with no trace of that brand's logo anywhere on them.

The China-market BMW X3, promoted with Harman Kardon audio, was found to have speakers stamped with the mark of Japanese supplier Foster's Chinese factory. The smart #5, advertised with Sennheiser, likewise had no Sennheiser logo on its speakers. The Audi E5 (Bose) and the Mercedes-Benz CLA (Burmester) told the same story — the speakers carried only the automaker's own badge.

More awkward still: in the BMW X3 and smart #5, even the amplifiers weren't made by the named brands. Sennheiser's own website describes the system only in terms of an "immersive audio software module and bass enhancement algorithm," with no mention of hardware such as speakers or amplifiers.

Dongchedi put it bluntly: this is the playbook of certain brands — supply an algorithm, grant a license, and the logo goes on the car, fair and square.

Not every brand is playing word games, though. The Mark Levinson system in Lexus stands out as a model example. The speakers are manufactured by Harman, Mark Levinson's parent company, carry the Mark Levinson logo, and are tuned by the brand's own team. In subjective listening evaluations, the system scored highly, with smooth three-way crossover transitions, punchy bass, and crisp, penetrating highs.

The Mercedes-Benz CLA and Audi at least use amplifiers from their respective named brands, and Burmester/Bose sound modes are selectable in the infotainment system — evidence that the brands participated in tuning. The CLA's uniquely constructed subwoofer, in particular, delivered genuinely impressive real-world sound.

As Dongchedi noted in its video, brands like Burmester don't manufacture speakers themselves to begin with, and China's speaker and amplifier supply chain has grown increasingly capable — contract manufacturing is simply standard industry practice.

What truly matters is whether the brand is genuinely involved in design, tuning, and final quality sign-off. If a company merely sells a logo license and hands over an algorithm without solid hardware underneath, the actual listening experience usually won't measure up.

In its next episode, Dongchedi will release the objective test data from the Guangzhou anechoic chamber, using metrics like distortion and sensitivity to further verify just how good — or bad — these "rebadged" audio systems really are.