I have to say that I actually owned Acura's before the ELS system came out, so when the first TL was produced with the ELS system in 2004, I went nuts. Literally. Traded in a not-to-old Acura (2002) to get one, just for the DVD-A! 
Hey, it's what I do.
Over the next 10 years, my wife and I have owned multiple Acura's, all with the ELS DVD-A system. I happen to love listening to DVD-A's in the car, and everyone that rides along at one time or another has ranged from being mildly impressed to overwhelmed by the surround experience in the car. The center speaker in the dashboard at eye/ear height makes those SW surround mixes shine, I must say!
To those who can't accept surround in a car environment, think about this. One of the major complaints anti-surround folks use is that at home you're rarely sitting in the same spot when listening to music, so what's the use of having surround. Hey, guess what? In a car, you are ALWAYS sitting in the same place and never move! (Sure, you're not dead center middle sweet spot, but you do have fader and balance controls to compensate) In a car, you are always surrounded with sound. Even in the old days, when every kid cut Jensen 6x9 speakers in the back deck of their cars, we had sound coming from the back, even if it was only stereo. Sound "in the back" of cars has almost always been there, why not have exclusive audio sent to the back?
So, DVD-A (and SACD), should have been quickly adopted by the car audio hardware manufacturers. Unfortunately, it barely developed in the car audio after-marketplace. Acura and ELS went "all-in", but their effort was probably doomed from the beginning, as by 2004 the HiRez craze of Year 2000 was killed by the music industry for many reasons that we've discussed over and over. Right after that glorious Rolling Stone issue with the 5.1 SACD included with the magazine came out, Sony virtually stopped making SACDs, WB/Rhino put all their eggs in the DualDisc/MVI basket, and the DVD-A marketplace barely survived, mostly because of Neil Wilkes and Steven Wilson.
Still, the marketing of these Acura's with DVD-A capability was poorly done. Probably 90% of all Acura's sold with these systems never played a DVD-A other than the samplers that came with the cars. Even if the owners attempted to purchase a DVD-A in a store, they either could not find them, could only find crappy Silverline titles, or were met with strange stares by music store owners who had no clue, or told them that they were no longer being made.
It's a shame that Acura/ELS did not partner with WB/Rhino and market the discs through the dealerships or through a direct mail effort to Acura owners. Instead of dumping the DVD-A overstock/unsold discs to the cutout wholesalers, they could have placed them in the hands of Acura owners via retail kiosks in the dealership service departments.
Maybe if the ELS system was put into cars in 2001 instead of 2004, or if it was offered in other manufacturers cars, even Acura's sister comapny's Honda vehicles, it would have had a better chance to be more widely noticed.
Today's car manufacturers are quietly deleting all disc based players in their cars as that delivery system is now pretty much outdated. Still, the ELS system with DVD-A will remain as an historic pinnacle of auto based surround audio. I know we have many members here with Acuras, and many Acura owners that found QQ because of their ELS systems.
When the SACD/DVD-A HiRez years are looked back on as time goes by, it will be remembered that these rolling DVD-A players were indeed some of the most expensive DVD-A players ever built! And they got decent gas mileage as well.
I'd love to hear from other Acura ELS owners here in this thread with their thoughts and stories about their experiences with their DVD-A systems in their cars. Chime in and tell us about taking friends for rides and surrounding them with 5.1 or other things you've experienced from surround in your cars.
Hey, it's what I do.Over the next 10 years, my wife and I have owned multiple Acura's, all with the ELS DVD-A system. I happen to love listening to DVD-A's in the car, and everyone that rides along at one time or another has ranged from being mildly impressed to overwhelmed by the surround experience in the car. The center speaker in the dashboard at eye/ear height makes those SW surround mixes shine, I must say!
To those who can't accept surround in a car environment, think about this. One of the major complaints anti-surround folks use is that at home you're rarely sitting in the same spot when listening to music, so what's the use of having surround. Hey, guess what? In a car, you are ALWAYS sitting in the same place and never move! (Sure, you're not dead center middle sweet spot, but you do have fader and balance controls to compensate) In a car, you are always surrounded with sound. Even in the old days, when every kid cut Jensen 6x9 speakers in the back deck of their cars, we had sound coming from the back, even if it was only stereo. Sound "in the back" of cars has almost always been there, why not have exclusive audio sent to the back?
So, DVD-A (and SACD), should have been quickly adopted by the car audio hardware manufacturers. Unfortunately, it barely developed in the car audio after-marketplace. Acura and ELS went "all-in", but their effort was probably doomed from the beginning, as by 2004 the HiRez craze of Year 2000 was killed by the music industry for many reasons that we've discussed over and over. Right after that glorious Rolling Stone issue with the 5.1 SACD included with the magazine came out, Sony virtually stopped making SACDs, WB/Rhino put all their eggs in the DualDisc/MVI basket, and the DVD-A marketplace barely survived, mostly because of Neil Wilkes and Steven Wilson.
Still, the marketing of these Acura's with DVD-A capability was poorly done. Probably 90% of all Acura's sold with these systems never played a DVD-A other than the samplers that came with the cars. Even if the owners attempted to purchase a DVD-A in a store, they either could not find them, could only find crappy Silverline titles, or were met with strange stares by music store owners who had no clue, or told them that they were no longer being made.
It's a shame that Acura/ELS did not partner with WB/Rhino and market the discs through the dealerships or through a direct mail effort to Acura owners. Instead of dumping the DVD-A overstock/unsold discs to the cutout wholesalers, they could have placed them in the hands of Acura owners via retail kiosks in the dealership service departments.
Maybe if the ELS system was put into cars in 2001 instead of 2004, or if it was offered in other manufacturers cars, even Acura's sister comapny's Honda vehicles, it would have had a better chance to be more widely noticed.
Today's car manufacturers are quietly deleting all disc based players in their cars as that delivery system is now pretty much outdated. Still, the ELS system with DVD-A will remain as an historic pinnacle of auto based surround audio. I know we have many members here with Acuras, and many Acura owners that found QQ because of their ELS systems.
When the SACD/DVD-A HiRez years are looked back on as time goes by, it will be remembered that these rolling DVD-A players were indeed some of the most expensive DVD-A players ever built! And they got decent gas mileage as well.
I'd love to hear from other Acura ELS owners here in this thread with their thoughts and stories about their experiences with their DVD-A systems in their cars. Chime in and tell us about taking friends for rides and surrounding them with 5.1 or other things you've experienced from surround in your cars.
