{"id":3958,"date":"2025-07-30T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/?p=3958"},"modified":"2025-07-30T15:48:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T15:48:23","slug":"the-bugatti-tourbillon-doesnt-have-real-speakers-it-uses-something-much-cooler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/the-bugatti-tourbillon-doesnt-have-real-speakers-it-uses-something-much-cooler\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bugatti Tourbillon Doesn&#039;t Have Real Speakers. It Uses Something Much Cooler"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/bugatti-tourbillon-speaker-system-graphic-lead-image.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/723757\/2026-bugatti-tourbillion-debut-specs\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22723757%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%222026-bugatti-tourbillion-debut-specs%22%7D\">The Bugatti Tourbillon<\/a> is filled with all sorts of neat innovations. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/724043\/bugatti-fixed-steering-wheel-hub\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22724043%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22bugatti-fixed-steering-wheel-hub%22%7D\">A steering wheel that rotates around a central hub<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/724009\/bugatti-tourbillon-instrument-cluster-details\/\" data-inline-widget=\"internal-links\" data-type-id=\"0\" data-params=\"%7B%22article_edition_id%22%3A%22724009%22%2C%22section%22%3A%221%22%2C%22alias%22%3A%22bugatti-tourbillon-instrument-cluster-details%22%7D\">a titanium gauge cluster<\/a>, 3D-printed suspension components, and a monster rear diffuser that doubles as a crash structure. Add to that a sound system that doesn&#8217;t use traditional speakers.<\/p>\n<p><em>Top Gear&nbsp;<\/em>magazine recently visited Rimac&#8217;s new Croatian headquarters, where Bugatti Rimac is developing the Tourbillon. CEO Mate Rimac delights in showing off all kinds of innovations on both this and the Rimac Nevera, and he&#8217;s particularly proud of the Tourbillon&#8217;s sound system. Rather than using traditional speakers, the Tourbillon uses piezoelectric elements that vibrate the car&#8217;s carbon-fiber tub. So effectively, the Tourbillon&#8217;s chassis is one big speaker.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sizer\" src=\"image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAJCAYAAAA7KqwyAAAAGXRFWHRTb2Z0d2FyZQBBZG9iZSBJbWFnZVJlYWR5ccllPAAAABpJREFUeNpi\/P\/\/PwMlgImBQjBqwLAwACDAAOVfAw9\/ZDvcAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Inside Bugatti-Rimac Dream Factory + CEO\u2019s Insane Car Collection!\" width=\"640\" height=\"960\" style=\"width:640px;height:960px;\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WUqUNJw7m8Y?start=525&#038;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>This warrants further explanation. Traditional speakers use a magnet that receives an electrical signal, which in turn moves an electromagnetic voice coil back and forth. The voice coil is attached to some sort of diaphragm, typically a cone made from paper or metal, that vibrates, amplifying the sound. (Remember that sound is just air vibrating.) Obviously, this works incredibly well, but speaker magnets are quite heavy.<\/p>\n<p>A piezoelectric speaker uses a small crystal like quartz to do much the same thing. An electrical signal sent to the crystal vibrates some sort of diaphragm, usually a small piece of flat metal. Some hi-fi speakers use this technology, but more often, a piezoelectric speaker is just a small buzzer, like an alarm in an old quartz wristwatch.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In the Tourbillon, the actual carbon-fiber chassis is the diaphragm\u2014those piezo transducers are designed to transmit vibrations directly into the tub. Rimac shows&nbsp;<em>Top Gear&nbsp;<\/em>the Tourbillon&#8217;s effective subwoofer, a piezo element attached to the roof of the car. It&#8217;s a tiny metal piece, far smaller and lighter than a traditional speaker.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/bugatti-tourbillon-interior.jpg\" alt=\"Bugatti Tourbillon Interior\" \/> <\/p>\n<p>The interior of the Tourbillon. No traditional speakers here.<\/p>\n<p>Photo by: Bugatti<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Believe me, the sound quality of that car is in a different universe compared to a Chiron,&#8221; Rimac says. &#8220;So we saved weight, space, and improved the sound quality.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>While this seems to be the first example of an automaker using piezoelectric transducers to turn a carbon-fiber tub into a speaker, the Tourbillon is not the first car to use part of its body structure for audio reproduction. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theabsolutesound.com\/articles\/mercedes-benz-introduces-innovative-frontbass-car-audio-system-and-exclusive-signature-sound-demo-disc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mercedes-Benz introduced a system called Front Bass<\/a> that turned the front firewall of the 2013 SL into, effectively, a large speaker box. Though, this system did use traditional electromagnetic speakers. The car&#8217;s structure was just used to enhance the sound from the speakers.<\/p>\n<p>Neat stuff, though with a naturally aspirated V-16 engine just behind the rear bulkhead, we wonder if anyone really needs a high-end audio system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/761384\/bugatti-boss-criticizes-hybrid-supercars\/\">Bugatti Boss on Turbocharged Hybrid Supercars: &#8216;I Don&#8217;t Get It&#8217;<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.motor1.com\/news\/757639\/bugatti-tourbillon-v-16-timing\/\">Bugatti&#8217;s New V-16 Has a Bizarre Timing System<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bugatti Tourbillon is filled with all sorts of neat innovations. A steering wheel that rotates around a ...<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-event-coverage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3958"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3964,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3958\/revisions\/3964"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.bruntonwolf.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}