[longboat]

The upside is that very little engineering was required for the in-bed speakers - there's not much to engineer. Surface transducers ("exciters") have been around for years and are very cheap to manufacture. Consisting of only a coil, magnet, and frame, they are basically speakers without cones. It's a safe bet that the entire system consisting of 6 exciters, an amplifier, wire, and software for the infotainment system probably cost Honda less than $100. Of course, I think most of us will agree that that $100 would have been better spent elsewhere.

I recall Joe mentioning an exorbitant amount of funding was spent on the complete engineering of the IBS system, maybe several mil or more? I agree that the components are cheap, but I think you will be charged a healthy premium (likely across all models, even those without IBS) for Honda to recoup those R&D costs...

 

[longboat]

Yep, an origami bed likely would have cost about the same R&D; however Honda would have to spend billions to build another factory to build all the Ridgelines that they would sell with an origami bed.

 

[longboat]

If that's accurate then Honda wasted an exorbitant amount of money. What is there to engineer? The exciters are a pre-engineered product. All Honda had to do was draw some mounting holes on a CAD drawing so that the composite panels would have something for the exciters to attach to. The most complicated part of the process would have been hanging a microphone in the bed to measure the frequency response so that equalization could be set in the audio system in an effort to improve the sound.

I'm guessing optimum materials for sound and durability combination, best locations for exciters, how many, what wattage, unsupported panel size needed for proper resonance, etc., it takes a while to do it right.

 

[longboat]

I think that would be awesome for business but I'm confused they don't want to sell tons of RL's? I know we have talked about this before not that easy to buy and setup land facilities just to build one midsize truck in the model lineup. I'm sure Honda reps turned that down in a minute of talks. Still imo to make impact and succeed with selling these trucks I believe they needed to do something like this to really make that ok Im really interested now in a big way statement. 5k towing, maybe not the best off road, who cares! its got a slide out bed who else does that.

Now it has all the other great features and it has the bed speakers, bed extension or whatever else it could have been.

If they sell too many, GM/Ford will lobby for rule changes to squeeze Honda out. Just like what happened when Mopar started winning all of the NASCAR races in the 60's...

 

[longboat]

Every last one of those variables can be determined by one mechanical engineer, one audio engineer, one electrical engineer, and one structural engineer in a matter of days for less than the cost of one new Ridgeline - and even that quantity of people and dollars would be excessive.

I don't remember what Joe said it was (too lazy to do a search), but it was WAY more than it sounded like it should have been. Even a 100k would be way too much to spend on something like that.

 

[longboat]

Maybe a better poll would be something like:

What would you be willing to pay for the IBS, assuming sound quality is equivalent to mid-range BT speakers (remembering that most current BT speakers are not stereo)?
0$
Up to $100
Up to $250
Up to $500
Over $500

 

[longboat]

If you search the opinions thread, Joe mentioned how much it cost for the IBA (IBS?). I don't remember what it was, but it seemed awfully expensive for what it is.

I have to wonder if they didn't have to tweak some active equalizers to make sure they didn't get any errant frequencies in various locations. Maybe some low-pass and high-pass components to keep it from sounding too muddy...