Pioneering Technology from Warwick Acoustics Features in Range Rover's Revolutionary SV Electrostatic Sound System

NUNEATON, WARWICKSHIRE, UK — Nuneaton, Warwickshire, UK, 11 November 2026: Warwick Acoustics, the world's leading provider of electrostatic audio systems, today speaks publicly for the first time about its role in the development of SV Electrostatic Sound for Range Rover.

A world first feature exclusive to Range Rover, SV Electrostatic Sound represents a revolution in the customer's in-car audio experience, enabled by over 20 years of research, engineering and development to bring the physics of electrostatics to the automotive market.

Clarity and Immersion: A Listening Experience Unlike Any Other

Electrostatics delivers two qualities that have long eluded in-car audio: clarity and immersion.

Clarity is the ability to hear every note, every nuance, every detail of a performance with perfect transparency as if the listener was in the same room as the performer. The ultra-light electrostatic membrane responds to the audio signal with a speed and accuracy a thousand times greater than a conventional speaker cone, preserving subtle harmonics, and attack and decay characteristics that give instruments and voices their natural character. Listeners frequently describe the experience as hearing familiar recordings as if for the first time.

Immersion is the quality that makes the cabin feel far larger than it is. Conventional speakers produce spherical soundwaves, which the human ear instinctively perceives as originating close by. In Range Rover SV, the SV Electrostatic Sound system's electrostatic panels produce planar, near-flat waves that our ears interpret as originating from much further away. The sensation is of sound originating up to 30 metres away, far beyond the physical cabin.

Together, the effect is comparable to moving from a standard-definition television to 8K TV. The step change in experience is immediately apparent, even to those with no prior knowledge of the technology.

Gary Waters, CEO, Warwick Acoustics, commented: "This launch is pivotal for both Warwick Acoustics and, we believe, for the automotive industry as a whole. We have played a key role in helping to create an experience that is so perfectly transparent and real, that listeners are transported to the artist's recording studio or theatre, experiencing all the power, detail, and emotion of a live performance. During the development process I have seen a lot of people experience SV Electrostatic Sound for the first time and their feedback has been outstanding. In every case, the response to the realism of the experience has been dramatic. It is so satisfying to see the emotional response that this system engenders when it is reproducing an outstanding music performance."

Revolutionary Technology: Refined Implementation

The Range Rover SV provided the ideal stage for the introduction of electrostatic audio to the car. Its meticulously crafted cabin and advanced acoustic engineering create the environment in which electrostatic technology can demonstrate its full, extraordinary capability: an experience that is powerful, clear and genuinely immersive in ways that no prior in-car audio system has achieved.

Central to the SV Electrostatic Sound system are the electrostatic panels and electrical drive systems developed by Warwick Acoustics.

Inspired by the mechanism of the human ear, the ultralightweight membrane sits between two perforated metallic plates. A high voltage electric charge is established on the membrane, while the audio signal is simultaneously applied across the two metallic plates. The movement of the membrane under the changes in electric field strength delivers waves of sound with a precision and faithfulness that no conventional speaker can match.

The complete audio chain seamlessly integrates Warwick Acoustics' bespoke software, hardware components and acoustics expertise alongside contributions from the other SV Electrostatic Sound collaborators. Inside the Range Rover SV, 21 electrostatic panels housing 55 individual sound radiators are precisely positioned for optimum sound reproduction. Strategically placed throughout the cabin, including the headlining, headrests, and seat backs, these panels create a genuinely immersive, enveloping soundstage for both front and rear passengers.

Orazio Pollaci, Chief Marketing Officer, Warwick Acoustics, commented: "When this company was founded, our mission was always to bring electrostatic speaker technology out of audiophile home entertainment systems and headphones and into the car. Seeing the system in production in the Range Rover SV is a realisation of the very reason Warwick Acoustics was founded. However, this is only the first step on our journey to revolutionise the audio experience for all travellers. Alongside the accuracy and spaciousness of audio reproduction inherent in electrostatics, the efficiency of this technology delivers material mass, power and packaging benefits to a range of eMobility transport markets. Journeys will never be the same again."

Electrostatic speakers are up to 90% lighter than an equivalent speaker, consume 90% less energy, contain no rare earth elements and are 100% recyclable. The system is the result of five years of intensive collaboration with Range Rover and a number of specialist audio suppliers, building on 20 years of fundamental electrostatic audio research and product development by Warwick Acoustics.