The Gentleman Magazine Issue 9 | June 2018 | Page 73

sound systems for its vehicles that are custom-designed and
engineered for the internal architecture and acoustic quality of
each model.
Mark Levinson systems for Lexus are tuned to provide the
highest level of accuracy, reliability, and enjoyment. The
hallmark of each system is an uncanny ability to reproduce
subtleties and nuances that deliver pure musical reproduction,
with nothing added or removed from the performance. You
don’t just hear the sound, you experience the soul of the music
in a 360-degree spatial environment.
This makes Mark Levinson products as much a feast for the
eyes as for the ears.
The soundproofed listening room is designed to provide the
ideal environment in which to appreciate the performance
of the Mark Levinson system. The ambience is warm and
welcoming with discreet luxury expressed in walnut cabinets
with Lexus motif fretwork, black glass wall panel, grey-painted
walls and a warm, dark grey rug.
Lexus Skyjet
The full and rich experience of Mark Levinson sound is
provided to LOUNGE by Lexus guests in two areas: one system
is installed in the central bar, another has been specifically
designed for the Mark Levinson Listening Room. One of the most arresting features of LOUNGE by Lexus is a
half-scale model of Skyjet, a futuristic spacecraft which Lexus
helped design for the international blockbuster movie Valerian
and the City of 1,000 Planets, directed by Luc Besson.
The system in bar has a stereo connection, while the listening
room system is connected to a Lexicon immersive sound
processor, for multichannel audio films from the media player. Lexus collaborated with the film’s creative team to produce a
single-seat pursuit craft that would be piloted by Valerian, the
movie’s hero, in a fantasy world set 700 years into the future. Its
overall shape was influenced by sleek and fast marine creatures
such as sharks, dolphins and orca, and the design of modern
fighter jets and submersible marine vessels.
Three Mark Levinson components are featured in each set-up:
an audio player, preamplifier andturntable.
Designed and manufactured in the United States, all Mark
Levinson products are handcrafted and tuned, so that each
product performs beyond expectations.
Each piece is precisely placed for the ultimate sonic purity and
visual composition; nothing is extraneous.
The team at Lexus’s ED2 design centre in the South of France
were able to integrate recognisable Lexus styling cues,
including a spindle grille and lights shaped like the triple-
LED headlamps on the LC coupe. Referencing zero emission
powertrain technology, Skyjet also featured a hydrogen fuel
cell capsule.
The Gentleman Magazine | 73