Meridian surround hifi

J

jagseven

New member
I have the Meridian Surround system in my car and when fed with a high quality feed (lossless from phone using cable not Bluetooth) it sounds very good to my ears but I often read that some people don’t rate the jag hifi - I accept it’s not amazing but equally I’d not describe it as rubbish!

Did the spec of the Meridian Surround change over the years or am I just easily pleased?? (I do regard myself as a bit of a hifi fan and have a Naim/Kef home set up)
One thing I have noticed is the sound does seem sensitive to the settings chosen (I prefer DTS rather than Meridian setting for example…)
 
I don’t think it changed, but some people have put a lot of time into improving the acoustics with sound deadening mat etc.
plenty of posts if you do a search.

For me surround is nice in say a RR with air suspension, but in a convertible F I’d rather listen to the exhaust and (too brief!) supercharger whine at 2k revs and put the money towards more petrol.
Arcam fmj here, with Totem Acoustic Hawk - plus tinnitus and hearing loss 😂

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I've only got the 380W system but to my (ancient) ears it's perfectly acceptable - at least as good as the 550W B&O system in my previous XKR. You have to bear in mind that the F-Type cabin is no concert hall!

That said, I find I much prefer listening to the sound from those 4 speakers at the back!
 
I always thought the standard speakers in the Meridian Surround lacked a bit of detail so changed the door and dash to the higher quality units, plus some sound deadening and wadding. Now much better but the new dash speaker is too efficient. One day I must put a resistor to it. I agree the Meridian setting is not the best of the surround settings but overall I prefer the stereo setting, (because of the dash speaker).
My home system is big Luxman amp and Tannoy Monitor Golds in Lancaster cabs. Only 50w but you could hear it streets away if turned up as it's so efficient and bass down to the single hz or so.
 
As much as like the idea of upgrading the speakers I think they work well enough for me and I will save my (notional) hifi budget for the home system. The frustration is I probably spend more time listening in the car than I do at home - my other half doesn’t appreciate the high volume I like to enjoy when at home!

Agree that the real music comes from the engine and exhaust anyway!
 
jagseven said:
... my other half doesn’t appreciate the high volume I like to enjoy when at home!
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Take 'em to a live concert - then they'll realise how quiet "high volume" is! :lol:
 
I have the base stereo in my car and it's honestly terrible. I think maybe people get confused with that and the meridian systems. I've heard people say things like "the stereo in the f-type is bad" so i guess that's where it comes from.

It's the only option my car didn't come with that i wish it had. I daily my car so a good sound system is a must for me.
 
I've got the basic system. It's perfectly fine to me. I listen to podcasts in the car rather than music but I find it perfectly acceptable. The speech is all nice a clear and has good audio range to it. I don't find it tinny or bassy. You'll never get the car to sound like the Albert Hall because there is too much other noise going on like fans, tyres noise, traffic, engine, etc unless it's a Rolls!

It's certainly no better or worse than the B&O in my old Mk3 TTS.
 
kevc said:
I've got the basic system. It's perfectly fine to me. I listen to podcasts in the car rather than music but I find it perfectly acceptable. The speech is all nice a clear and has good audio range to it. I don't find it tinny or bassy. You'll never get the car to sound like the Albert Hall because there is too much other noise going on like fans, tyres noise, traffic, engine, etc unless it's a Rolls!

It's certainly no better or worse than the B&O in my old Mk3 TTS.
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That last part I really don't agree with at all. I had the Bose system in my MK2 TTS and it was miles better than the standard Jaguar offering. The standard Jag system doesn't even properly engage the rear speakers. In your car move the sound balance to rear and you'll hear what I mean. It sounds like someone has a hand over the cone of the speakers. It's utter crap for the cost of the car new. The EQ is terrible and doesn't allow proper adjustment. The speaker drone with heavy bass is terrible. It's either anemic or trying to throw the cone out the speaker.

Overall it's just bad. Of course you don't think it's bad if you are only listening to podcasts with it lol.
 
I was picky when selecting my used Ftype, I wanted the meridian surround system as I wanted the best system. I have a HK in my 2013 M3 and it’s brilliant, I was going for a a Lotus Emira but the KEF system was average. I’ve listened to the meridian system in a 22 loaned car and my own 21 surround system. The standard meridian system wasn’t bad to be fair. The surround system is slightly better but the lack of a proper EQ like my old BMW has really knocks the quality.

I wouldn’t swap to a lower system then the one I have but I’d suggest listening to the Meridian system against a surround system to my ears they aren’t that vastly different in quality and output.
 
ZeusHavok said:
I have the base stereo in my car and it's honestly terrible. I think maybe people get confused with that and the meridian systems. I've heard people say things like "the stereo in the f-type is bad" so i guess that's where it comes from.

It's the only option my car didn't come with that i wish it had. I daily my car so a good sound system is a must for me.
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I agree the base system isn't very good, having had Meridian Surround on my first F Type, it was the one thing on my new car's spec that wasn't right. Not my daily, so content listening to the engine when I drive it on the weekend!
 
Revisiting this thread I started because I have recently struggled to get happy with the sound in my car for “normal” daily listening - mainly BBC radio 2 in my case LOL!
In surround sound mode it sounds tinny to my ears and then I tried it in stereo and it is much improved….so that’s my preferred mode in the F-Type.
I think the small cabin means Stereo actually sounds more spatial than surround to my ears!
For comparison I also have the meridian surround system in my F-Pace and in that car I prefer the surround sound mode so make of that what you will…
In the F-type playing around with the bass, treble and subwoofer mix seems to be especially important for obtaining a pleasing sound.
 
I have the Meridian stereo and, although I rarely turn it on, I’ve always thought it better than the surround version I’ve tried in the numerous Land Rover courtesy cars.
Maybe I’m just old but for me stereo is for music and surround is for tv.
 
I am a big Meridian user for music listening and home cinema. They are the pre-eminent innovators of digital sound processing. The codecs used for compression in DVD's and Blu-Rays are MLP. Previous cars of mine have had Bose, Harmon & Kardon or Mark Levinson systems and none of them come anywhere close the the 770w Meridian Surround System. Could be bettered but only by installing an after market OEM system at huge expense.
 
ianp said:
I am a big Meridian user for music listening and home cinema. They are the pre-eminent innovators of digital sound processing. The codecs used for compression in DVD's and Blu-Rays are MLP. Previous cars of mine have had Bose, Harmon & Kardon or Mark Levinson systems and none of them come anywhere close the the 770w Meridian Surround System. Could be bettered but only by installing an after market OEM system at huge expense.
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Have you managed to get your car to play the lossless MLP layer on Audio DVD's? Mine will only play the DTS track on the video side of the DVD.
Still nothing to worry about, in the noisy envirmonment of a car I doubt there is any different between a 1510kbit DTS track and a lossless one.
I have found the sound system is amazing for movie sound tracks, sounds like a home cinema system, but whats the point of watching a film in a car.
 
All

I will be honest, the first thing I do when I start my F-Type up is turn off all the media - nothing sounds better than the aural soundtrack supplied with the car!!

He he!!
 
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