The Given: The system is not well tuned to the car (strange at this price point); it rattles and distorts the bass. This holds true for the 380w and the 770w (mine is the 770w). There is nothing the dealer can do about. The only hope is for Jag to make a recall and do a serious fix (very doubtful as it does not represent a safety hazard). The 420w B&W system in my XF is far superior. And the Meridian is the 2014 Range Sport loaner i am driving now (my xf in the shop) is also super and has no problems at all.

The Problem: The distortion and rattles are not from the door, they are from the speakers behind the seats. In the car you think the rattle is from the door (your ears play tricks on you). But i checked, i traced the rattle and is was not from the doors. Try it, open the doors , blast the system, and put your ears next to the doors and you will hear no rattle, now put your ears toward the driver seat outer edge, and you hear the rattle.

The solution: After so many tests of so many configurations i got the best result in DTS with both the Bass and Sub set at 50% and treble and 75%. With this set up i got a rattle free , distortion free sound at any volume, i went up to 60 and the sound was clear and too loud. No rattles even in bass heavy music.

In Meridian or Dolby settings the only way to get rid of the rattle was to kill the sub and/or bass, which is ridiculous. The Meridian or Dolby are as good as useless.

What set up works for you?

 

My rattle is certainly from behind the seat,I suspect it's the subs...

 

How does it sound with your settings?

 

I found the same solution, DTS is the only worthwhile setting, with the bass and sub slightly below 50%, and the treble as you describe.

 

The base 380w Meridian system does not have DD or DTS, so this solution will not work for those owners unfortunately.

I have found that decreasing sub to roughly 20%, bass to roughly 40% and moving the fader forward 3 or four clicks eliminates much of the rattle and distortion, but also produces terrible (hollow) sound.

I would not call this an adequate solution to fixing the issues many of us are having with the base 380w stereo, rather just removing rattle/distortion at the expense of sound quality and bass.

 

I use 40% sub and 40% bass on the 380w, but that's for personal preference. I keep the fader in the middle. I can crank both bass and sub up quite a bit more with no rattles/vibration.

However, my ear doesn't like a lot of bass and booming sub, and I don't think that equates to sound quality. It depends upon what you prefer to listen to.

 

I know when I took one of my test drives, I tried out the stereo, and the salesperson just turned up the volume and was like, "listen to all that bass..." Umm... yeah, I wish I could hear some crystal clear high notes, lyrics, and even some mid range... I don't want to listen to Rumpshaker all the time. (no foul if YOU enjoy the Rumpshaker, I just like clarity over bass.)

 

I think you have commented that your car is less prone to rattles than others, however.

Being a younger guy, this happens to me nearly every time I test drive a car. They crank the bass up, in what I can only imagine they think a young person like myself prefers. I always chuckle...

 

Quite correct, and I guess I got lucky. I fully acknowledge that many cars have the rattle/vibration issue, but quite a number of them do not. That's what makes this whole controversy so vexing.

I get the impression that many people who do have the problem just can't accept the fact that it's not present in all cars. I do not feel I have a "sound quality" problem in my F-Type any more than any other car audio system I've owned, and I had the high-end HK in my E92 M3.

There are so many variables involved. Perhaps, it's associated with the type of music I prefer, which is primarily unplugged, acoustic, and how I like to set my equalizer. Thumping bass and sub ruin the music I like.

 

deleted: Biernut already asked the question.

 

I haven't had the time to really attack the source of the rattle/distortion in the same manner as you, but I can share these thoughts.

• I agree that the DTS setting delivers the best and fullest sound quality. Dolby is close, Meridian is awful.
  .
• I have my Base and Sub at just under 50%, and the Treble at about 60. hadn't really fiddled with this a lot, just knew the base had to be moderated. Will try your settings tomorrow.
  .
• I keep the Fader about two clicks behind the center position, as I feel the front speakers overpower the rear, and I prefer the tone to feel like it is engulfing me equally from all sides. This also requires that the Balance be about 3 clicks to the passenger side of the car, to compensate for the fact the drivers head is about 18" from the left side speakers and 48" from the Right.
  .
• I disagree with your evaluation that the trouble is limited to the speakers behind the seats however, and I don't believe conducting a test with the doors open simulates how I drive and listen to music at the same time. lol
  When I listen to reggae in particular, with a very prominent base guitar, the distortion is most noticable. If I press my fingers into the underside of the ridge in the door panel, about 5" below the window or 6.5" above the armrest, and about half-way back behind the door open lever, I can cause a significant reduction in the level of distortion.
  The speakers behind the seats do contribute. During one particularly disturbing sequence, I powered the passenger seat forward, and placed my hand on the passenger-side speaker cover, which seemed to be somewhat loose. By applying modest pressure with my hand, I was able to quiet the resonance emanating from that speaker.

 

I had the rattle and since I faded more to the rear it seems to have disappeared somewhat. But I will test with the settings mentioned above to see if works as well.

Also on a side note, as awesome the B&W in my XF was in my XK it is just the opposite. The B&W in the XK is very tinny, very hard to get a more voluminous sound out of it, quiet the opposit of the F-Type Meridian system.

 

Try playing Portishead's Wandering Star. This will make the driver vibrate at higher volume settings, but at lower settings is really good for demonstrating buzzing trim to Dealership staff.

HTH

 

Foosh, you finally have explained to us why you have no problems. Any acoustic/low base music I play is perfect in my car. However, any intro of base with some volume (not material volume) is where the problematic "games begin". Thanks for finally explaining to us all why you have a "perfect" system (lucky you). I bet if you take the settings/music conditions to the levels we are describing it starts to show the symptoms. I was impressed and remain impressed with the clarity of the highs, less so with the mids but still good....but put on anything with base with sub 1/3 up, or base at 50%, and look out scout....the jiggles start to wiggle, and the rattles make my hair stand on edge.

I'm happy for you liking your system, really happy, but the above explained it all to me, and we are aligned on what you stated, and remember, It's all about the base...LOL.

 

I do have some heavy bass selections in my catalog as well, and they also sound good. There's plenty of bass for me at the 40% level and no rattles/vibration at volumes I consider to be too loud.

LOL . . . hate that song!

 

No rattle problem, but use DTS and Fader towards rear to get a little surround. Can only find rear in DTS!

 

Same with me.. Depending on the source, I get good surround and good sound in DTS. The Meridian and Dolby are fine, but I can't seem to get the rear speakers engaged on those settings.
When I take it into the dealer for oil change etc.. I'm going to see what their master mechanic has to report.
Overall, I just leave it on DTS and its really good... I will check to see what bass settings I'm using as soon as I get the car out for the spring, likely today, but I don't think I've overly reduced them as I like lots of bass on certain songs.
Lawrence

 

My answer may be a Lotus Evora 400. #tempted

Owned 3 Lotus cars in the past and always been perfect. And the people at Lotus are friendly and great. I never once heard them say "well that's not our company process." I'm done with JLR and their 'computer says' attitude.

 

With all due respect, the solution in the OP is a helpful workaround. The actual solution is in JLR's hands, and right now they seem to prefer to stick their heads up their *** and are choosing to ignore what is a very real problem for many owners.

 

I had been reading the posts on the stereo before ordering my car. I'm pretty picky about music so I figured if this many people were not satisfied with the top stereo offering, I would be even less satisfied since I would be more picky than most. With that, I offered not to upgrade to the 770 version since I figured I would be redoing most of it anyways. I plan to work with a shop on updating my 380 system to something I will enjoy. While I don't care for it now, I'm still very pleased with the car. I do think it's a let down from Jaguar to sell such a vehicle in today's market with this type of quality, but for me it doesn't ruin the rest of the package.