For the rear surround, what is the equivalent premium option replacement part number to consider? Since I'm going to be cutting the mount brackets I'd like to upgrade the rear surrounds too.
The bracket part is EX53-18808-AE, but I am not sure if that's the tweeter alone or the whole assembly.
I am wondering if the upgraded center with mid+tweeter combo (AW93-18808-EC) could also fit these surrounds?

I upgraded to the premium/autobiograpgy for doors (tweeter, mid, woofer) and it's a noticeable improvement.
Rear sub (non-OEM) upgrades coming soon.

 

hey guys, sorry to revive an old thread again but as an owner of MY2020 with the 380W Meridian system I am thinking of swapping out the 3 speakers per door as well as per all the info in this thread (big thanks to Cambo...).

Will these parts fit in my MY2020? judging by one of the last comments when someone is offering 2020 speakers I am guessing that it should...

Also there is a comment saying that the original bass speakers might actually work better than the upgrade (more punch) which if true would be a welcome saving - any thoughts on this?

thank you!

 

Unless you are planning to go all out with aftermarket amp/dsp I would not mess with it. The tune in your factory meridian amp is very specific to the speakers that are installed for the 380 system. Adding other speakers without properly tuning with DSP will throw off the overall tonal balance of the system. It truely was a travesty that jaguar flubbed the 380 system in this car. Mine was the same year and 380 as went down the same path as you are planning initially. Now the only part of the system that still exists from the factory is the IMC between the seats and the dash screen. Go all in or leave it be is my recomendation. .

 

Jag Bass thanks a lot for the reply. It totally makes sense. The reason I wanted to do the swap is that because of quite an annoying rattle in the driver side doors, it seems I will have to take those apart and at least install the dampening so wanted to swap the speakers while at it. Guess I will just dampen the doors and see whether the system is bearable after that

edit:
in case I decide to go "all in" does it make sense to upgrade to these better (B&W / Meridian Signature) speakers, drop in the middle front speaker etc? is there some fairly simple solution for this all in version - these same size speakers, exchange the amp in the same spot instead of the old one, use the same cables as already in the car etc.? Or am I always looking at completely taking the interior apart to reroute all the cables, do different cutouts etc.? Thank you!

 

Yes unfortunately chasing the rattle can be quite maddening.. i recommend the deading videos that Nick at Resonix put togeather available on his site.

 

sure thing, already have and will use them as guides for sure. Any ideas about the "edit" question please?

 

if going all in I would suggest aftermarket speakers, they will allow you to play louder with less distortion than factory upgrades. If you wanted to keep the factory amp you could go something like Helix V12 w/integrated DSP. The software has good tools to help unravel the factory signal pricessing. I used the factory wiring for the door speakers, that's about it.

 

I'm reviving this channel as I have recently been doing some work on my Meridian sound system. Background: I worked in the custom/competitive car audio world for 20 plus years so I have pretty extensive experience with OEM and aftermarket audio systems. I too was severely underwhelmed by the sound quality of the OEM Meridian system in my F-Type. Looking at the hardware that this car is equipped with, it was confusing as to why it sounded so bad. (poor sound stage, poorly defined bass and weird flopping sounds coming from the rear woofers at low to mid volume) Fortunately I didn't have the tweeter crackle issue that may have pointed out so I may be lucky or the firmware was updated to correct this. (likely an incorrect crossover setting). I decided to do the most effective upgrade (in my opinion) which was to install a DSP embedded amplifier (Audison AF C8.14 Bit) so that I could create my own tuning profiles vs how Jaguar/Meridian approached this system tuning.
The first thing I tested was to disconnect the rear woofers (the source of the Flopping sound) just to see if it made a difference. All I can say is "WOW" what a difference! I now had significantly improved mid bass definition and low frequency output at all volume levels. The sound stage moved to the front of the cabin as well. This tells me that Jaguar had the rear woofers tuned out of phase with the front door woofers. This bad tuning also caused the sound stage to be disconnected. To be honest, I was tempted to forego the amp install as I was pleased with the sound quality improvement from just removing the 2 rear woofers from the equation but I felt there was more to be gained with my own tuning. I installed the Audison amp behind the center console removable panel using the existing bracket that covers the telematics module. (I 3D printed an adapter to attach to the OEM bracket) This was very convenient as all of the OEM amplifier wiring passes right next to the new location. I utilized the 6 front channels to acquire a full range signal source for the 8 Audison amp channels to run the front stage. (tweeters, mids, woofers and center channel) I used the 8th channel on the Audison to power a 10" sub enclosure that I am using temporarily until I fabricate a fiberglass, sealed custom enclosure. I bought a small 4 channel amp incase I wanted to power the rear mid range drivers but I elected to leave them connected to the OEM amp for simplicity sake. All I can say is that the OEM speakers are in fact adequate when powered and tuned with an aftermarket amplifier. My car sounds quite impressive now and all I technically did was correct for the amateurish tuning that Meridian imposed on Jaguars F-Type customers. If there was a way that we could access the OEM DSP and install an aftermarket tune, there would no longer be an issue with the OEM system because the hardware isn't really the problem. I will try to update this post with some pics as soon as I get the chance. Everyone can feel that all is not lost when it comes to getting a great sounding system in their F-Type without sourcing hard to find replacement speakers or breaking the bank.
Cheers!

 

To anyone still watching this thread, I have acquired the OEM amp and speakers for this upgrade and have listed them for sale in the marketplace. Unfortunately, my car was totaled and I cant use these parts.