This is a fair point. The majority of people perceive loudness to be 'higher quality' as loud is pleasing to the senses however loud is not better quality. This has been the issue with modern digital mastering techniques for some time now.

 

Subjective this one: I really wanted an F-Type. But my typical journey to work often involves periods of fun as well as sitting in traffic for 20 minutes each day. So I wanted a car that can do excitement and then pamper me for the second half.

Thats why I spent the extra for the Meridian system. And at $1300 I was expecting something that would be a pleasure.

My problem is the cabinet vibrations / Rattles. As we've now heard from those who've changed out their systems with new components, the speakers in the doors are especially thin due to constraints and the installation is compromised to the point of not being fit for purpose.

I believe the F-Type should deliver on my brief and having moved from a directly competitive product with a Bose installation at the very same uplift price, I don't believe I'm asking for much.

Jaguar could soon fix this with a few new parts and 3 hours of dealer service credits. They've heard of many examples - including their own Press Cars as well as Dealer demonstrators - with the same published issues. My biggest beef remains JLR's 18-month proactive avoidance to deal with this and the way they've treated us during this period.

 

FYI: It would seem that in the UK at least, the dealers are soon to be fitting 'Damping' kits to the cars that are affected by resonating trim internals!

 

Please elaborate? links? Is this official?

 

Is this fix sponsored by Jaguar or is it simply an action by a specific dealer?

 

Nope, not official.
At the moment the story is; a colleague has taken his F to a dealer with the rattling symptoms.

Dealer has sent in a fault report (based on the system diagnostics) and then mentioned that alledgedly Jaguar will be sending out a 'Dampening kit', which I assume 'shuts up' the rattling trim.

I'm waiting for an update, so don't get too excited just yet....

 

This sounds very similar to several forum members who have reported taking in their cars for rattles/vibration, and the fix has been removal of door panels and insertion of foam. A "dampening kit" certainly sounds more substantive, but that's probably what it amounts to.

I don't recall whether the owners reporting felt it was effective or not.

 

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know that John Mcilroy - Director of Testing
Haymarket Automotive, the publishers of Autocar, What Car? and Piston heads - had been in touch to say that he is the process of writing the 'goodbye' report and that he would mention the speaker buzz again.

Autocar comes out this Wednesday in the UK. Great read and worth getting every week.

JLR are big on their PR coverage over here. Hopefully some execs in the company will read it and ask what's been going on.

 

Just got back from dropping off my car at the dealership this morning (painless process by the way). Awareness of the buzzing issue from the speakers seems to be getting through. The discussion was one where they already had a plan to address as this is something that a number of customers have been having issues with. Once that's addressed, on to the next step - addressing the overall sound quality.

 

Weird, just put in "meridian mode" and have pretty good surround and general sound. First time it has sounded as good as DTS. Never sounded good before. I generally only listen to Sirius. Maybe a time delay to suddenly sound ok? What evil has Jaguar wrought?

 

Folks, here is an update on my 380W F-type system, after weeks of trying to figure this out. Hope it helps, as I am getting there, but not quite complete yet. Read on please, and hope this helps.

Ok, went to the dealer today, and here is where I am at:

1. - the rattling in the "so called subs" was from the speaker grilles that were cracked, they replaced them.

2. - The door rattles are from the handles on the outside of the doors. The rattle is accentuated when the door handle is out (not locked), and not gone, but minimized when they are locked (closed and tight).

3. - they put dynomat in the doors, both of them, and a material difference, but not a fix!!! acceptable

4. - I opted not to spend a penny more on this stereo, stick to the current configuration, and add a few components to the car, i.e. a speaker in the dash, and possibly changing out the speakers in the doors, and adding a sub/amp combo in the trunk. this would cost me a hell of a lot less than what they wanted to charge me, and besides, I have the sub/amp in the garage from my last car, which is perfect.

5. - Dampening Kits don't take the place of the Dynomat, and besides, they need to dampen both door handles in open mode, which is the lions share of the rattle....nice look, crappy engineering on these handles as they intertwine with the door speakers/audio unit.

6. Thanks for all of your inputs, you talked me off of the ledge.

Lastly, the service manager at my dealership is awesome, and did a wonderful job bridging me and JLR. Very impressed, and don't forget to go to the dealer for fixes, as they are the right course of action....vs. calling JLR for advice. They aren't paid to fix your car, and will not get it done like the service areas at the dealers.

Good Luck

 

Just wanted to say thanks for the detailed update. I was wondering, do you know if your dealer has reported your discovery on the door handles back to Jaguar technical by chance? If you could give them a nudge in that direction it would really help!

Thanks again!

 

Any time. Yes they have reported it to JLR. This dealer was extremely thorough, and I picked it up today. Here is some further information:

1. - The Dynomat worked....the system hardly rattles, and only certain songs it is barely audible with Base 60%, Treble 90% and Subs....well subs shouldn't be called that because they have no impact whatsoever and it is shameful that they have a switch called subs.

2. - I am taking the current speaker scenario, and will look to put a "bazooka" or tube self powered amp somewhere in the trunk. This way I get some base that is clean, and will put a "base switch" somewhere in the front to adjust by song mix/production

3. - I will then turn the base on the Meridian system down, which will take the pressure off of any "rattles", and allow the highs to come through, with some mids, and the pressure of the base will be on the "Tube Sub" in the trunk.

On balance, I think I have the solution finally, and at 40 on the volume switch, there were zero rattles, excepting for a few songs that I use to test this, which are poor productions and extreme base, like "Billie Myers, Kiss the Rain", one of the strongest base, worse productions of a song, although a great son. It accentuates and pushes any system to the limits, and I used it to make the problems "pop" per se, and not quibble over "I don't hear it".

I am very pleased with the service professionalism at my dealer in New Jersey, and it was one of the best experiences in service since I have been buying cars. Unfortunately, JLR don't have the audio nearly right, and this is shameful of them to put a beauty of a car out their with engineering rattles and breakdowns that reflect a miss somewhere in the design playbook.

Hope this helps, and I am comfortable that I am near completion of this post acquisition "audio" fix journey......., just in time for the breaking weather and time to polish the car for the summer :-)!

Good Luck

 

Does anybody have all of the 380W 2015 Meridian System convert. F-Type speaker dimensions, especially the speakers behind the seats?

Thank you very much

 

Hi all,

Just to report that Autocar - the UK's leading car magazine - continued its coverage and came out in support of our push against Jaguar. For those of you based in the UK, its on page 60.

Here's the paragraph: "The rest of the cabin stood up well, with the notable exception of the passenger-side front speaker, which developed the annoying habit of resonating loudly enough to be heard over road and engine noise. It seems our car wasn't alone in suffering this issue with the otherwise-impressive Meridian set-up and there's an owner group lobbying Jaguar about it. We can wish them well in forcing a cure, because it was darned annoying when it popped up."

Huge thanks to John Mcilroy at Haymarket publishing for his support! Top guy!

I know many at Jaguar read Autocar, so lets hope their ambivalence gets vibrated loose...

 

nice work, mawheele!

 

I tossed it into one of my columns and referenced this forum though, I think, if I keep this up Jaguar will put me on the "no car for you" list. Qualcomm Automotive: You May Want to Live in Your Next Car

 

The QualComm efforts are all fine and dandy as long as they don't strip the driving experience (specifically the fun of driving) from the driver which Musk is promoting heavily. (sorry, issue for another thread)

 

Qualcomm is mostly focused on infotainment, connectivity, and now the head mounted displays for BMW/Mini as an alternative to the Smart windshield that Jaguar is working on.

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