I know these stereos take a beating on here, and in the car reviews, but after driving this thing since May/June I have to say a find this Meridian Surround setup to be very good. I always drives with the windows down, and I'm often marvelling in my head how great it sounds when I have it cranked up a bit to overcome the wind noise and whatnot. This is with a regular FM radio signal as well.

I don't know if they've greatly improved these things, or if I am and really easy to please. Either way, I really think it's great. I waited a while before kinda coming to a "final" decision on it given all the comments that exist around this Meridian gear. For future buyers that could be perusing the forum ahead of a purchase, just wanted to let you know that it actually is possible for someone to be satisfied with these units ;-) Despite what is being said out there...

Maybe I would have been satisfied with the base unit, but I'm still glad I ticked the box for this higher powered surround upgrade to give things the best chance possible of meeting my needs. It definitely does. I'd almost be curious to try a base unit to see how bad they are. I suspect I'm just easy to please and would find it acceptable ;-) That's my best guess.

Cheers

 

I fully agree....the stereo is quite good. If you are an audiophile (stereo), given the exhaust note of this car one could perhaps state that it is inappropriate/unfair to even expect an audiophile level experience - you buy a car like this because you want to hear the car, not just the music. Jaguar nailed it.

 

So true, more often than not I'm turning the radio down because it is interfering with hearing what I want to hear when gearing down or taking off ;-) Seriously, often...lol

 

So true...the surround setup sounded very good in my 2016MY and significantly better in 2024.
Don't know specifically what components of the sound system have been improved, but appreciate the results.

 

If you listen to the music you will be totally happy. If you are into elite audio for its own sake and listen to the "system" you may want to upgrade. No wrong answers.

 

By "base unit" do you mean the Meridian 380W system? There is actually a lower powered "Jaguar" (180W?) system, the 380W Meridian is identified on TOPIx as "Branded Sound Sys (L3)" so presumably the Surround system is L4. I have the 380W system and am perfectly happy with it on the few occasions I turn it on, mainly to listen to MP3s from a USB stick.

 

Oh, well you definitely schooled me here. I honestly was not aware that there was a unit below the 380w system, so yeah, I was referring to the 380w. Interesting.

Yeah, doesn’t surprise me to hear you say that you are satisfied with the 380w.

 

Agreed.

Serious question. As a non-audiophile asking, isn’t it hard to appreciate the nuances of a good system with all the exhaust noise? For me between having the windows open and the exhaust going I’m not sure I would appreciate a super duper system vs one that is not that in those conditions.

Perhaps maybe if I was driving in GT supreme comfort mode with everything quiet and the windows up, but for my general use case that never happens.

 

I'd say an audiophile would immediately recognise that the F-Type cabin is no concert hall, so all bets are off regarding excellent sound quality, regardless of the system installed. To hear the sound system properly you'd probably be best pootling along at low revs, and if you're gunning it to hear those rear "speakers" you best not be concentrating on the music!

 

The only upside to leaving fuse 15 in place would be to better hear the great surround-sound quality, but not worth the sacrifice of losing that exhaust note.