I'm looking to buy a 2012 XF Supercharged out of market and am curious how I can tell if a car has the upgraded B&W sound system (vs the standard dud.) I know that on 2013's, you can see the word "Meridian" (or "Meridian Surround") on the front door speakers. Is this also true of the 2012's, except with the words "Bowers & Wilkins" instead of Meridian?

The reason I'm asking is that the car I'm looking at is advertised as having the B&W stereo but the pix do not show any wording on the front door speakers. Obviously, it's critical to me that my car have a nice stereo.

 

I believe the tell-tale sign on the 2012 is the center channel speaker on the dash, which sticks up like a hump. It also has the Bowers & Wilkins logo on it.

 

IMO the B&W isnt everything it was cracked up to be. It is apparently great for jazz (I've never met anyone who listens to it) but if you listen to techno etc it is muddy. I had it in my first XF and didnt like it at all. I had the stock one in my second which was not great, but I wouldnt say any worse for what I listen to. I have B & W in the XKR which sounds a bit better in that cabin than it had in the XF. So it depends what you listen to.

 

Thanks for the input. That helps. However, as I dig for info it looks like there were actually three different stereos available in 2012, with the 1200W B&W being the top dog. (And I agree that the center speaker hump indicates the big B&W.) However, I'm trying to determine if the mid-level stereo is decent enough. I can probably live without the 1200W beast, but can't deal with a bad one.

 

All the XF B&W systems have "Bowers and Wilkins" in the same place as the current "Meridian" labels on the midrange door speakers