a potential car I am looking at has the 440W B&O stereo, is it good? 440W seems a little low. my assumption is that its clear sound but not strong?

 

It's Bowers and Wilkins (B&W).

I love it though. There were quite a few reviewers that stated it was one of the best sound systems in a car at the time. Bass from the sub could hit a bit harder even after manually turning it up via the audio settings but it will depend on personal taste. The best sound is going to come from CD/USB/Aux because it didn't have the HD radio in the XF until the 2010+ models (edited from 2012 to 2010. Thanks Swimref).

 

I believe you mean from 2010 onward, my 2011 certainly does have HD and Satellite radio, and the sound quality is awesome. Don't put too much stock in wattage claims, this number can be nearly anything you want depending on impedance and frequency range and flatness, a manufacturer at the level of Bowers & Wilkins feels no need to play numbers games and instead displays a good deal of British understatement. If however, you wish to rattle fillings in nearby pedestrians and show off how loud (rather than good) you can play it, then this is probably not the sound system for you (and probably not the car for you either).

 

There was a similar discussion in another thread on here... https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ystems-167083/

What I can tell you is that the head unit and amp in the 440W "B&W" system in the XF are exactly the same as the 480W "Alpine" system in my LR2, and the same speaker count as well.

Even in the later cars the numbers are very fluid. For example the exact same amp and speaker count in the 1200W B&W or the 825W Meridian. Or the 600W "Jaguar" system and the 380W "Meridian" same hardware. So yeah, don't take the wattage as a be-all and end-all number.

For every person who says a factory system is fine there'll be another who says it's crap and they want an aftermarket system with 2000 watts more subs and and and...

I've upgraded a few cars from the mid-line system to the Premium surround system and they are always a major improvement.

If you get the top of the line system for that year model, or make the upgrade to it, you'll most likely be happy with it...

 

The 440w B&W is a good sounding system, but it desperately needs a better sub (the size, box type and power used is subjective to what your goals are). Once you get that addressed, as long as you keep the tone controls no more than two levels from flat and play high bit rate music, it sounds very good to excellent. You won't confuse it for a quality aftermarket install, but for stock and a sub, it's good enough that I'm not willing to spend thousands of dollars to make changes to get that last 5-10% of performance.

 

well it sounds like everyone is in agreement that its at least a very good system.

i do like a good thump every now and then, but it seems like this will hold up fine

 

Get a sealed or ported 10" or above sub of good quality and a reasonable quality 500w RMS one channel amp and be happy. Let me know via PM if you want some advice.

 

Thanks, i still havent purchased the car (or seen it for that matter)....its getting its airbag recall done at the moment. so for the time being i am just researching