Meridian Signature vs. Bowers & Wilkins
 

Greetings. The Meridian and B&W speakers look the same apart from the color; however the red Meridian speakers appear to cost more and they are next to impossible to find them used... unless someone knows of a good place to find them used. The B&W speakers are fairly easy to find used. Are they the same speaker, just a different color? Is there a difference in sound quality or would they sound exactly the same?
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...979450a2d7.jpg
Meridian Signature
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...47501c1859.jpg
Bowers & Wilkins

Hey AB good to see you!

We have been told in the past that the speakers stayed the same when Jaguar left B & W and went to Meridian.
But I can't provide any real evidence other than this.

They sure look the same!
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They don't look the same - the B+W has their signature woven Kevlar cone. These two companies are competitors, with B+W known for their speakers and Meridian for their electronics, so highly doubtful they would share a design.

True. B&W has their signature woven kelvar cone. The Meridian Signature uses some sort of “kevlar” material as well. In the Range Rovers they are all black. In the XJ’s they are black/red. I don’t know what the exact material is. If you look through forums that are audio related, everyone just says “kevlar”. I don’t know that B&W or Meridan actually makes the speakers. I’ve read that they are made by a company in China named PSS. It makes sense, as neither speaker is branded B&W or Meridan. For the difference in price, especially the coxial midrange speakers, is there a difference in sound?

The yellow B&W speakers are made in China by PSS. They are "good" speakers though.

The Meridian Signature ones are made in Slovakia, i'm not 100% sure if they are also made by PSS, but I think so.

As far as I can tell the black ones from the Range Rovers and the red ones from the XJ are identical apart from the colour. Obviously the red looks nice through the speaker grilles in the doors.

The Range Rovers do not have a coaxial version with the tweeter, they are only used in the XJ. The Range Rovers have the tweeter and midrange separate in the surround locations.

And the tweeters are the Titanium dome version. The red coaxial in the XJ will also have the Titanium tweeter in them.

Is there a difference in sound quality? Well to be honest so far the only upgrades I did with these Meridian Signature speakers were in F-Type's, I haven't done it in an XJ.

In the F-Type's combined with a thorough application of Dynamat in the doors, it was a huge improvement over the factory system, I mean the 770W Meridian Surround in the F-Type.

In regards to your other question;

The software in the amp for the L405 is going to be different to the X351, to get the best possible sound you will need to load the X351 software into it. This is really not a straight forward thing to do, but it is possible.

Setting up the system for the correct amp just a setting in the Car Configuration File, basically the same as when we update the 380W system to the 825W system, well there is another line in the list for "Super Premium" instead of just Premium.

But I don't think the XJ's have the 3D mode like the Range Rovers do, if you look in the documentation from Meridian they don't mention the TRIFIELD 3D for the XJ, only the Range Rovers.

The L405 has the seat back speaker array same as the X351 (the L494 misses out on those), but the Range Rovers also have the four 80mm speakers in the roof, which the XJ doesn't have, and those are the 3D speakers.

The brochure for my MY17 Autobiography says that it has Trifield (I didn't/ don't know what that means, but I seem to have it!)
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...f6f951e15c.png

There's a difference between TRIFIELD and TRIFIELD 3D.

Have a look at the specs.

https://www.meridian-audio.com/media...t-a-glance.pdf
https://www.meridian-audio.com/media...t-a-glance.pdf

Thanks for reply. With respect to the Meridian versus the B&W, I think I’m going to spend the extra money and get the Meridian Signature coxial speakers. I have the black/yellow B&W ones. The price difference is crazy so hopefully they provide better sound quality.

As far as the L405 amplifier goes, I can understand the process that you’ve outlined. Yeah, I don’t think that the XJ offers the TRIFIELD 3D feature either. I didn’t know that the four 80mm speakers is what made the “3D”. The 80mm speakers aren’t too expensive. Wouldn’t having the super premium amp and purchasing the 80mm speakers enable me to add the 3D option although it was not originally offered with the XJ...? I was thinking that the amp and some CCF programming would allow me to bring that 3D feature from the L405 to the XJ. If not, no big deal. In the end, my goal to add additional premium speakers in the vehicle. But in all honesty, my current 825W system sounds phenomenal! If the 825W sounds great, I can only imagine what the 1300W Meridan Signature system sounds like.

I told you I didn't know what it meant!

Thanks for educating me.

@ Cambo
I have an early 2013 built in September of 2012 right after the XJ Ultimate run with the first iteration of Meridian Surround (825) and wonder if my speakers are Kevlar and titanium? And if not would it improve my sound to switch speakers and still be using the same amp. If so, would you be kind enough to list speaker models and numbers of each that you would recommend.

Here are the parts numbers for the speakers that are associated with the Meridian Signature/Reference "super premium" sound systems found in the X351's and L405's. The part numbers were copied from one of Cambo's previous post on another thread.

100mm mid range
Jaguar - C2D24862 Black/Red kevlar
Range Rover - LR033293 Black kevlar

100mm/25mm coxial - Black/Red kevlar w/ titanium dome tweeter
Jaguar - C2D24865
Range Rover - does not make a coxial

25mm hi
Jaguar - C2D30486 titanium dome tweeter
Range Rover - LR033292 titanium dome tweeter

200mm bass
Jaguar - C2D24861
Range Rover - LR047119

@ ABrice Thank you for the information. could you innumerate how many of each is needed for the XJ?

XJsss, I suspect that you and I have the same system; the premium 825W 20-speaker system. Same year models as well. In order to fully upgrade our speakers you would need to order the following:
2x C2D30486 tweeters front driver/passenger
2x C2D24862 mid - front driver/passenger
5x C2D24865 mid coxial (most expensive) - rear driver/rear passenger/right rear parcel/left rear parcel/center dash
4×C2D24861 bass - all four doors

Purchasing the above speakers would upgrade your existing speakers to the highest level of speaker audio offered in the suite of JLR vehicles. This is a total of 18 speakers, as the coxials count as 2. The 2 rear parcel subwoofers are the same. No upgrade. Keep in mind that the Reference system adds 3 additional speakers behind the driver and passenger seat.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.jag...aab7808d48.jpg

for those with the lowly 380W Meridian set up....whats a good/easy way to upgrade? or at least slightly improve the current offering? upgraded AMP? upgraded speakers?

One more question. In looking at the surround system the rear seat door bass speakers are listed at 168mm, will the 200mm bass units fit without modification. As for the seat back units, I don't sit in the back seats. Actually the last installation I was of the in an XJ50 that had the video system. So the only way to hear those speakers was to swing open the monitors, dumb.

I'm quite sure the rear door bass speakers are 165mm, even in the Reference/Signature system.

I can't see the 200mm from the front doors fitting in the rears without some major modification.

I believe the 168mm speaker sits in a plastic frame that makes it fit into the rear doors’ fitting. The 200mm bass speaker doesn’t. It’s all speaker. I believe they do, and would not require any modifications. I haven’t seen much on the 168mm speaker. I haven’t taken my car apart just yet, but I purchased 4 brand new super premium bass speakers. I think all four doors have the same door bass speaker housing dimensions; the speaker frames make them fit. If I’m wrong, I’ll have two extra bass speakers then. Additionally, there’s several different versions of the front seat backs. There’s is an option out there that just contains speakers on the seatback without the flip up monitors enclosing the speakers. I agree. That is kinda dumb.

I could be wrong. I’ll have to verify. I didn’t wanna take my car apart until all items arrived. I can’t imagine the door speaker housing dimensions being different sizes. I guess there’s a chance that they are.

I looked at the water shield (the plastic door card) and there is only one speced for each rear door on the L and the S wheelbase. https://www.jaguarpartsunlimited.com...trim-rear-door

I stand corrected. The rear door base speakers are in fact smaller. Looks like the same materials apply. There’s the material that is consistent with the premium speakers and there’s a ”kevlar” version. Thanks for catching that.