Hi all,

New owner and proud to have wangled a 2010 XKR.......not exactly new to Jag as used to have an STR........and i'm also a consultant engineer for Lear group who make the seats for most of the JLR range......hopefully i can assist with any seat related issues.

So my gripe is with the B&W stereo.........its poor to say the least......having come from a 300c with a 280w Boston Acoustics its about half as loud lacking bass.....and just not giving any sort of decent volume........so done a crude DB read at full whack and getting about 80db max......my other car a Vauxhall Ampera....aka Chevy Volt had a BOSE system and achieves 90db with its energy efficient series of speakers......and sounds way punchier and louder.

Can someone with an XKR with B&W get a max db read.........before i venture off to the dealers!!!!

Thanks in advance guys/gals

 

I remember reading a thread a number of months back on this very subject. Although the system might not blast most owners out of the car, I believe the consensus was that it was adequate with good quality. I myself understand where you are coming from as I've had systems that would blow the speakers, however, overall I'm happy with the system.


PS I'm sure it helps having a Coupe without having to compete with the wind noise.

 

Over all I'm happy with the sound system. It could be a lot worse.


I do have a seat question for you:


Can the luxury seats with heating/cooling be replaced with the performance seats? What changes would need to be made? Thanks.

 

Don't get me wrong, I reckon the XKR is absolutely awesome and it is definitely the best car I've owned. But the B & W system IMO is crap. It was crap in the XF, and it is crap in the XK. It is nearly impossible to get a decent sound out of it in the kind of music that I listen to (bigbeat techno), it sounds tinny, but adding bass makes it muddy. My wife's Volvo with their midrange system absolutely ***** on that of the jag. But then in all other respects save for safety the jag ***** on the Volvo. And ultimately I get the growl of the V8 to compensate.

 

I don't find the B&W system very good either, and the constantly changing treble to bass and back settings (which happen without warning and without any input from me) is enough to drive you nuts. Not as good as my ancient Alpine system in my 2002XKR convertible.

 

I guess it depends on the type of music you listen to. I find the system above average and maybe a little better then my Lexus. I listen to mainly 60's , 70's and 80's rock so it sounds great to me. With the top up and on a long trip it is great but I do find that the signal strength has some limitations. I assume it is due to the antenna being located in the spoiler. Also with the top down the sound becomes muffled but I don't mind as the exhaust note is better music to my ear.

 

I have to disagree, since I'm very pleased with the sound quality and volume of the B&W system in my 2009 XKR, even with the top down going 70mph. That could be because I always listen music from my iPod, which I leave in my armrest and disconnect it when I turn off the engine. Genre is all over the board, and I have my iPod set to mix them up including oldies, rock, classical, and jazz including instrumentals and vocals. The only time I listen to the radio is for local news and talk, which isn't very often. I think the sound quality may be best if the source is a CD or an iPod. I can't comment on the Sirius radio because I don't subscribe.

 

Must be something wrong with your stereo, I have the B&W in my XKR, I also listen to a lot of techno and electronica and mine sounds awesome. Bass is punchy and defined, treble is pin-sharp, overall sound is very cultured and expansive. Get it checked out, if it sounds lousy then either the settings are all over the place or something isn't working right.

 

Soo, seems like its not a great sysyem.....

i'll scoot round to the local Jag dealer though with my fave Britney Spears CD just to check it out!!!

DGL.......you can swap out the lux seats we have with the Recaro seats from an RS for example but you would need to match the seats spec for spec....ie if you have 14 way adjustment then you need to have 14 ways on the Recaro's......and the seat ECU would need to be swapped for the one you currently have programmed to your car......its plug and play though so no big deal....the rest of the parts inside the seat are all dumb so they will work with your ECU.......

 

I agree with 8bit Love the system

 

Its not so much about how it sounds.......thats personal preference.

more the fact that the system is supposed to be rated at over 500 watts and my Ampera 280w system is outputs at a higher db level........wondering if the rating are non comparable....maybe one is RMS and the other PMPO.......if someone can do a db read.....just from a phone app.

would be appreciated.

 

Thanks. So, any RS seat or performance seat could be swapped. Is the seat ecu in the seat and it will need to be removed from my original lux seats to replace the ecu in the performance seats? What about the all the connectors--are they the same? The infotainment system in my car has a seat control for heating and cooling; however, the performance seats don't have cooling. How would the swap effect the infotainment heat temperature adjustment control? Sorry for interjecting in your thread.

 

I might do that, though I had the same issue with the first XF which also had the B & W system. Coming out of volvos which have a great system, the Jags is a step down. But I would say that for some music it sounds good, "Dont Let It Pass" from the Walter Mitty soundtrack came on last night and it sounded as good as it does from a decent stereo, and I hear that it is awesome for Jazz, though I'd rather listen to people farting than jazz.

 

Via an iPhone. Shakira CD. I found the volume from CD source is much louder than any other.

 

Muddydog..........thanks for the db read.......mine is a mile off that with the odd peak ay 80db.........the mystery thickens as i pulled fuse 19 today and noticed that a couple of extra in line fuses are wired in.....not factory........now need to find the amp as i'm thinking it may have had an aftermarket one installed at some point!!!

So the seats......the ECU is a box under the seat held in by two bolts......its on the cushion frame.....the climate!!! What a numpty.....i forgot about that....,.soo one way to find out is to unplug the climate blower link lead........see if the car chucks an error. But i am betting it will.........i think we may have some old RS seats at work in our Coventry factory so i'm half tempted to try this myself......

 

Something's not right then. I've never measured mine but if you crank it right up it's ear-splitting.

Don't get hung up on numbers, how loud you perceive the stereo to be depends on the condition of your ears, your age, whatever else you're used to listening to etc.

 

Source is important - given fixed maximum gain, the volume achieved will depend on the input signal. Damien, what's your source? As Muddy says, a number of people report that CD is noticeably louder than others, including iPod.

 

I own both a 2012 XKR with the base 14 way adjustable heated and cooled seats as well as a 2013 XKRS with the racing seats.... I actually prefer the 12 seats. Much more comfy yet can still grab u if and when u want them to!! I love the cooling feature!!!!!

 

And you are correct the stereo is off!!! So just roll down the windows and listen to that V8!!

 

I found the Sports seats adequately 'grippy' for track work, and the cooling makes a difference when the driving gets physical.