In the audio settings menu on my Meridian system, I have switched from Meridian to DTS, this to my mind has made the sound dispersal more effective .

rangiejools wrote:

.....Will be going to see dealer tomorrow to listen to next system up which is Meridian... Mind you the basic Meridian system on wife's just bought Freelander is terrible too so not too hopeful.

I must say that I am a bit more tuned in to sound quality than most having been a recording engineer for 40 years now.

Jools.

Blimey Jools! And one can only assume that your Britney's (Britney Spears / ears) are well tooled up & ripe for the job an' no mistake, eh?!

Did you go and have a listen to the Meridian system? I've spec'd this (the 19 speaker one - not the £5k option!) and I'm hoping that it'll be the dogs - but maybe.......

My 911 has got the Bose option.........and all I can say (on here least) is it's a complete load of hot steaming ! Granted, the cabin on any 911 is quite small but I seriously initially thought that a few speakers had been left unconnected when I first got the car. It's that bad. MY14 RRS2, Corris, Pano, 50/50 Cirrus/Black leather, Meridien sound, 22" Style 6's, Bespoke Gap around tailgate.
Porsche 911 (just left!)
1972 VW Bay Camper (cooled by the air alone!!)

Didn't get a chance to listen to Meridian system but ordered it anyway. Just got in in time or so dealer told me.
Alex, I'm a Quad and Tannoy man..very traditional.
Must say I am having alot of trouble listening to Meridian system in wife's Freeloader. In fact I am almost at the point of having silence in that car!! Really hope the system in RRS is much better.

By the way interesting to see different prices in different countries. Here in Aus the 19 speaker top Meridian system is $A11000. In US according to the reviewers mention elsewhere in the 14MY forum it is $US5000. And Gal says the same system is £5000 in the UK.

Also noticed that new RRS is sold in US for $60-80000. Thats almost half what they are here in Aus! RRS P460e
1983 2 door Range Rover ARB Bar X9000 winch ARB Rear Bar now semi retired.
Many big trips done in this one.
1982 Rangerover nearly restored.
22 Defender D250 with lots of stuff for outback touring
Nice 2013 Freelander TD4 manual (for daughter to learn on) with much better stereo compared with previous SD4 SE with Meridian which sounded bad!
2013 Land Rover Defender ute.

Hi there. Just to be clear; the system that I've spec'd is the 19 speaker 850 watt one - not the "top of the range" 24(?) speaker one that has the speakers all over the place - in the back of the seats, up by the sun visors, etc... A bit much if you ask me! It's that one that comes in at £5k. MY14 RRS2, Corris, Pano, 50/50 Cirrus/Black leather, Meridien sound, 22" Style 6's, Bespoke Gap around tailgate.
Porsche 911 (just left!)
1972 VW Bay Camper (cooled by the air alone!!)

I once designed hi-fi equipment and it's not valid to say the Meridian system sounds terrible unless you say what's wrong with it. Lack of power and dynamic range? Poor sound stage, frequency response, distortion, non linear phase effects?

My take on the standard Meridian system in the Evoque is that it's pretty good to listen to at volumes which are sensible though it runs out of power when you turn the wick up. The base Meridian system in the RRS corresponds to the upgraded system in the Evoque which I assume is even better.

They do use Class D amplifiers which impart a certain hardness to the sound, there's no getting away from that.

The big let down is the user interface, IMHO. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Yep its the 19 speaker 850 water that I'm getting too. Extra $3000 here. The top of the range is about 14 grand here.. Can't believe its worth it. RRS P460e
1983 2 door Range Rover ARB Bar X9000 winch ARB Rear Bar now semi retired.
Many big trips done in this one.
1982 Rangerover nearly restored.
22 Defender D250 with lots of stuff for outback touring
Nice 2013 Freelander TD4 manual (for daughter to learn on) with much better stereo compared with previous SD4 SE with Meridian which sounded bad!
2013 Land Rover Defender ute.

Configurator is pants . they take it down for weeks to sort it out and still it's wrong bit like the manuals that are out of date before the first car rolls off the line .

The Meridian option got to be honest took some time to get the setup sorted on it and not all music works with 3D surround IMO but it's an expensive option but for me it was worth it, just puts a smile on your face, only crap thing is no tone memory for varied inputs ! even the old car had this on the same software , and should have had a GE built in to the software which again would have been easy for them to sort at the design stage. 2014 5.0SC AB

Gone 5.0 SC

US Pricing is $1950 USD for the 850W 19 spkr system and $6300 USD for the 1700W 23 spkr system.

I got the 850W and it's enough for me but certainly would have expected this quality out of the stock system. I'm very happy with it but it should have been included with the car. The $6300 option is just ridiculously priced but many people have ordered it. I haven't yet heard it so I don't know what I'm missing.

I'm not much of an audiophile, but I can say that the 850W system does get louder than ANY stock system I have ever owned. It's not very accurate, sometimes I get too much bass when it doesn't make sense and other times I don't get enough so I constantly find myself changing the audio settings.

Still haven't decided which codec is best (Meridian, DTS, Dolby ...) so I keep going back and forth between them.

one thing is for sure though, I would have been VERY unhappy with the stock system.

^Why do you feel it should be standard when all its competitors don't include such a system as standard?

I've the 19speaker 850w setup and coming from a car audio background I reckon its very good, well rounded sound system. It might lack the ultimate dynamics of the best aftermarket set ups but you'd be spending well north of double Landrover are asking to get it as well integrated as this is.

Mark_N wrote:

I once designed hi-fi equipment and it's not valid to say the Meridian system sounds terrible unless you say what's wrong with it. Lack of power and dynamic range? Poor sound stage, frequency response, distortion, non linear phase effects?

My take on the standard Meridian system in the Evoque is that it's pretty good to listen to at volumes which are sensible though it runs out of power when you turn the wick up. The base Meridian system in the RRS corresponds to the upgraded system in the Evoque which I assume is even better.

They do use Class D amplifiers which impart a certain hardness to the sound, there's no getting away from that.

The big let down is the user interface, IMHO.

Interesting discussion this. Makes me wonder if people are spending more time listening to the radio and less concentrating on the road...surely the radio's job is to keep you company, provide traffic updates and cover the inevitable road/tyre noise?

Expecting perfect acoustics in a car is daft - the systems aren't sold to be perfect, they're sold as marketing exercises to extract cash from punters. It's just pub bragging rights and profit.

I reckon you should be more worried about whether LR have finally made the dirty bits reliable... 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Depends on the owner of the car does it not , if you enjoy your audio and a lot of people do it is part of the driving experience and ownership enjoyment, imagine buying a 100K car with a Halfords deck and a pair of speakers, i'm sure people would flock to buy it no matter what the badge. 2014 5.0SC AB

Gone 5.0 SC

RRSTDV8 wrote:

Interesting discussion this. Makes me wonder if people are spending more time listening to the radio and less concentrating on the road...surely the radio's job is to keep you company, provide traffic updates and cover the inevitable road/tyre noise?

Expecting perfect acoustics in a car is daft - the systems aren't sold to be perfect, they're sold as marketing exercises to extract cash from punters. It's just pub bragging rights and profit.

I reckon you should be more worried about whether LR have finally made the dirty bits reliable...

Not difficult to get a good sounding system in a car. And yes if you are just using the radio "to keep you company" then why not have one that sounds good. My wife's VW Polo system sounds infinitely better than the Sports at a fraction of the price. My 4 year old base model D4's system is also much better quality. RRS P460e
1983 2 door Range Rover ARB Bar X9000 winch ARB Rear Bar now semi retired.
Many big trips done in this one.
1982 Rangerover nearly restored.
22 Defender D250 with lots of stuff for outback touring
Nice 2013 Freelander TD4 manual (for daughter to learn on) with much better stereo compared with previous SD4 SE with Meridian which sounded bad!
2013 Land Rover Defender ute.

rangiejools - which system are you talking about? If it's the system that's standard on the SE, it's the 250W one and I agree is not likely to sound good. I assumed you were talking about the Meridian system which is standard on the Autobiography.

Edit: I can see that here in the UK, the base HSE and HSE Dynamic models have the 250W system as standard. If you care about sound quality, you need to specify the 825W Meridian system which comes as standard on the Autobiography. The top of the range system is likely overkill. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue