Hi,

I have just noticed that my sound system was on Stereo ... I then switched it to the Meridian Surround System, to enjoy the music, BUT noticed that only the middle speaker works ... All other 19 speakers have a MONO sound!

Whilst with the STEREO option all works perfectly ... I tried also with the DOLBY SURROUND, and also this is not working!

Is there something I have to switch on, or is the sound system just faulty??? Anything similar happend to you?

I played around with mine today.

Not totally sure you have a fault without hearing/comparing it, once you move away from the "stereo" setting the sound is meant to be "surround", and the pure "stereo" effect is much diminished. Personally I like the Dolby II setting, but everyone is different.

Try checking that you have the fade/balance set to the default position first. Where the lines turn coloured. MY2016 HSE D SDV6 - gone due to fuel dilution problems.

By the age of 50 you have the face you deserve - George Orwell.

Thanks Wilf.

Yes, I have tried everything: the surround system is definitely not working ... The stereo works fine, but am used with the BOSE Surround system on my Porsche: the sound is just pure, amazing. I have been told that the MERIDIAN system should be similar ... BUT I fear it is not working on my RRS!

When I switch to MERIDIAN, DOLBY, DOLBY II only the central speaker/sub woofer seems to work ...

I have found the meridian sound to be very front biased and not exciting. I have also noticed that the fade from front to rear does not take effect unless the car is restarted.
I use Stereo all the time as it sounds better, this could be because the other functions are not working correctly. M16 SVD8 ,4.4 HSE with a few extras, Sold R50 , Wife SQ5 , BMW R1200GSW.

Just went out and checked mine again. On the Meridian setting do get sound from other speakers but very center biased. The Meridian setting is also front biased. Personally I don't like it compared to stereo . Dolby and DTS will not work without encoded data. I do have some DTS music CD's and these are fantastic on the system. M16 SVD8 ,4.4 HSE with a few extras, Sold R50 , Wife SQ5 , BMW R1200GSW.

To hear music as it was intended by the mixing engineer and the artist it should nearly always be listened to in stereo. I listen to everything including music that I have recorded and mixed (I am a recording engineer) in stereo and I reckon the Meridian 825 system in my RRS is easily the best and most true system I have ever heard in a car. I have found that decreasing the treble to about a third gives me the best results and matches up to how I heard it in the studio. The system even makes stuff that I have recorded sound even better than I remember!
The Meridian and Dolby settings in my opinion are pointless because the audio is rarely mixed with that in mind. Just for my own interest I will try playing a Dolby 5.1 DVD in my car to see if it is true surround.
IrBails, can you give me a couple of examples of surround sound encoded music that I can try?


Of course its all down to personal taste! 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.

I personally think the Meridian sound systems are brilliant. 825W in my L494 sounds excellent when in the Dolby configuration.

On my L405 I have the 1700W system and this is just exceptional.

I think what the OP describes is normal in any setting other than stereo. I agree the 825W is front biased in any surround setting. The 1700W system gets round this by additional front speakers in the seat backs on the L405 only.

rangiejools wrote:

To hear music as it was intended by the mixing engineer and the artist it should nearly always be listened to in stereo. I listen to everything including music that I have recorded and mixed (I am a recording engineer) in stereo and I reckon the Meridian 825 system in my RRS is easily the best and most true system I have ever heard in a car. I have found that decreasing the treble to about a third gives me the best results and matches up to how I heard it in the studio. The system even makes stuff that I have recorded sound even better than I remember!
The Meridian and Dolby settings in my opinion are pointless because the audio is rarely mixed with that in mind. Just for my own interest I will try playing a Dolby 5.1 DVD in my car to see if it is true surround.
IrBails, can you give me a couple of examples of surround sound encoded music that I can try?


Of course its all down to personal taste!

http://dts-music.net/

Haven't tried this site but may work ? M16 SVD8 ,4.4 HSE with a few extras, Sold R50 , Wife SQ5 , BMW R1200GSW.

Thanks... I may order a couple off this site. 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 wrote:

To hear music as it was intended by the mixing engineer and the artist it should nearly always be listened to in stereo. I listen to everything including music that I have recorded and mixed (I am a recording engineer) in stereo and I reckon the Meridian 825 system in my RRS is easily the best and most true system I have ever heard in a car. I have found that decreasing the treble to about a third gives me the best results and matches up to how I heard it in the studio. The system even makes stuff that I have recorded sound even better than I remember!
The Meridian and Dolby settings in my opinion are pointless because the audio is rarely mixed with that in mind. Just for my own interest I will try playing a Dolby 5.1 DVD in my car to see if it is true surround.
IrBails, can you give me a couple of examples of surround sound encoded music that I can try?


Of course its all down to personal taste!

Thank you Rangie.
Will try again with the settings ... But shouldn't those be already prefigured ... ?

rangiejools wrote:

To hear music as it was intended by the mixing engineer and the artist it should nearly always be listened to in stereo. I listen to everything including music that I have recorded and mixed (I am a recording engineer) in stereo and I reckon the Meridian 825 system in my RRS is easily the best and most true system I have ever heard in a car. I have found that decreasing the treble to about a third gives me the best results and matches up to how I heard it in the studio. The system even makes stuff that I have recorded sound even better than I remember!
The Meridian and Dolby settings in my opinion are pointless because the audio is rarely mixed with that in mind. Just for my own interest I will try playing a Dolby 5.1 DVD in my car to see if it is true surround.
IrBails, can you give me a couple of examples of surround sound encoded music that I can try?


Of course its all down to personal taste!

Problem with unprocessed 'stereo' is that the acoustic environment and necessary positioning of the speakers relative to the listener in a car is far from ideal. Without spacing the sound using additional phasing of the frequencies through different speakers means the sound is heavily focussed in the driver's foot well, from the perspective of the driver.

At the end of the day, everyone is different and it is nice to have a variety of options to find one that one personally finds the most pleasing. 

I don't know to much about the tech side of it but I played pinkfloyd money through my iPhone 6 Plus, blue tooth, bought from iTunes and when the till rings you can hear all you other speakers working when using the meridian setting.