philmw wrote:

What do you think of the Meridian signature system?

I think it's very good, whether it's £4k good is another matter.

The main thing it offers, apart from big reserves of power, is space filling sound which has a rock solid three dimensional feel to it. The centre fill speaker on the top of the dash anchors the sound and the Meridian Trifield processing seems to put you in the middle of the music. Although there's a lot of power available, you can still make the sub-woofer rattle when you turn up the volume but, by then, the exhaust note is a distant rumble.

There's an effortlessness about the sound which I like and, as I say, quite a big difference between the sound on CD and MP3, with Apple Lossless closing the gap. Most of my CDs are now in storage as I use a Meridian Sooloos system at home where the CDs have been ripped onto a server so I need to experiment which is the best alternative source - a modern cable-connected iPod using Apple Lossless I expect. Anyone whose musical life consists of MP3 files downloaded from iTunes, and who is perfectly happy with them, is less likely to see the point.

There's also the conversation assist which is intended, as I understand it, to reinforce what people are saying by playing it through the speakers but I do not know yet how well that works; I don't even know if it is still there in the SVR because I can't see any mics for the rear seat passengers. Come to think of it, I can't see any mics for the front seat passengers either though there are a couple of small grilles above the driver and front-seat passenger.

So, it's good but you have to like your music - which I do - to even begin to justify it. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

I've dug out all my Music Fidelity CDs ready*.

Is there the Conversation Assist setup on the touch screen?

I also wonder what format it uses to store the CDs on the hard drive.








*Both of them  

It does of course still sound pretty good when you connect an iPhone to it but what makes the Meridian system special is the recreation of the 3 dimensional space and it's those finer nuances which get lost in the MP3 compression. You can of course load Apple Lossless onto an iPhone but you quickly run out of space. The other thing Meridian are good at is de-jittering the data so that the audio samples are evenly spaced in time. I've used Meridian stuff for years, ever since Bob Stuart sold me a Lecson AP-1/AC-1 when I was at Cambridge in 1975.

I especially enjoyed a very fine recording of the Four Seaons by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (Signum SIGCD377). I think it is quite revealing of recording quality so highly compressed MP3s are not going to set it alight.

There is a configuration screen for the Conversation Assist, slightly clumsily placed on the main Audio Settings screen - "Off", "Low", "High". Not sure I need to listen in to my passengers, their screams are already readily audible...

Not sure what the hard disc format is; the data will come off the CD as 16 bit PCM, so the easiest format would be .WAV with no compression, depends on whether they have the right encoder and whether disc space is an issue. Also don't know whether it's really a hard disc or flash memory, the latter I would have thought.

One thing about connecting an iDevice is that it can only be cable connected to one of the two USB ports at a time and they feed the music and InControl Apps separately. That's why I'm looking at a separate iPod (wish Apple would do 128Gb) for the music. Haven't tried using a cable for InControl Apps and Bluetooth for music, though one of the InControl Apps is a music player with even worse navigation.

Keen as I am on music, yesterday, I just switched it off to concentrate on what really mattered, great driving in spring sunshine. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Last edited by Mark_N on Fri Mar 06 2015 7:58am. Edited 1 time in total

I was also interested to confirm that the steering column stalk for the fog lights only works in one direction for the rear light or lights. In the Evoque and normal RRS, you turn it one way to toggle the front lights and the other way for the rear; in the SVR, with the deleted front fogs, it only works one way and is marked as such.

The manual isn't great, inevitably lagging software changes so that descriptions of menus and so on are not exact. There seems to be no SVR version of it, so no reference to that magic exhaust button.

The diagram showing the location of the InControl Wi-Fi box is rather approximate; to find it you are really down on your knees and not just to pray it works... Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Audio through BT isn't great though.

The manual on Topix discusses the exhaust on page 108 - https://topix.landrover.jlrext.com/topix/c...85!!14!226 

Mark_N wrote:

One thing about connecting an iDevice is that it can only be cable connected to one of the two USB ports at a time and they feed the music and InControl Apps separately. That's why I'm looking at a separate iPod (wish Apple would do 128Gb) for the music. Haven't tried using a cable for InControl Apps and Bluetooth for music, though one of the InControl Apps is a music player with even worse navigation.

Hadn't thought of this issue. I'll probably use my old iPhone for music and rely on the WiFi to keep it updated. 

DRDILL wrote:

Where did you find the box to insert the sim, I cant find one on mine?

It's on the extreme right of the dash, effectively above the accelerator pedal and a little towards the driver. Look for the button to press which ejects the SIM carrier. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

So, the car is going in for 3 things tomorrow - missing cooler, misaligned number plate, broken TPMS.

Of the 3, the one I am most annoyed about is the number plate because it shows that LR dealer service people have limited or no craft skills - the ability to drill a hole in the right place or cut something straight. That's why wild horses wouldn't make me have deployable side steps, too many installation steps for the dealer to mess up. That's also why I'm going to install the torch myself because that requires taking a jig-saw to one of the trim panels. Can you imagine the mess the dealer could make of that?

So, to remove the number plate, they have to remove the two screws and then lever off the excessive sticky tape without marking the paintwork which will presumably leave a residue which they may or may not bother to clean off. There is a finite risk, depending on how good their paint process is that the paint will come off with the tape - as it did when I replaced the number plate on my Ferrari.

They then prepare a new number plate with holes, stick it on, hopefully straight this time and then drill into the plastic tailgate to fit the two screws. Those screws may or may not align with the existing ones so underneath the number plate, it's going to be peppered with the evidence of their cack-handedness. Thinking about it, I'm wondering whether to just ask them to stick it with tape and forget the screws. It's unforgivable that LR don't pre-drill the tailgate or at least provide an idiot proof template to get it right.

I just hope that the operation to transplant the cooler doesn't damage other interior trim. Those centre console side rails are very vulnerable to scratching. The salesman said it's more work than they expected and tried to get me to accept the £225 value in accessory vouchers instead. Read my lips... (and apart from that, I buy my accessories from Dan who gives much better pricing).

As for the TPMS, all four wheels are still showing zero, so I'm hoping that it's a loose connector or something easy, not major surgery. It's perhaps better that none of them are working than one not working intermittently. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Mark how very disappointing.
I thought SVR was taking longer to delivery due to extended acceptance checks to minimise this very thing from happening! LR still have so far to come.
I was in Gaydon on Friday with work and mentioned the dealer issue to the global sales manager, he was very aware of the issue at least.

Incidentally the new Disco and Defender look very interesting propositions. SOLD - 15 plate Estoril SVR

SOLD - 64 plate Aleutian Silver Supercharged

SOLD - 63 plate Corris SDV6 Autobiography

That's interesting to hear. It may be my iPod Classic itself is failing, I get a stuttering from the music. It's by far the biggest iPod ever made so the natural choice for large numbers of lossless files. Going to try a pre-thunderbolt iPod touch. Question is, will Apple ever release a larger one or are they giving up on the iPod and focussing on the Apple Watch instead? Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Dickie wrote:

Incidentally the new Disco and Defender look very interesting propositions.

Now that's just an annoying thing to drop in to the thread. We know you won't be able to say any more than that but we all want to know what the new ones will be like!  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Sorry! Not sure when any official launches are but I think the concept stuff that LR have produced are fairly true to form. SOLD - 15 plate Estoril SVR

SOLD - 64 plate Aleutian Silver Supercharged

SOLD - 63 plate Corris SDV6 Autobiography

Mark_N wrote:

That's interesting to hear. It may be my iPod Classic itself is failing, I get a stuttering from the music. It's by far the biggest iPod ever made so the natural choice for large numbers of lossless files. Going to try a pre-thunderbolt iPod touch. Question is, will Apple ever release a larger one or are they giving up on the iPod and focussing on the Apple Watch instead?

What file format are you using for the file on the iPod? 

I'm using AAC (thought it was Apple Lossless but that is ALAC); documentation says it supports MP3, WMA and AAC and also says lossless compression should be used for best quality. I agree with you that using Bluetooth is not the way to go. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Is it safe to assume that even the £4k meridian system cannot play lossless flac natively from a USB drive?

I use spotify for most of my music now but i hate having to navigate it on the phone and prefer to have music on a stick permanently attached in the car.