Finally my shop received OEM harness heads (both male and female) and made plug & play harness for my Meridian system.
Front: Helix i7 tweeters, mid-bass, Blam Signature midrange. Rear: Helix i3 teeters, mid-bass. Amp: Helix V12.

But I encountered one issue. I powered stock sub with amp's 2 ch. Then ANC (active noise cancelling) sound was also amplified and created very unpleasant low frequency noise. So my shop switched getting subwoofer feed from front mid-bass instead of subwoofer feed. Then it looks like amplified noise cancellation sound was gone.

I only have my car for a few days so I'll drive more this weekend and see if it's completely gone or I still have it.

 

I believe what you're referring to is the Active Sound Design, aka fake engine noise. Defender doesn't have ANC, as that's exclusive to Range Rovers. I recall hearing that it is best to turn off the ASD, which comes from the subwoofer. When I had a number of features activated, I was told that if I wanted to upgrade the stereo in the future, it is best to deactivate the ASD. I kept it, because I'm satisfied with the base Meridian after I recently upgraded the tweeters with OEM titanium dome tweeters from the Meridian Signature system in the L405 RR & L494 RRS.

 

If your defender does indeed have the fake engine noise, it can be deactivated. Search this and other forums or go to oematcivations.com, and put your vin number and see what can be done to yours.

 

Great to know!
I thought it was ANC but if it's just ASD, I can disable it with my Gap tool. I'll disable it and install the original tune back and report back.
So far, V12 amp provides nice power and Helix i7 and i3 really brought the nice sound back and finally Defender is enjoyable in cruising long distance.
Thanks for the info on ASD.

 

If you're not planning to do amp but have better sound with simple solution, I highly recommend sound deadening in the front door and upgrading the mid bass woofer. You will be surprised how much it can be improved with stock amp. =)

 

Yep! I've put Dynamat in all doors and it made a significant improvement. I'm still considering getting some higher quality OEM 6 1/2" woofers used in the back doors of the Jaguar XJ, but I've always found the bass response to be good. Maybe I'll change my mind. We'll see!

 

@CincyRovers @wcc18999
You guys were RIGHT. I just went to my shop to get my subwoofer feed from subwoofer output after disabling the ASD, uncomfortable low frequency noise was gone and getting better subwoofer sound (since not feeding sub sound from front mid woofers). I'm glad I posted and thank you for super quick replies.

One last thing is deciding to add or not add a sub. I'm thinking 10" dual voice coil lower power sub in custom box below D90 trunk floor using 2 channels from my amp (2 x 120 watts @2 ohms) since I do not wish to drain anymore power for audio.
Thanks again!

 

Hello, I am over here from the jaguar side of things. I've been working on upgrading the meridian surround sound system on my car. I was curious on that harness that was created if you could supply the part numbers listed on the side of them. Im considering doing a helix dsp in the future.

So far I've replaced all my speakers with higher end ones from around the jlr lineup. Found on ebay from cars with the meridian signature system. Google jaguar oem speaker upgrade journey to see all my info. But what I have ready to instal is a set of audison voce/prima speakers and im very curious about doing the helix dsp to fine tune it and came across this forum. I'd like to make a harness like that to plug and play and maybe get enough connectors to make something like that available for many other people as well.

As for the ANC, if you have anc it is a software on the amplifier itself so theirs no unplugging it without consequences. However, amplifiers new form the dealer need to have the software loaded which means an amp prior to the anc or a new one can replace yours and be fine. I may do this down the road too.

Thank you

 

I spent over 6 months to find plug and play harness for Meridian to aftermarket (Helix V12) amp but had no luck so my shop ended up sourcing exact harness heads (green and gray) and made their own (pictures are posted above). And as @CincyRovers mentioned above, Defenders doe not have ANC but aftermarket amp will amplify fake engine noise with its Active Sound Design which you can disable with GAP tool.

 

Without digging into my own car to read the part numbers on the connector it's very hard to find them just googling. "Jaguar amplifier connector" doesn't go far. Especially the other half that is attached to the amp as it's own piece. If any of it is visible to you that would be hugely helpful. Or maybe let me know what so you went to. Maybe they have it noted down somewhere.