Have had my 22' Disco for a little over a month, it came with the premium Meridian Surround System and I am pretty displeased with it. My base model 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee has a much better sounding stereo.

It seems others on facebook and on the Defender group feel the same way. I even checked every speaker by ear to see if it was working.

I think it in general sounds muffled, lacks a crisp sound, and the bass doesn't have much punch. I've messed around with the bass, treble, subwoofer a ton as well. Just not what I expect out of a luxury car brand.

I am curious if anyone has tinkered with the components of the system, ie replaced mid-range speakers ect. I am all for do-it-yourself but it looks like getting to some of the speakers requires dismantling the entire door trim. Not sure I want to mess around and snap a clip and I also don't know what components are lacking what I am looking for. Could be a speaker, could be an amplifier ect...

When my car was in for service I mentioned it to the service rep and he said he has heard it a lot from LR owners.

I tossed around whether there is a quality loss with CarPlay, but even when hardwiring into the system (and disabling carplay) it sounds the same.

 

I just signed up on this forum to address this very issue. The sound is awful, abysmal, uninviting and bland. I have the 2022 110x Defender. I get no punch, no depth, no "texture" in any sound despite the "upgraded" Meridien system. I get in my Audi RS7, and it's like a whole new world. Not sure why they chose not to pay any attention to this esp with a 6 figure car...

 

I've read on the Defender forums there is also a vibration issue. I haven't experienced that with the Disco.

 

I had not really noticed until my wife got a 2022 Toyota 4 Runner limited.

The sound is night and day and this is coming from a Toyota.

 

Lmao dude it's so bad. I killed myself trying to find a car with rear locker, tow, and Meridian surround and the sound system is straight up bad. It's not even acceptable. My 11 RRS sounded much better.

I don't know how something with 800 watts can have so little punch. I talked to a pro audio place, thinking maybe there was a slightly simple fix, like replacing a sound board or some amps. Nope, guys said I was ****ed. 18 speakers and everything runs through different amps

 

Does anyone know if the drivers and amps are actual Meridian made, or is it just their dsp sound shaping algorithms? While the disco has Meridian or Stereo as sound options, an F-Pace I was loaned had an additional dolby dsp option. Makes me think, not meridian hardware, but that's just a hunch.

Also, Meridian gear is not cheap. How can JLR charge 1, 2, 3K more for Meridian systems with all the R&D, speakers, amps, etc when their smallest simple pair of speakers alone run upwards of about 6k.

To be clear, I am quite used to the very polite British sound of Meridian gear as I have it in 3 rooms of my home and they are known for not coloring the sound at all as well as being very revealing of poor source material. That being said, I will attest to the flat, sometimes even boomy sound in the D5.

Have you tried it with lossless audio? eg. cd, FLAC files, Tidal HIFI streaming, Qobuz, etc? A direct comparison with XM is eye opening, Tidal is the only source I use.

 

The 380 watt Meridian system in my 2017 HSE sounds pretty good to me.

 

Yeah, not necessarily disappointed with our 700W Meridian [or whatever it is? 2019 model] but the 720W 11 speaker system I put in my Tacoma will absolutely eat its lunch. Of course, much smaller cabin too. Got nearly 1000W 13 speaker setup going in my 442 if I ever get back to it? I already hooked it up loosely just placing speakers roughly where they're going in that car plus the trunk SUB box and MAN that thing is gonna sound good. And I ain't at ALL into buzzing bumpers. I just want to be bathed in crystal clean music.

I'd just hate to [personally] have to put a better custom sound system in a new LR [or any other new vehicle] and definitely would NOT want to pay someone else to do it. Can you spell CA-CHING?

I just opt for the best factory one they have . . . unless it's some $10000 Burmeister option or something that could actually sound quite good if you have the patience to weed through 17 menus of nonsense for EVERY SINGLE song you wanna hear. I don't even want to go to that much trouble at home much less driving down the road.

So, it's a compromise . . .

 

You are correct! I just had my doors taken apart to workout why the sound was so crap and the speakers are supplied by a company called Premier Sound Solutions. This was also confirmed by them in an email to me. They would not however give me the spec of their speakers and referred me to JLR.
so JLR markets this as a Meridian 11 speaker system (on website and logo on door) but the speakers are not Meridian. Nothing re the sound quality in their marketing material holds true. I am extremely disappointed with the sound quality.

 

I have had two entirely different experiences. My 2017 Disco V Meridian Surround system is the best factory sound system I have ever had. 6 years now and it still impresses me…with all settings in the default position. However; my 2020 Defender X with Meridian Surround does not impress me at all (nor does the storage, door pockets, or boot space…but that is another topic). I’m starting to wonder if the audio guy at the factory actually installed the 400watt system, but slapped a “Meridian Surround” badge on the door. It is so much worse than the Disco V. Disappointed.