Jaguar XF Sound System

The XF offers three levels of audio system, all controlled through the Touch-screen.

Level 1: The eight-speaker Jaguar Sound System has a woofer and tweeter unit in each door – the woofer being mounted much higher than conventional systems to ensure good bass reproduction.

Level 2: The Jaguar 320W Premium Sound System has a DSP amplifier linked to nine speakers: eight premium door-mounted and (through clever packaging of the boot area) a 32-litre sub-woofer for enhanced bass.

Level 3: The Bowers & Wilkins 440W Surround Sound System has a remote amplifier with Dolby® Pro-Logic® II 7.1 Surround Sound and 14 speakers.

XF customers can import their own portable media player to interface with the car - including iPod® and other portable audio players, or USB storage devices such as memory sticks. In a world first, full Touch-screen control of the iPod® allows access to Playlists and Music search by Artist, Album or Genre. USB Mass Storage devices may also be accessed via the Touch-screen and other players can be connected to the car through the standard fit Auxiliary Input port.

 

The XF audio system also offers Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) and in North America, Sirius Satellite Radio. Sirius is growing in popularity because of its commercial-free output and because the same network is available coast to coast, north to south. XF owners also have the option of analogue/digital TV reception, with up to nine analogue and nine digital channel pre-sets with full function control, including country or format selection and one-touch channel-search, all through the Touch-screen menus.

The Bowers & Wilkins Audio System

Bowers & Wilkins, the British loudspeaker manufacturer, together with Jaguar, have developed a reference quality car audio experience for the 2008 Jaguar XF with fourteen speakers that deliver extraordinary clarity and faithful sound reproduction as the artist intended.

In a sharp departure from the typical OEM car-maker/speaker-supplier relationship, in which speakers and audio components are selected to accommodate “leftover” spaces and available locations, Jaguar and Bowers & Wilkins engineers began their cooperative work even before the new car hit the drawing board. Working together, the engineers performed extensive computer analysis and prototype testing to determine the ideal layout, and locations, for the XF’s fourteen loudspeakers. Their cooperative efforts targeted a common goal: to deliver the best- ever car audio experience.

The foundation of the effort is Bowers & Wilkins’ exclusive speaker-design technologies, such as its patented woven Kevlar® driver material, whose yellow stranded appearance has become a hallmark of the company. More importantly,the uniquely textured, square-weave cones of the bulletproof material eliminate standing waves in its midrange and bass drivers, for unprecedented clarity, truly lifelike punch, and remarkable freedom from colouration. Another famous Bowers & Wilkins technology drafted into the XF effort is the company’s well known metal dome tweeter transducer, which extends treble response a full octave beyond conventional designs for sweeter, more open and transparent sound.

Bowers & Wilkins worked with select electronics partners to complete a unique and sophisticated
installation for the XF. The Jaguar’s layout features the latest Pro Logic II 7.1-channel surround technology from Dolby Laboratories (another company with, coincidentally, British roots), to deliver a powerfully involving surround-sound musical experience from every stereo source, including FM or satellite radio, compact discs, and additional, yet to be revealed, options.

The system incorporates a total of 14 loudspeakers: four metal-dome tweeters strategically positioned to deliver smooth, even coverage to all four XF occupants, nine Kevlar®-diaphragm woofer and mid/bass units, including a solo front-centre and rear-surround pair, strategically located to preserve natural tonal balance and spatial localization, and a single, rear-mounted high-powered subwoofer that delivers true deep bass extension. Each amplifier channel is individually tailored to its respective loudspeaker by the system preamplifier-controller, making extensive use of advanced digital signal processing (DSP) techniques.

The fourteen loudspeakers are driven by 440 watts of amplifier power, producing sound that remains clear, dynamic, and transparent right up to true concert levels and beyond. Even more importantly, the audio system preserves its unique sound quality at all speeds, under all road conditions, and for driver and passengers alike. According to Bowers & Wilkins Sr. Automotive Business Manager Martin Lindsay, it was only the tight collaboration with Jaguar’s engineers that made this achievement possible.

Working so closely with Jaguar at the concept stage empowered us to aim extremely high. Because the audio environment in a vehicle is constantly changing with speed, occupancy, and conditions, you need to perform continual optimization to extract truly the best possible performance.

In the XF, the Bowers & Wilkins sound-system design constantly monitors the vehicle’s interior environment and dynamically adjusts amplifier equalization to road speed and other proprietary parameters. We also extend the Dolby Pro Logic II to 7 channels and ensure that it delivers the right sort of fully immersed experience for front and rear passengers, wherever they are sitting.

Martin Lindsay, Bowers & Wilkins Sr. Automotive Business Manager

The quality of the sound system has already reaped rewards, when the XF received the What Hi-Fi? Best Buy award.