Yeah, using a sound generator my rattle is at various points between 80Hz and 145Hz, peaks of terribleness at 80, 100, 110, 118, and 130. Below 80Hz and above 150Hz all sounds good.

I’m all for that! I went to a local guy a few months ago to get my mower blades sharpened. He recognized my car right away and said “So, you’re the crazy guy I saw in January sliding that tail around all over the place in a blizzard”! Yeah, that would be me…

Thanks again slojotaa, your input is highly appreciated! I plan to handle with reason and diplomacy - and persistence I went to my Jaguar Harrisburg dealer today to “demo the problem”, I even made my own “before” recording attached. They had no problems at all reproducing and recognizing the problem using the CD I brought along. They documented everything, made their own recordings, kept the CD, and plan to take it to regional Jedi to select best course of action. I even equipped them with your recommendations, which they appreciated as a suggested recipe for avoiding dragging it out with many service visit – they are as interested in the right fix the first time. So, ball is rolling, service visit to be scheduled sometime before too long in the future, I will let everyone know what they suggest, do, and hopefully someday the fat lady will sing rattle-free.

 

If it helps, I was playing around with my 780w yesterday. I reset everything (tone, position) and played Suzanne Vega - Tom's Diner (DNA Remix). Just about every drum beat was exactly the right sound to cause the speakers to sound blown.

Playing with the settings and re-playing the song over and over I couldn't get to a place where it actually sounded good. At least in my 2015 S Coupe, that song perfectly exhibited the bad quality of the speakers.

The source was initially Sirius XM, but then I grabbed a CD with that song and played it direct.

 

This is a link to the IASCA Official Sound Quality Competition CD I found online.

I attempted to purchase the CD from the IASCA, but it is out of stock.

I converted it from FLAC to 320 bit MP3 and played it in the F-Type. I have no buzzing, no hissing, nothing unusual, EXCEPT that I can tell there is very low bass frequency being sent to the A-Pillar tweeters...

I have downloaded the below file and found them to be virus free. It is NOT my private source however.

http://api.viglink.com/api/click?for...etition.CD.rar

 

I admit that I was a little surprised when Jaguar asked me to document my rattle problem with a playlist and a demo. It seems a little more scientific to use a tone generator and just agree on problematic frequencies. On the other hand, I can perhaps appreciate that a problem has to be relevant in a real world context, and of course it challenges the owner to find a few songs that exhibit the problem - a tiny threshold that may dissuade those that don't really care too much.

But I have come to realize that we are not all rattled by the same songs Most of the suggested songs have a strong base and I can tell how they would be great candidates, but they don't really rattle my specific system, I think because most of the songs have a base that is too low-pitched for my particular rattle/resonance; or perhaps a general heavy bass just conceals my rattle. So I guess it’s an individual thing to find songs that expose a given rattle the best, i.e. songs that hit the frequency nerve but not too much around it. At least this thread might give people various songs to try out if they are looking to be rattled.

Sounds are just complex to me. They are a science, yet we hear them differently, and they are hard to describe to someone else, just listen to people on Car Talk! Likes and dislikes are best “shown” by using actual songs – I mean who has any feelings for a sine wave generator. Sound systems are like wine, you know when it’s really good – for you - reviews and descriptions are harder to relate to.

And as slojotaa so profoundly stated: a rattle is a rattle!

 

Amen on the Hendrix!

 

jm717 - Your mp3 was really worth listening to - Thanks.

to me, it definitely sounds like you've hit the resonant frequency with some of those 'lows', of a small internal (to the door) trim part.
I'd love to take the door panel off and run the music again. Ironically, I bet a small bit of duct tape to stop the offending part from 'flapping' is all it would take.

FWIW, I ran mine at very high levels (almost max vol, and sub up 75%) last night with the best quality format on a USB stick and couldn't replicate any issues some of you guys are having - There must have been a change of component or modification done to later cars. I've searched high and low but I can't find any reference to any documented modifications.

I will continue to 'tool' around in a group attempt to help resolve this, but I may go deaf in the process!

 

The only problem with your theory is that a lot of the early cars don't exhibit any of the problems discussed ad nauseum here. Mine is an Oct 2013 build, which has never exhibited any of the problems discussed here no matter how much bass I pump through it. Many 2016 owners are also reporting problems.

I think it's a QC issue.

 

Foosh, I have concluded the same. There are just too many irregularities reported. Earlier this year I thought the 16's solved the issue by what was or was not being reported. But that theory went out the door after a while. I think is has to be QC at this point...nothing else makes sense.

 

So I had my car in the shop for a few days to get my speaker rattle taken care of. They did an amazing job and the problem is solved for me. What the dealer did was the following (excerpt from the invoice):

New Dynamat Xtreme installed in left and right door panels, cables and any loose components fastened. JTB00432NAS1 was performed, including configuring amplifier module using IDS/USB and some additional insulation kit.

I think the Tech Bulletin is brand new. I find the software config done to the amplifier module interesting. I wonder if this adjusts "what frequencies are sent to what speakers" or something. I don't know, all speculation, and I am not sure if the dealer even knows exactly what the sw config does to the system. Someone with detailed insight to to the JTB00432NAS1 might be able to tell I suppose.

Anyway, just wanted to pass on the happy outcome, it worked perfectly for my specific issue. All done as a warranty repair at no charge - and they provided a brand new XF as loaner with valet. My dealer is JLR Harrisburg, highly recommended! They are very friendly, and fixed my issue the right way without repeated visits. They took great care of me during the sales process as well, but it’s always an unknown about the service experience when you don’t have prior car purchases with the dealer. No singing and dancing, just old fashioned great customer service and desire to do what's right. Refreshing!

 

Five Finger Death Punch and Avenged Seven Fold rattle the system pretty damn well...but will live with it.

 

The service department kept my 2016 R (April 2015 build) for three weeks and reported that the 770W sound systems issues (vibrations, hollow sound, weak output, etc.) I had complained of had been resolved. In reality, no. The vibrations are indeed lessened, but the system still sounds week, uneven, hollow, and yes, regardless of the setting, the vibration, buzzing, and overall poor sound quality remain. I'm going to have to take her back in, but I suspect this will be a circular process until they ultimately conclude this to be a subjective customer complaint that cannot be duplicated.


What pains me is to read that others report their 2016 R sound system to be fantastic, seemingly with none of the problems so many of us have reported with our 2015/2016 770W systems. Did Jaguar get it right the second half of the 2016 manufacturing cycle? If so, why can't they just make the same fix to mine?

 

No, IMO no they didn't. As you mentioned, satisfaction with the 770W sound system is subjective. The weak and hollow sound is why I (and a few others here) went aftermarket and are far happier for it.

 

I have had my car two weeks and I am impressed with the sound system. So far, clear, no buzz or rattle, plenty of punch. Much better than my Porsche Bose system where everything sounded like the speakers were submerged in a swimming pool.
Larry

 

Mine has started to exhibit a buzz in the left door at high volume with bass heavy music. Bob Marley's 3 Little Birds does it. Otherwise it sounds good - not as good as the music from the tailpipes though.

 

To be fair, Bose is notoriously bad.

No highs? No lows? Must be Bose!

 

Yeah, Bose deserves that bad reputation, but you would think the Porsche upgraded sound system should at least sound good. I never heard the outrageously priced Burmeister, but the Meridian sounds good to me. I have not listened to music much since I started driving fun cars, only on long trips.
Larry

 

I've been in my 2016 for about a month and a half and the distortion has been driving me crazy. I have been reading as much about the issue on this forum as I could and it seems that there is two separate problems. Many of the cars prior to 2016 have a rattle that can be felt in the doors and panels as well as the speakers. I believe there was a service bulletin addressing that issue. However, that is not what I am experiencing, my issue sounds more like a distortion or just faulty speakers at least coming from the speakers on the doors. The sub-woofer exhibits for a rattle sound.

I took my car in for service because I had a bad battery that died on me after one day of not using the car. I decided while I was there to have them take a look at the sound system (I would have preferred to make a playlist of songs but I knew if I played some hip hop it would replicate the problem)

The SA sent a tech to hear the problem, I played Drake - Own It and it was the perfect song that made the sub rattle and exhibited the distortion in the tweeters. The tech acknowledged and even said it was a good thing that I had the song on USB for him.

I came back two days later to pick up my car and they didn't even attempt to touch it. The report stated that the song chosen by the customer had excessive bass and that the speakers were functioning as designed and played the radio without issues. I was on my lunch break and I didn't have time to thoroughly complain like I wanted to but I demanded someone explain it to me. The Service Manager explained he had only seen this problem one other time and they tried the dynomat solution without success and blamed it on the design of the car. He offered to try again if I could find a solution for him.

I left a bad review on the Jag Survey and they called me back and offered to look into it again on Monday. This thread should help me generate a nice playlist for them so that the recognize the problem.

 

I would find another dealer, as this is total BS, absolutely angers me to know end to read your post. Purely a sign of customer "non" service, and a service group that is bending the truth, running from reality, and lazy to write this up the way they did. I went through the cycles with 90% success, and am happy with what JLR NA did for me, actually sending an engineer. Persist, persist, persist as your issue is real, fixable, and not the music at all. If the song selected accentuates the problem, I look at it as a "prop" which if improved at least 50% demonstrates the condition of the fix (or not for that matter). My recommendation to you is PERSIST!!!

 

Do you have a particular contact at JLR NA? I am going through a similar situation where the dealer is trying to convince me that the audio system is behaving normally and that the rattle I can show them in person is normal...

 

Here you go. She was fabulous to deal with!!! Good Luck.
Pianca Vázquez
Senior Executive Liaison

T: +1.201.818.8432 | F: +1.888.410.0937
E: pherna35@jaguarlandrover.com