Hey All,



So I have a 2011 XF w/ the 9 speaker 440W B&W setup. I got the car the first week of January, and almost immediately wanted to upgrade the sound quality. Since then I have been researching how to do this. I did read most of the threads on this and other forums, and my solution is a little different than what others have done previously, so I was just sharing my plans along with some options for other people. Hopefully it helps, and I appreciate any corrections if I am wrong. This is all on paper since it hasn't been installed into my car yet.Newbie posting, and it is a long one.

Immediately going to the "why would someone want to change the B&W system?" statement, I am an audiophile and this system didn't pass my personal critical listening tests. It is a good factory setup, but far from awe-inspiring in overall clarity and sound reproduction at even a medium volume.

I plan to replace the front and back components with Infiniti Kappa 60.11s
and the sub with an Infiniti Kappa 120.9 12" sub in a sealed box.

To actually connect this setup, I will have 1 - LC6i, 1-LC2i, and a 5 channel amp (haven't picked a model yet)

On the OEM Alpine 8 channel amp, the front door speaker's tweeter and woofers are sent on separate channels (4 sets of wires), the rear door speaker's tweeter and woofer signal are crossed over behind the speakers, not from the amp itself (2 sets of wires), and the sub has 2 sets of wires since it is a dual voice coil sub.

To take those 8 channels and get a complete signal to send to the aftermarket gear:

The LC6i needs to sum the front door tweeter and woofer signals down to just front left and right. I will put the two tweeters on the "Main" input of it. The front woofers will go onto Channel 2. Swap the internal jumpers for it to sum those and I should have a restored front left and right signal (minus if there is a high pass cut off that is built into the amp, but I was able to max out the low end of the B&W door speakers) The rears will go into channel 3.

2 sets of RCAs - Front and Rear ready to go to an amplifier

The LC2i will take the sub signal and put it out as RCAs for me. The OEM Amp rolls of bass as the volume increases, so AccuBass option on the LC2i solves that issue.

From there it is just hooking up into the 5 channel amp and running and hiding wires ( gonna let a professional installer do the wiring part)

In the end, I should be very happy with this setup.

Most people only want a little bass added to their system, and as you'll find in several other posts in the forum, just installing the LC2i and unhooking the factory 7.5" sub is the best overall option. I too briefly considered leaving the factory sub and wiring a LOC to the rear speakers, but the OEM Amp is definitely crossing over the signals, so I am not sure if lots of the deep bass will go to the door signals.

Tapping the doors works fine for people with the 8 speaker setup.


I don't think it would be worth upgrading the speakers if you have the 14, 17,... setups due to the dolby prologic setup in the surround systems. It would cost a lot to hear the benefits of going through all of the setup aftermarket, but it is possible with using the LC8i and some other products.

Hope this Helps someone who is on the fence like I was.

 

AWesome post. You seem very knowledgeable on the topic. I do notice the lack of midrange and tweeter quality in my system. I have the ten speaker set up on my 2015. What would be the benefits of simply changing out the speakers and using the stock amp and wiring? I don't think I would personally go for a full set up like you have.

Back in my mini-truck days, I had a full set up with caps and auxiliary battery power, but the wiring was sooooo much easier than in these cars.

 

Cherry_560, I could only find an 11 speaker and 17 speaker setup for the from Meridian for the XF. Does your car just not have the subwoofer installed?




Meridian has the 11 speaker listed as a 380 watt system. I don't have the exact info for how they have wired your car, but I can think of how it is probably setup. Amps and interior setups don't drastically change, and only a few ways make sense.

If your system is just missing a sub, I wouldn't switch out the door speakers for aftermarket to get more bass response. I would just add a sub that doesn't take up much space.

Something like the Kenwood KSC-SW11. This a space saver sub w/ amp built in. It can be installed easily in the trunk or under the passenger seat. This will give you the extra punch that you want, is very easy to install, and practical. $170 + if you pay someone to install (approx $100 install price)


Just tap the speaker wires for your rear speakers for the LOC. If your car didn't come with a sub, you don't need an L2Ci. This basically upgrades your system to the 11 speaker system and fills the sound gap. For a little more money and a lot more punch, I have had in my other cars an Inifnity basslink (approx. $200) which covers a broader range of music, but they do take up a little more trunk space.

 

Actually it's the 14-speaker surround sound system which is rated 440W, the 9-speaker system is rated 320W.

You could have upgraded to the 14-speaker surround sound relatively easily, and then carried on from there. At the very least this would have given you the surround sound features and controls on the touchscreen, as well as three surround speakers, and the additional speakers in the front doors, or perhaps even the improvement of the surround system would have been satisfying enough for you.

My Land Rover has the same sound system in it as the XF, and I did this upgrade to the surround system, huge improvement on it's own.

 

Cherry has the 11-speaker 380W Meridian system (10 + sub = 11), can do the same thing upgrading to the 17-speaker 825W Meridian Surround, it's not complicated, have done many of them now...

 

Cambo, I did initially consider putting the 14 speaker system in. I have heard it in another car, but didn't put any of my critical listening stuff in it or adjust the guys settings. Overall it is what wasn't being reproduced sound-wise in my car that made me want to replace the speakers. I am not sure if adding the 4" speaker to the front doors and changing out the amp would give me what I want, since the speakers are the same. The imaging in the car is actually really good for not having a center speaker. I think the B&W DSP options were dolby prologic II and 3 channel stereo. I personally don't like the sound from dolby prologic II on any type of music. 3 channel stereo sounds natural though. If the car had come with that system, I would have put in a different sub and called it a day. Since it would basically be the same amount of work and not be a big difference in price, I came up with what will work for me. I totally understand that 99% of people don't have the same drive to build a system like what I am talking about doing. I just came up with a way to make my ultimate sounding system.

Since I have bought the component speakers already and have an infinity basslink from my previous car just sitting there, I think I will try a hybrid option of my plan using the factory amp and no LC6i or 2i first. If it works, I will post back in March when I get back to my car.

It may sound good enough, and I always know I can go with more later.

 

The additional 4" speakers in the doors make a big difference, if going for aftermarket speakers and upgrading everything else i'd still say put some 4" ones in those locations as well. Relying on just tweeters & woofers to give a full spectrum is asking a bit much, in my mind anyhow.

The thing I've noticed when upgrading cars to the surround system is that the center speaker really fills the sound stage, instead of hearing where the sound is coming from, it just sounds like the whole front of the car is the source of the sound. Like if you close your eyes you can't really point at where the speakers are, it's a fuller sound with no gaps if you know what I mean...

I only listen to the 3-channel setting myself, the Dolby is a bit overdone I agree.

 

For me, the 4" works great for the 14 speaker system mainly because the amp has more channels to actively cross over signal it sends to them.

Right now the factory amp I have (8 channel) is actively crossing-over thinking there is a 6.5" and 1" there. It is severely limiting the sound that is going to the tweeter actively, and send pretty much every thing else to the woofer signal.

In your car (with the other amp) It is sending less of the high end mid-range (most likely around 200-3000Hz) then on the other channel 2000 - 20k which has a passive cross over from the 4" mid to the tweeter, so it can evenly distribute that signal. Keeping basically just voice range in your 1" tweeter. That is a totally ideal setup.

I could do the full install and add 3 way components, but the distance between the 6.5 to the 4" is maybe 12" or so and the 6.5"s I have will cover the frequency range that the 4" will as well as the sound dispersion mostly. The tweeter is also very close, so it blends well. Driving my car, the biggest sound impact on staging comes from the rear tweeters to balance ( I am 6'1", so my seat is a bit back) the rears also split the same amount of power of just one woofer or tweeter from the front in the XF setup. They are passively crossed over.

Not to mention that an equivalent set of 3 way components would cost me $400+ per pair, and the overall imaging would be the same. The main sound stage is still coming from the 4 points of the car, just adding more sound coming from a point closer to the ear. I am sure it would sound great and I would be happy, but I don't feel I need that. It would only be a matter of swapping out and mounting new 3 way components at that point though, so I will try this setup and see how I feel about it.

The speaker spacing in the car is perfect for a 2 way component setup actually. They really did a great job at the staging, to get the most from whatever speaker company they want to go with that year. The biggest change in sound would be putting the 14 speaker amp and getting a center channel, but I don't know that I wouldn't play with that system either.

In the end, some people play with the performance, some play with the interior, my area just happens to be the stereo system. They are great cars, and these little (not always cheap) "upgrades" are what make the cars our own. Definitely more than one way to go about it, and personal happiness and budget is all that really matters.

 

yes..forgot count the sub.

 

Cherry_560, your easiest option is to just substitute your factory sub with a 10" sub, but you will loose some trunk space. Since you do have the factory sub a LC2i would be needed to stop the bass roll off that is programmed into the head unit.

I haven't heard any of the Meridian systems in the Jaguars, just seen the stats.
A 10" can go up to where you hear your mids starting to lag.

 

Just to update:

The audio upgrade is finally finished, and I am very happy with the sound. It is everything I wanted!

A couple of lessons learned too.

I went with the LC7i and a regular line output converter in the end, a 4 channel amp, and used the infiniti basslink sub that I already had.

The rear door speakers (actually all of the component speakers) have the bass signal cuts out at about 100-200Hz, so hooking the sub to them won't give you the full low end. Conversely the sub wires give you from 300-400 Hz down.

The LC7i was used to sum the front speakers and send the signal for the sub w/ accubass to counter the bass roll-off. The rear speaker have a total signal for the components, so a regular line output converter works fine to send the signal to the 4 channel amp.

I had installers run fresh wires to the doors and wire/mount the new component speakers.

Again this isn't an upgrade for everybody, but what a difference it has made in the sound quality of the system.