We'd go so far as to say there's no real need to wander from the car's Trifield setting. It's perfectly listenable, of course, but we'd much rather keep the Trifield status quo. Here, music sounds much more stretched and isolated. Turn off Trifield and you can set the system to standard stereo mode. We had to dial the bass down a notch or two from the off-the-trailer setting, but the system still sounds like all the various elements are working together in unison – poorly balanced systems can have off-beat timing and major integration issues. The angry rhyming contrasts nicely with the delicate female vocal in the chorus. The two, 25cm subwoofers (one behind each seat) hit hard and with a great deal of weight yet they still blend in perfectly. Play Eminem's Bad Guy and the blend between all the speakers is super-smooth. Apart from the odd exhaust blast proving a temporary, pleasant background distraction, there's plenty of clarity, separation, and with it, detail. The fact you have a decent soundstage front and centre really does add to the enjoyment. And, stuck in traffic, you really come to appreciate the addition of that centre channel and the Trifield technology that comes with it. Meridian's Surround Sound System system sounds as weighty, powerful and engaging with the roof up as it does down. The shift in processing is done very subtly, which is how it should be - the last thing you need is a sudden switch in levels interrupting your Justin Bieberathon. It's like taking the top, or a side off a conventional stereo speaker. Because the dominant frequencies in the car shift in the absence of the roof (i.e there's a reduction in bass and an increase in mids and highs), the car and its speakers have to adapt accordingly. When you fancy dropping the roof, a sensor tells the in-car amp what's going on, and the sound processing mode for the car switches. Jaguar admits the F-Type is one of the noisiest cars the company has ever made, and although opening up the sports exhaust on this V8 S model creates a wonderfully throaty roar, without all the engineering it wouldn't take much prodding of the accelerator to drown out any music in the cabin. The engineers needed to take into account the general level of noise generated by the car (from the road and the engine). Our test car was the convertible (a coupé is also available) – the soft fabric roof served up a few extra issues which Jaguar needed to overcome. We were listening to it to make sure any last-minute changes to the trim, exhaust system etc weren't affecting the car." "The F-Type in particular we were still fine-tuning up to a couple of weeks before final production started. We want to leave this process as late as possible, so we've got the most representative version of the car. Then, when we get to the later design phases and get closer to production, we jump back in to the car to refine everything. The bulk of the work is done fairly early on where we get the basics of the EQ (equalisation) done. "So, we approach things in a number of stages. These can all have an impact on sound quality. We need to get on the car, but in its early stages, when some fittings and fixtures aren't in place – so the seats may not be in or patches of material might not be in place. The problem here is that there are interdependencies between them. You've got people working on different sprints, all trying to reach the finishing line at the same time. "We put around 300 hours work into tuning the system.
![meridian audio tuner meridian audio tuner](http://www.meridian-audio.info/public/104int[2879].jpg)
Backgroundīefore we took the F-Type for a spin, Alan Trevena, Jaguar's Audio Systems Technical Specialist at Jaguar Land Rover spent some time talking us through the ins and outs of the system, including the various stages of its development and production: This makes it ideal for in-car use, where you can't sit right between a left and right speaker to enjoy a proper stereo image. Trifield uses clever processing to turn a stereo signal into three channels, left, right and centre. The Huntingdon-based hi-fi manufacturer has produced some iconic pieces of hi-fi kit over the years, and it's the company's hi-fi pedigree, including its Trifield sound processing technology that Jaguar has tapped into for the F-Type.