Had my HSE Lux 10 months now and still please with it, apart from the sound system, which is good but not sure if the Meridian setting is as good as when it's set to the Dolby surround sound. I find when set to Meridian it feels like the sound is only coming out of the centre speaker (not all the time) where with Dolby it fills the car with sound. I know some of my music was never recorded in 5.1 but the Dolby handles older music much better. MY13 HSE LUX Aintree Green
MY57 SE Stornoway Grey. Gone
Nissan X Trail
Discovery V8 LPG
Series II Land Rover

I agree! I have mine set to standard stereo 99% of the time, much better than the Meridian setting, although Dolby 5.1 is superb when you have an appropriate CD.

I stream from Internet and my own library on my iphone and I must say the sound quality is excellent and I have the Hi-Line system. Whether I use Bluetooth or USB connection there seems to be little difference other than more imformation/functionality when connected by USB. Sure everything is working how it should? MY15
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This topic has been covered on here in the past, and a simple search will bring the various suggestions and answers up.

To reiterate, the Meridian system plays superbly depending on its input source. If you are playing back a Stereo recording, it will not sound as good as it would if Stereo playback was selected.

Try digging out an older CD that was recorded in 5:1 or 7:1, and playing it back with Meridian selected - the results are quite astonishing! Foraging near Gaydon....
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MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

I play my music mainly from my iPod that got 1000s of tracks from the 60s to present day, but if it's an older stereo recording playing it just sounds like the majority of the music is all focus to the centre speaker, turn it too Dolby and it sounds so much better.Put an up to date track on and that's when I think the Meridian comes to life. To me the Dolby surround still as the edge in sound quality. After saying all that it's still a good sound system and comes down personal preference. MY13 HSE LUX Aintree Green
MY57 SE Stornoway Grey. Gone
Nissan X Trail
Discovery V8 LPG
Series II Land Rover

I use Meridian stuff at home, I wouldn't worry about whether you are using the Meridian preset as such, reading the white paprs on the system this simply recreates their 'trifield' preset from their home systems.

The 'trifield' uses the centre speaker on a home system and then sends info out to the left and right speakers (and surrounds if you choose, many don't). On the home processors you can then adjust the depth of the centre (adjust delay) to bring the vocals forward or backward within the sound stage, and the width, which allows you to to almost loose the centres. It obviously doesn't loose the centre as if you go back to 'stereo' you really notice it has gone, but the idea is adjust width till you no longer notice the centre, in the same way you integrate a sub, you don't want to hear it as such, but taking it out you realise how much it is adding.

If there is no adjustment for width and depth on the LR2 system then I would imaging 'stereo' may well be better, with maybe a click or two towards the front channels and one or two towards the passenger side.

The Meridian system is more about the speakers and amp rather than the presets. I head it and thought it was brilliant for factory fit system, and found the way it puts the music up on the centre of the dash superb, which is what you want, and what many aim for when tuning a car system, but....having said that, sometimes in a car you want it to full the cabin, it is a very different enviroment to when you are sat at home. So just enjoy whatever preset sounds best, knowing the amp and speakers are what you have paid for.


On our 530d GT we had Logic7 and that too sounded like too much was coming from the dash speaker, I put a small resistor on the positive side which reduced the output by roughly 6db, this made it so much nicer. Maybe look into that?

I'm not that technical on sound systems gizze. The only adjustment I can see is balance / fade and bass treble and sub. I tend to have it more faded to the back, which to me sounds better than it all sounding like it's coming from the centre speaker. MY13 HSE LUX Aintree Green
MY57 SE Stornoway Grey. Gone
Nissan X Trail
Discovery V8 LPG
Series II Land Rover

I think in a car you just need to set it however you prefer it.

Many spend thousands on processors that do time alignment to try and get the soundstage up on the dash and central, and most high end systems only run front speakers and a sub, so it doesn't muddy the soundstage. But when you do it with just left and right speakers it sounds more natural, I am not a fan of centre speakers as they are often too obvious.