Meridian Range Rover Evoque Audio System Quick Manual
System Highlights
Ground-breaking digital in-car
entertainment system, customdesigned for Evoque
12-channel, 11-speaker stereo
Meridian Sound System and
15-channel, 17-speaker Meridian
Surround Sound System available
Digital Active loudspeaker system
featuring Meridian DSP Loudspeaker
technology
High sound output level with minimal
distortion
Full frequency range with deep bass
extension
Advanced DSP-based Dynamic
Volume Control automatically
compensates for ambient noise levels
Exceptionally high efficiency, powerto-weight ratio and compact size
Meridian Cabin Correction uses finetuned DSP to match vehicle interior
acoustic space
Range Rover Evoque
Meridian in-car audio
Meridian – the Sound of
Range Rover Evoque
Meridian and Range Rover both share a
British heritage. They also share a common
desire to push the boundaries of experience,
and a common ability to develop technology
to conquer new challenges.
The driving experience is changing. Today,
we regularly spend more time listening
to music in the car than we do at home.
So when Range Rover sought to create a
truly class-leading listening experience for
their customers setting new standards in
automobile entertainment, they came to
Meridian.
Conventional consumer audio systems,
whether in-home or in-car, have followed
a traditional pattern in which the power
amplifiers supply a full-range audio signal to
the loudspeakers, where a passive crossover
divides the signal into frequency bands to
be supplied to woofer and tweeter. This
approach requires a number of signicant
compromises in the design of the system,
including the need for excessively large
power amplifiers to overcome the lower
efficiency of passive systems, and the
need for the passive crossover to employ
components chosen for their power-handling
capacity rather than their audio quality.
Thirty years ago, Meridian developed some
of the first active loudspeakers available,
going on to use digital signal processing
(DSP) to create crossovers that would
be impossible – or prohibitively complex
or expensive – to realise in the analogue
domain, and becoming the first consumer
audio manufacturer to do so.
Meridian DSP-based digital active
loudspeakers use a fully-digital crossover
followed by digital to analogue converters
(DACs) to drive individual amplifiers which
power the loudspeaker drivers directly,
maximising efficiency and allowing a level
of performance usually associated with
loudspeakers at least four times the size.
The Systems
Meridian and Range Rover have designed
two powerful and unique in-car audio
systems for Evoque.
The Meridian Sound System is a 380watt, 12-channel stereophonic system
featuring 11 loudspeakers including a special
dual-channel subwoofer.
The Meridian Surround Sound System
is a full 15-channel stereo/surround
system running 825 watts and driving 17
loudspeakers mounted around the vehicle
Meridian Audio Limited
www.meridian-audio.com
Range Rover Evoque
Meridian in-car audio
cabin, including centre and surround
loudspeakers.
In addition to Dolby PLIIx and DTS Neo:6,
the Meridian Surround Sound System
incorporates the unique Trield™ system
which decodes stereo information to drive
multiple loudspeakers for a clearer, more
stable stereo image wherever you sit. It
delivers involving, enveloping surround-sound
as well as an impressive stereo image for
everyone in the vehicle.
Both systems deliver exceptional sound,
with crystal-clear highs and full, deep bass.
Both use specially-selected, road-rugged
materials and employ the most advanced
digital technology. They also both support an
extensive range of sources – such as inputs
for iPod
®
or other personal stereo player,
USB media, and other compatible sources
in addition to the built-in DAB radio and CD/
MP3 disc sources.
Loudspeakers
The loudspeaker drivers used in the Range
Rover Evoque have been specically
designed and developed by Meridian
engineers, in collaboration with Jaguar Land
Rover’s drive unit suppliers.
Bass and midrange drivers feature mica-filled
polyproplylene cones. The mica filling adds
both stiffness and damping, which helps
to ensure a smooth frequency response
throughout the operating bandwidth. To
minimise total weight while delivering the
highest possible performance, low-mass
materials have been specifically-selected
for the drivers. Low moving mass drive units
store less energy and provide better transient
performance as the voice coil and cone can
respond rapidly to input signals.
The materials selected are also very stable
and thus ideal for use in an automotive
environment where extreme conditions are
commonly encountered.
The tweeter features an ultra-light
aluminium alloy dome to maximise efficiency
and provide extended high frequency
performance. Again, a low moving mass
design provides superb transient handling
and negligible distortion across the operating
bandwidth of the driver.
All the drivers used in Meridian’s Evoque
sound systems feature powerful neodymium
magnet assemblies. These combine high,
uniform magentic field densities with low
mass, improving efficiency while once again
keeping weight at a minimum.
The materials selection process has resulted
in a series of drive units that, taken together,
deliver tight bass, coupled with a very natural
mid-range and high frequency performance.
As a result, less filtering and compensation
is required in the electronics, resulting
in superior sound quality throughout the
system.
Meridian Audio pioneered the use of
active loudspeaker technology, in which
the amplifiers that power the drive units
are co-sited in the loudspeaker enclosure
and the crossover is carried out at line
level (or digitally in the case of a Meridian
DSP Loudspeaker system). This is seldom
physically possible in the automotive
environment, but the same principle applies,
in that the loudspeaker drivers are directly
connected to the amplifier outputs and as
tightly controlled as possible, while digital
crossover technology maximises system
efficiency.
The amplifiers themselves are driven
by high-precision digital-to-analogue
converters, the signals being derived from
DSP-based crossover designs which exhibit
very tightly-defined characteristics that are
either impossible to realise or prohibitive in
conventional analogue designs. This makes
it possible to create extremely precise
crossover filters that achieve a high level of
matching with the frequency responses of
the drivers for a smooth, full-range response.
DSP Active Loudspeakers are ideal
for the automotive environment. They
are exceptionally efficient, typically
requiring signicantly lower power levels
– conventional passive systems with
speaker-level crossovers waste a signficant
proportion of the amplifier power as heat.
They can also deliver higher sound pressure
levels with the benefit of driver protection,
and extended frequency response, especially
at low frequencies. Meridian calculates that
a DSP Active Loudspeaker system can
typically deliver the same performance as
a conventional system with loudspeakers
approximately eight times the volume.
Four of the Range Rover Evoque loudspeaker drivers (not to scale).
L to R: 25mm HF, 100/25mm coaxial, 165mm LF. Top right: cutaway of the subwoofer assembly.
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