News feature: Jaguar raises the bar for in-car entertainment

The latest Jaguar XJ marks a new phase of on-board multimedia entertainment system development. Beyond the car's ground-breaking looks and its impressive powertrains, the new model boasts what may well be the most advanced, integrated system of its kind to come from a factory.

"Just play it loud," said Jaguar Australia Marketing and Public Affairs Manager, Mark Eedle at the launch of the new model last week. "It's amazing; it's 1200 Watts, the top of the line."

At the entry level -- the Premium Luxury grade -- a 600-Watt system features 14 speakers and a 12-channel DSP amplifier with Audyssey MultEQ equalisation and Dynamic Volume Control. The system comes with two subwoofers plus two eight-inch woofers located in the front doors.

A single-slot CD/DVD player allows the user to download as many as 10 audio CDs to the 40-gig built-in hard disk also fitted as standard. According to Jaguar, the owner can copy music from each CD to the hard disk in uncompressed format for better clarity. Once the disks are copied to the hard disk, they can be removed from the car for safekeeping and the music can be played from the hard drive.

Only 10 gigs of audio data can be downloaded to the hard drive, although that's more than enough for 10 CDs, uncompressed. The remaining 30 gigs provide storage for the satellite navigation operating system and mapping data.

"On a lot of your MP3 players and so on, the music is compressed, to try and fit it onto a small bit of memory," says Eedle.

"The whole point of this hard drive is the [storage capacity] is sufficient that I can take the traditional 10 CDs that you might have in your changer, I can transfer [the music files] onto the hard drive and store them there completely uncompressed -- and that's significant, because when you've got 1200 Watts and 20 speakers, you can hear the quality difference between a compressed track and an uncompressed track. So... while we have this amazing set of speakers, you can also play the music at [optimum] quality..."

Music digitally transferred to the hard drive will display the name of the artist and the title of each track through the Dual View touchscreen. This information is retrieved from the GraceNotes music database, which presently represents one minor stumbling block for Jaguar. The company is yet to establish a service procedure for updating the database and newer CDs will not be listed in the database until Jaguar can find a way to resolve this issue.

Capable of handling DVD format as well, the entertainment system will play movies from disk on the Dual View touchscreen while the car is in motion. The passenger can watch the movie and even listen through separate wireless headphones while the driver views the satellite navigation system map on the same screen, simultaneously listening to music from the hard drive or the radio.

Jaguar claims that the Dual View touchscreen is a first. Other companies offer similar systems, but not with the touchscreen facility. The system is shared with Jaguar's offroad stablemate, Land Rover. One of the Jaguar staffers during the XJ launch demonstrated that if the driver knows where the touchscreen buttons are located from the passenger's viewpoint, it is possible to operate the passenger-side controls also.

The fancy screen uses no more power than a conventional display and the only concession to the Dual View functionality is a slight loss of resolution. For each pair of pixels in the screen, one is angled towards the front passenger and the other faces the driver, which explains the slightly lower resolution. The screen itself measures eight inches and provides the driver with the switching for such functions as audio, climate control, Bluetooth connectivity, trip computer and navigation. In addition, the touchscreen provides a means of controlling external music sources, through ports for an iPod/MP3 player and two USB memory sticks. There's also a standard 3.5mm auxiliary plug socket co-located with the USB ports in the centre console storage bin.

These input ports and the wireless Bluetooth connections are handled by an integrated system Jaguar calls Media Hub.

And this is the basic system...

The 1200-Watt system fitted as standard in XJ Portfolio and Supersport variants provides 20-speaker reproduction, with the components supplied by Bowers & Wilkins, developers of the Nautilus speaker.

"[Bowers & Wilkins] supplied the speakers in the Abbey Road studio... and a number of recording studios around the world," says Eedle. "Mid-nineties they released a speaker called the Nautilus -- which looks like a big seashell. It's the ultimate in speakers... 15 years later they still have a waiting list."

The 1200W system also boasts surround sound in either Dolby Pro Logic format, which Jaguar claims is better for bass response or DTS Neo 6, which offers better treble reproduction. DTS is a format developed by the film industry. In effect, users can enjoy the helicopter attack sequence from 'Apocalypse Now' in Dolby, or Kate Bush singing 'Wuthering Heights' in DTS. Either way, even the most fastidious audiophiles should feel satisfied.

From August production, Jaguar will introduce the Rear Seat Entertainment option (RSE). This option will reach Australian XJ buyers before the end of the year. For the moment, buyers wanting this additional feature are being asked to hold off placing an order for the car until such time as Jaguar Australia can deliver the car equipped with the option. It can't be retro-fitted by the dealer or the importer, so it's a question of waiting.

But when it arrives, it will offer unparalleled choice for up to four different users in the car. Two video screens located in the rear of the front-seat headrests will complement the Dual View screen in front.

With three additional audio channels (for both the 600W and 1200W systems) and wireless headphones, plus the combination of integrated TV tuner, DVD movie and DivX video from USB, three passengers can be watching three different video sources simultaneously -- all the while the driver is monitoring the satellite navigation map or using HVAC and/or his/her own audio controls.

What more could a typical family of four want from a car?

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