The British luxury automotive marque, Jaguar, has chosen this week’s 2012 Beijing Motor Show in China to unveil its new range-topping XJ Ultimate, which comes complete with an innovative Meridian Surround Sound System offering unrivalled music reproduction in a luxury designed saloon.

It is the latest carmaker to partner with Meridian Audio, the UK’s leading specialist manufacturer of high-end audio and video entertainment systems, following in the footsteps of McLaren Automotive and Range Rover who have both chosen the audiomaker for the in-car entertainments systems of the MP4-12C supercar and Evoque (three and five-door) SUV respectively.

The XJ Ultimate is the top-of-the-range variant of Jaguar’s award-winning XJ saloon.

Ian Callum, Director of Design, Jaguar, says: “Given the XJ Ultimate’s exclusive specification we wanted to equip it with the very best audio system available; Meridian’s exceptional quality and expertise made it the perfect partner to enable us to deliver this ambition. The result will be a truly stunning listening experience for our customers.”

Specially designed and developed for the XJ Ultimate, the Meridian Surround Sound System has 15-channels of amplification and 20 loudspeakers strategically positioned throughout the cabin. Meridian’s unique Digital Signal Processing technologies allow every person travelling in the XJ Ultimate to enjoy the same musical experience, placing them at the centre of the sound field. Meridian achieves this through its Trifield technology which creates an all-enveloping sound field that makes each listener feel that the music is exclusively focused on him or her, regardless of where they are sat in the car.

Meridian’s Co-Founder, Chairman and Chief Technical Officer, Bob Stuart, says that the Meridian Surround Sound System offered in the XJ Ultimate will set new standards in the luxury saloon car class. He explains: “Cars do present unique challenges when it comes to acoustic reproduction but I believe that these are the first car systems that truly mirror the memorable experience that can be enjoyed by an original musical performance.”

Stuart adds: “We are very proud to be adding yet another iconic British company to the expanding portfolio of our automotive division.”