Plenty of speakers, lots of power

Bowers and Wilkins poured a huge amount of effort into the XF's hi-fi system.

The company says the finished product took three years to develop and fine-tune.

At its heart, it uses a powerful 440w amplifier coupled to Dolby Pro-Logic II processing.

An impressive 14 speakers are strategically positioned around the cabin, including four aluminium-dome tweeters, nine Kevlar-cone midrange drivers, and a subwoofer the size of a small fuel tank mounted in the spare wheel underneath the boot floor.

One drive unit is mounted in the top of the dashboard to ensure a proper 'fill' between left and right channels, coupled to better imaging: it's supported by the Pro-Logic II processor, which operates in full 7.1 mode for optimum results.