Hi all,

I've got bad rear sub woofers (of course), one with clearly torn foam, along with some overall muddiness (for lack of better word) from the speakers in general. The front tweeters seem dead as well.

I finally got everything torn apart and found out that the original subs were replaced with JL Audio subs. So I'll need to find some used HK ones to repair.

There are tons of discussions about ripping them out and upgrading them but my goal is really to return the stock audio system to its original working order, rather than to upgrade it.

Has anyone had their original Harman Kardon speakers repaired? How did that work out? (well?, poorly?, briefly?, etc.)

I could also try buy new Jaguar ones but I'm worried that they will substitute out superseded part #s and I'll wind up getting Alpine speakers.

Has anyone hooked up later stock Alpine speakers to the early HK system? How'd that work out?

I get the impression that the rear speaker situation is quite different between the 2 systems but the front speakers seem more similar.

Thanks!

 

Red.
I can understand your aspiration to keep the car original, but those HK speakers weren't particularly good to start with, and better options are now available.
Not sure what is available in the US, but here in the UK, I found a pair of JBL speakers which are an EXACT fit into the HK enclosures with no modifications whatsoever to either car or speakers. I think there's a 'Kicker' speaker with the same exact dimensions. Not really an "upgrade" - just replacing 'like' with 'slightly better like' !!
Sound is good - probably won't satisfy the ardent audiophile but works for me - and cost was reasonable. I'll try and find the link to a thread I started about this, and put it here if and when I find it.
Cheers,
David.


Edit : https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...io-fix-118911/

 

See if this speaker replacement procedure helps.

Link. http://www.jagrepair.com/XK8SpeakerReplacement.htm

Gus
www.jagrepair.com

 

Red, in spirit I agree with others who recommend better speakers. Otoh you seem to have thought this out. For speaker repair I have used and recommend "Miller Sound" in Pennsylvania
Just Google miller sound pa.

John

 

Yeah, I can have my obsessive moments about keeping things original. But I don't want to be totally counterproductive about it either, so I am definitely hearing and considering that replacing them is the way that almost everyone goes.

I guess that biggest my question is: Has anyone repaired them & found out first-hand whether the original sub woofers were genuinely "bad" speakers or if were they fairly good/ok speakers that just had fragile foam surrounds?

 

I have a massive pair of Altec Voice of the Theatre speakers in my home audio loft. They weigh over 200 pounds each and I ordered them new from Altec way back in August 1975 as I was entering graduate school. They remain the best-sounding home audio speakers I have ever heard. I love these speakers, I will own them and listen to them almost daily until the day I die, and I've had to replace their 18-inch woofer foam edges twice during the 41.5 years I have owned them (the last time was in June 2011). These foam edges deteriorate over time, and the fact that I play these speakers at jet engine-volume whenever my wife is out-of-town also takes its toll on the foam edges....

There is a great company in Florida called Simply Speakers. I order my new foam edging kits from them. Their custom-made foam edges meet all OEM Altec specs, they come with exact step-by-step instructions on how to remove your old foam edges and install your new ones, and they provide great tech support over the phone if you need it. In June 2011 I paid a whopping total of $27 for the new foam edging kit for my particular Altecs. I'm sure the prices have increased a bit since then....

Call them with your speaker brand and model number and I'll bet they have a foam edging kit that works for you. Their phone is (800) 511-3343, and their website is Simply Speakers - Official Speaker Repair Page - Speaker Parts and Repair Service.

Let me know how it turns out....

 

Wise and helpful advice from Jon. Personally, I don't think there was anything particularly "special" about the original Jaguar / Harmon-Karden speakers - I think they were a fairly good compromise for Jaguar between quality and cost.
We're all different - My car has several fairly minor modifications to the original specification but only one - the front grille - is visibly different. The others - remote hood / aerial switch / aux-input etc - are all invisible, and can all be "retro-removed".
Have you replaced the 1st generation tensioners on your engine with the 3rd generation metal ones ? If not - you are gambling with a known weakness, if so, your car is no longer original !!
I'm not trying to be clever, and I'm certainly not advocating anything that requires major surgery, but not even a top-league concourse inspection would ever reveal the presence iof non-original rear speakers.

 

In answer to your original question. I had my HK's rebuilt by Orange County Speaker in California. They did a great job and I was very happy with the result. Mine were damaged in the same way yours were.
The cost was about the same as updating but a lot less hassle since it was all still original.

 

Thanks Avern1, that's very helpful to know. I want to give it a whirl, so next I will need to find a pair of the original HK subs to repair...

Did anyone happen to keep their old HK rear sub woofers on a shelf somewhere when replacing them and want to get rid of them by any chance?

 

DevonDavid,

You make excellent points and I'm aware it's not likely to ever be a car-show issue.

And, yes, I will probably do the remote convertible top switch modification at some point and I won't even think about it for a minute because it's really cool, hidden, and reversible.

I've also replaced the tensioners, although since that was with updated Jaguar tensioners that legitimately supersede those part numbers, that's probably more of a grey area originality-wise.

Part of my personal deal is originality stuff that would bug me, not a concourse judge. But (especially being so hidden) part of is also that I have literally never had 1 single, solitary, positive long-term experience with aftermarket car audio components.

The fact that some previous owner had already put in "better" speakers which then somewhat promptly failed again in the exact same way as the 'bad" stock ones also does little to build my confidence.

So currently I'm planning to try to acquire and then fix some original HKs subs first and see if I can make that dog hunt. Which admittedly may not pan out.

If I can't make that work, then I'll reluctantly admit defeat and go aftermarket at that point.

 

Give BobRoy a private message and see if he has some. He has a couple of XK8's including a 97. It probably has HK's

 

Thanks Vern,

My 99xk8 parts car does have HK but I need them for my 99xk8 I'm driving, I mean my daughter is driving now.

 

Just a quick update. I couldn't find the original subs for sale used anywhere and I don't want to keep the car torn apart too long, lest I get overwhelmed or discouraged, so I decided to take everything I had take out in to the local speaker repair place today for testing and repair.

We pried to fabric covers off the dash speakers (I had already unscrewed them from their plastic covers) and the surrounds were in a surprisingly terrible state given that they still basically worked. The door speakers looked pretty good visually but need work too.

The JL subs with the clearly bad surrounds are apparently from 2005 (much older than I had guessed) and their advice was to definitely fix those JL subs since A) I already had them and B) per the speaker repair place (as well as nearly everyone on here), they are vastly better than the HK ones. So they are being fixed.

I'm still quite curious so maybe some day a free or cheap pair of HK subs somebody else is tossing will fall into my lap and I may get those repaired too, just for a side by side comparison to satisfy my own curiosity.

They said they don't repair tweeters, but they tested them and actually only one of mine is non-functional. I'll probably find used ones for now, longer term I may just get the pioneer ones from Jaguar...

The only speakers I haven't brought in so far are the small mid range speakers in the rear subwoofer boxes (FYI Alpine systems do not have these speakers). They sounded ok-ish and it looks like a pain in the rear (tons of screws) to take the boxes apart in situ to get them out. They seem similarly sized to the dash speakers, I wonder if they are the same.

I really feel like I should do those while I'm at it. We'll see if I get energetic enough this week to take the boxes apart.

It's costing about $30-$40 per speaker to have them done.

Either way I'll post an update once it's all fixed to say how it all turns out. I am very, very excited about hopefully getting the sound system working well.

 

I replaced all four speakers with Kicker speakers in the back and kicker coaxial speakers forward. The improvement in sound and volume was exceptional. I did no modification to fit them. Then I wanted a little more bass so I added a bazooka sub-woofer with it's own dedicated amplifier. It's not a "thumper" by any means but it adds a low dimension to the sound quality.

 

I get you want the car to be as close to original as possible but a few things can be changed without obvious signs. The speaker is behind the shroud of the car’s interior. I can tell you that the sound had improved with the Kickers I installed.

 

I replaced all of mine with an 11 x speaker kappa infinity system.

My dealer said it sounds far better than a Mark Levinson system fitted in a 2010 XKR, I sat in t'other one to check and had to agree with him.

The original treated cardboard (?) cones of mine were in a pretty shabby state, but I'll not hold it against anyone to try and keep it stock.

 

I thought I'd give an update:

I got the re-foamed dash speakers, door speakers, and aftermarket JL subs back today from https://www.midwestspeakerrepair.com and put them in tonight. They actually they used rubber surrounds instead of foam on the subs as they thought the rubber might last a little longer.

Success! It sounds much, much better!!!! I am extremely happy to have a working sound system that sounds decent!

They couldn't do the tweeters so I am just ordering new (superseded) Jaguar Alpine ones online for about $45 each.

While playing around with the sound system I also (finally) figured out how to fast forward/rewind within a track when using the CD player. I did not realize that there was a second stage to the ↑↓ button that switches to the next/previous track if you push it (rather firmly) all the way up or down. Seems a little hit or miss, possibly from under- or over-use.

While I was puttering, I also did a quick and very slight bend of the rearview mirror clip with a needle nose pliers and now my freshly repaired auto-dim mirror is staying firmly put instead of falling off.