So I've been looking through the forums for a few hours now. After searching other sites for a few days I still can not come up with a definitive answer. I recently inherited an 2005 Jag X-type with only a few thousand miles. However the factory radio/ cd player no longer works. That's ok with me because I cant connect my Iphone or play pandora and it doesnt even have GPS... So here is my problem. I read that a few people earlier has posted similar problems that wanted to change their head unit from factory to aftermarket. They were told to go to places like crutchfield, best buy or local stereo shops. I did all those. Crutchfield tells me that they do not carry any products that I would require to change my head unit. That includes wiring harness or dash kits. So Next I went to best buy. They told me that they didnt carry any products either. Furthermore they explained that my car was equipped with a factory amplifier and fiber optic cables. Next I stopped into a few local car stereo shops and they all explained to me that if I wanted to replace my factory head unit with an aftermarket head unit that I would have to purchase a lot of speaker wire, an amp as well as the head unit. After all that I would have to start ripping apart my car to run all the wires to the speakers. So I turned to the master of the interwebs "google". There I found a wiring harness as well as a dash kit. The wiring harness did not have any equipment that would allow me to utilize the factory amplifier or bypass it. So I would be putting an amplified signal into another amplified signal?! lol Thats not going to work. Now that you have read all that we finally get to my question. WHAT DO I DO? Can I simply buy a used or new factory dvd player with navigation, bluetooth and ipod interface? Or do I really have to replace all my speaker wire on top of probably purchasing another amp? OR.. is there another solution out there such as a real wiring harness that would allow me to connect an aftermarket head unit to my car?

 

Your best bet would be to buy a used factory radio on eBay. If you want to play iPods and such you'll need a Jag ACM unit. That's the kit that lets you add stuff via USB, RCA jacks, and iPod. Problem is, Jag stopped making the kit. But there are units still on shelves at the dealers. You'll pay around $430 for the kit. Good luck. I've been through what you are going through.

 

James, when you say the radio/CD does not work, do you mean the display lights up but there is no sound? If so, that could be as simple as the fiber optic cable coming loose from it's connection. The cable is under the dash near the driver's door. A couple years ago my son used my car and reported that the radio quit working. What must have happened is with him being really tall with size 13 feet he must have snagged the cable. I plugged it back in and it was fine. If you look in that area you would immediately be able to see if that is the case. Might be a long shot, but worth a look.

 

You can search the forum for aftermarket headunit replacement for your cat including the wiring, it has been discuss here for a long time. I have replaced my headunit with pioneer double din unit with bt, gps, usb,ipod connectivity but was installed by a company called audio express. It is also has a back-up camera and subwooper in the trunk.Goodluck in your search and it is much doable.

 

Thanks for all the responses. I bought a used factory radio today and it works. It at least allows me to play cd's although I do not own a single cd lol. I will look into getting an ACM unit like you suggested flyrr100. However, I think I would be a lot happier with a factory unit that has built in navi if at all possible. And if I cant, I will be forced to purchase an aftermarket radio and run a lot of speaker wire.

Sanche, I have searched the forums and as I have stated previously that all the responses I have be able to locate within a reasonable amount of time have pointed at places like chutchfield or a car stereo shop for an aftermarket wiring harness. NONE of mentioned anything about the capability of installing the factory unit that has navigation as well as integrated climate control touch screen.

I'm going to try to find out more information in regards to upgrading the factory cd player / climate controls to the unit that has a built in touch screen nav. If that doesnt work for less then 1k then I will buy a Pioneer appradio and I will begin chopping wires
What ever I decide, I will post as a response so that other may be able to find this same answer easily.