2005 X-Type 2.5 Base Model - Parts Express Car Audio Installation
 

Just wanted to give you guys a heads-up on an install I'm doing for various Parts Express brands on my 2005 X-Type.

First chapter is amplifier and custom subwoofer installation (for our July/August sales flyer). I'm taking a lot of photos that I'll later add to this project.

I hope I don't offend the moderators, but I am the Car Audio/Raw Driver (Speaker Building) Product Manager for Parts Express. My goal is not to shill for PE, but show everything I am using and provide the things that I learn along the way. I'll probably also have to lean on forum members for insight.

The goal of Chapter 1 is to install an 18" PRV Audio 18SW3000 subwoofer and a 500W Kicker amplifier into my 2005 X-Type in the cheapest manner possible, while following best practices.

I am going to be using StreetWires for patch cables, fuse holder and fuse, distribution, stiffening cap, ground cable, and ground block.

JSC for the power cable and remote turn-on wire.

I've previously installed a Kenwood DDX419, and will be adding steering wheel controls via the Axxess ASWC-1, while trying out a Pyle rear-view camera to save everyone a few bucks.

During the installation, I'll be applying Sonic Barrier damping sheets to lower road noise and panel vibration.

Day 1 - Amplifier power cable
I had planned on using a set of either StreetWires or P3 battery clamps. Still might, but determined that using either would add too much time.

I moved on to running the 4 AWG JSC power wire.

I'd never used this product before and was surprised by both the flexibility of this wire and that I didn't see any tarnish on the conductors.

Now to find somewhere in the firewall to get it into the cabin... Not wanting to drill through the firewall--like that's even possible with the restrictive compactness of the '05 X-Type--I saw the wiper motor wiring harness grommet, first mistake.

Fed the cable through but realized with the '05 X-Types that it leads to the sub-engine section that contains the pollen filter; after I removed the wiper arms (ugh) and plastic cover, of course.

Spent the next 3 hours researching what others had done before and kept coming back to the grommet, that I could barely access, on the driver's side that contains the large feed through harness. This just seemed too cramped to feed through but would probably be fine if I had direct access to it.

Took out my drill, the proper diameter bit (for the bushing I had), and started to feel around for an access point. Between the hood release and main harness feed-through seemed best, but I couldn't get to it without a ton more work.

I moved to the cabin to see if it provided access for my drill (without ripping apart the dash)... no luck.

Guys, I gotta tell you that I was really starting to feel the pressure. Desperately, I started feeling around the main wiring harness from inside the cabin under and behind the dash.

Lo-and-behold, a deleted grommet to the right of the main harness (inside the cabin, to the left if under the hood) magically appeared beneath my fingertips. No way! I immediately moved to underneath the hood as I pushed out the grommet.

Sure enough, Jaguar had built-in a bulkhead port to answer my prayers! I quickly fed 25 ft. of the JSC cable through the portal (to the interior) and terminated the engine compartment side to the StreetWires fuse holder at less than 18" from the battery.

Needing a ring terminal for final termination, I considered that side complete for the day and moved to the cabin, using cable ties to support the cable.

Popping off the necessary driver's side trim panels, I fed the power cable through to the rear seat and decided that I am at a stopping point.

The rain is coming and I don't have a garage... besides, my back hurts.

Day 2 - Head Unit wiring
My backup vehicle (2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee) acted strange this morning on my way to work. Hit a pot hole and the front right wheel seemed not right. Swapped it with my wife's 2010 Fusion, as I didn't want to test a theory at 70 MPH today.

Took off from work early to get the head unit connections set to bed.

First up, get rid of the ducting knuckle that restricts the mounting depth. Grabbed my rotary tool and made quick work of removing that knuckle (extra 1/2" depth added)! Next, I wired the ASWC-1 to the Kenwood DDX419's harness and added a 25 ft. length of JSC hook-up wire to the harness, as well as three sets of StreetWires ZeroNoise 1 Series RCA interconnects to the head unit (Kenwood DDX419).

Once I got everything into place and connected, I found the ASWC-1 didn't want to connect, this added to the "new" no-crank condition challenge presented by this install. Knowing I'd have to pull out the stops to get my ride rolling again for work, I focused on the no-crank condition.

I did my google-search best and stumbled upon a great nugget: The X-Type won't start without the climate control attached... Firmly re-connected the climate control system connectors, and all is right with the world...

Day 3 – Tying up loose ends up front
Started the day off by cleaning up where I left off. Troubleshot the ASWC-1 to a mistake I made in the wiring. I connected the correct white/green wire from the ASWC-1 harness to the blue/yellow wire (pin 18) in the original Jaguar radio harness.

The brown ASWC-1 wire (on the included 3.5 mm female connector) is connected to the blue/yellow Kenwood DDX419 steering wheel control wire. To make the ASWC-1 recognize the DDX419 correctly, a 12k resistor wired between these two wires and plug the female 3.5 mm harness to the 3.5 mm male on the ASWC-1. Steering wheel controls worked once I set the Remote Sensor to on in the System Menu on the DDX419. I still need to reprogram the ASWC-1 to start a call via Bluetooth when I hit the call button (default is attenuate), but I’m moving on.

Next, I finished the power cable connection under the hood using a 4 AWG, 5/16” crimp connector. The crimp was made using this tool. Amplifier power is now put to bed.

To get a reverse signal over to the DDX419, I used a Littlefuse Add-A-Circuit, mini-style, from fuse location F2 (thanks Thermo for the info) over to the head unit. I will point out that I removed the butt splice from the Add-A-Circuit product and soldered a wire that leads to the DDX419. Right here is where I get on my soap box: I don’t believe in butt splices and solder all wire connections, covering with heat shrink. I’ve had too many butt splices fail to ever recommend them, and this comes from someone that has worked on USAF F-16 fighter jets—just set a record for pertinent use of the word butt in a paragraph.

Finally, I connected the composite video cable that will plug into the rear view camera, bundled that with accessory wire and StreetWire patch cables, and began the process of getting everything back to the trunk.
I thank Jaguar for placing the passenger (right side) removable panel in the glove box. This helped me run the composite video cable and also helped me secure my cables along their journey rearwards.

Drawing upon on my experience with jets, I naturally cable-tie this harness every 6 inches where possible. My gracious wife helped me (on our anniversary) feed this harness into the trunk. The passenger kick panel doesn’t want to come off, but can be popped (without tools) to feed behind. All of the other sail covers (there might be a better word for these) are easy to remove without tools. You might have to temp remove the passenger door seal, but it comes off and goes on easy, especially if removing from the forward, top-side first. There is a gap on either side of the rear seats that is about 3” above and to the outside of where the cushion would be. This is how I got the power (on one side) and signal/remote/video cables into the trunk.

Had to call it a day at this point (after checking connections), as my back was feeling it!

UsaftbIrd,

I have no idea of half the stuff in this post, but I just got my X Type last week. It's a beauty and I am very stoked. BUT it came with the basic stereo, which compared to my previous Volvo C70, well it's just not in the same league.

So from my side i would like to do something similar to what you posted.
I.e. boost the bass range and the clarity overall.

I want to do that with the minimal effort and cost (just spent all my dockets on the ride!)

So my thoughts were, I need something along lines of the following:

New better amp
Upgrade current speakers in their current size & location
Possibly add a sub of some kind

That's it!

I want to drive everything through the main OEM dash mounted audio system, so visibly, there would be no difference, just audio-wise I could turn it up without having the bass hurt my ears.

Not sure if what I listed is enough to achieve what I want, (I have zero experience in this area), or what a ballpark cost on that might be, but I for one would be very interested to hear/see your progress, so please continue to share!

Oh and myself as a noob, welcome!

Boomslang

Oh forgot to mention, add an aux line in for iPod, etc :)

nice post, i hope you continue it here. I may have to upgrade soon, this is the first stock stereo i've ever had, it does it's job, but it's not what i need.
Done plenty of nice custom stereo jobs myself before, but decided i'd just be middleaged and keep what i have. I've had the car a year now and i'm getting itchy for bass

Thanks for the support guys. I intend to edit the main post as I go so that everyone can follow along. Just so it's clear, I have a 2005 2.5L X-Type with the stock system.

Boomslang,
If your goal is to build upon the stock system, it's gonna be a tough journey as you are turning high level to line level inputs to feed an amplifier.

I've been doing this quite a while (20 years in car audio) and think you should reconsider using the stock head unit. I believe the Jaguar factory head unit is good for a watt per channel (in my system), and the extra couple of watts from an after market head unit buys you more that you'd ever think!

On top of that, feeding a subwoofer is going to require just a little more work than replacing the head unit. You may have a touchscreen display, and want to keep it. I understand. If that's the case, the Axxess line is perfect for your needs!

If adding a amp to a stock head unit, wouldn't you want to use a powered LOC instead of a passive LOC, especially if your going for more bass?

DKurtti, I don't disagree with you at all. I always prefer active to passive wherever possible. The only brand I would recommend (have experience with) would be AudioControl.

I recommended the Axxess LOCs to help Boomslang keep his project as cost effective as possible, and the these have adjustable pots to allow maximum signal without clipping.

To the stock head unit remark...it is more cost effective in my extensive research to run an aftermarket head unit...the only line level converter I would trust to provide truly unbiased signal is the JL Cleansweep which those can be pricey even used...

I found my Kenwood unit on clearance new on Crutchfield for $180 and it plays my usb devices and has 5V pre-outs which are great for my amplifier...just a thought there...I have always wanted to do a stock install but the extra parts I had to purchase just didnt balance out what aftermarket could bring to the table...

Great post! Please update with Pics!!!!

Kind of a weird selection of driver though.... A power hungry 18 that likes a bandpass box running off a class d 500 watt kicker amp? Seems like you'd need two of those amps to even get that speaker moving properly and your box should/would be about half the size of your trunk. Curious to see how it all turns out!

Line level inputs never sound all that good IMO and only offer about 1.5v signal strenght. Maybe with a line driver you could get the signal strengh up but the sound quality is just not there for me.

UntouchablesInc, thanks for the interest. I've taken a bunch of pics and will upload when finished with the subwoofer installation. As it goes, nothing remarkable as I've only done wiring and it isn't very exciting...

About the subwoofer, here's a taste of the manifold employed to achieve a desired outcome. I plan to use the holes in the deck frame as feed-through. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...ine=1367548653

Many people are conditioned to look at wattage and are quick to come to conclusions, when that may be the most useless speaker specification there is. This is one of the reasons I chose to use a Pro Audio driver with a high power rating.

If you disregard the power handling and focus, rather, on the 96.2 dB (2.83V @ 1 meter, which is 1 watt at 8 ohms at one meter), you will see that I will be at 108.2 dB with 16 watts (give or take) and 119 dB at 124 watts. I hope that I'll be right at 120 dB with this particular amplifier.

This amplifier is certified at 590 watts into 2 ohms, so I expect to get 147 watts or so with an 8 ohm load.

The Qts of this particular driver is low at 0.34, which is a good thing, and the Fs is 43. This driver is best setup for a large ported enclosure that is tuned around 35 Hz. Which is completely in-line with the large cabinet you were alluding to.

Using the manifold above, I plan to direct fire the driver into the cabin using the entire trunk (16 cubic feet, but will be lossy) as the enclosure. Once I get it installed, I'll have a better picture of what is actually taking place and can tune the manifold accordingly (using the trunk as a ported enclosure), if needed using the Dayton Audio DATS hardware to look at the modified impedance and the Dayton Audio Omnimic to capture the frequency response.

Basically I am using this project as a proof of concept. Hopefully it ends up somewhere close to my models. I'm trying to teach people that power handling is a moot point if you have a sensitive driver. If everything works out, I can get a larger amplifier... Keep in mind that doubling amp power only adds 3 dB. I could more easily add four more drivers in parallel for a 2 ohm load, using the same amp, and achieve a 12 dB gain in output (roughly).

Lastly, Kenwood rates the DDX419 line out at 4 volts. I'll be measuring that to see if it's close. You could be right about the line driver after the cable run.

True, wattage advertisement on car audio products are insanely misleading.Your Pro Audio driver is very efficient and has great sensitivity specs needingless power to get it going. It also doesn't have a monster magnet which istypical with higher wattage woofers that require a lot of power. Still thesubwoofer specs are calling for at least 1000w RMS 4-8ohms. That kicker amp unless"old school" is rated for 500watts at 2 ohms and I'm guessing that isnot an RMS rating. Even if it was RMS, you'd still be pushing the amp reallyhard.

Without getting into the age old debate of overpowering vs. under poweringspeakers I still think you could get a lot more out of your speaker with alarger amp. More power = less distortion. 90% of speaker failure is fromdistortion.

Good look on the box though!!! Vent through the deck lid is a classic. Good stuff, not a lot of X-types with systems. Awaiting my Kenwood nav unit then going to town with some old school PG gear.

Man...8-Ohms...you are gonna need one heck of an amp to power that thing...

UntouchablesInc and bracester. Appreciate the feedback. I completely understand where you guys are coming from, as I heard the same things about speakers/power/level in my first few years in audio. Most of what people know about audio is partial truth. Distortion does kill speakers, but it's a particular type. Underpowering/overpowering is also part of the picture, but there's an easier explanation.

Let me help to answer the age old debate about over/underpowering speakers once and for all, and shed light on speakers from an engineering standpoint. If anyone wants to chime in or ask audio related questions, I'll help where able.

As a Parts Express Technical Advisor for four years (averaging 60 calls/day), at the world's largest speaker distributor, processing/diagnosing speaker problems and processing warranty claims, and as a Product Manager with five years' experience of working directly with some of the world's leading Professional Audio speaker manufacturers, you can take what I say to the bank. Not bragging, or being patronizing, just passing along my credentials so you know you aren't wasting time by continuing to read below.

Power ratings:
An honest speaker manufacturer is showing a speaker's power rating as a maximum thermal power dissipation rating, not a recommended (or needed) input power rating.

The continuous power rating, on reputable speakers, is the power level that has been tested with a pure test tone, recorded at reference levels, on speakers with a non-clipping amplifier. Typically, manufacturers use modified pink noise focused in the bands that the driver is built to play. What this means is that they feed a subwoofer 20 to 200 Hz sine waves, all equal power.

Program power/peak power is a rating that accounts for actual music not driving an amplifier nearly as hard as a pure sine wave/test tone. There is no industry acknowledged standard for this, though JBL once tried to define it, but many companies choose to just double the continuous power rating and it truly is much more complex than that.

Many amplifier manufacturers publish numbers that are underrated (due to 90's IASCA car audio categories), right on the nose, or are severely overrated to make a buck. CEA, the Consumer Electronics Association, created the CEA-2006 standard for power measurement at 4 ohms with 1% THD.

Kicker certifies their amplifiers at 2 ohms with 1% THD, so this is the most power their amplifiers can produce without significant distortion. It's been documented that humans begin to perceive distortion at around 3% distortion, just for reference, but that's a discussion for another day due to variables.

Three things destroy speakers:
Clipping - This occurs when either a source device (head unit) or output device (amplifier) exceeds its ability to follow the AC signal of music and begins to output a squared off sine wave, as the device doesn't have the power reserves or ICs to follow the signal. This square off section of signal is direct current.

Any time a speaker sees direct current (DC), it is forced to the extreme end (positive and negative, as clipping typically occurs symmetrically) of its stroke depending on the voltage magnitude of the signal input and gain setting of the output.

What this does to a voice coil is hold it steady, in-place, for a longer duration than they were designed for. Even though it's milliseconds, the voice coil gets extremely hot and will quickly fail. You can tell if a speaker is being clipped as it will begin to sound digital, by that I mean that notes will seem to be over-exaggerated and hang.

Most any device can be forced into clipping. This is where UntouchablesInc's and bracester's comments come into play. If you are forcing a head unit too hard, it's going to give an amplifier a clipped signal, which it will amplify. If you try to get more out of an amplifier than it can deliver, it will too clip the output.

This is why you have to mathematically set goals when designing a system, small to large. If your goals are outside of your system's means, you need to rethink the system.

Excessive excursion - If a large enough voltage is applied to the voice coil of a speaker, the former (the bobbin on which the voice coil is wound) will begin to smack the top and bottom plates of the pole piece inside the speaker (the central metal piece of a speaker that recirculates the magnetic flux).

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/a...ine=1367637084

This mushrooms the voice coil former and will eventually lock the voice coil inside the speaker, and is typified with playing a speaker too low, in frequency.

Too Much Power - If you exceed a voice coil's ability to handle thermal power, it fails. You wouldn't run 120 volts through an Ethernet cable... and you shouldn't!

Tweeters need to have low frequency filtration due to a small voice coil diameter and a small voice coil wire gauge, and the same can be said for midrange drivers.

Voice coil diameter and wire gauge is a huge part of maximum power handling, and should be used as a guide as to whether a manufacturer is being honest with power ratings.

Speaker specifications
Magnet weight - UntouchablesInc made a reference to the 18SW3000's magnet size not being that large. Using the old school standards where we judged a speaker by magnet weight, he's not wrong.

What's been implemented in recent years, with speakers, is Finite Element Analysis. With rare-earth, neodymium and high-density ferrite magnets being used with speakers, magnet weight is less of an issue as it used to be.

Many professionals, now, simply look at the Qts of a driver. If a speaker (sorry about using speaker and driver interchangeably, I am used to doing such) has a Qts of 0.6 or lower, it is said that the motor has sufficient ability to control the driver.

Professionals go by Qts and Vas (equivalent air spring) to determine what enclosure to put a driver in. A Qts of 1 or over makes it a free-air speaker. A Qts of 0.9 to 0.7 makes for a sealed enclosure speaker. Qts of 0.6 to 0.5 means a speaker can be loaded into a sealed or ported enclosure, with 0.4 and lower being ideal for ported or passive radiator speakers.

Personally, I model and plot each speaker to see what works best and try to meet goals that I pre-determine. To do so, I use BassBox, WinISD or a combination of programs that a buddy of mine helped develop (uses Excel).

About audio, power, and SPL - To give everyone a rudimentary reference of audio, most of a speaker's output is accounted for in the first watt of power applied to it. This is what makes sensitivity (SPL) so important.

Most of what people are accustomed to are 85 dB, 1W/1m drivers. This 1 watt per 1 meter specification is not apples to apples when comparing drivers. A better specification, if provided, is 2.83V at 1 meter.

Here's why: amplifiers are voltage devices. You set a gain and you get a specific voltage output. More gain = more voltage. It's really that easy. 8 ohm drivers draw 1 watt of power according to Ohm's law (V^2/R); nominal impedance is another lesson for another day.

4 ohm speakers draw twice the current at a constant voltage level, which means twice the power. Twice the power means a 3 dB increase. Sure, 100 watts vs. 200 watts sounds like a lot, but it's really not. A 3 dB increase is barely noticeable to the human ear.

Our hearing is more logarithmic, and by that I mean that we typically perceive a doubling of acoustic power at 10x power increases. So we notice a 10 to 100 watt and a 100 to 1,000 watt difference, but not as much as we think in between.

By using a 96 dB (2.83V/1m) driver from the onset of this project, I've already turned 1 watt into 10 watts, acoustically, and am a factor of 10 above most available subwoofers on the market. At 100 watts, I'm at the same level as most available subwoofers at 1,000 watts.

I completely understand that seeing is believing, and will provide measurements that will either support my claims, or render my suppositions, and laws of physics, wrong.

Hope this helps, and I'm sorry for the dissertation.

Boomslang, after usaftbird recommendation of audiocontrols active LOC, I came across the Lc7. It will convert 4 channels to 6 allowing you to add a sub. It also has an Aux input. Your not able to control from the head unit, all this would be done from the aux source. Its not cheap, but it gets everything you were looking for in a single unit.

usaftbird,

I agree and have exprienced most everything you've stated to be true. Even by your calculations and explaination, the kicker amp still working at 100% to achieve 60% of the speakers capability. Just pointing out that it's an unconventional combo. I bet it will sound great, just think it could sound better with MORE POWER!!! Hope you are re-doing your front stage as well. Wish we were in the same state so we could both listen and debate. Good luck and keep us posted. Would be the first custom system in an X-type I've seen.


Still think line converters sound like crap...

No sweat, UntouchablesInc! You are absolutely correct in that I am using the subwoofer at a fraction of its capable output. There are some questions I have about the loading the driver, what the cabin gain will turn out to be, and what I need to do with the front stage and rear fill before I go nuts with the power (and to be honest I only listen at around 80 dB).

My post wasn't meant to flame or anything, just trying to create a ground floor upon which to build. You can see where I agree with you, and before going much further with the system (scope creep can be limitless), I have to complete this project for a Parts Express flyer.

In the past, with my 2000 Mustang, I had A-pillar pods that I loaded with these. This allowed me to crossover to the door midbass at 200 Hz, and I actually had solid stereo imaging! I want my imaging back :icon_sad:.

We just received this driver into stock, and I am wondering how many I can realistically fit into a custom A-pillar. First, though, I gotta finish this subwoofer project.

Appreciate the well wishes, and if you are ever in the Dayton area, look me up! Parts Express has a Midwest Audio Fest/Tent Sale the Saturday after the 4th of July (13th this year). Some great deals to be had!

Installing a PAC SWI-RC Steering Wheel Interface and a Jensen UV10 Head unit.
 

I've owned my 2003 Jag X-Type 2.5L for almost a year and finally want to install my old head unit in. I bought a radio installation kit which came with a wire harness, antenna converter, and single din radio housing unit. I also bought a PAC SWI-RC Steering Wheel Interface which after researching works with both my car and head unit. Everything seemed easy enough until I had to locate PIN 18 (Lt Blue/yellow), I've looked for examples or photos of where it might be with no luck. The instructions that came with the PAC SWI-RC didn't even have a picture of what it's supposed to look like. I am in desperate need of assistance, can someone please help and/ or post a picture of where this pin is located and how I need to access it solder or crimp?

Great info! Does this thread continue elsewhere?

I'm trying to run power from the battery to the amp, through the firewall. I noticed a reference, in this thread, to an existing opening in the firewall where it should be possible. But the location is somewhat vague. I think I may have found it, but I'd like to be sure before I begin pushing out rubber seals.

Thank you in advance!