Hello all!
I am sure this has been asked many times, but I have not been able to find a straight answer yet.
What process do I have to go through if I wanted to replace my stock stereo system with an everyday deck? (Stock is the tape deck and cd changer in the trunk combo with no nav).
I found a kit on eBay that includes the facia kit, an antenna adapter, and stalk control wiring... But some have told me that I would have to change every speaker and run all new wiring. So I figured I would ask the pros

 

My apologies, I forgot to add that it is a 2002 x-type, 2.5L

 

Solar, I do car stereos for fun. So, I have a little bit of experience with this (granted, not specifically with the X-Type though).

The real question is how good of a sound do you want? Some people just want a nicer radio and the sound quality is not of major importance. Others (like myself), want the best sound possible. If you stick with the stock speakers, the sound is going to nice, but not great. Granted, the other thing you need to keep in mind is that you will also need to stick under about 10W RMS (or 35W max, 10W RMS and 35W (peak) are two completely different ratings in the stereo world and they are used interchangeably, with peak being the one that they tend to post everywhere). Going to higher power out of the radio is asking for speaker failure to occur which will then result in horrible sound even to the deaf person.

As for upgrading wiring, again, this is a "how good do you want it and what are you willing to spend, but may be a requirement based on power". You stick with the stock speakers or keeping the power under the 10W RMS/35W peak, then upgrading the wiring is not going to net you anything. You start running more power than that and you are going to be heating up the wiring and you are loosing volume out of your speakers.

Do you need the facia, definitely. The other stuff, depending on the radio, maybe not. Kinda like you can go without the stalk control module since the radio is right there. But. some people like to keep the steering wheel controls. So, to each their own.

As for the radio, with the opening that the car has, you can pretty much put in whatever radio you want.

 

Thank you for the information.
I finally had some nice weather yesterday to really have a look at the current setup, I worry that the previous owner may have had some gadgets already wired in at one time. I found a "monster" power wire running from the battery to the trunk that was cut off and a thin wire jimmy rigged into my fuse panel running to the trunk as well.
In the trunk there is the factory cd changer, an there are two red RCA wires laying there not plugged in, but they run to a little electrical box in the trunk and from there up under to one of the speakers... Makes me curious

 

Thermo, I'm glad you are familiar with car audio. I used to dabble in this all the time wiring up new car stereo systems in my cars. I noted that you are not specifically familiar with the X, but you might still be of help.

I have two Apline 6" bass speakers (I believe they are 6") in the back shelf and then the separates in all 4 doors. I like the stock head unit look and I want to keep the steering controls. I've gone back and forth with the idea of replacing the head unit, but I keep going back to sticking with it. What I'd like to do is get more low end sound out of the shelf speakers without compromising the door speakers, even if that means upgrading the shelf speakers so i don't have to buy an 8" or 10" sub for the trunk. I used to revel in the accomplishment of mimicking sub woofer sound out of the acoustic dynamics of the interior of the car (i.e. getting 6x9's or 6.5" speakers with high db's and good power handling to maximize the low frequency output avoiding the subs and amps that inevitably get stolen). I had a good set up in my former car, but I upgraded to the Jag. Sound is good, but i don't hear the full range of the lows that I think the system needs. I don't mind the range the tweeters and mid speakers putting out. I think they sound fine.

In an effort to remain less wordy in this post, my question is is my greatest limitation going to be the head unit, the way the watts are split up to the 10 speakers, or the speakers themselves? All of the above is an option too If I could run a separate amp to power the 6's in the shelf I think I'd be happy, but the head unit doesn't have RCA's and I'm not sure I can do a high level hook up without jacking the wiring up let alone finding an amp with high level inputs. I'm not really into the heavy bass anymore and I don't much care for the neighbors to hear me coming. What is your advice and expertise? Would I even be able to keep the stock head unit, the stock door speakers, and run another amp to get more bass out of the current - or new - 6's in the shelf? I have feeling as I adjust the bass on the head unit I'll compromise the peak capacity of the separates unless I install a line driver to boost the shelf speakers. Good news, i still have an old school Phoenix Gold Line Driver if I needed to do that.

 

BTW, I don't have Navigation. I just have the standard head unit with Premium Sound.

 

Holy hell, i just read through this thread (https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ade-faq-64614/) and my audiophile prowess isn't quite this amazing. Although the Kickers are a good choice. I have a paid of the older original Comp 6.5's. Anyway, I'd still appreciate your feedback before I attempt to dig into this. From the thread it sounds easier than it looks. I'm horrible with wiring diagrams.

 

ugotmale, if you open up the trunk, in the left rear corner of the trunk, you will find the power wires and whatnot for the stock amp. That would be a good source for power. Then if you want to go a small amp, those wires will power what you are after. But, then this would also require adding say an 8" sub to either the stock location (under the shelf by the rear seat) or building a separate sub box (I know this isn't what you are really after).

The problem is, given a speaker size, regardless of what you do, that size speaker is only capable of going but just so low (basic physics of how sound is produced). So, if you are wanting more bass, the only real answer is going with a bigger speaker, which would then mean subs, a box, an amp, etc.

As for getting RCA inputs, going with an aftermarket radio is always an option. If you want the stock radio, then look into something called a "Line Level converter". It has an extremely high resistance on its input, so, you can wire it in parallel to your stock speakers, but it will adapt the signal down to something that a typical amplifier can handle. The beauty of the converter is that you can set the RCA levels to pretty much whatever you want (ie, the higher the better to get the best S/N ratio).

A third option you may want to consider is simply upgrading to the stock subs and amp. That would be plug and play and you can then also upgrade the subs right off the bat to something worthwhile and things should be pretty well balanced from the get go.

 

Thermo, I'm not sure what you mean about upgrading to the stock subs and amp. I thought the two Aplines I have on my back shelf were the upgraded subs.....?? Only bass comes out of them and I thought they were 6" speakers, are they 8" though?

Also, I understand what you're talking about when you mention a Line Level Converter. So I could get like an Audio Control line converter and take the +/- wires going to the shelf speakers and route them to the Line Converter and then run RCA's to an add on AMP. Then buy new shelf speakers with higher power handling and power them off the additional amp. Am i correct in how I'm processing this? Sounds fairly simple and would accomplish what I want. Is there any fiber optics type wiring to account for or deal with, or is it just typical audio wiring?

 

ugot, I am pretty sure the factory subs are 8" subs. If you have those, then you may simply need to find a speaker with a higher dB/w rating to get the bass that you are after and be done with things.

As for the line converter, yes, it is as easy as you are thinking. There is no fiber to be playing with. All the fiber controls is the signals between the CD changer and the radio. It doesn't send the audio signals anywhere.

 

Awesome! Thanks Thermo!

 

Hi,

I have a 2004 2lt diesel saloon with dials for the aircon, tried to retrofit a double din stereo to find there is a aircon/heater blower duct in the way so the stereo sticks out of the dash by about 2 inches.
Is it posible to modify this duct to accomodate my stereo?