I want to install the fosgate pps4-8 speakers into the doors of my wifes 2012 xjl portfolio base. At a local Dallas stereo shop one of the sales reps informed me the car has fiber optic speakers and could not be changed. I have not heard of these cars being equipped with this type of system. Is it possible to install these speakers into the car? I was given a $250 gift card to crutchfield and i want to buy something good for car! Any assistance with this will be appreciated!

 

I have a 2011 XJ and swapped out all the 8" door woofers with no trouble. It took some elbow grease and time, but came out great and sounds great. I had the intermittent distortion issue that they are prone to having so I swapped the woofers and it fixed the issue. There were regular 2 wire speaker cables in mine and I had the Bowers Wilkins set up, Maybe the 2012 changed, but I doubt its fiber optic.

 

Find a better shop! They don't have a clue.

The connection between the head unit and the amplifier is fibre optic, the connections between the amp and the speakers is plain old copper wire...

 

As Cambo said.
Your Dallas stereo shop hasn’t got a clue and will happily take your money.
The head unit and amp is connected via optical cable. I doubt whether whether any other speakers could match those of B&W’s in the Portfolio setup.

 

Is there a real difference between the different systems equipped in these cars? I see there are models with more speakers and more wattage but are those rated as more wattage per channel or just more overall wattage? For example the base model system provides 600 watts of power to 14 speakers (42.8 watts per channel) and the Wilkins system provides 1200 watts of power to 20 speakers (60 watts per channel). I know this is not as simple as dividing total watts per channel since the Wilkins system has more subs which would require more power to those channels.

 

The 1200W B&W doesn't have "more subs" than the 600W system.

The six additional speakers are three "pairs" of surround speakers (one in the dash, two on the parcel shelf), they're coaxials which are a midrange and tweeter combined, same as what's in the rear doors of the XJ, they count each one as two speakers, so it goes from 14 to 20 in total.

The B&W system has more power overall, but 600W vs. 1200W, these numbers are really just a marketing gag. The basic hardware is the same as the 825W Meridian system in the later cars, so power is just a number on paper.

The tweeters in the front doors, bass speakers in the front doors and subs on the parcel shelf are the same in the 600W and 1200W systems, the other speakers in the B&W are different, with yellow Kevlar cones instead of the standard pulp/rubber ones.

Plus the surround speakers.

 

I figured that was the case. I was looking at the 2012 sales book and mentioned the Wilkes included 2 additional woofers and 2 additional door woofers. I figured that to be wrong since there was no additional room in the door for more speakers! Never trust the sales brochures!

 

I do believe that the Amps are different in the B&W it is Harman Kardon and in the Meridian the amp is Meridian. The difference being total harmonic distortion in the Meridian is .02% and the Harman Kardon is much higher. As for the speakers it is my understanding that they are manufactured by the same licensed company and the cone colors are different. All I can say further is that my 825 watt system is the best audio system I have ever had in a car.

 

How did you mount/wire the speakers in the car? I have yet to see an adaptor mounting bracket or wiring harness for these cars! I was going to either make a mounting bracket or just cut apart the stock speaker and mount/wire to that. I figure if I can mount off the stock speaker bracket I could utilize the factory wiring connector! I have already had a door panel off this car before so I know how tricky that can be but if you have any other "gotchas" before I get into this job I would greatly appreciate it!

 

Somewhere on here I posted about how I did it with pictures. I don't have the search feature from my phone so I can't find it, I don't have the pics anymore but basically i cut out the circular frame of the stock speaker and used it as a mount. It wasn't very hard and it was a perfect fit. As for the wiring I just used wire Sleeves and a krimper.

 

A place called Crutchfield always has adapters and wiring kits. If you buy the head unit or speakers from them they throw them in for "free". I imagine you pay for the kits in the price but it's nice to have all that stuff and you can call them at anytime for help.

https://www.crutchfield.com/

 

To even suggest that the speakers are wired with fiber optic lines really goes beyond incompetence. Also beyond ignorance and into downright stupidity. The reason these systems are so good is because of the clean amplifier. Why would you totally negate that quality by running the speakers with fiber? I am not even sure a speaker exists that would ever accept fiber. You would need a powered amp at each speaker to convert the fiber signal back to something the speakers can use. Was it a high school kid?

 

The amps in the X351 XJ, XF from 2012MY, F-Type, and various Land Rovers from 2012MY are all made in the same <<shall not be named>> factory in France, regardless of how they are branded; Bowers & Wilkins, Harman Kardon or Meridian. Essentially the only difference between them is software.

Meridian doesn't make a damn thing in these cars, just software and badges.

Yes, all made by PSS in China, formerly known as Philips. The exception being the Meridian Signature speakers which are made in Slovakia.

 

In the eighties Bose system in the Corvettes they put an amp at each speaker in their own enclosure. Of course they were fed by a twisted shielded pair of wire cable. No fiber optic.

 

Thanks Cambo, I stand corrected. But haven't heard nearly as many issues with the Meridain branded systems as had heard about the B&W systems and blowing speakers.

 

Safe to say they have made some ongoing improvements over the years, but it's pretty much the same hardware since the beginning.