Hey I own a Jaguar XJL 2012 with the Bower Wilkins Sound System.

It's been having an issue since I bought it where all subs/Low end are not making any sound. When I turn the sound up in the car I can only hear but a faint amount sub or noise from any of them.

The only thing you can hear is mids and highs. No matter how much I mess with the settings no change. Reset system via battery terminal, no change. Unplug the amp and plug back in no change.

If anyone has experience with the issue before and remedied please share, or at least something new to consider. I have SDD at my disposal but found no codes relating to it.

I check both the luggage fuse (40amp) and cabin fuse 5amp. Both aren't blown

Here are some pictures of the trunk for reference. I cleaned ground points when I replaced the battery after I acquired the car.

 

Look at the subwoofers themselves, sometimes the spider can separate from the magnet when the glue fails.

 

Is it possible for it to happen to all of them at the same time? I'll take a look but I'm curious if that's a flaw with this specific setup. (It was like this before I got it)

 

These systems have several power amps. It is likely that the amp for the subwoofers has died. It happens. You can get it evaluated at a car stereo specialist and see what the options are for a fix.

 

Do you happen to know where the power module (amp) for the subwoofer may be located. I'm already fairly skilled in pcb repair if that may be the case.

Or is it apart of the main amp shown in the picture?

 

According X351 Service and Repair manual, the audio amplifier is located in trunk, behind of the left sidepanel. (viewed from behind of the car)
Please past info of your findings and repairs to the forum.

Edit: By checking your pictures, you had an visual already (first pic)

 

Sure will! Also do you have the workshop manual, the ones in the sticky (download link) no longer work

 

JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

ocwolfy: I sent you private message

 

Thanks!! I'll update on my findings once I tackle it. Tomorrow most likely I'll remove the amp and start inspecting.

Just inspected the speakers today and they were in good condition, door subs and rear shelf included

 

This link does not include any X351 literature

 

Heres an update to end this forum.

It was actually both the amp, and subwoofers, and the center dash speaker had a blown cone.

Replaced the amp with a the same number but during my research I found that all of these actually work this the xj. You can use this list to understand this for the other cross compatible amps.

Amplifier Comparable List
These work for the 2012 XJ based on what amp you have.AW93-19C164-BPBJ32-19C164-BFBJ32-19C164-BG AW93-19C164-BR
I confirmed it was the speakers via a self test on the audio system found in sdd where it will show the DTCs without removing the door card or the amp. From there you continue diagnosis physically.




​​​​


I couldn't find the short in the old Amp so I sold it for parts for about 50% of the value to some guy in China. And managed to get one pulled from a junk car with the same system for less than I sold the old amp. So it was a win. Just gotta get 6 subs and go through the process of removing the hectic rear deck

 

I have the same car and had a similar sound system problem. It did not sound like I expected. I thought my amp was gone bad(I found out it was very common on these 1280W models), but after replacing it with a 12-channel one, I still didn't have the subs working correctly. I opened the door cards to inspect the speakers and found out that the tinsel leads on the back of the spider were disconnected. The strange thing was that it has happened on both front subs. After fixing the tinsel leads, they now work and sound right. I also had a very bad rattle from the subs on the shelf in the back, which was caused by the spiders being unglued from the other part of the speaker and resonating badly. After all these fixes the sound improved a lot, but I still think that the quality is not what I was expecting for such a high class system.
Here is a photo from Google to show which parts of the speaker I am referring to

Here is a link with all the required service documentation for our vehicles:
https://charm.li/Jaguar/2012/XJ%20%2...d%20Diagnosis/

And here you can find the exact procedure to remove the back shelf:
https://charm.li/Jaguar/2012/XJ%20%2...0and%20Repair/
Keep in mind, that it is a pain in the *** to assemble it back again and you should aim with a lot of patience.
Good luck, and please share your thoughts once you fix/change the speakers.

 

Thanks so much for an info!

And yeah I saw a video on it, it's the tab when putting it back in. I read that some individuals ended up cutting that plastic piece off. And there was no consequences after assembling back. Like the panel moving and such. But I'll attempt at putting the tab in first via thing a string and having someone guide it in.

As for the speakers, I already have good ones on delivery but the previous ones I intend to fix with the help of your reply.

 

I tried to put it back without cutting it because I was afraid of possible rattling after the installation. It is impossible to put your hand back there because of the back window. I tried to guide and push the pointy thing with a thin ruler, but it was too short for this job. In the end, I heated it with a lighter and bent it slightly so it could fit in the hole at the right angle. Now, when I see the steps for assembly, it shows exactly my approach...

I am looking forward for you to share you experience and thoughts on the quality of the sound system once you get it sorted. I am still trying to get the best out of mine because it does not sound better than one of my other cars (2003 Saab 9-5 with an aftermarket head unit with a good DSP). I will need to swap the amp to check if mine is bad, or I will try to change the head unit and put an external DSP.

 

Completely terrible how this is the process we have to take to change the rear subs on the car. If they had made it so that the subs fit directly under its own grill like how they made the XK8 Coupes back in the day it would have only been a 20 min job. But because I intend to tint my XJ with ceramic tint, there's a second benefit to removing the rear panel(to tint the full glass and not around the brake light). But I will be back to share pictures and what I ended up doing to put that plastic back in if I don't cut it or follow your method. But by what I can hear the car has very nice sounding altos and tweeters compared to my other cars. So I would hope the sound fits a luxury vehicle. Especially for a jag, my old ones have all sounded beautiful even with stock sound(Alpine Systems), and that's coming from a person who used to mix audio and now does live performing for music. If you want I have 4 other people in my neighborhood and my surrounding area with X351's. I could try and sit in their cars and see if there's any differences. Most likely I bet they have Meridian.

 

I ended up replacing the speaker with the 1280 watt meridian speakers from a later model junked jag. And after installing they sound amazing! Still haven't gotten to the rear subs as I wanted to finish installing the ambient lighting on the door before disassembling the rear.

I was surprised to find out you can make the meridians work in place of the bower Wilkins as long as it's the same premium speakers.

I'll update on the rear subs later as I'll be getting the car tinted at the same time.

 

Yes we have had many posts on that. Even though the stock speakers are 2 ohm and reference ones are 4 ohm I noticed no problems and I also thought the sound was improved by the speaker swap. I swapped all 6 woofers out for the reference drivers with Kevlar cones. Do note the rear shelf is a ***** to get back in!

This is an old but classic thread from Cambo with many part numbers and pictures. This is where I got my part numbers for the reference drivers. Plus back then I was able to find the LR version MUCH cheaper out of the UK for some reason?
Upgraded Drivers

Here are some more threads on speaker upgrades.
Speaker Upgrades
.
.
.

 

Wow, wish I found those threads 3 weeks ago, I kept looking up the topic and never found them! Glad I took a gamble on my logic when I went to the junkyard and pulled the speakers from a meridian surround sound car from 2015.

Also completed all speaker installations, I wasted no time on the back panel, I just cut the plastic off and it went right in lol, I couldn't be bothered. Next up is to tint the glass so I didnt completely reassemble yet.

But with how tight it is back there I see why there's no room for rattle, it's very tight. So that plastic peice was overkill to me

 

Never thought to just cut that plastic tail piece off?

I ended up cutting a hole from the rear deck into the trunk. Then I drilled a small hole in the "tail" of that plastic part. Then I tied a string in the hole and threaded it thru the small hole I cut in the rear deck. Then as the rear shelf went in I could pull on the string and guide the plastic tail back into it's slot.





It did help but as I was doing this by myself a second set of hands would be VERY useful! I had to keep jumping from the trunk to the back seat as the shelf went in.

Here is where I drilled the hole.





Let us know if you get any rattles or squeaks as that was my main fear if I didn't get it back in correctly.

I was told that pressing in where the red circle is would help align that pin but I struggled with that and still could not get it. Pushing on the green circles did help to get the corners in tight.




That was a lucky find in the junk yard as the reference system is pretty rare and I have only seen pictures of it.
.
.
.