The hands free works great, and have been told that they could not tell I was hands free, which I attribute to the Jaguar being so quiet inside. Other vehicles may vary. I have never tried to use the Navigation by voice. I will try it this weekend and see if it works.

 

thanks.. i am getting ready to tear it apart. I will start a new thread or something to document it. But the system that is in there is lame. I am going to completely remove all of it. so thanks for your post. it has been the most help.

 

This makes me want to find an 2004 xjr without navigation to add an aftermarket nav

 

You are a Godsend! I have been looking feverishly for a way to replace the lame factory audio system. So I should have no problem with the Fiber Optics right? I will give this a try..right now I can't even play cds. I have a 2004 Vanden Plas.

Thanks

 

Suprane1 how much you will charge for that job?

 

Anyone tried this with an x308 XJ8 or XJR? Any reason to think it wouldn't work?

 

Hi Suprane,

Great set of posts, I am trying to copy the same sort of job on mine.

Main issue is locating the new double din unit securely which I have struggled with.

I have imported an S type metra adapater but it seems a bit flimsy and you seem to have to rely on the plastic side brackets that come with it to locate the new double din unit in place under the air con unit?

Is that the case or did you use something else to locate it?
Or did you adapt a double din chassis and somehow screw that to the metal mounts which the factory unit torx screws were mounted through?

Thanks so much for any help or advice you can give.
Regards, Al.

 

The Metra radio mount worked fine. I originally though it would be too weak, but once you mount it up, you will see that it works fine. I have had no issues with this. I had planned to have a special plate made and to put over it to tie it in to the high gloss look. But I got very used to it, and I like just as it is...

 

Suprane1,
As I previously commented, I did go forward with my project and it ended up with replacement of all the original parts - head unit, wiring, speakers, amps, etc. I have a 2008 and it had the fiber optic wiring so I had no choice. I was going to let you know that the shop that did the install told me after the fact that the small oval speakers at either side of the dash actually had no speakers there, so those places were available for placement of the GPS and sirius radio antenas and are out of sight under the speaker grilles. Thanks for the great write up and pics.

 

Planning to follow your lead to install a new radio/GPS unit on my 2004 XJR! any new updates since your installation?

RyeJag

 

Please need help with wiring harness and aftermarket radio wiring

 

You can get remote steering wheel controls by using Metra's Axxess ASWC-1. You can get CAN bus information using CANM8 NAV module. You can get the harness adapter and radio mount from Metra. Use JTIS for wiring diagram.

Metra Online | Welcome to Metra Auto Parts Online Warehouse

https://axxessinterfaces.com/

CANM8 CANNECT NAV

 

Nice setup in the Jaguar. Did you ever get the steering controls to work with the aftermarket head unit?

 

Just did a kind of similar job on our 2004 XJ8 VDP. It has the Alpine 12 speaker system with the CD changer in the trunk. All the speaker outputs from the head unit to the amp were through the fiber optic network. I mounted two amps in the trunk and used 4 outputs on the head unit in combination to drive all 12 speakers. I pulled the original speaker wires from the trunk up to the head unit and ran 2 sets of RCA cables to the new amps. I used the original remaining speaker wires from the new amps to the original speakers. Sounds involved, it was but not insurmountable. I also added a front and rear camera which is cool. The head unit is an Atoto, chinese of course F7 model from Amazon. Might have gotten an F8 if I had to do it again, it has a few more features. But so far this is a huge improvement and functionality. It runs Android Auto which is easy for the wife to deal with, a real plus. Car now acts like a much newer one with current electronics.