Hello everyone,

as the title states I want to upgrade the sound system of my 00 XJR with the Alpine system in it. I have spent the last couple of hours researching this forum and many conflicting ideas out there. As of now I believe everything works in my current system with the exception of the sub-woofer, as its blown so I have the volume to it completely turned down.
Here are the basic things I would like to accomplish.

• I would like to keep the stock head unit. if it needs to go, I'd go with a single din option, as I have read that doing a double din requires way too much work
• can the factory sub-woofer be replaced / repaired?
• Can the factory amp run an aftermarket subwoofer?
• should the door speakers be replaced or just the addition of a working subwoofer make the sound enjoyable again?
  
• Is the option to add the Ipod plaver aux cable through the cd changer connections still available?
• Can blue tooth be added for phone usage?
• Any recommended audio shops in the LA area?

Edit: I forgot to add that the stereo signal strength seems to be very weak. Is this a common problem, or something in specific I should look out for? The antenna does retract up and down.

Thank you,

 

The factory sub can be repaired. There are several posts, including mine, on replacing the foam surround. Restoring the sub really improved the sound quality of the Alpine system for my car

 

I believe I did see your your thread. It seem like a lot of work to get to the speaker just to replace a 6x9 or repair it. But I guess I would have to listen to a system with the woofer working for me to make that call.

 

The majority of the work is the removal of the rear parcel shelf which you will still need to do to install a replacement sub unless you are considering a boxed sub to mount in the trunk

 

The subwoofer when working is pretty good. Mine worked for a week, then I got carried away with the David Arnold Project / Propellerhead's On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and sometime terrible happened to it. Suspect it needs the repair kit.

 

I'd go ahead and replace the door speakers. The Alpines almost universally have problems with the the cone foam rings degrading by this point. They weren't spectacular speakers to start with, and are easily overshadowed by any mid-level modern speaker. I put Eclipse components in my doors and the improvement in sound quality was huge. Same with the "subwoofer". I replaced mine with a new mid-level Alpine 6x9 and sound quality improved a bunch. It wasn't bad stuff when it came out, but even the inexpensive modern aftermarket stuff is better.

 

Do you know which model of Alpine 6x9 you used? Did it fit well? Did it have dual voice coils? I would like to order one and have it ready, before I take the rear shelf apart!

 

How about just running an aftermarket sub in the trunk? something small like a 10". would the factory amp be able to power that?

Or can something like this be an option with a built in amplifier.

PWM110-JXWXv2 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Systems - PowerWedge MAX? - JL Audio

Also any thoughts on my weak radio signal?

much appreciated!

 

BUMP

for some answers out there in regards to the powered subs

and some opinions on my weak radio signal

Cheers!!

 

VR6, I have the same issue and I went to every custom radio installation place in town and none of them had a clue for the XJR's. Not sure what (if anything) is so different between the XJ8/VP and the XJR... No one could even find a replacement speaker because they said they are pre-powered.
Did you ever find a replacement or fix your sub?

I know it's silly but did you check the antenna plug? I had an issue where the jack came loose and plugged it back in and put some electrical tape on it.

 

Guru, everything is possible on the XJR. It all depends on how involved you want to get, or how much you want to spend. Just for your reference, take a look at my '02 XJR (pix gallery). You don't really need to do that much, but some of it may work for you. BTW, just about any head unit will work, provided that you fabricate a front panel, which is a piece of cake, really. Of course, my new radio (a 7" TFT display HU) is an exception to this rule; even though it is a single din it was not easy by any means. If you have questions, go ahead and ask. BTW, whereabouts do you live in LA?

 

I have not gotten around to tackling the sound system. Life keeps getting in the way. There is a stereo shop local to my area that was recommended to me by a jaguar specialist. I plan on visiting to see what they have to say. I will update this thread with my findings.

 

Wow that's a lot of work. I really want to just improve the sound quality. I would not mind keeping the original stereo in there as long as it would be compatible with new speakers. I did see some stereos in my search with built in bluetooth which would solve my hands free issue and the ability to play music stored in my phone. There are a few out there that do not look too out of place IMO. So that would probably be the best option, as a tape deck with phone dials is pretty out dated.
Also still trying to weight out if disconnecting the blown subwoofer and adding a powered unit in the trunk is the way to go. I'm not looking for a loud system, just something with good sound quality.

I live in the west la / culver city area.

 

I went to Car Toys and had a single DIN installed in my XJS. It was reasonably priced and now I have Bluetooth and I can stream music from my iPhone. It works great! I even can hear driving directions from Siri through my speakers! I've been so happy with it, I wanted to have the same setup in my 02 XJR. I knew the shape of the dash was an issue so before going back to Car Toys, I bought this dash kit off of ebay that solves the odd shape of the dash. I'm pretty happy with the kit and I even like the Leaper that's on it. Here's a link on eBay for the kit in case anyone's interested:

Jagsd Single DIN Stereo Dash Kit for 1998 2003 Jaguar XJ8 XJR Vanden Plas | eBay

Anyway, so after receiving the dash kit, off I go back to Car Toys with the expectation of soon listening to Dave Matthews in my XJR streaming through my iPhone while talking via Bluetooth and multitasking while driving like everyone should nowadays. (Kidding, of course!) I meet with an installer. Not so fast he says! There are complications he says! Complications?? Apparently, the premium factory sound system in the XJR isn't so easy. What do you mean only the two front speakers would work unless I pay lots of extra money (like $1,000!)? I can't remember the details because I don't know much about stereo technology. All I remember is the $1,000+ price tag if I want all four speakers to work. Yikes! DISAPPOINTMENT! Now I have this $60 faceplate with a cool Leaper that I can't use.

So to at least get Bluetooth I bought a Jabra FREEWAY Bluetooth device from Amazon for about $60. I researched several different devices and after reading many of the reviews I chose the Jabra FREEWAY. I gotta say, I LOVE IT! It sounds great. People I talk to tell me the sound of my voice comes through clearly. It's slim and I don't even notice it on my sun visor. One of the best things to it is you never need to turn it on or off; it senses when you're in the car and shuts itself off when you leave. So the battery lasts weeks without a charge. If you're going to get a hands free device, this is the one to get. Believe me, I'm pretty picky about my cars.

But in the end, I'm still missing streaming Dave through my iPhone. If anyone has some advice of what I can do to have a single DIN installed without the $1,000 price tag, I'd love to hear from you.

 

I'm planning an upgrade myself in a couple weeks, and will post my findings. It almost sounds like they were concerned about needing to tap the factory amp for the full speakers to work, but makes me wonder what their justification for such a price was. That price they could've completely rewired the entire car straight off the deck with money left over (I've charged far less to do that in a Cadillac Catera back a while ago).

Question quick if I may, how thick is that trim panel that you bought?

 

I tried connecting the factory sub outputs to a trunk mounted non powered sub just to see how it would sound. The OEM crossover is too high for a nonpowered and non crossovered sub in the trunk to sound good. I had my original sub removed and with the factory sub output volume maxed out, but the trunk mounted non powered sub was hardly audible in the cabin. Even if it could get louder, the OEM crossover is fine for a shelf mounted sub, but too high for a trunk mount.

PS I'm an audiophile (I own Magnepans) and not looking for booming bass. My perspective is that a sub should smoothly fill in the bottom end, and I was let down. The OEM shelf mount sounds better than this non-powered approach.

 

But regardless, calling a 6x9 speaker a "sub" woofer is not accurate. The factory 6x9" rear shelf speaker couldn't accurately reproduce frequencies lower than 100Hz, let alone anything below 80Hz. I suppose that such a speaker could be called a "woofer", but never a subwoofer. I am not interested in "booming bass" because I do not listen to that kind of music, heck, not even rock, really, but there are pipe organ passages in either symphonic or opera works (Butterfly's deep background "gong" comes to mind) that you will never hear with Jaguar's so-called "subwoofer". And even those low Hz notes that you could hear with the rear shelf 6x9's (such as, perhaps, jazz's natural string bass) will not necessarily be very close to what they're supposed to sound like with the proper equipment.

The answer for the X308 is a 10" (or 12") sealed enclosure subwoofer in the trunk/boot (pick up truck style works great for room savings purposes). Of course, the problem for the average citizen is that, as you mentioned above, the OEM amplifier is just too weak to drive anything bigger than a 6x9" speaker. You would need a stronger amp, but you'll still have to resolve the use of a different amp with the OEM radio still in there. Today, many are changing the OEM radio with a more versatile after market replacement. Depending on your personal approach/taste, that'll be the way to go.

Cheers,

 

I think you're right about tapping the factory amp for all the speakers to work. I seem to recall them telling me I needed a new amp. But I'm not positive.

I'm on vacation and can't check the width of the trim panel. I think it's about a half inch. You could follow the link to the supplier I provided and ask him for the exact size. He's posted on this forum before and he's very helpful.

 

Most vehicles with a factory amp use the line level out of the dash to the amp, and an aftermarket just needs to have a line to trigger the factory amp on, which is just a matter of knowing what the remote turn on for the amp wire is, and tap it. Surely not 1000 dollars worth. But again, that depends on their ultimate plan. And, not knowing the company itself, my first inclination would be they either a) didn't REALLY want to tackle the whole project so just threw out a number they assumed you wouldn't want to pay, to skirt it. Or B) figured they wouldn't want to try to decipher wiring, and would rather just replace everything, with allllll new bits and goodies, and charge accordingly. But, there's a chance that there's something totally going wacky and needs a ton. Another few weeks, and I'll know one way or another, hopefully.

 

So my question still stands. How about if the sub is self powered.

PWM110-JXWXv2 - Car Audio - Subwoofer Systems - PowerWedge MAX? - JL Audio

and just change the door speakers with better quality ones.

I am also not looking for booming bass, but I do want to hear the low frequencies that you can hear in Jazz.