Leaper installed! Next time I'll use a real camera, still, it gives you the idea.

 

I think with all the 'accessories' you have around the radio, the leaper fits in nicely. If they weren't there, however, I'd still stick with the clean look - no leaper.

BTW Greg, did the back seat leather arrive via USPS?

 

YES, YES it did arrive. I didn't reply right away because I did experiment with it and wanted to send you a picture along with my thank you. Sorry for the delay, I got busy with business and now it's days later. So thank you very much Matt, it is much appreciated! I'll post a picture soon.

And Mike-looking good with the leaper! Good job!

 

You might offer an option with the faceplate pre-drilled for this emblem. I saw others that tempted me, so that might get out of hand on the option thing...

Drilling a couple holes is not all that difficult!

 

Pretty nice product! Looks like a stereo upgrade is on the horizon.

 

Here is the latest on my stereo upgrade project; nearly done!

I am satisfied with the cleanliness of the install and look, and the images below tell the story of the results. A bit busy with the cell phone holders, but I have become cell phone centric, and it is increasingly something I use. So, while the look takes a hit, it suits me well and at least it gets rid of stuff stuck to the glass or sitting on a beanbag on the dash.

It is easy to remove the holders for a cleaner look, and that is show also. I also see where a basic setup might be userful, so show that as well.

The only thing left to do is to replace the new stereo with a better one. This one has everything I want, but the user interface is terrible. A new one is on order, bigger screen (backup camera works great!) which is also a touchscreen, so hopefully this will be easier to use. At least this one remembers what you were listening to last the next time you fire it up!

Full boat


Phones not loaded


Simplified, one phone, no extension


Phone holders removed


I'll do one last post to this when the new stereo is installed, including some pics of me watching Lord of the Rings with preferably a Whatney's in hand (parked naturally). Do they still make Whatney's in England? I can't buy it here in the states any more...

 

Install looks really good, I like it. Single DIN radios are getting harder to find it seems. I have been very happy with my JVC ADV49, recently replaced by the AVX-77, and has all the features you'd want...and currently have. I actually have my 120GB portable hard drive powered off of its rear USB, so my music is very little compression MP3 files, and I have over 1200 songs, with plenty of room on it for more. Wired microphone for use in the BT, user installed backgrounds, HD radio (with an extra box), 7-band EQ. Only thing it doesn't have is a manual volume knob...you have to turn your finger on the faceplate in a circle to make it raise/lower, or use the steering wheel controls, which i do (requires a PAC adapter). The remote can also be used. I even watch a movie from time to time on those long drives. Good luck hunting for that new stereo!

 

Nice going on the install, Mike! Nice and clean and functional. Did you do the electrical part too?

greg

 

Thanks H2O! The JVC is attractive, but I already bought another cheapie with a touch screen. Hopefully it will do the job and be easy enough to use. If not, I will consider springing for this more expensive unit. That is a nice screen it has...

Greg, I dived into it myself, got the camera installed and run through the console, and did all the wiring myself using the line level inputs on the new stereo. It would fire up, the antenna would work correctly, everything looked good, but NO sound. After some frustration I spent $50 and had an installer look at it and he got it to work. Basically, he cut off all the RCAs I had put on the line level inputs to the amp and hooked the SPEAKER wires of the new stereo up to the rear amps line levels! Apparently, car audio does stuff like this, with two levels possible into outboard amps, and with the line levels I had hooked up, the amp would not even turn on (it needed a high level signal to auto-turn on). I never would have thought to do that, as in my old school pro audio (did that for a number of years for large venues) shoving speaker outputs into line level inputs would have blown the thing sky high. So, it took a car guy to get it to work. But I tried and had it 90% correct! The new one I should have no problem with...

 

I went with the Alpine X-305 and Alpine speakers in mine. Sounds much better than the stock system. I just need to finish the face plate, but the adapter kit in Ebay is starting to look attractive.

 

The Premium amp and speakers, including the sub on the package panel in the back, kicks pretty darn well to my ears. I had no real complaint with the sound, only the outdated media compatibility, like a cassette never to be used. I don't know what speakers they use, but Harmon Karden is the parent company of JBL, and they know speakers. They get my pant leg flapping sometimes, so they are pretty good air movers.

TN8Shooter, did you have the premium system in yours?

 

Glad you got it all figured out, Mike. I've had to do the speaker level input to the amp thing on a few cars but I don't recall having to do it on the XJ8's. Ah, good old car electronics, always some new twist to mess with you!

TN8Shooter-get the kit my friend and tidy up that dash. You deserve it, the car deserves it! They're cheap! That nice Alpine will look great!

 

I think you're right. Just have convince my wife that it's worth the price. She's not very happy with the car after spending $125 on trans fluid the other day.

 

I did have the premium Alpine system. I was able to splice into the speakers via the connector located in the rear driver side fuse panel. I still haven't connected to the sub or the antenna yet, but I have Sirius through the Alpine h/u.

 

I don't know if this is any help, but i did find it interesting:
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...ontrols-56937/

Cheers,

Frank

 

I was wondering if you could help me out?

Ive figured out that my sub cable that was allready installed, is wired to a after market volume control in the center arm, I belive the way they have wired this thing in is via cutting into the r/l rear speakers.

Ive had the sub working via the facotry radio, i just decided to change out the head unit as the Cassete method for MP3 player blows and somebody has had a FM transmitter modulator installed that was cut into the stereo wires at the harness.

This in turn had a sirus radio xm ariel and the connection for IPOD/mp3 with problem being, sound quality is bad over 89.1 fm.

So then i tryed the CD changer in the boot, now it loads and the head unit displays the cd in opperation but there is no volume from the CD changer to the head unit(no sound).



So i decided on a new head unit with a direct USB front port for my MP3s.

Since stripping out the old radio and the Extra stuff for the XM/Sirus i then started to wonder..how do i wire in the new head unit if there is a factory amp some where in the car? ive checked high and low above the CD changer behind the glove box and i just cant seem to ID the amp?.

This is a XJ8 2001 sedan

My main question is, would i be better to run a new RCA cable right from the new radio RCA out-put so that i can use sub control from the unit or just leave it the way it is?

if i cut into the harness and connect the new radio up this way..will it communicate with the factory amp ok?.

After all, i was counting on the facotry amp for a few reasons..the split in the component style speakers, the amp seperates the highs and lows right? and the new radio i bought does have built in mosfet pre outs but only a RMS of 22W. i didn't want to under amp my new 50W RMS speakers ive just installed.

or... is just really simple i splice in the new radio into the harness thats there and everything should work great?.

Any advise would be great.

 

I spliced into the existing harness, and it worked out fine with a few oddities. Apparently you can drive the existing harness with speaker level output. As a pro audio guy that is madness, but in this space it is done all the time to drive the amp in the trunk (if you have the premium system with sub on the back panel). I have no idea about the volume in the console with your description.

In short, it was pretty easy to just cut the wires behind the head, connect the four speaker wires, power, etc. and the sub crossover and power to the existing speakers worked fine. At first I was going to pull all new line levels back there, but thank God that was not needed.

Good luck.

 

Now there is a Kit for the xj8 308. has anyone tried it yet?
Made by Dynamic Sounds:

Jaguar XJ8 (1998-2002) Car CD Stereo Fitting Kit Fascia, Steering Control Stalk Adaptor

Jaguar XJ8 Car CD Stereo Fascia Fitting Kit

 

Looks like a great solution, if it actually works.

Only thing is..believe it or not, have an extensive collection of cassettes (remember them?) that I'd like to keep the ability to listen to without having to spend the next 5 weeks in my home recording studio dumping 150+ cassettes to CD or loading on an iPod.

(Yeah, a luddite. Right now, my OEM alpine radio seems to have a cassette jammed in the mechanism...time to remove and try and see why.)

 

I purchased the harness and stalk adapter mentioned in the thread above (got it from NEXXIA in the UK).

CTSJG001.2 - Jaguar XJ8 1998-2003 Stalk Adapter).

It does not fit my 2002 XJ8 Sport. Apparently Jaguar changed the Alpine unit in 2001. The later models have a funky 12-pin white plug and a 26-pin yellow (Ford) plug. Neither of these match the plug in the adapter kit. (I found that out $60 dollars later)

I've been hunting all over the internet for the opposite plugs so that I can build a harness adapter to my new Pioneer DEH-X6700BT stereo but so far have not had any luck. If anybody knows where to find them please reply to the thread.

Below is a picture of the plugs used in my '02 XJ8.

PS: I have the face plate from HardToFindJag installed. Looks great. I would have loved to put in a double-din unit but didn't want to hack the vehicle. I also looked at the flip-out screen units but they are likely to hit the gear shift unless you remember to put it in Drive first (and some of them come out automatically when you start the vehicle).