It's a 2003 Jaguar VDP and I kept that in mind the entire time as style, class, and luxury were more focus. I'm looking to update the Sound system. Not to the "boom boom" music, but just something a bit more modern. The next two pics are the current setup and the new one I just ordered from eBay.

AGSD Single DIN Stereo Dash Kit for 1998-2003 Jaguar XJ8/XJR/Vanden Plas will keep it classy.

It cleans up top portion with new buttons and removes the cassette player when I'd never use anyway.
For the stereo, I chose the Pioneer DEH-X8600BS. It has a built in CD player, MP3 or iPod hook up on the front, USB (with extension cable) on the back, and Blue Tooth Phone system with microphone and everything else needed to have Bluetooth phone like the newer ones and I think I can play my music via Bluetooth as well, but I don't really care about that. I have the six-disc CD changer that will wire right up and I'll use as an AUX.




The necessary wire harness, METRA 70-9500 LAND ROVER FREELANDER/JAGUAR 2001-2008 WIRING HARNESS, to connect the new stereo to the car was cheap and will make life much easier to install.

This is the Axxess-ASWC-1. It will automatically set up with most cars (hoping mine will) and if not, then you can program it.




<b>So there it is! Lemmy know what you think!!!</b>

 

Gonna get some breakfast... will finish up later. There is a kit I can use to connect up to my current steering wheel controls too!!!

 

The first picture is not what you have in an 03 XJ8 but rather from up to 99.
From 2000 to 2003 Jaguar used an Alpine system with a radio supporting the Nav and 320 watts with very, very good quality in their premium package ( as in a 03 VDP)
You should lessen to it before deciding that you need to change it

 

"Too each his own",...."It's YOUR car".......stuff like that comes to my mind. Speaking only for myself,......when I see a car (Jaguar especially!) with aftermarket stereo,....I RUN AWAY. If the previous owner decided to screw with the radio, what else did he screw with? And that's just from the practical point of view.

Aesthetically,......no comparison! These "modern", multicolored, LED flashing, graphic displaying, radios just look wrong in the classic lines of the dash. To me it's like fitting K98 Mauser with a twenty dollar Chinese scope (vintage gun owners will understand).

Just recently I walked away from 87 XJ6 that had aftermarket radio, and amplifier in the trunk. I drive classic cars, because I like CLASSIC. Classic will never measure up to "modern" (that's advancing technology that never stops), and what's modern today, will be obsolete in a VERY short time. Is modern better? Better sound quality, that's for sure. Better looks? I don't think so. When I want to enjoy music, I have my equipment at home, when I'm in the Jaguar, I want to enjoy DRIVING, inhaling the smell of the wood and leather, and having the pleasure of looking at the smooth and logical lines of the interior. Sometimes I listen to the music when I drive, and then I enjoy the classic equipment, that still works like the day it left the factory.

Bottom line? This radio of yours would drive me NUTS, and I'd never buy a car with aftermarket radio in it.

Rant over.

 

This is a pic of the center console that was taken of the vehicle yesterday. They looked pretty close to me. you are correct that they re different, but the cassette portion gets removed either way. I expected to see "Alpine" on the unit, speakers, etc which just wasn't there so I didn't know what to think. I get it tomorrow. I will bring some cassettes (yes, I have have 300-500 of them still) and some CD's and see how it does for me. That raises another question, should I see "Alpine" anywhere? If so, why dont i and if not, why is it not shown?

 

You make some EXCELLENT points here. I chose this because of the elegance and tossing in "disco" can really hurt that overall. With that being said, What can/should I do to update and/or improve the audio in this fine machine?

Respects,
RAGMAN!!!

 

I left my head unit as is but replaced the cabin speakers w/ Rockford Fosgates & put Memphis Audio subwoofers(mind you it's only 500 watts nothing earth shaking lol) in the boot, sounds great.

 

I have put all of my orders on hold with the option to move forward or to cancel completely. I'll pay the restocking fee if I decide it's the right move. Thank you for the input. Any additional from anyone is appreciated as well. Here's a link to the pics of the car again. I think there are three pages now...
2003 XJ8VP Photos by ragman1171 | Photobucket

 

Also my steering wheel controls are still operable I remember the guy saying it was a 19$ wiring kit to do so.

 

The name "Alpine" is on the door speakers grill

 

Make sure you have your headunit DSP set to "front left" when you listen to it. You can change this in the bass/treble/subwoofer menu The sound system sounds horrible in the 'All' Setting, but pretty good in the front left mode. Also make sure your OEM subwoofer isn't blown. I also agree with the others, an aftermarket headunit looks cheap and tacky in a Jaguar. To get better sound quality than a properly functioning OEM premium Alpine system would require a bit of work and $.

 

I went through the HQ pics again and didn't see an actual close up pics of the door speaker grills, but I could definitely see something on the bottom edge of two of them. After seeing several that did NOT have Alpine, I can attest that these are most like, as you stated, Alpine.
I was talking with my wife about this and When I'm driving I mostly listen to the radio and if not, there are only about five CDs I listen to. With a six-CD cartridge, I can just load them and choose between any with the press of a button.
This has truly been enlightening and brought me back down to my roots as to why I loved Jags in the first place. I don't know how I was swayed to the dark side, but I don't see that happening again. Thank You!

R,
RAGMAN!!!

 

After deeper thought, I agree and feel slightly ashamed that I almost defiled this fine piece.

Rags

 

IMHO, the factory stereo in these cars is crap. Nowhere near what it should have been for a car of this calibre.
The 'Premium' stereo is an upgrade, but the Harman Kardon amp puts out a pathetic amount of power, and is no better than any modern headunit.

Unfortunately, the headunit is almost impossible to replace without making the dash look... well... like the pics in the first post. I've seen double din headunits installed, but it took more work than I was willing to put in, and that says a lot when you see the pics of what's going into my car!

Again, IMHO, the best option is to keep the factory stereo, it's not great, but it looks the part and works ok. Then get an aftermarket amp, nothing huge, even 50-60wrms per channel will be plenty. Then get some nice new front speakers, and a small sub in the boot, and you're done.

The Premium stereo complicates things a little bit, but you can still achieve the same results

 

I have a small, but diverse weapon collection and understand that reference perfectly, but I have to disagree to a point. I agree with the concept, just not the options. I would equate this to a Leupold 4-12 Rifleman scope on K98. I just cannot agree that the changes I WAS considering to be on par with an $20 Chinese scope.

<<Ragman removing his soap box>> lol

 

This car do not have the HK system (up to 99 only) but rather the Alpine and I don't know how the 2 compare.
I can only tell you that I really like my Alpine

 

I have a sneaky suspicion they're the same... but I haven't actually seen one in the flesh, so that could well be wrong.
What does the amp look like compared to the HK one?

 

I totally agree with this, but you ARE firearms collector like myself. IF I put the similar reference out (like your Leupold reference), people that are not "into firearms", would most likely not understand, and would ask additional questions and/or look it up on the web ("WTH this means"!?). I'm pretty sure there are not too many people on this forum that know what K98 is, and what scope should be mounted on one of them (Answer: "Enemy at the gates" guys, pay attention to Ed Harris), but something "as cheap as something for 20 bucks out of China" would be understandable. I did not mean to imply that your intended head unit is "cheap", or that it's worth 20 bucks. It's good unit, and it would fit into X308 "like a tit on a hen",.....LOL, how's this for comparison?

 

The problem though is that the stock head unit doesn't look particularly "classic" IMO, it just looks like every other terrible 90's radio with a million buttons to do simple tasks, and while it does in fact play music it's not a great head unit, even by the standards of the era, much less almost 20 years on. It's also annoying to have to use CDs at all, I would LOVE to upgrade my head unit simply so I can have a USB port so I can just plug in my phone and have access to the majority of my music collection and my vast array of playlists instead of 6 CDs that require me to get into the trunk to change.

And I don't think that Metra adapter harness will work with the X308. That particular harness looks to be for the X-Type and S-Type, both Ford shared platforms with Ford influenced wiring, especially for ancillary systems like the radio, where Ford was standardizing things to reduce costs. Does anybody know if anyone makes a ready made adapter harness for the X308 to a modern head unit?

 

You can get an auxiliary input that connects to the oem amp, then connect a parrot blue tooth kit that has USB input and stereo blue tooth.

I use my ipod everyday with my aux input. It sounds great. The input connects in 3 mins and is super easy. There is a lot of confusion on this forum as to how to connect it however. It took me about 30 mins to run an aux wire from the trunk to my center console between the front seats.


Btw, what is so bad about the OEM headunit? With the premium system, it doesn't have to do much, as the AMP is external. It does have a DSP which really improves the sound, and gives subwoofer control. The buttons feel a bit cheap for a car of this price, but functionally with an AUX input, IMO, for a 14 yr old unit, it does things pretty well.

I'm an audiophile, and the OEM Alpine system sounds very good for a 14 yr old system, and the quality is about what I would expect of a car of this caliber from the era. Passengers have complimented its sound quality. The weakest link is the OEM subwoofer, which gets overwhelmed pretty easily. The factory amp is pretty strong and almost never distorts, however.