I'd been looking into bluetooth integration in place of the factory phone system in the thread here a little while back. I was really interested in finding a way to use the factory audio/phone/mic with an aftermarket bluetooth phone receiver, and not the more common method of hacking a BT receiver into the CD player for streaming.

I found a couple threads, one which referenced a PDF guide, which ended up being a dead link. Through some digging, i found a mirror backup of the file, which was up then, but who knows how long that site would be hosting it. Well, I saved it and figured I'd reupload to here before the file was lost.

It looks like this will work with all cars, both alpine and HK systems, the only difference being some wire colors. It will trigger the factory head unit to go into "phone" mode and play the audio through the front speakers. There's no method yet for communicating with the HU to send it a caller ID or to use the keypad to dial to your phone. However, the PDF shows a lot of progress made in that direction, looks a bit out of my programming experience but maybe someone more experienced and motivated could build off it.

 

I haven't tested this on the X308, but I can confirm that on the X300 audio system the Alpine KCA-801B allows one to "inject" audio between the factory head unit and the CD changer without any cutting of wires.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-FQMDT2...-KCA-801B.html


The KCA-801B is discontinued, but you can find it used or NOS very cheap, and I think I paid about $15USD for mine. So it would be cheap and easy to test on the X308.


The cabling hookup between the head unit and CD changer on the X308 should be the same as the X300, and possibly even cleaner than on the X300 if the X308 uses AiNet cabling instead of the M-Bus cabling on the X300 where I had to use several AiNet/M-Bus conversion cables.

The KCA-801B requires a 5-12V trigger to switch and inject the signal into the CD cable path, which I plan to do via the old in-car mobile phone harness. But you could use any number of methods to do so from the drivers seat. And you can choose to install the KCA-801B either up front between the head unit and it's AiNet/M-Bus cable, or as I'm doing in the trunk between the cable and CD changer. In many cases, it might be easiest to do it up front, especially depending on how you want to hook up, utilize your BT receiver and trigger the KCA-801B.

You can then use any BT receiver to inject the audio via the KCA-801B's RCA jacks. I'm going to test this one from JL Audio:

MBT-RX - Marine Audio - Amplifiers & Electronics - Bluetooth® Accessories - JL Audio


The JL audio unit above is only a simple BT receiver(which is what I want), but you could use any other BT unit that has line out audio and allows control of your audio source (mobile phone, iPod, etc) if you want full BT functionality.


I talk about what I'm planning in the following thread:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...pgrade-177559/


Just a thought for something simple that doesn't require any modification/cutting of the existing wiring....


Someone should get a KCA-801B and try it on the X308 to confirm if this is an option. It's an easy 15 minute test, and most of that is pulling the trunk liner away

.

 

The HK system (98-99) uses AINET between the CDC and HU, if i remember right the later Alpine system (00-03) uses AINET between the amp and HU, and the CDC and amp are connected in the trunk then.

It sounds like what you're suggesting is an alternative to the "hack the CDC apart" method of adding an aux in. If the unit does work then it'd be a good alternative option, and makes adding BT streaming or wired aux input easier. I'm not a fan of the BT audio/music streaming, but that's a bit off thread... once you have that audio injector in place, you can hook up whatever you want to it.

I'm looking more at an intergrated handsfree calling system. When you get a call, the BT unit "interrupts" the current audio source (whether it's FM, CD, whatever) and plays the incoming call. With the way the phone unit connector was wired, you should be able to wire up a matching connector in a way that doesn't involve hacking wires apart. Though it does require thinking about the pinout and basically building a harness/adaptor for the corresponding BT hands free transciever.

As a solution to adding a BT audio streaming setup, the guide I posted wouldn't work well, since it only uses front speakers, and basically disables the rest of the radio functions while it's active (so you can't switch to FM, if that matters).

 

Does it only play the audio through the front speakers??

 

If you're using the phone bypass mode in the guide, then yes. I wouldn't use it for audio streaming, only for calls.

 

JAGCD-HF Bluetooth & Charging Kit for select Jaguar XK and XJ with CD Changer :: Bluetooth

 

JAG-CD Auxiliary Jack, Changer retention Kit for Jaguar XJ and XK :: iPod Adapters & Interfaces

 

Has anyone had success in linking their phone through the factory system with bluetooth and use of the oem microphone and use of the keypad/caller id?

 

The PDF in that post describes how to do most of what you're asking. I haven't seen anyone successfully reverse engineer the ACP protocol (in order to use keypad/caller ID) though some people made some progress (see pages 10-12 of the PDF in first post). I've dug up a couple of the zip files referenced in those pages, from the wayback machine, and attached them if someone's looking to do more on that front.

 

I know this doesn't follow this thread exactly, as my response isn't how to make it work using the Jaguar installed phone connection or existing hardware. Instead, I found an aftermarket solution that connects into the FM antennae and uses a FM frequency to broadcast calls and Bluetooth radio (Spotify, Pandora, etc.). The product is BlueConnect ISFM2381 and I am super happy with the quality of sound and the minimal additional clutter this creates. It adds a small (5/8 x 5/8) button on the dash and a microphone. It allows full handsfree use of the phone, and as stated, bluetooth audio. I was skeptical of how good the sound would be, but really wanted hands free phone use regardless, and am thrilled with the sound. I would say it is cleaner than any FM station but obviously not quite as good as a CD.

I paid a local installer to do the install and got the entire thing done for $400.

Anyway, just wanted to share in case anyone is still looking for a solid bluetooth option for their older Jaguar.