I've been trying to wire in a new stereo over the past few weeks (on and off). I managed to replace all six speakers but can't seem to figure out why Jaguar used such a whacky wiring setup for the system on the XJ40. My X300 was pretty much plug and play but this seems to be a nightmare and I've wired plenty of systems before. The color codes only seem to be partially right. My one concern is : does anyone know what size fuses should be in the two inline fuse holders located inside the shifter area. One is for constant battery voltage and one is for ignition on voltage. I connect direct without any fuse for a few moments and it seems to solve part of my problem. In one of the holders I have a 1 amp fuse that keeps blowing. Seems a bit small to me.

 

I have just started to replace the head unit stereo and speakers in my '89 XJ40. I don't know if I want to get into the wiring like you are if it is that confusing. I have almost no experience with this kind of thing. I think the speakers should be no problem, but I also was under the assumption that it would be a matter of plug/play with the head unit, but it sounds like you are having some real difficulty. I hope that there are some here that can help you out so I can tag along! It really would be nice to have some tunes in the car. Right now it is just road noise.

 

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Well dskul1,you may have it simpler than me if you only have the four speaker system as the wiring may be a bit easier. It seems Jaguar used a common ground for the right side door speakers and a common ground for the left side door speakers. It seems I may have to run new wiring to the speakers themselves or I may have a short somewhere in the system. For some reason it seems that the inline fuses located within the console shifter area may have been replaced with ones that were too small causing my stereo to keep blowing them. I just picked up a small micro amplifier to run the rear "under seat subs" off the stereo rear sub output. I also plan on running a heavier cable to both the stereo power line and the amp,which will be mounted below the glovebox area behind the panel. It's approximately 4" long x 3 1/2" wide and only 1 1/2" tall so it takes up very little space. It's not really there for power but just to convert the stereo sub signal to run the rear sub speakers.

 

Here is a copy of the wiring schematic of the Jaguar system

 

Well,I managed to wire the new stereo system according to the wiring diagram above. Having a six speaker system did develope a slight problem.Both left side door speakers have to use the same common ground which is Red w/green. Both right side door speakers have to use the same common ground which is Pink w/light green. The only issue with wiring it this way is your stereo has no control with fading from front to back. Your left/right balance will still work but the front/rear fade becomes useless. In order to connect the rear "under seat sub" speakers, I purchased a cheap micro amp new,from a seller on ebay for under $20 (pictured). I ran a short three foot length of 8 gauge wire with a fuseholder on one end and connected it to the inner positive bulkhead post located behind the glovebox area. From the fuseholder end it then connects directly to the 12 volt constant to the stereo and the 12 volt input to the micro amp,which I placed below the glovebox panel alongside the console. The amp was also grounded using the common stereo ground. It gets turned on by taping into the green with black stripe stereo wire which also goes to the power antenna connection. There's a right and left sub output on the back of most modern aftermarket stereos that use RCA cables which also plug into the micro amp. The micro amp then has outputs for a left and right speaker which are connected to the Red w/purple and Red w/light green for the left side and Pink w/red and Pink w/orange for the right side. The stereo has a separate volume level for the sub output and there's also an adjustment on the micro amp itself. The system sounds great with an outlay of approximately $100 for the stereo/cd player (which I already had), $20 for the micro amp from Ebay, and about another $10-20 in misc wire connectors,a few feet of 8 gauge stereo wire and a fuseholder. And best of all,it sounds Great! BTW, I did change the speakers too. Don't believe that the micro amp produces 500 watts,it's probably more like 22 watts per channel. Amp size is about 3 1/2 inches x 4 1/2 inches x 1 1/2 inches tall and fits in a very tight area.

 

The Kinter micro amp also comes with the connectors prewired with about 16 inches of wire to each connector.