Hi guys - I'm curious as to how you'd do this. When I received the car, it would appear as if someone tried to adapt in a new speaker system, but failed. Now I have a mess of wires, and a unit that doesn't fit. But my question is, how could I adapt in a new speaker head unit? I have that awkward metal piece that even if cut out, if only 6 1/2 in. x 2 in. tall. Should I just run fresh wires to the doors? Has anyone does this?

 

You could attach a nine volt battery to the speaker wire and grab a multimeter to determine which wire goes where.

 

Does any body here have any suggestions as how I should cut out the aluminum climate control panel to fit it? Just shears and file the corners? Machine it?

 

if you're asking about fitting a DIN head unit to a 2-shaft opening, then the only way is to remove the climate control panel and carefully grind a square DIN opening. It's a one-chance-only operation so I would measure very carefully particularly the vertical (up/down) measurement. (*see below);

the width (left-to-right), measurement can be done last. The trick is to file away a little at a time; Cutting with tin-snips will not work, you will only distort and damage the metal panel. What you need is some kind of hand-held grinder and a large file so that you can grind away slowly to form a square and then fine tune it with a file.

*but first, I would make a copy or "template" of the control panel in thin wood or heavy cardboard, shape it to the final form, testing it with the head unit in place, and then finally copy it to the metal climate control panel when you have the opening done right.

the wiring must still be there, so leave that for last and test the wiring as suggested.

 

So how would I go about mounting some tweeters in this car? Does anybody have any ideas? Jose posted on my restoration thread that there is a spot on the A-column that you can mount these on, but that is for SIII's. How should I do this on a SII? In addition, any thoughts on doing a sound system in general would greatly be appreciated.

 

I've been thinking of going with the Pioneer 2 Way TS-C172PRS speakers. I haven't figured out my subwoofers yet. The speakers are 6 3/4 in., with 1 1/8 tweeters with them. My main concern is mounting the tweeters. I'm looking for opinions on where to mount them (A-Pillar, Door, etc.) and right along with that, where can I add them in to make them look somewhat OEM installed. And what kind of hardware would I mount them with?

 

My father and I used to own a SII, and I'm trying to remember how that differs from the interior of the SIII I just picked up in order to give you some advice.

I have done about a dozen high-end systems in all manner of cars, including a couple in newer Jags (99 XJS, 03 S-Type). I have yet to tackle one of the older cars. I have a halfway-decent system in my 88, but I didn't do a lot of modifications. Just upgraded the drivers, added an amp and changed the head unit there.

In general, the biggest problem affecting all Jag sedans I've seen up through the early 90s cars is the 4-inch sizing of the main speakers. Also, speakers mounted low in the rear doors is counterproductive to proper soundstaging. The factory locations in most Jaguars promote a low soundstage, and 4-inch drivers are, across the board, audio bullpoop.

On my 83 SIII, I will be custom-forming panels for all four doors. The rear doors will get no tweeters. There will be some kind of subwoofer enclosure in the trunk. As for tweeter placement, you have two options: Find the highest point the farthest away from your ear that you can get it, or leave the tweeters at ankle level with the midbass driver and create a derived center stage by mounting tweeters on the back of the rearview mirror, facing the glass and angled out slightly. If you go that route, you don't need expensive tweeters on the mirror -- and those are IN ADDITION to the tweeters you will use elsewhere, so be careful of how that affects your overall ohm loading.

Basically, I hardly ever use fewer than 10 speakers and 2 amps in any application. But I tend to treat my stereo work like some people treat engine performance. It's all about what's important to you.

Jess