You know how it is, it’s a lovely day, ideal for a drive in the XJS, wife agrees but it’s the last day of the test match and it is only broadcast on DAB, or your passenger wants his/her favourite music and no they don’t have it on CD (cassette, what’s that) because it’s on their phone like everything else. I decided it was time to upgrade the audio system, head unit and speakers. There is another long thread about radio upgrades but my experience with a 1995 Facelift car was a bit different so I thought I would share.

Head Unit:

I decided I wanted something that had DAB, would play digital files like MP3, FLAC etc, an aux input for my trusty Sony digital Walkman and have USB port(s) for phone connection and charging and Bluetooth. It also had to look period.

First choice was the Blaupunkt Bremen SQR46. This gets fab reviews and is late 1980’s style so ticks the boxes but beware IT DOES NOT FIT the Facelift cars. Basically it is too wide. The gap for the radio in the AC Controls facia of the facelift XJS is 187mm and the face plate on the Blaupunkt Bremen SQR46 is 189mm wide. I contacted Blaupunkt and they confirmed the Bremen dimensions and that the Blaupunkt Frankfurt RCM82 is 186mm wide. The original Blaupunkt Frankfurt was introduced in 1992 so this was ok for my 1995 car. Very good and prompt service from Blaupunkt by the way.

Getting the Jaguar Clarion unit out is simple, pull off the AC control knobs, the collar nuts on control shafts can be unscrewed with a small flat head screwdriver, the AC control facia pulls away after some gentle teasing with a plastic trim lever, then undo the 4 Philips head screws and pull out the unit.

Fitting the new unit is a bit more complicated. The Clarion is a DIN sized unit but it uses bespoke brackets to attach it to the centre console. The Blaupunkt Frankfurt body is DIN sized but the hole in the centre console is too big for the standard DIN cage and if you use this fixing method the radio is set back from the AC control facia and looks rubbish. The Clarion brackets don’t fit because a) the fixing holes in the Blaupunkt body are not in the same place and b) the brackets are recessed into the body on the Clarion unit so the brackets are too wide when used with the Blaupunkt. Another challenge is that the Clarion brackets have a curve in the facia mounting face so as not to foul the AC control mounting flanges.

I decided to make some bespoke brackets for the Blaupunkt unit. This is not technically difficult but it does need very careful measuring. I started with a piece of 50mm x 50mm x 100mm x 1.2mm right angle steel, cut it into 2 pieces 50mm long and then used the plastic spacer that sits behind the faceplate of the Clarion unit to determine how far back the brackets needed to be and which Blaupunkt body mounting holes I could use. Having got those holes sorted I then scribed the curve from the front face of the original brackets to the new brackets and cut those out using a combination of hacksaw and Dremel grinding wheel. You need to make the new curved flange about 1.5mm narrower to balance the extra width due to the brackets not being recessed in the side of the radio body. When I was happy with the curve (attach brackets to radio and fit into AC control facia to test) I then determined the location of the top holes and just drew a vertical line down to get the bottom holes. It took the best part of a day to make these but I am slow and methodical.
I decided to paint the brackets as they were untreated mild steel and would rust with no provocation.


Painted brackets



The Clarion unit has a bespoke Jaguar electrical connector but you can get a 2 x ISO to Jaguar Block Connector adaptor on ebay and it works perfectly. The ground wire on the adaptor is free so I ran this to the ground connection behind the dashboard on the LHS above the knee roll. (I have a UK spec RHD car).

For DAB reception I bought a powered DAB splitter/amplifier from CEN in Nottingham rather than have a separate aerial stuck on the windscreen. To power this splitter I cut into the yellow +12VDC supply wire in the adaptor harness. It seems to work ok so far, I get FM and all the DAB stations I want.

The Blaupunkt has a flying USB port from the rear of the body. To use this, I bought a 1m USB extension cable with bulkhead mounting, cut a suitably sized hole in the front face of the central armrest storage, inserted the bulkhead mount, ran the cable back under centre console to the USB connector on the back of the radio. In this way I can charge phones while they are in the armrest storage. The plastic storage case in the armrest is a bit flimsy so if I did this again, I might add some reinforcement on the back of the plastic.

The body of the Blaupunkt radio is not as deep as the Clarion so there is plenty of space for the extension cable, harness adaptor, aerial amplifier/splitter and other connectors. The Blaupunkt has connectors for a remote mic but I have not used that as yet.


The finished installation

Speakers

Coincidently the driver’s door window was getting stuck so I decided that as I had the door panel and water shield off to get at the window runners, I would replace the speakers with something that could better handle the additional power of the Blaupunkt.

The Jaguar speakers are a bespoke 6 ¼ “ diameter (of course) but you can get 6 ½ ” speakers that will fit. You need to check the dimensions and design carefully as some new speakers have full width cages at the back so won’t fit. I went for Phoenix Gold Z65CXi units front and rear as they had a suitable power rating and lots of mounting options on the rim.

My Jaguar original speakers had a plastic connector and the new speakers will most likely have spade type connectors so you may have to change the wiring connectors as required. I assumed Black was ground and Black/White was +ve and this has worked fine.

The Jaguar speakers have three self-tapping fixings, my new speakers recommended 4 fixings. For the front speakers I drilled extra holes in the door panel so I had 4 fixings but at the rear I used the three original fixings as the material where the speaker mounts is a fibre board type material and there is not much to drill into. I also took the opportunity to add some sound deadening to the inside of the front doors.

Rear speakers – these are relatively easy to get at although the use of plastic trim levers is recommended to remove the trim panels. Lift up or lever off the arm rest then hook something behind the lower edge of the speaker grill panel and pull forward to release the clips. It has clips/studs at the bottom, the top just hooks behind the adjacent panel. All the trim panels in my car were reluctant to come out and I ended up breaking several of the fixing clips.
SNG Barratt and Jaguar say these clips/studs (Part Number AGU2519J) are no longer available but I did a search and found that the readily available Land Rover Discovery Mk1 & 2 door panel clips part number DKP5279L are exactly the same. With hindsight I would buy some of these in advance of doing the job.


Trim stud AGU2519J DKP5279L


Connecting up and fitting the speakers is using the existing fixings is straightforward and although the trim panels need a bit of encouragement to go back it is not that difficult.

Phoenix Gold Z65CXi speakers installed in rear.
In the picture above you can see the broken stud(s) from removing the armrest.

Conclusion:
Was it all worth it? Definitely yes. The audio sound is terrific, I can get DAB, I can use Bluetooth to connect phones to the radio and play music, podcasts etc. I can use the aux-in to connect my phone or my Walkman, I can charge my phone without having an unsightly and wobbly adaptor in the cigar lighter and it all looks nicely period and discrete. Yes very pleased. To complete the job I now need to find a way of discretely installing the remote mic but for now I am happy not to have hands-free to interrupt my driving pleasure.

 

CS_XJS,

Well done, Great job! And even nicer to see it on a rare late manual car!

When I fitted my Alpine Unit (can be found in this forum), I installed the remote mic on the inside left vertical edge of the instrument cowling. It's fairly unobtrusive and seems to work well there.

Cheers

Paul

 

Thanks for the pics and narrative. Always interested in what others do with their facelifts.

I do not recognize your rear setup. The rear speakers on my 2+2 1996 Convertible is attached to the face panel, with strange clips, that also break easily. They are not the same as what you have shown. Any speaker will fit in there.

The fronts are a little tricky, but there are 6-1/2" speakers that will fit, and others that will not. What I learned is that the hole for the speaker is 5" in diameter, so any speaker with a cutout dimension of less than 5" will work. Not every website shares this information, but this is what is needed to determine if the larger 6-1/2" speaker will fit. The original speakers are 5-1/4", so a worthwhile effort.

What really improved my system was and amplifier and a powered subwoofer. Mind you, I don't need the car to vibrate, but with the top down, you miss a lot of the bass.

Class D amplifiers are small, and easy to connect without having to run wires from the battery. (I used the Alpine KTA30FW, which I thought was better than the more common 445U)

Powered subwoofers, also provide an easy and straightforward install. (I used Kenwood KSC-SW11) I would certainly recommend to anyone, to make the investment and really get a sound system that can be enjoyed.

 

I think the install of the rear speakers is somewhat easier on a Coupe which the OP has. I'm interested in all the comments from those who have upgraded on amps and speakers as I left my original speaker setup alone at the time, as I found it difficult to source speakers that would fit. But with input from Vee and others, I think I might now take the plunge.

Paul

 

I think the Coupe and convertible must have different audio installations. My car is a UK spec 1995MY Coupe built in September 2024 and the speakers are definitely Jaguar (Goodmans) 6.25" front and rear.




I can understand wanting an amplifier in a convertible. I did think about installing a class D amplifier (I have a Phoenix Gold ZXM500_4 being installed in an older and noisier classic) and a sub-woofer but decided to see how it was in the Coupe with the higher amplifier output of the Blaupunkt unit and the better speakers vs the much smaller output of the original unit. I find my Coupe to be pleasantly quiet inside (apart from a bit of wind noise from around the winscreen) and so far I have been pleased with volume and clarity and I am much too old to want to blow my ears off.

I can't remember exactly what the diameter of the speaker holes were but there is no much metal between the screw hole and the lip so 5.5" feels about right. I was careful about checking the diameter of the hole required for the new speakers before buying them.

Good luck Paul on upgrading the speakers, it's not a huge job and well worthwhile.Getting the water shield off and back on in one piece was probably more time consuming than swapping out the speakers.
Good tip - swap the 6mm(?) philips head screw used to attach the front of the arm rest for an equivalent hex head screw as it will make it much easier to take out if you ever need to go back in there again.

 

Paul,

No need to reinvent the wheel. Just buy what others have bought and you should be confident that it will all fit.

I use JBL GTO 620 in the front. I can't promise you that all the holes will line up, but some self tapping screws will be useful for the third and/or fourth mounting hole, if necessary.

Any 6-1/2" will fit in the back. I originally had a pair of Alpines SPS-610 in the front, but moved them to the rear. They will also fit in the front, I just ended up going with the JBLs in the front because they were 2-ohms, which can play louder than the 4-ohm Alpines. This was before I bought the amp, then the powered subwoofer. You will need to splice on new connectors, since no speaker will be able to take advantage of the OEM speaker harness.

I didn't love the Alpine KTP-445u and really recommend the KTA30FW.

Here's the part I don't remember. My head unit would clip out on extremely low notes. It is something that the powered subwoofer cured. I'm almost sure I ran a wire from the battery to the powered subwoofer. Maybe I tried it on the Alpine amp first, but it didn't improve anything.

I had no such issues with the KTP-445u, it just didn't improve the sound as much as I had hoped.

Again, I'm not looking to rattle windows, or announce my arrival from miles away, I just wanted to hear all of the music with the top down. The powered subwoofer really was the difference maker. It fits nicely behind the passengers set, taking advantage of the footspace no one will ever use in the back seat. You would only notice it if you knew to look.

 

Very helpful, Vee, tks for the info.

Paul