If only I could get the exhaust note to play through the speakers...

 

Why does pulling fuse 19 help the sound system?

 

...... cuz the BEST sound is the sound from the exhaust.

 

I have my amp / subs installed, still doing some tweaking. It sounds like my subs are getting the lower frequencies but I can't tell if the stock DSP is playing games with the signal or I have funky cabin acoustics, but under 45hz or so things drop off dramatically. I'm running the factory sub speaker wires into the speaker level inputs on the amp. I'm thinking about adding an Epicenter or another bass restoration processor. Maybe a beefier LOC.

I also noticed my center speaker cracking a bit, I ordered a replacement that should be here in a few days. It's more of an experiment, but if it sounds OK I'll let you know.

 

I’m still working away on my Xe sound upgrade with the “Meridian” 380 watt NLI unit. I’ve been testing channels. I was surprised to find both subwoofer channels appear to emit a full range signal. Don’t know if other JLR amps are the same?

 

IF this is the case professor, it can be a good thing, dont let it influence anything.

If I was making a subwoofer channel for a car, I would make it full range, because a woofer is going to filter out all the frequencies you dont want anyway. And a natural filter is 2 times more efficient.

Realize the objective and holy grail in sound reproduction is to have a single driver playing all the frequencies- a tweeter or sub is something we use as a dirty compromise. (no separate tweeter is required for accurate headphones!!)

Especially in a car, what you want is full range drivers all the way around. (think 4 channel stereo) But a sub channel can be given 2x power if we know there is going to be a driver there that wont breakup with bass, thus subwoofer channel.

My radio has a full range driver

 

I believe that a practical reason for commonly employing a crossover is to present appropriate frequency ranges to each driver. In the subwoofer case, yes, it might naturally filter out the higher frequencies as it can't reproduce them, but you might not want to hear some of tones that are "naturally" passed. Put another way, if the driver has a sort of linear frequency response from 20-100Hz, that's what you want to feed it.

 

Some might find this article interesting:
https://www.planetofsoundonline.com/...t-hi-res-audio

 

If someone is looking to put in aftermarket speakers into an X150, this might be of interest.

I already mentioned before the wiring adaptors to avoid cutting the factory wiring.



To be really useful some adaptor rings to fit the aftermarket speakers without drilling holes or otherwise hacking up the door would be needed too.
Eventually I found some black sealed MDF ones from a supplier in Eastern Europe that I get bits & pieces from at a really decent price.



That's the crappy factory speaker from an X-Type on the right.

So I can put together "speaker installation kits" which while being a bit over the top, might appeal to someone looking to DIY at a level above hack-job.




I even got some nice black screws in the right sizes...



Why do I bring this up now?

Last week a guy brought me an X350 XJ, none of the bass speakers in the doors are working. A bit of investigation shows that all four speakers are blown.
WTF I never saw that before... I could test each channel using those old crappy X-Type speakers, and some basic tests with the multimeter showed, all four blown, wow....

So I check the original factory replacements, turns out they are $250 AUD each, and only one on stock in Oz. Okay... $1000 for a set of four and have to wait for them to come in from the UK. Time to go aftermarket...

Got two sets of Alpine splits at an unbelievable price from a local car audio shop I do some work for. So finally time to use these installation kits.

Turns out my home made Jaguar fuel pump locking ring removal tool is the perfect size to use as a stand while putting the speakers together too LOL

Adaptor ring


Drill hole for wiring adaptor to pass through


Speaker sitting on the ring, can sit flat on this stand.


Screw speaker to ring


Flip it over and the metal frame of the speaker sits perfectly in the stand, can then finish the wiring without risk of damaging the speaker cone.



All done.


For a DIYer who's time is not on the clock, this is a good solution I think, given the high price of the factory spares it's definitely more cost effective.

Anyhow, took a while, but I finally got to use these things I made ages ago LOL




So using these adaptor rings and wiring kits, you can put together some aftermarket speakers which bolt straight in where the factory ones go, without any modification to the car itself. Basically a straight swap.

 

As always nice work Cambo!!! If and when I ever get around to speaker upgrades, I would certainly be interested in these...

 

I'm interested.

I know I could go back and re-read this thread, but... lets say my factory front speakers are working fine, but I want to upgrade. What level of components am I looking at? Would those Alpine Type S you used be better than factory, or should I step up to type R... or X? I'm not being brand specific, lets call it low/mid/top tier for whatever brand.

My center speaker was making some crackling sounds so I recently swapped it out with an inexpensive Dayton Audio unit, and put a bass blocker on it. Much much better, and the speaker was around $15.

 

What type of bass blocker did you use (Make/Model)?

 

Honestly I can't tell you which speakers to buy. I used these Alpine ones because I got them at a very good price, mates rates as we say down here.
This is the 2nd time in 8 years i've fitted aftermarket speakers to a Jag... otherwise my experience with aftermarket speakers is being handed a box and "put these speakers in this car/van/truck"

I would say, buy the most expensive speakers you can afford or a willing to pay for.

What I noticed about the factory centre speaker in the X150 is that it gets pretty much a full range signal, so anything aftermarket you put in as a replacement needs to handle full range, or use some sort of crossover, capacitor, "bass blocker" whatever, to cut the lows out, most 100mm speakers aren't going to handle that full-range signal coming from the factory amp.

I presume a capacitor of some sort?

 

Hi i've question : adaptators rings pictures are the same for xk150 and XF ?
Thank's
Marc

 

This guy. Works well!

https://www.parts-express.com/speake...50-hz--266-200

It's just a 6db rolloff from 300hz, saves that poor little driver from the low lows. But, the factory DSP may already have it crossed over and not playing true full range, who knows?

 

I realize I am just being a wet blanket if I mention what not to do, instead of what to do. However, the what to do becomes easier if you see what not to do.
You dont want a 300hz blocker in a center channel or any speaker where dialogue is emanating from. Vocals go way below 100hz. Even worse, phase shift becomes very discernible in the 300hz region.

In car audio, you want that center speaker to play as full range as possible. Most well made drivers will not require any bass blocking, and our head unit does the work for us by sending the bass wattage to the subwoofer.
So if you are playing 100watts, it will send 30 watts full range to center and 70 to the sub.
Also note that a good car audio driver will have a natural 'bass blocker' (natural roll off)

 

Well, I can't get a straight answer of what the factory crossover points are for each driver, and I listen to a lot of bass heavy music. I suppose I could get an RTA and figure it out. That's why I was asking if I needed an LC2i or other processor, what exactly is the stock DSP doing to the sub channel? Is it reducing the crossover or the power output as volume increases? What about the front door speakers? From just listening I can tell those play down pretty low.


That stock center speaker was moving pretty good and sounding terrible doing it.

I can say that the new speaker sounds pretty decent to me, but I'm not building an SQ system.

Natural rolloff lol. I understand that's a thing, but if you didn't use crossovers at all and just let speakers roll off naturally, you're gonna have a bad time.

Wait, what? Are you saying the factory amp throttles the actual wattage output between channels? Or that the sub channel is more powerful that the fronts, which is how pretty much every system operates?

 

I Cant get my center to distort at full volume.

You really need to believe in this. Every audio system in cars and home was built on this principle. First time that I am saying this, only to help you see right, we make speakers that are recognized around the world as best ever made, I do not use any bass roll off in the driver that would be equivalent to the driver you are trying to replace. And we are pumping ungodly amounts of power to it, 1000watts! See it this way, if you had a driver that played 20hz to 20khz, why would you even need to roll it off. That's a dream come true, a single driver playing all the frequencies. (crossovers are a bad thing, there is no such thing as a good xover) (its like putting a spring in a driveshaft). So if you have a driver that needs to have anything below 300hz cut off, you have a bad driver.

Yes, by logic its going to send more power to the sub channel. If you want more bass (power), just take the speaker wire going to the sub and add an even more powerful amp in-line and use 2 more capable drivers. The roll-off that you are trying to control on the center channel can be done by reducing the output in the graphic equalizer. Which is much better because its in the digital domain, so no phase shifts.

 

What I suspect your particular situation is; you dont have the balance between your aftermarket subs and your stock front speakers. Which makes sense, because aftermarket drivers are horribly- I mean horribly inefficient.
If your aftermarket bass was more efficient, you would not need to turn up the center speaker to the level where they are distorting. That's why putting that capacitor inline is helping because you are turning the efficiency down (a natural by-product of any capacitor)

 

Do you also sell speaker wire that increases sound quality?

I'm not blaming my particular issue just on frequency response, I think something is mechanically wrong with the driver.

I'm going to disagree that crossovers / dsp is bad. You really don't want to pump put a full range signal to all your drivers and let them fend for themselves, especially with significant wattage. Plus, vocals coming through your subs sounds like ***.

I just wish I knew more about what the factory DSP was doing. For instance, in my MINI, I know the factory amp cuts the low frequencies to the front door drivers, but does not for the rear. A common hack is to re-wire to get your bass back up front. Is the Jag system mucking around with things too? I don't know. Like has been mentioned, the best route is probably to bypass the factory HU / amp all together, but at that point you're probably going for an audiophile quality system. I'm not, I don't want to spend weeks aiming tweeters with lasers and building fiberglass kick panels and crap. Been there done that.

Currently my system is meeting my needs. I'm actually surprised how well running the high level speaker leads from the factory sub directly into the amp using its built in LOC is working. The gain is set very low and the bass boost took some tweaking, but being able to adjust it form the drivers seat I can match it to the fronts if I want. Or I can roll the windows down and get obnoxious.