i have an alpine 6 cd changer on my 1998 jaguar xk8, i don't see harmon kardon anywhere within my interior, i am replacing speakers and i wanted to put a pair of subwoofers in the back that require and amp, what I wanted to know is the non harmon kardon stereo have any sort of amplifier built in and if it does not how hard is it to install on in an xk8, Thank you

 

Hi Dan, I have a 98 too. Hey you should update your signature or something so we know whether she's a coupe or convertible.

You either have a standard system or the premium system. Premium systems have an amplifier on a shelf above the cd changer. I believe only the premium systems came with tweeters in the door sail (triangular cloth covered sail shaped - at the front of each door).

Since you're upgrading this is important IMO. That "tweeter" in the sail is a pos, im not sure it adds anything to the imaging or quality. I experimented a bit. The in line capacitor crosses that speaker over at 6 or 7,000 hz. I had a few tweeters in my shop so I connected one in place of the factory driver. Wow!!! What a difference!!!

Given space vs performance considerations i had to broaden my horizons a bit. Good news, I still had the midrange tweeter pod from an Infinity 6x9 speaker from an experiment years ago. I looked at it, broader range, fits the space better, I couldn't resist hooking it up.

Dan, it was light years ahead of the POS tweeter the car came with. All of a sudden I had a broad, deep Soundstage in front of me! Vibraphones rang true, I could hear the reed vibrate on clarinets. Huge improvement!

Dan without ID'ing premium vs standard there are too many what ifs involved.

Maybe you could come back with:
Coupe or convertible
Premium?
Where you're thinking of putting a subwoofer?

Hope you understand it'll be more productive that way mate.

John

 

I have these in my shop, Earthquake Sound SWS-6.5X 6.5-inch Shallow Woofer System Subwoofers, 4-Ohm (Pair), and wanted to install them but it says they need some sort of amp, I don't see on the original bill of sale anywhere that the car has anything more then a standard stereo and 6 CD changer, it is a convertible and i might just buy some 6 1/2 Kickers and make my life easier I was hoping there was something that was plug and play into the CD changer

 

Dan, Does the car have premium sound?

Dan, are you able to look at the cd changer rack? If there is an amp in the rack yes you have premium sound with a factory amplifier.

Re: your subwoofer drivers, Perhaps you could experiment to see if putting the Earthquake drivers in the position occupied by the woofer driver in the rear. I'm not betting it'll be an improvement, but hey that's what experimenting is about. Maybe you'll get lucky.!

Friend "plug and play into the CD changer" is a little too broad. It can mean all sorts of different things to different people. What were you speaking of?

Dan we need to start at the top or we who are helping out would be required to type about stuff that is irrelevant. Do you have premium?

 

no premium sound, i am wondering if I bought a used amp off of ebay how hard it is to plug it into the system and start using it, or does it require extensive wiring not an electrical engineer