Hello All,
I have no radio power on my car, I have checked all fuses and they are all good, I called a radio shop and he told me he thinks this car has fiber-optic vs copper wiring
is this true?
anyone know of a good shop, Jaguar or radio shop in Southern California that may be able to troubleshoot this no power issue?
also, is power daisy chained for all components

thanks all in advance
Rick

 

The connections from the amp to the speakers, antenna, head unit, etc., are all copper. The Navigation DVD player does have an optical connection. I believe the CD-changer is optical, too. Both have the same 2-port round connector that looks to be optical.

I recently had to tear apart my doors and check wiring from the amp to diagnose dead door speakers.

It sounds like your amp died. They are super cheap on eBay. I suggest getting a used one with warranty and swap them. They're not terribly difficult to change, just fiddly.

Just venting now - for a car that cost in the $80,000 neighborhood, in year 2000 dollars, these cars sure had a crappy sound system. And I thought BMW put junk in their cars.

 

Thanks Y2K, so if I have no power to my head unit/radio, it could simply be my amp? Also I have no navigation screen/power
could it still be amp?

 

Upon further reflection, if you have no power at all you may have a bad head unit. There's B+ power to the head unit itself. The head unit triggers the amp to turn on/off, IIRC. The head unit also triggers the antenna up/down. Actually, after a cursory look at the wiring diagram, the Nav display may also receive power from the head unit.

So, looks like the place to start is the head unit. They don't require any special tools to remove, outside of a T30 Torx, just a ton of patience. From what I've read, they fail more often than the amps do. I know mine had failed at least once, as it has a sticker on it stating something about a Jag warranty replacement.

 

I will remove the head unit and check for power tomorrow, I looked at schematics and could not find my unit with Navigation for pin outs on head unit
i will keep you posted and once again, thank you so much for your input

Rick

 

It's all copper, no optical anywhere. The amp, head unit and sat nav unit all inter-connect using Alpine's AI-NET 8 pin connector (this may be the connector that people think is optical, but it isn't).

 

Thanks! The connector and cable look different from all the others. I appreciate the information.

 

Thank you, thank you Dibbit for that piece of info, that changes my game plan completely now, much easier now!!
Rick

 

I have the Alpine system and I thought it sounded good but it's crap next to my Mini's Harman-Kardon system. The bass is ok on the Jag, but I find that trebble is lacking and the sound range and clarity is fine but not the best. What improvements would you suggest?

 

My problem is I like to keep things as original as possible, within reason. Every aftermarket thing I've looked at causes the loss of the CD changer (no biggie) and the Nav (biggie). The nav isn't great but it fills a big hole in the dash. If I had the 3-gauge dash I'd rip out that crummy amp and put in a better, higher powered one, and a more modern head unit. I'd upgrade the door speakers to a good component speaker. I've had good luck with the Kickers.

The 'verts use both rear speakers as subwoofers, and there's no "regular" speaker, unlike the coupes. I would replace these with Kicker 2-way and forget the subwoofer concept. My other cars with this setup don't really need subwoofers. The Kickers provide plenty of bass response.

I see that the rear speaker wiring seems to exist, despite there not being one. I think I'm going to try to disconnect the subwoofer wiring at the amp and substitute the rear speaker connection instead. If that works I'll upgrade the subs to the Kicker 2-way and forget the subwoofer.

 

My car is a coupe and I can tell you that the bass from the subwoofer is a LOT better than what's available on the convertibles. I would also like to keep things stock looking. I don't know if you have the base system or the Alpine or Harman-Kardon system. I think the amp and head unit might be fine, but it needs better speakers and tweeters. I would like Carplay and a rear backup cam. I have seen a few threads and they are interesting enough, but so far none has the kind of integration and fit and finish I am looking for. For example, the most recent one, it bothers me that the black bars are visible at either end of the screen. I'm thinking if I could get rid of where the current buttons for the nav are and open that up with a dremel to the size of a longer screen that would be perfect. However, I don't know if a screen like that exists.

 

I *think* the HK systems were only in the earlier cars, like 97, 98. Somebody can correct me. I think the Alpine started in 99?? Anyway, the Alpine system has the word Alpine on the door tweeter covers.

The whole stereo thing in the convertibles was poorly thought out and poorly designed. My dumpy little E46 convertible with stock amp and slightly upgraded speakers sounds way better. I suspect ditching the subs on the convertible and turning them into regular mid-range speakers would make a world of difference. IMO a sub is kind of a waste in a convertible, anyway.

I also note that the hole in the fascia for the head unit is larger than a single-DIN unit. Another challenge when trying to fit a better head unit.

 

Yes, this is correct. Mine has the Alpine system and I can confirm that the tweeters do say Alpine. It sounds decent, but as I said before, lately I want better. I was wondering if the poor design you referred to was only pertinent to convertibles or the base system. I guess now I know. I actually would prefer to keep my stock head precisely because any aftermarket head unit would look out of place. Is there an engineering issue with the stock head unit?

 

Now that I understand that the weirdo connectors are AI-Net, and not optical, it all makes sense. From what I've read this was done away with 11 or 12 years ago. So the engineering "issue" for me is that you can't replace it or upgrade it without losing everything - Nav, CDs, steering wheel controls, whatever. And the unit looks like the cheapest thing they could get away with. It reminds me a lot of the original head unit in my SN95 GT - functional but cheap.

I don't really want to sink the money and man-hours into installing a completely new system. I will check to see if the subs are blown (BOTH speakers in BOTH doors had their coils fried by the PO, and I can't figure out how he managed that), and I'll experiment with connecting the rear speaker output from the amp to the subs to see if we get mid-range. If so, I'll probably upgrade those speakers, forget the subwoofer, and call it a day. That will at least provide some front to back fader capability that is lacking now.

 

Both front door speakers in my XK8 blew and I had to replace them. I think it was the day I picked it up and I tried to use a bluetooth adapter in the cassette player and used the nav at the same time. There was a very loud bang when it switched from the audio from the cassette to the nav voice. I think the volume was turned way up for the cassette because the bluetooth adapter had poor volume.

I replaced them with a pair of these, "Polk Audio DB652 DB+ Series 6.5" Coaxial", as an easy near drop in fit. They sound ok for power but maybe a bit lacking in definition. It's not the worst sounding car audio system, but I can't help but compare to my previous car that the Jag replaces, a Mercedes CL65 AMG that sounded exquisite.

 

I used some Kicker 43DSC504s in the doors. But it seems perhaps the amp has a built-in filter? I suspect it's only sending the high-range stuff to the front speakers where the tweeters are wired in parallel with the dash-mounted units. There appears to be little, if any, treble coming from the door speakers. I found a pair of tweeters on eBay, so I'll install those and see what, if anything changes. But the words "silk purse" and "sow's ear" keep running through my mind, for some reason.

 

To my memory, the door tweeters crossover wiring is in the trunk (above the factory stereo stack). The signals are split out in the amp and just pushed to their respective locations. The dash top speakers are mids only and receive a very narrow slice of the channel.