Hi everyone not only am i new here but also new to Jaguar so far very impressed.I have taken the so called Premium RADIO out. Only to find a 6 pin din plug grey for audio and i believe amp power. I have power on/off with new iso connector but it puts lights on park/side when stereo is connected. Can i manually rewire the old din 6 pin to use the audio/speakers to the iso connector any help or advise much appreciated. Also any ideas what wire i need to swap out for the park lights to not come on when new head-unit connected.

 

PLEASE GO TO THE INTRO PAGE AND THEN FINISH YOUR PROFILE! We have no idea what year car you have?

 

Will do thanks..

 

Filmcar - Yes - need year and also - are you sure about "premium" sound system. Is there a separate amplifier in the boot (trunk) ??
Early Harmon-Karden units are differently wired to later Alpine kit.

 

Hi it's a 1997 it has the Harmon-Karden the din plug looks like the cd changer connector i need to rewire the audio/sound din plug, not reusing the cd changer .

 

Filmcar. Yes - the DIN connector runs back to the headunit from the CD changer. But - you can't just disconnect it completely as the head unit needs to "know" that there's a CD changer connected otherwise you won't be able to select it.
I bought one of these :
BeoLab 8 pin DIN Powerlink mk 2 Speaker Cable for Bang & Olufsen B&O 2 meters | eBay which I cut into two short lengths and then installed a 12v c/o relay in the boot (trunk) in a little plastic box from Maplin.
I ran an "aux in" audio cable to the centre console, plus a ground wire through a switch to the relay.
Picture shows the switch (rectangular) to change between CD and Aux. The round switch disables the Radio Aerial, and I also installed a USB charger socket. From the outside - car looks 100% original.

 

Thanks David that's a nice neat and tidy job you did there on your car,i have replaced the standard radio unit. Having got the new head-unit to fit lovely pics to follow, but the grey DIN plug has the speaker wires and built in amp power.So looking at ways the connect the wires to the new ISO connector which already powers on and off the new head-unit.


thanks again.

 

If you look at section 16.3 of the wiring diagram from Gus's excellent resource :


www.jagrepair.com


You can see where the various connections are. If you have the premium system, the speaker wires go from the power amplifier in the boot (trunk). This amplifier contains various active cross-overs, so you need to take that into account if you removing the amplifier. If not, I think you will have to use "trial and error" to establish the function of the various wires on connector IC17 - the early Harmon Karden kit is fairly rare as it was superceded by Alpine equipment in (I think) 1999 which is wired rather differently.

 

Cheers David i have found the correct patch lead now i hate cutting wires it is a little expensive but everything with still work including the steering wheel controls.

very helpful link that

cheers buddy.

 

Just a little update this is the grey 6 pin DIN plug socket at rear of unit which houses speaker wires and built in amp power.There is a aftermarket ISO with patch lead so you can use all Jag speakers amp and steering wheel controls.
FOR ALPINE PREMIUM STEREO SYSTEM WITH INTEGRATED Harmon-Karden SPEAKERS.

 

I just purchased a 97 XK8 conv in great shape and only 65k miles and am very interested in the details of what Filmcar installed and what you used for a dash kit to use a standard single DIN radio. My car still has the factory radio, and the speakers are pretty shot. I'm assuming that the original amp probably doesn't have enough power to drive good aftermarket speakers, so I'm somewhat stuck trying to decide what to put in. Might just repair the existing speakers, but I'd like to update the radio. Looks like a lot of work though since there aren't any direct aftermarket kits for this car that I can find. Suggestions much appreciated.

 

I realise you are in the US, but I'm sure you could get one of these sent over ??

https://incartec.co.uk/Pages/Product.aspx?P=4779

 

Thank you for the link. I hadn't found anything like that when searching for info. Very helpful! I'm starting from scratch with respect to changing out the stereo, so any suggestions with respect to speakers/amps/head unit that worked well in the XK8 conv. would be much appreciated.

 

Incartech has a good reputation over here (I have no personal connection).

I suspect that if you emailed them they might be able to advise on the best product for your requirements. You could also ensure that everything was mutually compatible - when I made an enquiry with them for my Volvo XC90, they advised against a couple of (well-known and reputable) brands not because of quality, but because there were issues with the connections for the steering wheel controls.)

 

I'll contact them, thanks. Surprising that they don't have any presence in the US that I could find, so appreciate you helping me to find them.

 

I'm posting this as an update with the hope of helping others who may come across the same challenges that I have. Although I contemplated changing the head unit and the entire system, I eventually gave in to my desire to maintain the stock appearance and focused on doing speaker work and adding Bluetooth capability. When I pulled out the speakers, I found that the door speakers were fine, the dash speakers were shot (foam edges) and the former owner had replaced the subs in the rear with 2-way standard speakers. Since the crossover is in the amp, these speakers basically put out little volume and distorted when the volume was up. That, plus the buzzing of dash speakers, probably accounts for much of my dissatisfaction with the sound quality. After reading previous posts, I found a couple reasonable options for purchasing new subs. The Kickers described in older posts are no longer available, but I spoke with their tech. support, and they recommended using the updated version, which is the Kicker CompRT 43CWRT672. This speaker has dual 2-ohm coils, which I'm going to wire in series to get a 4-ohm load. I never found anything definitive on whether the subs that came with the car were 2 or 4-ohm, and since I don't have the originals, there is no way for me to test them. Based on other posts of people who used the 4-ohm Kicker (older models), I'm going with 4-ohms in my setup. Better to give up a bit of volume vs risking frying the amp.

Another interesting find. In the HK subwoofer boxes, I found another 2.5" tweeter, identical in appearance to the dash speakers and measuring 4 ohms, behind the cloth screen in the upper corner. I had thought this might have been a bass port, but the presence of two wire pairs connecting to the box had me questioning whether there was another speaker in the box or whether the connectors were bringing in a signal and sending out a signal to another speaker set elsewhere in the car. So, it turns out that there are two speakers in the box, a sub and a mid, connecting to these wires. I might have figured this out if I had seen the correct wiring diagram and compared the wire colors, but it turns out to not have mattered because the 2.5" mids' foam edges had disintegrated. That means the ones in the dash didn't just fail because they were under the windshield in a high heat location. FYI, taking the box apart to get to the mid speaker inside, which is mounted from the rear (inside of the box) is difficult. BE CAREFUL not to break the brittle plastic around the box mounting holes. I cracked one with light pressure when trying to pry the face of the box off. After removing the screws, it is necessary to pry the plate off gently to pull the plate away from the sticky rubber gasket that seals the plate to the box. If you're careful, you can salvage the gasket for reuse when you reassemble the box.

Dash speakers, which other posts reported as mid-range in the 3-way component setup with the door speakers, seemingly the same 2.5-inch mid-range speakers as are in the sub box aren't easy to find. A local speaker repair shop told me that they couldn't find a suitable replacement foam edge to fix the factory speakers. I'm currently considering a Jeep/Mopar speaker that's still available, but is marked as a tweeter-mid vs. only mid. Can't find spec's on that speaker, but I may just end up trying it. The physical appearance is similar to the Jag LJA4140. Mopar part number for the replacement is 56038612AA, but I have no idea what the frequency response is...makes me nervous that they market it as a tweeter, but if there's no capacitor on it limiting frequency response, it would seem to be suitable for a mid range function.

For Bluetooth, I came up with a very good option that utilizes the CD plug in the radio yet maintains the CD functionality. The unit has a mic-button functionality to activate Siri or Google Voice built into the mic, and there is an add-on option to split the button from the mic to allow positioning the mic in a different location from the button. The unit is sold by Discount Car Stereo and is the JAGCD-HF model. This is marketed for 98 and after model years with the Alpine system, but their tech. support advised that they can modify it to work with the HK system in a 1997 model upon request. The unit with the mic/button split option was about $200, but I thought that's a reasonable price to pay to get BT phone and audio input without using a cassette or antenna adapter. They do have less expensive options if you're willing to give up the CD changer or will accept using an antenna adapter to input the BT signal vs. hard wired to the unit.

At the moment, I'm waiting on the subs to arrive, am still looking for dash speakers, and am still waiting for the BT equipment to arrive.

I'll put up a post once I get this all done to provide the project results. Only fair considering how much useful info I've harvested from the forum...repairing visor mirrors, replacing the HomeLink with a unit to do rotating codes, repairing fabric separations in pillars due to foam rot, car disassembly procedures, wiring diagrams! I'd have been totally in the dark without all of the advice posted here.

 

OK, here's where I ended up. The Kicker CompRT43CWRT672 speakers wired in series to get 4 ohms out of the two 2 ohm voice coils worked fine. For the two 2 1/2" dash speakers and the two 2 1/2" identical mid-range speakers in the sub boxes, I ended up buying speakers that were specified as 2 3/4", which are the size used in Jeep and Chrysler applications and some other models. I wondered whether the brand specific Jeep/Chrysler speakers may have had a capacitor on the speaker to limit functionality to a tweeter, which is how they specify the speaker, so I continued to search for a speaker that didn't have a tweeter specification since the Jag speakers are used as mid-range. I couldn't find any detailed specifications for the 2 3/4" speakers that I found online (Memphis PRX-27), but I was able to find a local stereo shop that had them in stock, allowing me to see them in person before buying. FYI, there is also a PowerBass S-275-C speaker online that has a similar appearance and size, but I never looked at these beyond finding them online.

The PRX-27 speaker diameter is identical to the stock speaker, but the metal frame is larger than what will fit into the XK8 in any of the locations (hence the 2 3/4" vs 2 1/2" size...it's not the speaker itself that's different, it's the frame). The magnet is slightly larger/deeper, but that wasn't an issue in the sub boxes. With the dash speakers, you have to be careful to get the top ring/cover well up into the speaker grille, or the magnet will hit the dash below and will keep the speaker from setting all the way down, causing the grille to sit too high. Note that the Memphis speaker doesn't come with a top ring & speaker cloth cover, but I was easily able to remove these from the factory LJA4140 speakers and glue them onto the new ones. The plastic rings are the same size, but I did have to grind the ones for the dash mount slightly using a bench grinder to get them fully into the grille. To trim the metal frames, I first tried the grinding wheel after marking the factory speaker's outline...quickly realized that this was a bad idea because the metal shavings stick to the magnet and the speaker frame. Next, I tried a pair of tin snips following a scribed line on the Memphis speaker made by holding the old over new and scratching the outline. That worked fine. Be careful to note that when you lay the old speaker over the new one, the alignment notch next to one of the mounting holes will be reversed, so don't mark/cut that initially. Cut the basic outline first, then flip the speakers, set them side-by-side facing up, and visibly match the notch cut.

One other important point is wiring. The factory speakers aren't marked + and -, so you have to figure out which is which. Fortunately, I eventually found the factory wiring diagram for the Harman Kardon premium stereo installation in another post, including the color coding, and I was able to determine that black wires are ground - and "black with white stripe" wires are + on all speakers. That, by the way, helped me to realize another issue with what the previous owner had installed to replace the subwoofers. The installer wired them in reverse phase...hence the little bass that I would have gotten from the 2-way speakers was essentially non-existent.

The end result of my installation sounds great to me. For the record, I'm not an audiophile. I wanted a good stereo for weekend cruising. I wasn't looking for a multi-thousand overhaul of the head unit, amp and speakers. My assumption is that a $75,000 Jag with an $1,800 radio upgrade in 1997 must have had a reasonably good sound system if it were working correctly with factory-equivalent speakers, and I was correct. I can crank this system and get a reasonable amount of bass and clean, crisp highs without distortion. Perfect for what I wanted, and I was only out about $300 for replacement speakers, a bunch of research time, and a job that, now that I know what to order and the necessary modifications to cut the mid-speaker frames, could have been completed in about half a day. Photos attached. Hope this helps someone facing a similar challenge in the future.

In a couple weeks, I'll pull the console to add the JAGCD-HF Bluetooth adapter and see how that works. Will post an update when done.

 

On fire, I too have installed the Jagcd-hf. Wanted to give you a heads up.

I enjoy the sound quality of the Bluetooth Pandora link from my Android now. Started to think, wouldnt an equalizer be nice. [I've always wished for better tone controls on the factory radio]

One can download "Bass booster" for free. Now imo, the EQ section does not improve sound quality, but - unexpected nice surprise: using the bass booster section of this software gives a huge improvement to the entire low end of the sound. I'm not I to thumping bass, this just improves the overall low end.

Now I see you have a new head unit, I'm using stock, so this may be irrelevant for your case. Then again it's free and other JAGCD- hF
Owners may read this too.

If you do choose to try it, let us know what you think.

John
I
I

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds like you got it working, and that's encouraging. I kept the factory head unit and amp, and I agree that the tone settings are pretty limited. Using an equalizer on the phone sounds promising. I'll try that out when I get the installation completed.

 

The JAGCD-HF donīt work with the first radio generation with M-Bus (XK To VIN# 018107).

I was forced to use this:
A2D-JAG97 Audio Streaming Adapter for 1986-97 Jaguar XJ and XK :: Bluetooth

Only audio streaming!

For aftermarket amplifier installation they have this:

http://www.discountcarstereo.com/AiH-JAG.html