With the expertise of my installer (Autopsec Mobile Electronics, Hawley PA) we have successfully completed the install of an Alpine CDE SXM145BT head unit in my '98 XK8 coupe. This particular install utilized the existing Harmon Kardon amplifier and speakers. This car has the Premium Audio System.
After reading the many negative threads on retaining the HK amp, I was pretty wary of what I would end up with. My installer tested the output of the amp and it was excellent. I can unequivocally state that the output and quality of sound from this system is very, very good and exceeds my expectations. Perhaps it's because my car is a coupe...anyway, I am very satisfied with the result and I now have Sirius XM, iPod & iPhone, MP3, CD and am/fm radio capabilities.
The only real technical challenge to the installation was properly modifying the connection(s) between the amp and the radio's pre-amp inputs. The HK amp has a six (6) pin round male connector...that connector is cut-off and the six (6) colored component shielded cables are exposed:Orange- 12v remote turn on amp, Blue-lft rear, Red-rt rear, Black-rt front, Yellow-lft front . The four speaker wires were spliced to connectors and plugged into the new radio's pre-amp. Green is the common ground.
Power was a straight forward single wire and ground. (no addt'l harness necessary). The handling/adapting of the 6 component wires from the HK connector requires expertise because of the fragile nature of the wire.
We did utilize an early Jaguar XJ sub-frame LJA6318AB (about $55.) and the Facia Adapter FP-14-00 ($15.) and an AWC-1 Steering Wheel Control Harness (thanks smoggyx100). The Alpine CDE SXM145BT head unit was about $150. The installation does require the removal of the center console.
Total install time 4-5 hrs., parts about $300.
Sorry for the giant pic...how do I adjust?

New Alpine CDE SXM145BT Head Unit in'98 XK8 Coupe

 

Thanks for this info! I'm sure this post will come in handy in my near future, having a 16 year old self styled "DJ" for a son.

 

Very interesting - thanks.
Was your original head unit like this :



or the later model with the LCD screen in the centre ?

 

My '98 original radio had a center screen and keyboard on right.

 

They changed the head unit and amp sometime between '97 & '98. My 97 has the older head unit and the HK amp uses 2 Molex connectors instead of the DIN plug. One connector has the speaker and inputs and the other power, ground etc. And its the upgraded system also.


Dave

 

Can you please include the stereo shops phone number? I am in the process of wiring an aftermarket stereo in my 2003 XKR and I can't seem to get any audio after going through the amp. The local stereo shops are of no help and all tell me I have to run new speaker wire and bypass the amp all together. I would like to call the shop you used and see if there is anything I am missing. On my cable the blue and the green cables are in a seperate grey jacket and each include their own ground cable.

 

Question: do you have the "Premium" system in your XKR? I can print out that particular wiring diagram for the installer so when you talk you'll be "singing out of the same book".
The company's name is Autopsec Mobile Electronics in Hawley, PA, phone: 917-613-6703...his name is Fred Petsche.

 

I have the premium system with the alpine speakers tweeters in the doors, only low range woofers in the rear, and the amplifier in the trunk under the convertible top motor.

 

Steve, Great post, thanks for sharing it. I have the same car as you so I'm very interested. Just checking - does it interface to the CD player and the steering wheel controls flawlessly?

Does your new head unit give you more tone control flexability (e.g.; choose crossover point, more than bass / treble).

I'd love to see that wiring diagram. You should post it if it is not too much trouble.

Thanks,

John

 

John...it does not interface with the Jag remote CD player...you have to give that up with this install (Alpine receiver has a single CD player). The steering wheel controls were a breeze with the wiring adapter mentioned in my post. As far as sound control, you are limited to the control system in your receiver. I PM'd you re:wiring diagram...we did not create a special diagram for this install as described in my initial post.

 

Steve I have a cottage by you on lake Alden. Would you mind asking me what this cost you. I could possibly get this done when up at the lakehouse:O)

 

I do have the vert with alpine setup. But if he can do this chances are he can figure this out as well

 

Sorry, I really don't want to get into his business in this forum. Give him a call, I'm sure you can work something out.

 

Any chance you still have the OEM head unit? Mine works, but the display is kaput. I'd love to purchase your old one!

Thanks,

Rick

 

If or when I upgrade you can have mine

 

Fred at Autospec is awesome. He has helped me a lot while doing this install. Unfortunately we came to the conclusion that if you have the premium sound and the Navigation you are not able to utilize the built in amplifier. In systems with the nav, the 6 pin DIM goes from the OEM radio to the Nav, then amplifier. The amplifier will not turn on when connected to the aftermarket head unit, because the aftermarket unit does not send the proper signal response to turn on the amp.
It may be a voltage or amperage issue with the aftermarket head unit, that the preamps are at too low a range and the high level speaker outputs are too high. I was able to jump the amplifier to turn on by connecting both the oem and aftermarket radio at the same time and after the oem radio clicks on the amplifer it can be disconnected.
Fred and I were both at a loss. He informed me that it would probably just be easier to install an aftermarket amplifier in place of the OEM one. Another option would be to run the speaker high level outputs from the aftermarket head unit to the trunk and splice into the speaker wires coming out of the OEM amplifier and bypass the OEM amp all togther.

 

There goes that idea!!!!

 

I’m in the same situation and 2003xkr. Same wire colors. Can you send me any information to help me do the same aftermarket head unit install using the factory amp please?

 

You have to bypass the factory amp. The factory amp is garbage and uses a propriety style multi-pin cable. I cannot remember exactly which colors are which. $200 aftermarket pioneer gave better sound quality than the factory upgraded sound system. After you bypass the factory amp, the rear speakers will work as full range speakers, instead of the poorly tuned low range only woofers.

The sound system sounded much better with just the aftermarket radio, but I later chose to go a step further and added 8" component speakers to the rear with stand alone directional tweeters and that added much more depth to the true low range.

I also chose to replace the factory Nav with a 7" Garmin Navigation. It included a built in spearkerphone, auto turn on and turn off with power and can easily be updated with new maps. It is also a much better resolution and doesn't look like the graphics of an atari like the factory nav.

 

If anyone is wondering why an aftermarket Alpine head unit won't work with the OEM Alpine amplifier and CD player, this paper attached explains why. The AiNet that Alpine uses to communicate between the different devices is a serial data bus and almost certainly the first byte of each data packet will have a different header value for the OEM Jaguar install and the aftermarket Alpine equipment. It would be a good lockdown project for somebody to build a decoder/encoder that would swap that header byte for the correct one to make it possible to use a new head unit with the old OEM installed equipment.