I upgraded the speakers in my 2002 XKR Convertible. I want to thank Owen Manderfield whose website gave me lots of tips and insight Jag Audio Upgrade . Thanks to Rev. Sam for his tips and videos too. Also to eaglexkr for his thread about upgrading the speakers, Speakers Upgrade Under $500 . And to ek_mundo for his thread on the Kicker subwoofers, https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...acement-40578/ .

I ordered a pair of the Polk DB6501 speakers off of E-bay for $118 shipped! I went with a pair of Kicker CVT65 2 ohm speakers for $125 shipped off E-bay. I ordered the 2 ohm Kickers as the factory subs in my 2002 XKR Convertible with the premium sound were clearly marked 2 ohm.

So, the upgrade was pretty easy thanks to the above mentioned help. That being said, the Polk Audio DB6501 door speakers had four holes and the factory door speakers had three, so I had to drill new holes for that installation. Not hard, but worth mentioning. I did remove the factory connectors from the door speakers and dash speakers and soldered them to the new speakers for a easier installation. I mounted the tweeters in the dash like eaglexkr recommended.

The Kicker subs did require some modification, just like was mentioned. I used a dremel with a cutoff wheel shank but no cutoff wheel attached. This basically melted the plastic around the edge of the speaker enclosure without damaging the underlying metal. Took a few minutes on each speaker and was smelly and messy. Wear eye protection.

The Kicker's also required that I cut the factory wires to attach them. There is not much slack in the wires and it required another set of hands to hold the subs while I attached the wires to the push button type connector on the subs.

The sound is so much better. The volume is much louder with no distortion, which is great when driving with the top down. Clear and sounds great.

I did have to turn the treble and bass to 0 as the sound is so much stronger from the Polk Audio speakers. I have the subs and +4. Everyone is different, so your mileage may vary.

I have not listened to the system with the top up yet. It still does not sound as good as my VW or Infiniti sounds systems, but those systems have 11 speakers and are in an enclosed vehicle.

I will say it absolutely blows away the sound system in the 2004 Porsche 911 Carrera convertible that I was considering prior to buying the XKR.

I have attached a few pics from the install. This is not a guide, as the above links will give you all the help you need.

Please note that the Kicker sticker does indeed make the subs sound better, just the same way stripes make a car faster and Coffee can exhaust makes rice burners better (somehow). ;-)

After I put everything back together my windows and mirrors did not work. The door locks still worked. After a ton of searching and trying resets, etc. It turned out to be fuse 4 on the passenger side. It does say locks on it, but that was the problem.

I did all of this upgrade for approximately $250! I love e-bay.

 

Wow! Looks great & so does that price!

 

It was not a hard job to do and the bang for the buck is about as good as you get.

 

I'm going to mark this thread for future reference. After much reading, this is pretty much exactly the system I'm planning for my car. I don't think I will do it all in one shot though. I'm going to start with the subs and go from there. I'm pleased the Kicker subs sound good without adding another amp, since I don't really want to add one if I can help it.

 

Nice job!! And a great desription of what you did.
Enjoy the summer with the top down and the volume up.

 

Keith, if you go with Polk Audio components (listen to many brands before selecting) I recommend the MMC version, about $40 more compared to the DB, but better overall sound quality. Remember, I had the DBs in my car at one time also, then upgraded to the MMC (then MOMO series) and saw a huge improvement.