Hi All,

I have decided to replace the factory HU on my 2001 XJR with Navi. I am intending to put in a JVC KWNX-5000 which is a single DIN Navi unit. I am using the kit from Hard To Find Radio Dash Kits I will also be putting in a Metra AWSC for steering wheel control as well as a Sirius tuner.

I hope to document the process with photos. There is a lot of info out there but not much step by step. At the same time, I am hardly an audio or wiring expert so I have lots of dumb questions to ask along the way.

Removal of the old radio was very easy using the excellent instructions (with photos) provided in the dash kit. I also pulled the heel panel just forward of rear sear on drivers side.

The first photo shows what is there after pulling the radio. You can see the antenna wire, the ai-net connector, the white connector and the yellow one. Note that while on some cars the white connector will have speaker wires. Unfortunately, mine is not one of those.

The second photo shows the white connectors behind the heelboard. I understand that one of these goes to the speakers. Here is my first set of questions.

1) Which of these behind the heelboard connectors contains the wires going TO the speakers?? Is this just for the rear speakers or for the fronts as well?

2) I am assuming that if connector is for all speakers that I will need to run 4 sets of speaker wires from HU to this point?? I will then need to connect these to passive crossovers which will feed the wires going to the tweeters and midrange speakers? Do I need 4 crossovers (LF, RF, RR, LR)???

I am going to test fit the HU this evening. Will post pics of that later. Hopefully by then, someone will help my figure out the wiring side.

Thanks,

Mike

 

Here is a photo of the JVC mounted in the dash kit. I thought I had ordered it without the leaper as I had seperately prcured a dash leaper from an XJ6. Unfortunately I bought the kit quite a while ago so my fault for not checking sooner.

I am not crazy about the overall non-factory look but the design of the X308 does not leave a lot of options. Still, I figure it will be worth the tradeoff to have many more up to date features along with a usable navigation system.

I see where to tap the VSS Speed Sensor, the steering wheel controler, and power. Will post photos when I get there. For now I am at a standstill until someone can give some guidance in where I connect to the speakers as mentioned earlier.

Stay tuned.

 

OK, a bit more progress.

Discovered that the connector TO the speakers is the lower one closest to outside of vehicle. I plugged the factory radio back in then unplugged the two rear harnesses. This told me which harness. I then, and this is important, found the year specific wiring diagram here:
JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

The generic 98-03 diagram is not correct for all cars.

Used a 9 volt battery to confirm pin outs to speakers.

I am not really familiar with crossovers. Do I need them, how many, where should I place them?

 

If you have the premium system amp the signals are already crossed over.
If adding an amp then install the crossovers either in the door frame or door card depending how small they are.

 

More pics to follow in a bit.

I used a 3.5 mm jack and an old transistor radio to continue testing out the speaker leads at the rear heel board .

Looks like the rear speakers have one pair of wires for left and right that cover bothe midrange and tweeters. Thus, crossover must be at the speakers. For the fronts there is a seperate set of wires on each side for tweeters and midrange so I guess I will need a crossover for those.

I ran four pairs of speaker wires from the new HU to the heel board. They went very easily under the center console. Do this on passenger side so that parking brake is not in the way.

 

OK, getting closer.

Have the speakers all wired up. Having the portable radio to test with was a big help as even the year specific wiring diagrams are off by a bit. Fortunately, enough of it is correct that the remainder becomes trial and error. First pic is of the portable radio going out to the speaker wire harness at heelboard.

I color coded the wires on both ends with a sharpie pen befor pulling them. Makes it easier to keep track and no worry about label falling off.

I have power connected at the white connector from original HU. Tonight I got most of the other wires hooked up at the 26 pin connector (pics of that to follow). Again, not everything on the wiring diagram is correct. There is no red/white wire on my car for the steering controller. The wire at pin 2 (you need a magnifying glass to read the numbers on the connector) is actually green / brown.

Ran the GPS antenna. Still need to get the Sirius stuff put in somewhere. Will pick up some crossovers for the front speakers later, for now just using the front midranges.

Note that I used wither taps or connectors to the pins on the harness. I do not want to cut any of the factory wiring so that car can always be easily restored to stock condition.

 

OK, it is all done and working great.

I wound up using some old school style, Altec Lansing Passive adapters to seperate signal between the front mids and tweeters. Again, everything was wired up by the connector at rear seat heelboard.

I did forget to program the steering wheel controller so had to pull that back out a second time. Fortunately, plenty of room for the wires behind HU.

I placed the external sirius unit underneath the dash. There is a little ledge that it stuffed right under. Then ran those wires to the HU.

I did not cut any of the factory wiring or harnesses. This will make it easy to revert back to stock HU should I ever want to do so.

The leaper from the XJ6 fit over the painted leaper on the dash kit. That little piece makes a big difference in improving the appearance and I highly recommend getting one. I also added an audio input jack so I can plug in phone, ipod, etc.

Overall, I am actually surprisingly pleased at the overall look. Not quite factory but looks like it could have come that way, looks better in person than in pics. The tilt capability of the KD-NX5000 helps as well. The JVC is a bit of an outdated unit but I had it still in the box and it is still MUCH better than the factory unit. It is nice to have color maps.

Anyway, here are some pics of the finished product.

 

Nice, wish we can use a Double Din HU, it will fill up some of that extra space.
I have a 7 inch screen navi HU unit, I wanting to install in my. But, don't think it will look even close to as good as to what you have.

 

All,

There is someone on ebay selling a bunch of "seller refurbished" nx5000 units on evil bay. No relation to this seller but I remain very happy with this unit as an upgrade to the factory navi. I do not know what seller refurbished means. Just search evil bay for jvc nx5000.