new speakers would be fine, nothing special to worry about with that really. The powered sub, you'll likely need to tap into a line for a signal and use a line out converter to run the RCAs to the amp on that. The only issue you might run into though, is you will probably have to find the input side of the factory amp. Easier to tap into the wires coming from the deck to the amp, than worry about trying to convert a signal that's been amped already. I've had mixed results going either way. Worst case, pull the factory sub, try using those wires and see if you get a clean signal to the new amp & sub.

 

I used the term "sub" because Jaguar calls the speaker as such and reduces confusion.

I connected a high end home theater subwoofer with an active crossover to the factory subwoofer line level out. I wasn't impressed. Raising the crossover high enough to blend well with the factory door mounted woofers did not sound good. Hearing voices from a trunk mounted sub, IMO, is poor sound reproduction. Very little sound makes it in to the cabin from the trunk even with the OEM shelf mount removed, therefore you have to turn the sub up too loud IMO. When turned up loud enough to be heard in the cabin, the sub can be heard outside of the car with the trunk closed.

I decided against using a powered sub. The trunk is already too small, and I wasn't comfortable with non-oem electronics being so close to the gas tank in case of rear collision. As an audiophile, I realized that a trunk mounted sub can only sound but so accurate from a physics standpoint. Basically a trunk mount is a sub placed inside of a leaky ported enclosure, as the trunk operates as a leaky enclosure with varying resonances and the shelf opening acts as a very short port. But I digress.....

I concluded that the OEM sub sounds good enough, so I repaired mine with a repair kit three years ago. It's still going strong. You will have to remove the rear sub anyway for a trunk mount to be heard, so I would recommend repairing the OEM speaker first to see if you like it. A properly functioning Alpine setup with the DSP set to front left actually sounds pretty decent. It's not the best in the world but it's leaps and bounds above the BMW E39 standard 10 speaker system or the premium Bose sound system I had in a loaded Chevy Impala rental.

 

This might give you some ideas...

Glens XJR Photos by vonMako | Photobucket

The best improvements were sound deadening the front doors and creating pods that attach to the actual door, not the door card. They're also not very hard for any decent audio shop to make for you, as they don't have to worry about cosmetics.

I have the standard stereo, not the premium, so I'm running a line level converter from the factory stereo outputs.
If you have the premium stereo then you might be able to cut the wires to the factory amp and run a new one, but if you have a 2000+ model with AI-NET then it gets very complicated and isn't anywhere near that easy.

I recommend spending some time here learning the wiring diagrams. They're not complicated, and might help point you in the right direction regarding the headunit and amp.
JagRepair.com - Jaguar Repair Information Resource

 

Sorry for the length here, but there were multiple items that needed separate responses, so, let's cut this into pieces...


"I connected a high end home theater subwoofer with an active crossover to the factory subwoofer line level out. I wasn't impressed."

That's because, like I said, the OEM subwoofer amp output is not "serious" enough to drive a "normal" subwoofer cone.


"Hearing voices from a trunk mounted sub, IMO, is poor sound reproduction".

If by "voices" you mean human voices, or just sound in general, that is not the job of a subwoofer. Besides, there isn't much in the form of sound detail because that is not a subwoofer's job, but rather a job for the mid-range drivers and tweeters.


"Very little sound makes it in to the cabin from the trunk even with the OEM shelf mount removed, therefore you have to turn the sub up too loud IMO".

Not necessarily. In my X308 trunk I have a Kicker 10" subwoofer in a sealed enclosure driven by a dedicated Kicker amp and you should hear it.


"OEM shelf mount removed"? The whole shelf? as in my cat can walk into the trunk without getting out of the car? Why? I suspect that you didn't mean it that way. In my install the sound only needs to go through the rear shelf void left by you-know-who and it gets to the driver's ears just fine. I may have cheated with a little extra opening there, but certainly not the entire shelf. In fact, I have a subwoofer volume control knob right next to my radio and I have to keep it at around midpoint, otherwise the low frequencies could steal the show from the rest of the frequencies and that is certainly something we do not want. Of course, you need to be very serious about firming up anything in the trunk that could cause rumble and unwelcome noise. You have to keep in mind that you're moving a lot of air in all directions.


"I decided against using a powered sub"

I don't have much experience with powered subs, but I understand that much progress has been made of late. Problem is that most of them are 8" at the most and that will sound OK, but it won't complete full Hz coverage. Convenient? You bet.


"The trunk is already too small, and I wasn't comfortable with non-oem electronics being so close to the gas tank in case of rear collision".

If the install includes proper fuse protection it should be fine. There's no reason why properly protected non-OEM items should be less safe. But, what really takes my sleep is the OEM rear fuse box with its main power delivery lead, which is located under the trunk floor and right behind the car's rear wall, thus far more exposed and vulnerable to a rear end collision than items at the front of the trunk. In fact, why does Jaguar always insist in a trunk mounted battery, thus, increasing rear end collision danger?


"Basically a trunk mount is a sub placed inside of a leaky ported enclosure,"

Not necessarily. In my case my subwoofer is in a sealed enclosure and not as "free air". As such, the trunk will not get involved until the sound has already been created and it has left the cone. No free air, no ported enclosure.


"You will have to remove the rear sub anyway for a trunk mount to be heard"

And that's exactly what my install involves.


"It's not the best in the world but it's leaps and bounds above the BMW E39 standard 10 speaker system or the premium Bose sound system I had in a loaded Chevy Impala rental"

Well, that's precisely because the factory systems always compromise when it comes to subwoofers. Why? Cost. Reproduction of the lower frequencies typically requires "heavier" equipment / material, such as a more powerful amp to move a larger driver cone. Then is the driver itself with a sturdier construction and a larger, heavier magnet. Some of these special factory systems do sound great, but when compared to an after market system which does address lower frequencies seriously they're just not the same.



Cheers,

 

Weight distribution, basically. My 328 is the same way. But on the plus side, my power lead for the amp I end up going with will be nice and short

 

Which is nice for the safe power distribution to the amps, however... at a costly trade-off because it then needs to extend power to the engine bay in the front of the car, which is where most power demand is. Oh well...

Cheers,

 

Something I'd like some help on would be the upgraded Alpine system. If I'm looking to replace the door speakers(door and tweeter in pillar) what size speaker and tweeter would I look for? Is the crossover built into the Alpine tweeters? Or is the wiring already going through a crossover? I would like to replace all four door speakers and the pillar teeters and the tweeters in the rear door handles. Are these all the same size(front/rear doors and front/rear tweeters)? Looking for something I could just bolt in place. As for the "sub" I'd be ok with just the 6x9 reproducing the bass I think mine is currently not working or putting out very little. I've looked and cannot find any specs on the premium Alpine system. Anyone know anything about this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

In the research that I have done I can tell you that the 6x9 that you need has to be a dual voice coil speaker. It's not your normal 6x9.

That's all I got.

I'm sure some of the more experienced members will chime in with accurate info on this subject.

 

The four mid range at the doors are 6 1/2" speakers. Look up some in the Web and read about them, then assess the pricing. I have both, Alpine and Infinity Reference 6 1/2" in my two Jags and they both sound great (If I remember well is Alpine on the XJR, i.e.X308). The Infinity drivers are on my XJS and feature a swivel tweeter that you can aim at the audience; nice feature to have. But, anything you install on your XJ will sound one heck of a lot better than the tired OEM units, trust me.

Any tweeters that you get will come with its own factory selected crossover which must be used for best results. That is what I did with mine, but what I do remember is that the installation was a pita because any decent after market tweeter has one heck of a larger magnet than the measly OEM tweeters, and getting it in that shallow dome wasn't easy, but hey! they're there and they work great, with only one gripe: Jaguar's aim. Tweeter's high frequencies are supposed to be highly directional, meaning they must be aimed at the audience's ears, but the factory chose to have them facing each other, instead (or close to), so much for stereo separation. Well, new tweeters won't change that so, unless you totally re-design that dome you'll have to put some kind of a lid that forces the tweeter sound to be re-aimed at the people. This is something that I still haven't done, myself. It isn't about the volume of high freq sound, but rather about the stereo separation that high frequencies determine, and which is nice to be able to listen to.

I won't go into that "sub" subject because the first thing I did with mine was to throw it away and to install the real McCoy in the trunk, but you already knew that.

Cheers,

 

[QUOTE=Forcedair1;1191217]The four mid range at the doors are 6 1/2" speakers. Look up some in the Web and read about them, then assess the pricing. I have both, Alpine and Infinity Reference 6 1/2" in my two Jags and they both sound great (If I remember well is Alpine on the XJR, i.e.X308). The Infinity drivers are on my XJS and feature a swivel tweeter that you can aim at the audience; nice feature to have. But, anything you install on your XJ will sound one heck of a lot better than the tired OEM units, trust me.


So you have a 2 way speaker in your doors? The Infinitys that you have are they 2 ways also? So you have the pillar tweeters and the door speakers have tweeters too? How do you like the Infinity's?

 

I replaced the front pillar tweeters with aftermarket ones that would fit, the thread is here
https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...73/#post910187

The front factory tweeters are no longer available so I had to go after market. The rear tweeters are available but totally different.
The front tweeters are feed by a separate amp than the speakers in the door and I believe the feed to the tweeters is already crossed over.
The rear tweeters have a crossover network and are powered by the same amp as the 6-1/2" in the door.

My sub-woofer blew, probably needs a new surround. I did not want to tear out the back seat so added a bazooka in the trunk and tied into the speaker feed for the 6x9. Works better than the 6x9 but had to boost the volume on the radio and sub and turn up the crossover on the sub.
I will need to pull the 6x9 at some point as it is flapping in the wind now when the sub in the trunck gets going.

 

[QUOTE=larney;1191707]Yeah, kind of an overkill, but the high HZ sound detail is nice and sharp, which is a little more necessary when you lose some detail driving with an open top. I like the Infinity's and the rather small XJS interior (when the top is down) makes for a kind of "close proximity" sound, as in "located close to the speakers", which is not the case in my XJR. Also, I can always adjust my sound processor to tame the tweeters, if that becomes necessary.

Cheers,

 

Pretty easy with the dash kit. You want to pick up a set of old fashioned cross-overs and then tap the connector behind rear passenger seat kick panel on drivers side.

See here for more info:

https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...estions-81253/


Cheers,

Mike
https://amphicar770.com

 

Can anyone tell the original system specs for speakers? and/or better specs.
I mean the parameters of the door speakers and so called subwoofer:

• Maximum output power
• Nominal output power
• Impedance
• Frequency response
• Sensitivity

 

sounds like you're getting a little ahead of yourself...

Why do you need those specs? If you're upgrading, then it's irrelevant, and if you're replacing factory, then any decent mid-level speaker set will give a nice improvement. You don't need to over-think it.

The mids in the doors are all 4ohm, which is standard for car audio. For the tweeters it's irrelevant, and how you deal with them depends more on whether you want to keep or replace them.