Paul,
The alpine head unit should have a remote wire that puts out 12volts only when the radio is on so you really do not need to run a separate switch for the aerial. Get back to me if you need any help. You should also purchase the harness that is mentioned earlier in the threat. The harness really works well especially if you are not using an amp. You just wire it up in your home (the Alpine harness to the new Jaguar harness)
Good luck,
Jomo

 

Jomo,

Tks for the answers. Do you mean that that the aerial stays down if you're listening to CD / iphone but only comes up if you switch to tuner? I assumed the aerial would go up all the time the headunit was turned on, so I was going to wire a switch to drop the aerial voltage when I'm listening to cd or iphone.

Re. the microphone, do you mean at the bottom or top of the windscreen?

Tks again

Paul

 

Paul,
I actually had to go out to my car and check to see if the antenna goes down or stay down if the head unit is on but not set to the radio. Good news for you, the antenna stayed down if when my head unit was turned on but not to the radio; when i turn on my radio the antenna went up but if I switched to CD it went down. So, if your Alpine is like mine there is no need for the switch! I installed the microphone at the top of the windscreen.
Good luck,
Jomo

 

Jomo,

Good news!

Tks

Paul

 

Sorry bringing back a old thread. I have a 94 convertible I'm in the process of doing the same amp install and can't figure out how to get my rca's and speaker cables to the trunk. Could someone post a pic of the location they drilled? I need 4 pair speaker wires and a 6 channel rca cable to pass through. What route did you also take the cables from the headunit back? Thanks.

 

I did it. I have a zip tie passed through ready to pull the wires.

 

I ran wires from the trunk through the drivers side upper corner of the trunk into the quarterglass pocket, then down under the panel, into the sill plate pocket up to the front of the car.

You should have a grommet there that you can pass wires through. No drilling.

I'll send you a pic tomorrow?

 

did you also add a sub in the trunk? If so how does it sound?

 

Good timing as I just added subs very recently. I initially put them in the trunk and heard less than 10% of the sound as the sound needs to go through the gas tank. I ultimately put them in the cabin. Please don't bother putting them in the trunk.

 

Great! I was thinking of using shallow mount sub and amp combo for a quick setup, later on I may think of something in the back seat.

Where can I run the 12v power supply for the AMP from within the cabin? Instead of drilling a hole from the trunk to connect to the battery.

 

I ended up drilling a hole like H2Con and ran the 12 volt power to the amp.

 

Hmm. There is a 12v (low amperage) signal wire that sends a signal to the OE amp, which then has a dedicated 12v (higher amperage circuit) to power the amp. I would try and use the electrical diagram for your particular model and use the OE wiring to run an aftermarket amp.

When I was younger and working on my first cars I would install amps an run long stretches of wire to power audio amps and other things. Would get iffy results and the voltage needed would always end up drawing to much power from whatever 12v source I would tap into. There is an (and I'm NO electrical guru) inverse relationship between a V,,, and the length of wire used to deliver power to a given appliance... Short runs of wire, on/from a relay, used to deliver power to am appliance,,, is a good thing.

It's why say, headlights, the horn, the starter, wipers, heater fans, windows etc etc are all controlled by having/signalling a relay in the circuit - which THEN powers the appliance...

EDIT >>>>> Sorry. I thought I was posting to the XK sub forum about the amp set up in the XK8... Still, same ideas apply. For instance, when you turn on the head unit a low amp signal goes to the auto antenna,,, you may be able to use the signal that powers up the antenna, to power up the amp, with use of a relay mounted in the truck, fed directly off the B+ battery post...? Any (generally) low amperage 12v signal that is ON when the car is on AC or RUN could be used to signal the relay that controls/powers the amp...