Knowing I was going to have the rear interior out to swap my ram lines, I had planned on replacing my rear 6.5 "subwoofers." Opened things up and realized a previous owner had put in some Pioneer 6.5" coaxes. Kind of silly because the internal crossover in the amp would restrict it to low freqs anyway...

So with that, I decided to take a phased approach. Swapping the speakers and running them on the factory amp first, then swapping head unit and if I'm not satisfied at that point, I'll put in an amp.

Tore down the speaker boxes last night. Ground down the ring built into the box with a cutting wheel on a grinder (messy/smokey job) and cut the wires feeding the blown 3" speakers built into the box. Didn't realize they were there until I got into it. Following H20boy's lead, I reinforced the front of the boxes with 1/2" MDF and used silicone and screws to get a good bond/seal. That along with a 1/2" spacer gives me enough clearance for the coils. (Side note - not super happy with the quality of the cheap plastic spacers I bought on Amazon. Should have just cut out of MDF...) Woofers are JL 6W3v3s.

Built a pattern for my MDF using cardboard and extended it above the box so I can put in a smaller speaker thereby using the feed that was previously supplying the factory 3s. I had planned to slap in the same Pioneer 6.5s I took out but realized the frequencies the amp was sending that way would make a smaller speaker a much better fit. So you'll see that I cut big gaping 6.5" holes but I'm going to fill those and put in a pair of 4" coaxs (Hertz ECX 100.5).

In figuring out where to place the smaller speakers, I realized I could cut a random tab off the stiffener and thereby push the speaker down closer to the grille. Cut more out of the grille (again following H2Oboy's lead) and will start putting stuff together. Just ordering the 4" speakers now, so probably won't get everything buttoned back up until after the weekend.

Plan for fronts is to install a set of Hertz ESK 165.5 Components replacing the door speakers and tweeters. I'll probably leave the 3" speakers in the dash but will just disconnect them if they don't add to the quality of the sound.

Pics!

 

Waiting for my new rear components to come in so played with the head unit wiring today. Dug in on the diagrams and figured out the basic power and low level signals to the amp. Set everything up with just the fronts and I'm super impressed with the sound from my temporary(?) $50 headunit. Picked up a Chinese double din unit from Amazon on prime day. I listen almost exclusively via bluetooth, so we'll see how this works out before I spring for another unit. Also have to figure out how I want to mount it...

 

Did some surgery this evening...

 

Relocated the convertible switch to the shifter surround replacing the Sport button. I'm going to leave it in sport mode permanently or move that switch to inside the console next to my rear window and antenna switches. I'll need to come up with some trim panels to smooth out my dash hacking around the stereo but all in all, very happy with the fit. The angle works great and who needs a coin tray?

Also installed my mids in the door panels. The speakers were a little larger than the factory speakers so I had to do some trimming with a jigsaw to fit them properly. I also removed the plastic grille integrated into the door panel. Good fit and they sound a lot better than the factory speakers even though I don't have tweeters hooked up as yet and the frequencies they are getting are off based on the factory's 3 way components.

Based on the wiring diagram, the tweeters in the doors parallel off the same circuit as the small speakers in the dash, so for wiring I'm going to unplug the dash speakers and use the factory wiring from the trunk to the doors for both circuits - tweeters and mids. Will put the Hertz crossovers in the trunk near the amp.

Probably going to buy a 4 channel amp this week and eliminate the factory amp. Speakers I purchased are 4 ohm and factory amp is set up for 2 ohm. Also the built in factory crossover is problematic when installing speakers that have their own frequency designs. Decided not to run additional mid/high freq speakers in the rear - just going to install the JLs in their boxes for now. Everything I've read on the audio forums says that unless you are listening to surround sound (electronic music), it doesn't add much for front seat listeners. And anyone in the rear seat of an XK8 has bigger things to worry about than sound quality.

Some pics.

 

Wow nice job. Please give us a readout after you've lived with it for a few days!

John

 

Good going

 

Got the amp and crossovers installed last night. Used some light aluminum angle to make brackets mounting the amp where the factory amp was and crossovers where the CD changer was.

Rear speakers needed more spacing than I initially expected. Going to have to do some cutting on the rear panels to make it all fit. Next job....

 

Nice going.

 

cdre,

Now that you have screwed-up the looks of your Dash, cut holes all over your Jaguar and have just about changed out your entire Sound-System. May I ask? Does Frank Sinatra sound any better than before?

Billy Clyde in Houston

 

:icon_cr ackup:

 

Lol. It's a car for which I paid $1500 and I replaced a factory tape deck that wasn't much of a "looker." Can't remember the last time I've listened to a real CD.

Personally, I'm ok modernizing it a little at the cost of originality. Some are more reverent to the Jaguar Engineering Gods.

I haven't had a chance to drive it or otherwise listen to it much, but it sounds much better than it did before so far.

 

Modernizing it a little???
Dude...............
I would have just replaced the single din unit with an up to date Alpine with 3 pre-outs on the back. That way you could still have used the cars own amp, and with the steering wheel interface, kept the controls as well. Then just upgrade the speakers. If necessary.
There is always the option of adding another amp if needed.
You will always get better sound from a newer head unit without necessarily changing the speakers, that's just technology moving on.

 

cdre,
Well, you certainly have modernized the system, I guess???....I'll say that! But cdre, you haven't answered my question.......Does Frank Sinatra sound any better now? You do know who Frank Sinatra is of course?

Good Luck to you young Man!

Billy Clyde

 

I don't know about your car, Billy, but my car's radio does not receive any radio stations being broadcast from anywhere that Frank Sinatra is singing now.

 

That's strange, bakntyme! Frank and I flew down to Rio just this morning!

Billy Clyde

 

I looked at some single din HU options but liked the idea of a double din especially since I was able to throw in a rear view camera. This HU came with one but I opted for one that mounts more cleanly next to the licence plate lights.

Speakers were smoked - tweeters and the smaller speakers in the dash and sub boxes were all bad. Subs had been replaced with Pioneer coaxes at some point. I could have bought OEM replacements but decided to trade up.

Steering wheel controls work. Seems many of the aftermarket units (like this one) have a one wire steering wheel input that reads the different resistance offered by the different steering wheel buttons.

Yes, I know who Frank Sinatra is. Can't say I've listened to his music in the car.

 

Is there a source of what heat units would be compatible with various x100s?

 

Easiest thing to do is check the main plug that goes into the back of the radio. It should be two blocks of 8 pins, one red and one black I think.
One is for the power/memory/signal/something else, the other is for speakers.
If it's a standard ISO connection, which I believe all makers fitted to the cars some years ago and still use today, then any head unit will work.
The trick is getting one to suit your interior, unless of course you WANT flashing led's all over the place in which case, knock yourself out.
You could even have the flip out front and have satnav as well, all from a single din fitting if I remember rightly.

 

Most single din units will easily fit with some trim adapters. I went quite a bit non standard with a double din. Wires can be a little bit of a challenge. Not standard on my Harmon Kardon system. Low voltage outputs wired to the factory amp in the trunk. I used power, ignition, dimmer, steering controls from cut factory harness and ran new RCAs to my replacement amp. Also used the antenna/remote lead from my HU to feed the amp and antenna with separate wires so I can disable the antenna via a switch.

Found the wiring diagram and such with searches on here.

 

Were you not able to get the already made up steering wheel interface for your car?
Would have saved you cutting and splicing.