After a lot of deliberation and with input from owners here and on other websites, I finally settled on an Alpine model, the CDE-185BT being my choice. It doesn't have DAB (but I didn't really want another aerial anyway) but it does have an enormous amount of functionality with the expected Smartphone interface and App-based capability.
As many of you will have installed audio equipment in XJSs, you'll know that the installation is fairly simple. I started by removing the aircon control panel knobs and the retaining nuts behind:
I then removed the aircon panel with a bit of gentle persuasion! You can then see the four mounting screws for the old unit (face panel removed to prevent any damage)
With the old unit out and unplugged, you can see the Jaguar-specific wiring plug. This is the only minor inconvenience. I found an adapter plug on ebay for the princely sum of £4.99. This converts the Jaguar-specific interface into a standard ISO interface plug.
The old Alpine unit was fitted to the car with 2 side brackets. I don't know if this an industry standard fitment, but when I removed the typical slide cage from the new unit, you can see how the brackets were able to be perfectly swapped over to the new Alpine unit.
You can see how the wiring adapter just plugs into the wiring loom of the new unit enabling it now to be fitted to the Jaguar wiring plug in the car
The unit powered up immediately and was quickly tuned in to a radio station to check sound output. The unit has a 4x50w amp so I was keen to see if the existing speakers would function ok without distortion. Fortunately, it sounds great!
I then paired my phone (an HTC One M8 which is a great phone!) and checked the Bluetooth connection and music streaming capability
With the unit seeming to work fine, I then fitted it into the old mounting points
The whole thing took only a couple of hours to do, but most of that was taking pics and playing with the unit! I could do it in 30 minutes without interruption.
Overall, I am hugely impressed with the unit and have only scraped the surface of its functionality today. One of the reasons I liked this model was because it has fully variable RGB illumination so I can match it to the car's instrument lighting. Even things that I thought were gimmicky such as using an App on my phone to download, and transfer to the unit via Bluetooth, the equalizer settings of other users has actually been a great benefit!
The cost? Well the unit has an RRP of £349 but is readily available for about £200. With a lot of diligent searching, I found someone who was selling a 3-week old boxed unit on ebay that had been fitted then immediately removed from his car when he sold it. It came with a bona fide receipt for £199. I got it for £125! The only other cost was £4.99 adapter plug.
Will it help the car pass its MoT at 10am tomorrow? I doubt it but at least I'll enjoy the music on the way home!
Paul
