XKR 2008 poor radio reception

[rfm1952]

When playing the radio there are a lot of hisses & crackles since virtually new in March 2008.
The dealer has tried fitting a new co-axial cable and suppressors as advised by Jaguar. These have made no difference. Jaguar say there is nothing else they can do to help.
This problem has been affecting a lot of other XKs and I am told one owner paid for an electric aerial himself. Honest John from the Saturday Telegraph suggested a booster for the aerial but a radio specialist said this would make no difference.
I bought the 2008 MY as I didn't want the old electric aerial of the previous years. There shouldn't be a problem of this sort on a £70k car.

Does anyone have a similar problem?

[mike020150]

As you say, a poorly performing radio is not acceptable on a car of this price. If the service manager has washed his hands of the problem, I would advise tackling the Dealer Principal whilst remaining prepared to escalate matters directly to Jaguar. Perhaps now we know why Jaguar resisted the change of aerial for so long? Mike.

[springelec]

Hi RFM1952,

Hisses and crackles are two separate problems.

Hiss is the back ground noise of the radio heard when the volume is turn up to maximum. Some radio's do this automatically, i.e. automatic volume control (AVC), to compensate for when the signal starts to fade. It's there to keep the audio level constant, with more or less background noise.

All electronic devices produce their own noise in the form of Johnson or thermal noise and Shot noise caused by high velocity electron impacts within the semi conductor devices themselves. The combination of these two noise sources is sometimes called White noise.

Hiss & Shot noise cannot be removed unless you freeze the car to -273C, which, I admit is not a practical solution.

It sounds to me as though you have precious little signal from the aerial caused by either a crap aerial or a broken connection either in the aerial feed or in the aerial earth.

Crackles are caused by interference, i.e. high energy radio emissions, usually from the car itself coupling to the radio's power supply wires, control wires and of course, directly into the aerial feed itself.

If this is a common problem with lots of other new (ish) XK8's, Jaguar have definitely dropped a bo**ock on this one and it needs a permanent solution from Jaguar.

For your Jag dealer to turn away from this problem is totally unacceptable and the Club ought to lean heavily on Jaguar to sort this out.

If a crappy Peugeot or Mondeo can have a perfectly good radio, then a £70K Jag has no excuse.

Springelec

[rfm1952]

Thank you springelec for the technical information. I will wait to see if I get any replies from other XK owners to see how common this problem is.

If others can let me know whether they are getting good reception it would also be useful. The problem should only be with 2008MY cars onwards, when Jaguar stopped using the electrical aerial. The new 2009 model with the 5 litre engine has a fin on the boot lid, but Jaguar tell me that this is nothing to do with the radio aerial but to do with the the satnav. My wife's Volvo V50 has a similar fin on the roof, but I assumed it was the aerial as she does not have sat nav.

[mike020150]

I believe that you will find the current XK has its radio aerial behind the rear bumper. Mike.

[rfm1952]

Thanks Mike. I have written to Jaguar Customer Services again & hope to hear from them to see if they are prepared to do anything else.