QuestionI recently inherited a 1986 Jaguar XJ6 with about 70000 miles. Runs great, but the tape deck in the car and speakers leave a lot to be desired.
I took the car in to a local Car Stereo place, Car Toys, who told me that there's a possibility the car has an "internal factory amplifier" that they may need to re-wire around adding an extra $80 to installation of a new car stereo.
I don't mind the money but what I found odd was that they said they couldn't be sure until they opened the deck whether or not it has an internal amp.
It seemed a bit fishy that this wasn't a known factor and wondered if they were trying to pad themselves with an extra $80 of my dollars.
Any idea how I'd find out if the car has a factory installed amp?
AnswerHi,
Sorry about the delay in answering this question.
Personally, I'd guess that Car Toys is just hedging its bets when suggesting that there may be a factory amplifier. The fact is, there isn't a lot of electrical information available (at least, to a typical car audio installer) about the mid-80's Jaguar; and most installers haven't worked on very many. I think the installer simply isn't sure what to expect, and would rather err on the high side than the low side when giving you an estimate ahead of time. Unlike a mechanic specializing in Jaguars, a car audio installer doesn't typically have specific wiring information available for every vehicle; and luxury cars in general are notorious for having some uncommon "premium" factory audio systems.
From what I can tell, I doubt that you have a separate factory amplifier in the Jaguar, especially if you only have four speakers in the audio system. It's very likely that all the speaker wires can be found at the head unit, which should make the installation fairly simple.
Hope this helps!
Brian
