I removed my door panel to assess the speaker upgrade situation. I removed the driver door panel. I presume the pssgr side door is the same. There are 4 torx screws to remove and they are easy to get to. (T-20 torx, I believe). To remove the door panel:
1) Remove 2 torx screws at the bottom of the door panel. Lay down and you can see them. No need to remove that little light.

2) Remove the small trim cup behind the chrome interior door handle. It's a small, half-circle cup thingy and comes right off with a little plastic pry tool. Remove the torx screw behind it.

3) Remove the plate holding the power window switches. With a plastic pry tool, lift up the end farthest away from the door hinges. Looking at the open driver's door, lift the left side and it will pop right out. Remove the torx screw.

Here's the torx screw behind the window switch.

4) Start at the bottom and simply start pulling on the door panel. It's held in with plastic clips. None of my clips broke; they are pretty sturdy. To get the panel removal started, I pried out the bottom with a panel removal tool. Once it's started, you can get your fingers behind it and run along the edge pulling it loose.

5. One the panel is loose around the edges, pull it loose at the top. The panel is secured along the top near the glass by small metal clips. Just lift and give it a little tug and it will come loose pretty easy.
Here is the 4" speaker on the non-HK system.

 

What was your conclusion with the speaker situation? Easy to upgrade?

 

Speakers will be easy to install if you can live with 4 inchers. Installing larger ones does not look easy to me and will most certainly require butchering the door panel. There is only 1/2 inch clearance behind the metal door panel due to the power window motor.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this up and the pictures! I'll definitely use this when I upgrade the speakers.

 

Do you guys have any good recommendation on 4" speakers? I'm looking at upgrading the the speakers hoping that it will help to improve the sound quality with the stock sound system.

Thanks
Nic

 

I'm looking at the Focal 100 KRS. If you already some good tweeters, you can order the 4" Focal speakers individually, without the tweets and the crossovers. I ran the 6.5 inch Focals in my truck and the sound was fantastic.

 

That might be more complicated than I would like, and I'm sure the result is awesome. I'm looking for somewhat of a plug & play solution to upgrade the sound quality - it doesn't have to be super robust. Do you think i can just swap the stock speakers with those FOcual 100krs speakers?

Thanks
Nic

 

Yes, you can always swap the stock speakers just themselves. That's what I did on my base stereo (i.e. not upgrade) on my 2009 MCS. Just changing the speakers with the stock head unit make it dramatically better. Then later on, about a year or two later, I added an amp to my upgraded speakers -- this made it even better.

The initial speaker swap out I did myself. I paid a stereo shop to install the amp I bought.

If you ask around, you may find some "car head" friends that would help you, or just pay the local shop to install the speakers you buy elsewhere or from them. There is stuff that can go wrong when you pull the panels. Clips can break, or you can do like I did and have the door lock (that sticks out at the top of the door) get disconnected from the internal area of the window -- it was a pain to get reconnected...

 

The Focal 4" I believe can be installed without too much hassle. I will find out in a few weeks. Focal also makes an OEM replacement for the BMW's (Focal IFBMW-C) that I believe will drop right in. The factory speakers have 3 mounting tabs. Most regular speakers have 4 tabs. I am going to try to fit the 4-tab speakers into the car. I might entail making a small mounting trim ring, but this should not be too hard because I have a lot of tools. If you get the Focal IFBMW-C, the 4" speaker should drop right. Install time will be less than 30 min per door. Watch out,though, the Focal IFBMW-C speakers are very expensive.

 

Thanks for all the great information! It would be awesome if you can record the installation process I will probably follow your foot steps

 

How expensive is expensive? And can the lower bass speakers be dropped in at the same time as long as the door panel is off or is that a different surgery? Irealize I have a different car but the door speakers are probalby the same.

 

How do you replace the base stock tweeters? Where are they?

 

Will ordering these be an easy swap? I only want to update the 4" speakers in the door.

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_975MS4X...MW.html?tp=102

I really prefer doing this on my own rather than going to a shop to do this

 

JL Audio makes two different four-inch coax replacements that are half the price of the Focal. I called Crutchfield and they looked up the measurements; according to them, the JLs are actually a little bit smaller than the Focal BMW replacements. Focals are amazing, but I'm going to replace all 4, so I'm going with the JLs.

 

Let us know how that goes. In the R56 audio/nav forum there's an outfit called Integral Audio who makes a whole soundstage kit for the R56: bass, mid, tweeter, amp, crossovers, wiring harness, instructions. They also make a sub. I asked if they just sell drop ins. He said no because the HK amp is EQ'ed just for the speakers that come in it so you won't be happy with drop-ins and that amp. Their system is $1500 without sub, $2300 with sub DIY.

 

Chuck - Do you know which model numbers they are recommending? I'm not seeing any 4" on the JL Audio site.

 

Thanks for the pictures of door trim removal. My Mazda CX-5 door trim clips broke by 50% chance every time I pull it out. Are MINI's clips much more stronger?

Anyone think it's worth it to add sound dampeners (Dynamat stuff) on the door panels? Mine's in production right now. I don't really care about the speakers in the car.

 

Just pulled my door panel. There is a lot of room behind the speaker - you could use a 2 1/2" if you could find one that deep. These look just like the BMW speakers to me. Focal BMW-S speakers should work fine 120mm - 120mm - 90mm between the holes they are less than 2" deep and have massive magnet compared to the crappy HK/Mini/BMW ones.
The only thing I'm not sure about is where Mini put their crossover for the tweeter. Would hate to have to run a wire through the door frame inside that rubber cover. Did it one my R56...pain in the ****$%^.

 

Wonder if you can swap to the HK ones. I know the stock base stereo has less power then the HK version. The new HK sounds awesome. The HK has more speakers and that center one on the dash.

HK #3 and #2


HK #3 and #2 same part # as the fronts again



#3 65139210452 TOP-HIFI MID-RANGE LOUDSPEAK

http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/65139210452/ES2721159/


Center speaker on the dash both w/ H/K only, stock system has no speakers there.



http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/65139169690/ES1904338/



Gives you some ideas.

Here are some tech points on the F56 HK system. Looks like 400 Watt

http://www.mini.harmankardon.com/en/...nicalMini.aspx

http://www.mini.harmankardon.com/en/.../benefits.aspx

 

Thanks for the illustration.
Stock HK speakers (well the 4") look pretty crappy - as the guys a Crutchfield say " any aftermarket speaker will be an upgrade.
The HK stereo IMO lacks base power and has a muddy midrange.
I'm going to break the sub wires before they go into the HK amp and send them to a new separate amp (just for the subs). This way the main amp is still used for all the NAV etc and will run the mid's and tweeters.
I might put in better sub speakers from Focal (IFBMW-Sub) and definitely the IFBMW-S's for the doors and A pillars.
Whole thing will be less than $600. Can't wait!
Oh yes the mounting holes of the door speakers are the same as BMW. Crutchfield confirmed.

 

I heard the H/K system and it sounded good to me. Yea it looks like 4 inch with a three post mount. The HK speaker look to have a much bigger driver then stock base system. Share the same speakers part # as BMW and Rolls Royce which runs the H/K Logic 7, same speaker different tune / amp . Logic 7 sounds the best. check out your local Rolls Royce dealership.

The newer B/O bang and olufsen system lunched on the 6 series BMW and the GC 6 sounds really good. But I think its about with same as the F56 w/ HK .

Thanks and good luck

 

Well here are the "big magnet speakers". These are not quality believe me!
Can't wait the hear the Focals. You guys should know how much they make on the manufacturing. Cars cost are all design and setting up the line. Bet they pay $6 for each HK speaker....

 

Look at the Integral Audio site. They have a download of the entire pictorial of how to install their whole system including sub. Because they give you crossovers you can see where they are. I think the tweeter A pillar crossovers are in the A pillar. And those speakers are a POS!

 

Just ordered IFBMW-C for the doors. I can't wait to hear the difference in my base system

 

Decided that replacing the sub speakers was too expensive. So order an separate amp just for the subs - JL Audio D200/2. Also ordered the Focal IFBMW-S from Germany on ebay - way cheaper than US pricing..but maybe there is no warranty...