F54 ‘18 Clubman S Bavsound upgrade
#1
‘18 Clubman S Bavsound upgrade
I’m a self admitted audio snob. So much so if we move a piece of furiniture in the house, I retune my surround sound. If the dog would stand still long enough, I’d probably tune it again. My ‘18 came with the HK system in it. Not bad but it was missing a lot of mid-bass and a ton of the lower end. Bass and treble controls helped a bit but I finally gave up and just listened to CNN. Did a bit of reading in here and went all in for the full bavsound speaker upgrade with the ghost subs. I watched all the somewhat applicable upgrade videos and waited patiently (not so patient) for the box to arrive. As much as they say this is 15-20 mins a side, if you’re doing this upgrade yourself the last door might be 20 mins. By then you’ve figured out all the tricks. Front tweeters......pain in the ***. No matter how hard you try I guarantee you’re going to have one of the white clips come lose and slide down into the floor panels. Happened on both of my attempts and I ended up pulling plastic to retrieve it. Center channel was pretty easy but the filter attached to the tweeter doesn’t fit in the factory location. No big deal but you’ll end up stuffing it down the side and then routing the wires through where the factory filter sits. It’s a tight fit but it works fine if you go slow. Front doors weren’t too bad. Each mid driver has two wires. You’ll only use one. Wrap the second one up and tape it down so it isn’t hanging lose. Make sure it isn’t blocking some slot for the door panel. Rear doors have a separate tweeter and mid. Mid were easy since I’d done it twice already. Tweeters are installed in a similar housing as the front tweeter pods. Filters are much bigger than factory so you’ll end up taping them to the door skin. Ghost subs were very easy to do. Hardest part was making sure you didn’t get whacked in the arm when the seat decided to lean forward. Don’t worry about taking the entire sub box itself out. New subs are easily installed without removing the box itself. all told it took me about 5 hours to get it all done right. Do yourself and favour and get the sound deading pack and tool kits. The deading pack helps seal the doors around the rear of the speakers. I own every tool known to man but having that toolkit all in one pack was well worth the $35.
Now, on to the sound. Holy crap. All levels set at mid. The sound is incredible. Easily a 2X or more upgrade from the factory HK system speakers. Compared to the HK there is significantly more mid and low bass. Highs are incredible but not painful. I’m only an hour into the 12 hour recommended break-in period and I’m beyond happy with this upgrade. If you’re at all thinking about doing this, stop reading and go buy them. Definitely get the ghost subs as well. I drove around for a couple days with the speakers in but original subs in place. The ghost subs are made for the speaker upgrades and really bring the whole system to life.
Now, on to the sound. Holy crap. All levels set at mid. The sound is incredible. Easily a 2X or more upgrade from the factory HK system speakers. Compared to the HK there is significantly more mid and low bass. Highs are incredible but not painful. I’m only an hour into the 12 hour recommended break-in period and I’m beyond happy with this upgrade. If you’re at all thinking about doing this, stop reading and go buy them. Definitely get the ghost subs as well. I drove around for a couple days with the speakers in but original subs in place. The ghost subs are made for the speaker upgrades and really bring the whole system to life.
The following 2 users liked this post by Nyles:
2017All4 (02-25-2018),
TheMeltingMini (09-16-2018)
#2
#4
I don't know how much room the Clubman has for an amp. My F56 didn't really have the space for an easy swap for the JL 600 amp so I mounted it on the trunk floor pretty close the original amp which I left in place. Used a harness from Technic PNP to make it a simple change over. Can go back to stock pretty easily.
Some people use the BIMMERTECH amp which is tunable, but I didn't want to get into all that. No real support for the BIMMERTECH amp as far as installing it in a MINI but it should work. Bavsound sells it, BIMMERTECH sells as and you can buy the same amp for less elsewhere without the supposed upgrades that they make to it. ARC Audio also has something that might fit.
Lots of choices if you have the ability to figure it out and install it.
I rated my Bavsounds about a 20% improvement over stock HK and with the amp I'd call it 100%. The under seat woofers really shine with more power.
Some people use the BIMMERTECH amp which is tunable, but I didn't want to get into all that. No real support for the BIMMERTECH amp as far as installing it in a MINI but it should work. Bavsound sells it, BIMMERTECH sells as and you can buy the same amp for less elsewhere without the supposed upgrades that they make to it. ARC Audio also has something that might fit.
Lots of choices if you have the ability to figure it out and install it.
I rated my Bavsounds about a 20% improvement over stock HK and with the amp I'd call it 100%. The under seat woofers really shine with more power.
The following users liked this post:
2017All4 (02-25-2018)
#6
Yes, more power to the under seat woofers is a big improvement. I never got the chance to hear the HK speakers other than the subs with more power, but I would bet they will sound better with more juice. The owner of the business that makes the PNP adapter for the amp (technicpnp) often comments on the BMW forums about upgrading the amp first and listening to the stock speakers before changing them out.
The install isn't all that difficult, especially removing door panels. Worst case is you break a few plastic clips which you can buy on line or at the dealer.
The install isn't all that difficult, especially removing door panels. Worst case is you break a few plastic clips which you can buy on line or at the dealer.
#7
https://technicpnp.com/product/mini-...ub-harnessloc/
Wait, so if I get the plug thing at the link above, I can add on an amp and a sub?
I have 2 x 12" subs sitting in my garage for years. Would be cool if I could just plug them in without upgrading the speakers or head-unit or anything.
Wait, so if I get the plug thing at the link above, I can add on an amp and a sub?
I have 2 x 12" subs sitting in my garage for years. Would be cool if I could just plug them in without upgrading the speakers or head-unit or anything.
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TheMeltingMini (09-16-2018)
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