Wow--my car is also on its way across the pond and my JL speakers are also in the mail--what a coincidence!

 

 

I finally got around to this.....now it makes me wonder why I waited so long! What a difference it makes, much better sound!

 

We did the swap yesterday and it sounds great

Thanks for that mod

 

I am sorry for my ignorance. However, can someone explain how to remove the plastic cover to get access to the connector? Like exact point to pry off or something? I read this thread from the begining but it is not still clear to me how to remove a panel.

Thanks,

 

Here's a summary from tintman718 that I got via PM:

Originally Posted by tintman718
This is one of those things that are a lot easier to do the second time around, so let me try to give you the breakdown:
-Pull out the door seal around the area you will be working
-Pry out the panel under the hood release by pulling it towards the right side of the car. If it doesn't want to come out......pull harder.
-Pry the small panel above the hood release by pulling it towards the rear of the car.
-Have someone hold that lower panel open while you reach inside to pull out the connector. I personally jammed a poland spring bottle in there.
-Carefully start cutting away 2-3 inches of the harness wrapping.
-That back end locking piece will come out after plenty of frustration. You will end up going back and forth because as soon as you go to one side, the other side will slide back in, but after a while you will get.
-Push the required pins out, rearrange, and put back into holes. Make sure to give yourself room to put them back into the holes by pushing that locking piece back towards the area you cut away the wrapping.
-Reverse instructions

You will definitely need a flashlight. You will definitely need a towel or pad to cushion your knees.
Hope that helps!"


If you have not followed the thread, I suggest going after the female pins after unclipping the back of the connector (w/ a flat-head screwdriver), freeing the pins a bit. Then use a 25 torx bit to push the pins down & out.

 

Thank you for recapturing the instruction.
I will try it over weekends.

 

Congrats on 3rd gear Eurotrash01, and thanks for the instructions.
Got my car this week, and if it isn't too cold this weekend, I'm going to do the channel swap.

 

Hey! Nice ride you got there. Welcome to Funsville.

A warm garage and 15 minutes (plus another 25 to stare at it) is all you need, if you have your torx bit, a wiring map, & a flashlight.

Then you'll catch the speaker disease, and you'll be off on your next mod.

 

Mine's all done, but my 2 pesos fwiw:

- I found the hardest part was getting the connector loose from the "wall", eventually getting it to pop out, only minor laceration. What's the trick for that - does it slide?

- I found it unnecessary to cut the harness wrapping back; I extracted all eight wires to be swapped, rearranged, reinserting loosely, double/triple-checked orientation, then pushed each back in place firmly.

- I tried to move the "back-end locking piece" of the female-side connector, but gave up after awhile and just pushed on the female "pins" with a T-25. They came right on out without excessive force; sort of "snapped" in place when reinserting in new order.


Tom

 

Did the swap this past weekend and went very smoothly. As far as the results go, it definitely sounds better...but it isn't the "magic cure" for the sound system. Absolutely worth doing, however.

Thx to all of those that contributed to this threat!!!

I had the same issue removing it from the wall. Finally got it to snap out (and back in). Only guidance to those attempting this is to "pull harder" barring any secret (e.g., is it supposed to slide out)???

I found that if I popped out one pin on each side of the locking piece (as opposed to on the same side), I could use my thumbnail to prior that side open and then go to the other side without the risk of having the first side re-seat itself. I also discovered that a T-20 bit worked well to push the female pins out once I used the T-25 to push it in as far as the bit would allow (the T-25 bit is wider than the T-20).

For me it was about 1 hour including prep and cleanup.

 

"Did the swap this past weekend and went very smoothly. As far as the results go, it definitely sounds better...but it isn't the "magic cure" for the sound system. Absolutely worth doing, however."

Unfortunately, if you don't change the MINI OEM speakers, you're stuck with the big problem- lack of clarity.

The channel swap just gets you bass notes that were selected out for you by the HU.

I tried unloading my OEMs on Craigslist for peanuts. No takers or nibbles. People know value.

 

This may have been touched on previously, but can someone tell me if the female connector (that the mod will be done on) goes to the head unit or the speakers. I thought I recalled reading that it was on the HU side and want to verify this. I plan to solder speaker wire onto the connector (HU side) front L and R and route it to the rear for a sub (later). Since I plan to do the swap tomorrow, I thought I would do this all at once.

 

Ok - I did the swap and everything went pretty well. A few comments:

- The Female connector (that I swapped pins around on) is on the head unit side. I wasn't totally sure about this and used an ohm meter to measure the speaker resistance on the male connector pins. I measure 4 ohms for the rear and ~2 ohms for the front. So the male conn is definitely the speaker side.

- I soldered 4 wires (4 in a sleaved bundle) to the female side front speaker pins (FL-, FL+, FR-, FR+) before I reinserted them into the new locations. I soldered right on the conn crimp, which gets covered by the connector body after the pin is re-inserted. This was nice because I didn't need to cut up the wiring or tape up the connections. I plan to use this wiring for a signal input when I (eventually) add a rear sub. I then ran it down along the door jam and shoved about 5' of it into behind the plastic panel near the rear speaker. I will eventually pull this to the rear when I do the rear speaker replacement. For now, it will just stay hidden.

- I pulled too hard (or didn't twist enough) on the piggyback connectors and popped the bundled connectors off the plastic tab thing in the hole. Couldn't really figure out how to reattach the tab thing to the white connector, so its not on there all that well now. I don't think it really matters that much though since there isn't any place for it to go. I should have just disconnected the bottom half of the white conn and left the rest stay attached. Oh well.

- I found it hard to put the large panel back on. The white plastic tabs look like they were designed to have the black panel slides (from rear to front) into slots on them rather than be pressed on (from right ro left). I just wacked it hard, but I'm not sure all of them reattached, but certainly enough did. There seems to be a just little play around the middle of the panel, but its not noticable or rattling any. The rubber trim piece helps hold it in place too. Maybe I'll try again later.

- It took me about 1 1/2 hours, but I work slow and soldered the extra wiring in for the sub.

- The mod certainly works as stated, but I haven't listened enough to really tell the difference. The BT does come through the rear speakers, but sounds good. I've ordered 6 new Infinity reference speakers, so that will be my next project.

 

Yep...that is the unfortunate truth. It really is amazing how BMW can put out this kind of (lack of) quality. Still the mod is worth it.

I've been debating changing the front speakers. However, my 3 year lease just began and I'm not sure I want to make a $200 investment under a lease.

Does anybody know if I would need to swap the speakers back at lease end? I'd almost prefer to leave the new ones installed at the end rather than going through the hassle/cost of putting the stock speakers back in.

 

Did you pop out the little white connetors from the door frame?

I popped all of the little white connectors and then slid them into the corresponding slots on the large panel. Once I did this, I pressed the large panel on by lining up the tip of each white connector with its respective hole in the door frame. Didn't have to press too hard. Went smoothly.

 

You really can't reinstall the OEM speakers in the way they came in a MINI. You pretty much have to cut off the connector on the new speaker install...I couldn't find any way to detach them short of snipping the wires.

 

Ahhh, I didn't think of doing that! I will give it a try . Thanks.

 

I did the channel swap this afternoon, I haven't even had a chance to listen to it yet (other than to make sure it actually still played music), but I do have a couple things to add.

I also had a hard time getting the connector loose from the wall, but I got it to reattach easily. Point 1 in the image below shows a black connector. The x9113 connector is attached to the left side of the black one. On the other side of the x9113 connector is a white plastic piece that holds the assembly to the wall of the car. It has a rectangular tab on the back, and there is a rectangular hole in the wall of the car. The tab fits easily into the hole. It doesn't snap in. What holds it in place is the relative orientation of the hole and the tab; the tab is rotated relative to the hole after it is inserted into the hole. The hole is at an angle, and when secured, the tab is horizontal. If you try rotating the connector (1 in the image below) in a counter clockwise direction while pulling out, it should come right out.

I had a couple other problems. The mod thing took me a really long time. I'm not sure when I started, but it took at least an hour and a half. The lower black panel actually broke at one of the christmas trees when i pulled it out. It broke where the christmas tree attaches, so it won't hold the christmas tree firmly. bummer! I even had trouble getting the male and female halves of the x9113 connector apart. Probably because of all of the good advice here, it was pretty easy to remove the back part of the female end of the connector, pop the pins out w/ T20 and swap them. This was the easiest part.

The other problem I had was getting the lower black panel back in place. In the image below it looks like there is a slot and a piece that should go in the slot, but for the life of me I couldn't get them together. Does anyone know whether these parts labeled 2 below should fit together?

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by MrTIer
- I found it hard to put the large panel back on. The white plastic tabs look like they were designed to have the black panel slides (from rear to front) into slots on them rather than be pressed on (from right ro left). I just wacked it hard, but I'm not sure all of them reattached, but certainly enough did. There seems to be a just little play around the middle of the panel, but its not noticable or rattling any.

Did you pop out the little white connetors from the door frame?

I popped all of the little white connectors and then slid them into the corresponding slots on the large panel. Once I did this, I pressed the large panel on by lining up the tip of each white connector with its respective hole in the door frame. Didn't have to press too hard. Went smoothly.

 

Yeah, I didn't have any trouble with the white Christmas tree connectors (other than the one that went on the spot that I broke). I just had trouble with the spot in the photo. It doesn't use the christmas trees, and I'm not sure how/if it goes together.

 

Just did the mod and took me about 15 minutes total.

Oh and yes its worthwhile and makes the HiFi system at least tolerable now. Still could use more bass but its MUCH better.

 

"Oh and yes its worthwhile and makes the HiFi system at least tolerable now. Still could use more bass but its MUCH better."

HiFi? Do you mean that you did this swap with a MINI HiFi stereo system, or were you just speaking about your music system in general? I don't think the swap helps the MINI HiFi system owners.

Either way, new speakers are a must for clarity. Change them when things become intollerable.

 

Yes I have the HIFi system. And I do believe it helped. I listened too a couple of recordings before and then after and I did notice a difference in the lower bass notes.

I have Morel 3-way and Morel 6x9's on the way. Then may go for a sub in the rear.

 

I listened to mine this morning, and the difference was dramatic. I agree with eurotrash...the sound still lacks clarity, but the bass is much improved. I haven't tried the bluetooth yet to see how it sounds coming out of the rear speakers.
I don't know how you guys do this in 15 minutes! I must just be really slow.