THIS NEEDS TO BE A STICKY

 

+1 on the sticky

 

I just Pm'd the ADMIN to make this a STICKY

 

Nice job! Are you still able to hear the phone/nav well enough with it coming through the rear speakers? The door speakers still sound ok without full range? Do they still vibrate the door panels with mid-range?

 

The phone sounds great through the rear speakers - no problems at all.

The front speakers do fine; haven't noticed any problems yet.

I'll be doing more critical listening later in the week -- complex vocal stuff (such as "Dies Irae" from Karl Jenkins' Requiem -- you should be able to hear the thundering low end yet the vocals should be crystal clear).

No rattles, unless I crank up the subwoofer really loud, to the point where things in the rear view mirror blur...

 

Just finished.Sounds much better!

 

If I drive down to Weddington will you help me do mine?

 

Sure.

 

The door speakers actually sound better as they are not trying to reproduce sound that they are not made to reproduce.

Much of the reason for door rattle is probably do to the door speakers trying to reproduce low frequencies that they are not made to reproduce rather than mid range which they are made to reproduce.

 

This will be on my weekend to-do-list.

 

Ya WTH, I upgraded my speakers nuttin to fancy but noticed a improvement. I was always wondering WHY the fronts put out more bass. This is BULL SCHEISE , I even Dynamatted the doors and rear sides, maybe now it'll be of use after all.
THANKYOU for this INFO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is the reason NAM is GREAT, People sharing valuable KNOWLEDGE......MMM knowledge

 

Matty--

another five minutes work swapping wires around, and your previous efforts will be well rewarded!

 

so does this work with the HI-FI as well or no?

 

yup also works on hifi

nice to see a semi local MC owner im in palatine

 

It should work with the HiFi as well but I am trying to figure out if there is a better way to do it.

If my memory serves me correctly the amp has seperate channels for all the speakers if this is correct then it may be better to just swap the signals at the amp output so that things like the phone audio stay in the front speakers.
I have to research the schematics some more. It may be a day or two before i have a chance to get to work it all out.

I will let you know what i find out

 

If the head-unit is high-passing the rear speakers (before rewiring), phone audio will stay with the "full-range" output of the head unit (which, after rewiring, you moved to the rear).

The Hi-Fi amp is just another place you can redirect the signals between the front and back.

 

In a different thread, Robin Casady said that he connected a speaker with known good bass response to one of the rear channels of his R56 HiFi, and it didn't produce much bass.

My interpretation of the diagrams I've looked at is that Mini uses the same head units in HiFi and non-HiFi cars, just adding the amp between the head unit and speakers.

Given that it only takes a few minutes (given the right tool, which I've got on order for less than $8) to try the swap, that would seem to be a prudent and economical first thing to try.

 

Except that i have read that if you remove the amp in the HiFi system then you get NO Phone or Gong. If that is really the case then by by switching the wiring at the amp output keeps the phone and gong in the front as it is sent to the amp via the CAN-I Connection no the radio.

k6rtm - do you have access to a HiFi system? The reason I ask is that if they screwed up the wiring to the channels it is possible that they are sending the 40 watt amp out put to the front of the car, and not the back. This would also be something that should be changed then at the amp connections.

BTW i have found a bunch of errors in the wiring diagrams for connector numbers, where they say a signal is in one connector on one page but in another connector on another page. This does not go over well with me. and it is not the difference between right and left hand drive cars. Those are obvious. Also the HiFi diagrams show a swap in channels when going to a right hand drive car, i.e.the left goes to the right and the right to the left. I was always taught that the left is left and vise versa.

 

Where did you order the tool from? I am definitely interested in getting one.

 

mwedge--

Ordered the tool from my Mini dealer (parts dept) along with a bunch of replacement plastic clips, you know, the white ones that either came pre-smashed, or got smashed the first time you went to re-install a panel... $7.71 gets you the bit, not the whole tool. Should be here by Friday. I'll report back.

schatzy62--

Don't have access to a HiFi system (anyone in Silicon Valley like to volunteer?).

But putting my production engineering hat on, the layout shown in the WDS diagrams makes sense, bringing the outputs from the head unit to X9331, and then either running that right to the speakers, or back to the amp, and from the amp, back up to the speakers.

The amp also hooks to one of the digital busses -- many reports in other threads that the car computers get grumpy if they expect to hear from the HiFi amp and it's not there.

I take wiring diagrams as aspirations or goals, not sacred representations of Truth. Where the speaker wires are concerned, the same colour patterns appear in a number of places, and indeed I observed them at the speakers themselves.

...And I did hang my scope on the purported victims, to see what was going on. Wow! Audio signals! Audio signals that go up and down with the volume control, and with the fader!

So that's what my car wiring looks like. If we're lucky (and considering this is BMW, not Lotus, we probably are), your car may very well be wired the same.

Oh, thanks for the pictures of our favourite connector! It was very rewarding to see it for real Saturday morning, after popping out panels with my hands.

 

Great find! I wish that I was close to the Silicon Valley area and I would volunteer our MINI!

 

When you get the tool, mike the OD and ID. Standard Molex's are .093 and .062. There are others, just not as prevelant.
I am gonna try and stop by the local electronics shop today and find one that works. Got some training this week that will tie me down until after the stores close. Grrrrrr!
Doesn't it always happen that way. Here's the cure, now try to find some time to take it.

 

I'm in Carmel Valley and could come up to the Sili Valley. You want to look at the amp in the back, right? If that doesn't work, would you do the front swap for me?

 

Robin,
If he does will you document it in detail for us that have the HiFi System?

 

d6rtm,

I actually have the BMW tool that was posted in another thread that I had purchased several years ago when I swapped the pinouts on my BMW M3's MAF sensor plug...

Anyways, I work in San Jose if you want to try it to see if it works or not. If it does, I'm free to let anyone borrow it if they cover shipping for it...

http://www.unofficialbmw.com/all/ele...tact_pins.html