Just got finished doing the swap in 2012 Clubman S.

What a difference it makes.

Thanks to all that have gone before me.

 

Went to Radio Shack and picked up part 274-223 Crimp Pin Extractor for less than $8. Worked perfectly to pop out the female pins. Says it works on male ones also.

After the tool purchase, had this mod finished in 15 min. Wow what a difference.

Did it on my base convertible with base radio. Now I am wiring in an old Bazooka tube. Will change out the factory speakers maybe next week.

 

By the way, my convertible is a 2012 so Mini still has not done anything about this.

 

Yes +1 on that

 

That panel just pulls forward and pops off. The bottom panel pulls out, the bonnet release panel pulls forward and slides out.

 

Finally did this today. It was easy with the help from this thread. Took about 20 mins all together. I noticed that a /8 allen wrench works well to pop out the female pins once you loosen that plastic clip that holds them in the base. Sounds great now. I usually ride with the windows open and cant hear crap on the highway. Now I can hear my music. Thanks to all.

 

I am at the same time amazed and dismayed that the channel swap still works, and that Mini hasn't yet gotten the clue!

 

After 6 months of owning my 09 i finally get around to this, had i known I would have done it in their parking lot... Thanks to the thread! I have 2 10" JL w3 (the classic ones) and a 1000w fosgate in the "tool kit" and this fixed everything. Car sounds amazing now. Thanks again!

 

After making this change to my 2012 r55S, I am very pleased with the results. Why is this not the OEM wiring?

I thank all you guys who provided this information because it really helps.....

 

Will this work on a 2008 r56 Cooper s with hi fi?

 

Honestly don't know Powashiftin but from what I read this mod does not do anything for HiFi.....

 

I just did the channel swap last night. The results are nothing short of Amazing. Yes, I still have all the stock speakers, but really this made a huge improvement. You actually have some bass you can feel now. For any contemplating, DON'T, JUST DO IT!!!!

Thanks To Bob and all the others for posting all the details.

My 2 cents. I did the female pins as a previous poster had put all the details. Here is an easier way to pull apart the white connector pieces. Take two small flat screwdrivers. Put one down each side of the connector from the end where the wires enter, this will hold the outer clips off the nubs. Then take a needle nose plier and pull the inner piece up and out while holding the outer piece. Much easier than trying to fiddle and pry.

I used a Torx 15 and worked quick and perfect.

As others have mentioned, the bottom and larger panel, extends all the way back along the door to the rear set. This was a bummer. I first pullout out just the front to work on the x9331, but then noticed one of the white clips farther back was still in the door and not the panel, so I had to take the whole panel all the way off. I had to remove the seat belt anchor for that (T50). Then had to pry the whole panel off. I then put the white connectors in the panel and pounded back in place. ugggg

So for me the whole process was about 30 minutes, the front seat makes it kind of hard to remove and replace the whole panel.


Now I am just waiting on delivery of polk 6 inch for door and a powered sub for rear!!!

 

Once again, I am both pleased and appalled that this still works!

In the years since I did mine, I've stuck with the newer (Polk in my case) speakers, and the little bass600 sub in the back. Works well enough for me.

(The other big thing I did to the car was get rid of the run flats and go with real tires -- another amazing difference!)

I know there's an electronic solution that involves resetting the filters in the head unit, but involves spells and instrumentalities not available to mere mortals.

Anyone with a drill bit or other basic tool can do the channel swap!

cheers from gray silicon valley!

Bob K6RTM

 

This seems like a good start to work with the OEM stuff. Will try it out tomorrow on the hatch. If it works pretty good I'll do it on the clubbie too.

 

.

 

Anyone know if there have been any changes for 2013 that would affect the instructions posted here for the front/rear channel swap? Are the pin positions / wire colors still the same? Has anyone done the swap on a 2013 base Clubman / base sound system??? (If they've switched something, following the old posted instructions could make a big mess!) Thanks!

 

best mod ever. now i need my sub and amp wired up, and ill be a night club on wheels. swwweeet!

 

Hi experts!
Are there any experiences regarding an improvement with the roadster/R59 -or the QP/R58; must be the same- ?

I am looking forward to upgrade the audio performance, and changing those wires would be a nice, first idea

 

Nice
12 MCS - worked like a charm, HUGE difference
just a small screw driver and the pic in post 334
less than 30 minutes and it was done
also you tube video helped on how to get to the wires
"mini 2nd gen channel swap"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlxQHHNp8KY

 

Did this a week or so ago and it really does make a difference. IMHO it's still a poor overall sound but HUGELY improved over the standard output. For the time it takes its a winner, thanks to the condensed diagram too buried in this post. Like others, my left and right has swapped as well as my front rear :D no biggie.

 

Forgot to add, the male side is certainly easier. I snipped the tape holding all the cables together and slid out the pinch block then just pushed out the pins using the end of my leatherman pliers. Easy prays lemon squeezy. Thanks to all that have contributed to this thread and the OP for working it out.

D

 

Yes, the front-rear channel swap does still work on a 2013! (Clubman, non HiFi, non-Harmon Kardon)

I followed the excellent instructions on this thread (after reading the whole thread twice, and printing out the best bits and diagrams). The whole job took me an hour and a half. The hardest part was what I thought would be the easiest -- disconnecting the two halves of the white x9331 connector. That alone took me half an hour (and yes, I did open the plastic holder clips). It was tight! I was about to give up when I noticed that it had budged a little. After getting it apart, the rest of the project was just as described in the thread.

To avoid confusion, it is a good idea to make the swaps one at a time, but leave the pins loose in their new homes until all are swapped. Then take a break, breathe, and come back and check your work for errors before pushing the pins all the way in. I worked from the female side because access was easier. A Radio Shack pin extractor ($8) helped push out the pins (while gripping the plastic with pliers).

Two differences I noticed in the 2013 wire colors: the wire at pin #5 (pre-swap position) is now black with a red stripe instead of black with a brown stripe, and the wire at pin #8 (pre-swap) is now yellow with a red stripe instead of yellow with an orange stripe. But we can live with that, right?

Thank you to all who posted here. You should know that your words are closely studied!

 

Bookmarked! Looks like this will be this weekend's project on my new 2009! Thanks for all the great documentation.

 

130 bucks. good spending

 

This is a huge thread, so if this has been mentioned before, please forgive me. I ran across this:


It may help some folks take that first step of popping panels. In this case, they are splicing in a corrective component instead of swapping pins around, but it shows how to get access to the very same connector smoothly and quickly - and precisely the same steps we take here to get to those pins.