"first disconnect the battery" is good advice, just like "first shut off the circuit-breaker" ... and people WILL do the work without doing that, and take the risk of shorting something that might still be live to something else -- especially if they make a mistake (like assign the wrong pin-numbers!) as they're swapping pins around and poking metal tools into "maybe-partially-live" connectors. (Not everything is "off" when the car's off -- there's stuff active well after you take the key out.)

Did I do my work on this connector "live"? Yes.
But I'm also an electrical engineer, so I'd tell any friend who was doing this to disconnect the battery first.
Caveat emptor!

 

FYI people the Large Solid Yellow Wire goes to your starter for those of you thinking about aftermarket alarms.

 

And does success sound better than the way it was before?

 

it does, bass has more thump

 

So, is this correct (main color first/stripe second)?

1: large brown -
2: blue/black - Rear Left Negative
3: yellow/brown - Front Right Positive
4: yellow/black - Front Right Negative
5: black/brown - Front Left Positive
6: black/violet - Front Left Negative

7: brown/orange - Rear Right Positive
8: yellow/orange - Rear Right Negative
9: brown/white -
10: blue/brown - Rear Left Positive
11: large white -
12: small brown -

 

Yup, that's it! Using the large brown and white wires to orient things is a good idea. The large brown wire is a ground wire.

 

what a long, great read.

schatzy, that's some great info. Fortunately, I think my system is functioning normally, it's just sub-par.

I'm a little upset about the way that the stereo is hooked up on the r56, I'd love to be able to just go buy a new head and switch it out. Seriously, how does mini think that it's okay to build in profiles to audio? Everyone listens to different music. I used to find myself switching settings on my old pioneer unit on the fly depending on song, not to mention artist or type of music.

I'm hoping there's away to get relatively flat outputs so I can go buy a pioneer deq 7600 and put it in my hide-away cubby, buy a new amp, and just bypass the hi-fi amp..

god I wish I would have saved my money and just got the sunroof instead of the whole premium package.

 

I did this mod without any special tools!
After pulling out the connector, I pried out that transparent insert that all of the wires go through. It was a pain, but it unlocks all of the pins once it's out. After that I used a T-20 Torx bit to push out all of the pins I needed. It was the exact size of the pin hole. It takes a little force, so don't be scared. It was CAKE!

After everything was put back together I was amazed at how big of an improvement was made in the bass. BTW, I picked the car up on Friday, and I did this mod last night. That"s how disappointed I was in the stock system.

 

That's great! Doing the swap gets you the low end; replacing the speakers gets you the midrange and highs.

 

Does anyone know if this is true of the R53 also?

 

Don't know -- so far, we've focused on the R56. I checked the (in)famous WDS site, and they only seem to have info on the R55/R56, not the R53.

 

You just have to go up to the home level ("Models" button at the upper left), then you can choose between R50/R52/R53 or R55/R56. However, the wiring diagrams wouldn't have any information about response curves. A lot of people have done a lot of stereo modding on the 1st gen including measuring response, and I don't recall anyone finding a rolloff like in the 2nd gen.

 

I just did the swap this morning. Not difficult at all, and like tintman718 I used no special tool. I want to thank all who went before me - particularly k6rtm for the instructions & tintman718 for his personal guide (sent via PM) - as we newbs to the mod world certainly see farther because we stand on the shoulders of giants.

I'll include a few process experiences to hopefully aid the next worry wort.

Tools used - flashlight, pillow/pad for the knees, flat-edged screwdriver, scissors, electrical tape, torx bit in the wrench (#20 or #25 - forget - the one that fits into the hole nicely), wiring diagram (2 goes to 6, 3 to 7, etc.)

[EDIT- note: I worked on female pins, not male as others have mentioned in previous posts. If you are looking at the schatzy62 picture, you'll see the female pins. My work listed below concerns pressing down on the rims of these female pins with my torx bit in order to get them out of the connector.]

1- Pull out about 2 feet worth of the door liner (it isn't glued in there or stuck in any way. Time taken, 4 seconds)

2- Pull the panel below the hood latch out to right, disengaging it from the frame somewhat. This takes much less energy that it took removing the door panels to replace the speakers last weekend. 2 seconds.

3- The small triangular panel above the hood latch comes out easily by pulling it toward the back of the car. That is the way the attachment tabs work on this piece, so don't pull it to the right as done in the last step. 2 seconds.

4- You'll see the black piggy-backing connector in there with the one we want hiding behind it. Don't bother trying to disengage this black one from the X9331, as you'll simply need to pull apart X9331, freeing the end that you want to work with. Reach in and twist the connectors around a bit. There is a little bit of play room there and you can free up some more space easily. The connector shown in earlier pictures comes out easily once you unclip it from below. It then can be swung back to face you just as you see in the pix earlier in the thread. Orient the thing as explained, with the big brown ground wire (#1 hole) at the upper right. I found that it "wanted" to sit that way anyhow. Time taken...a few minutes to figure it out, and about 20 seconds to do. Done another time it wouldn't take any time at all.

5- With scissors, cut back/pull back 1-2" of the shroud that covers all the incoming wires. This will give you some room to move wires/pins without forcing or bending them. The good news is that this shroud is much more scissors friendly than the shrouds in the doors protecting the speaker wires. Time taken, 20 seconds.

6- KEY STEP. Using a flat-nosed screwdriver for a little leverage between the side of the connector and its base, you want to work around the base of the famous connector (wire end) disengaging the 4 plastic tabs that hold the base in place. As you're doing this, it will "want to" re-seat" itself in place, so keep a bit of pressure in opposite directions on the thing - wire end one way, the end with the 12 holes the other way. What you end up with is the base (holding all pins) pulled out about 3-4mm (only) from the body of X9331. This step allows for easy pin swapping. I thought I'd need to disengage the base more than this at first, but you really only need to go this far. It does not "want to" go farther than this anyhow, so stop there...simply making sure the 4 tabs are all disengaged.

7- Using the torx bit in the hand-held wrench, push down in the holes of X9331 to release the pins. I thought this would be harder than it was, but the previous step really gets you a long way toward simple surgery. Swap them as per diagrams presented here. Make doubly sure the pins are fully back in place (high enough). Push the base back in place clicking the 4 tabs. Re-attach our friend to its host back behind the black-piggybacking connector. I used 2" of electrical tape to tidy up the shroud end a bit where I had cut/pushed back. Twist it all back into place. Time = 2-3 minutes.

8- Slide in upper panel, bang in lower panel getting those door/panel round clips to "pop." Stuff the door liner back in place. 30 seconds.

Take car out for a test. Worked for me. Easy job. No complaints from the wife expected.

 

k6rtm-

Again, many thanks for all the work done to figure this out.

One question. I was a little confused by the "male pin" suggestion as I believe I was working on what some might call "female" pins. I thought they were door side, not HU side, and they were the ones in the famous schatzy photo...not the associated "male" end...which remained comfortably stuck behind the piggy-backing black connector farther back in the car.

What have I misunderstood?

Not Very EE Skilled'ly Yours,
et

 

Without waxing too anthropomorphic for net nannies, I call the "male" pins the pointy ones, and the "female" pins are the ones they slide into. In my earlier speaker swap post, the pic from schatzy62 shows the female pins:



Even though it's a topic of intense politics currently in California, I'd say do what feels easiest...

 

OK.

Then I swapped what I knew to be female pins (those seen in the schatzy picture) with great ease using tintman718's suggestions. I still felt like I was playing with the end of x9331 that was away from the HU...toward the door. Perhaps I was mistaken.

It was a piece of cake with the pin switch, using just the torx bit...pressing down on the rims of the female pins, once the back end of female X9331 was loosened up as described by me earlier.

I have to believe this way is easier than digging into the piece stuck behind the black piggy-backing connector...but what to I know? I'm copying off everyone else's test here and still hope to graduate.

Oh, and I blew off disconnecting the battery this go round. Being extra careful (and stupidly using an adjustable wrench) to do that religiously made my speaker swap take all day. I could have used the feedback of "speakers working when the wires touched the connector" to speed things up. However I sit here alive in my living room happy and warm, perhaps because some good soul warned me to not play with electricity and metal tools in a car door. Who knows?

I bought a 10mm wrench at Autozone to throw in the tool kit for next time.

 

I'm glad everything worked out fine. There's absolutely no need to buy a special tool. Just a Torx #25. What's that in you sig? Upgraded speakers?

 

I took the suggestion of a few others (notably basil49) in the "R56 Speaker Replacement" sticky thread and bought pairs of 4" JL Audio Evolution TR400CXi, and 6.5" TR650CXi speakers for the front door. ( Last night I ordered Polk db691 6x9s for the rear, following k6rtm's lead.) These are fairly efficient, not too pricey, right-fitting, power-matched speakers for the non-HiFi HU. Some higher-end car speakers can handle more power better, but for what we have in our cars, these are pretty nice. You'll face the joys of taking the door apart, but the results are a huge improvement (especially w/ the channel swap.)

Some posters had trouble fitting some brands' 4" speakers in the upper hole and 6.5" ones in the bottom, either because the magnet was too deep in the door or the opening wouldn't accommodate the diameter of the speaker. These JL Audios fit perfectly without adapters or spacers, although you'll need to drill new mounting holes for the lower ones. Not hard. 1/8" drill into plastic for pilot holes, followed by mounting the speakers with self-tapping screws (don't force them in too hard as they'll strip the plastic.) They sound great - not muddy like the tweeterless MINI OEM POS. Hardest part of the install is crimping the wires to the connectors for the JLs, but that may be just my own impression because I'm not an electrical pro. Don't bother unhooking the battery - that'll speed things up.

I'm pretty much assuming that if you channel swap for better sound, you'll soon upgrade from paper speakers to something better. Just do it!


See this post:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...&postcount=274

Speaker references:
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_c...php?comp_id=59
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_c...hp?comp_id=126
http://www.polkaudio.com/caraudio/products/db691/

 

This thread makes it seem simple to get the panel(s) off to expose the connector. One post seems to imply you just pull off the panel with your fingernails, another implies you just pull out the gasket by the sill.

After doing the bluetooth microphone swap and ending up with a plastic ring that is floating in my headliner space, and tabs on another piece don't want to go into this plastic ring because its not where it should be, I'm gun shy to just be ripping at other trim panels that may not go back correctly.

Any body want to do a video showing getting access? Any risk of breaking clips? Any better pictures of the "getting access" steps?

 

The panel access here was pretty easy. All the car's bigger interior panels have those Christmas-tree clip connectors that "pop" into place once you line them up. As some have said in various threads, you can get more at your MINI or BMW dealer and you probably don't have to order them ahead of time. If you do, it is about a 2-3 day wait at most.

Before attempting my speaker switch (not the channel swap), I bought a bunch at BMW and I believe the cost was about 86 cents per connector. I thought that was a bargain for anything BMW/MINI-related, however cheap they must be to produce. As it turned out, I popped my doors several times (when doing my speakers) and didn't kill any of the clips, although I slightly damaged one. It still holds the door just fine in its location and I did not replace it.

With the channel swap surgery you're only popping a few of the clips out on the lower panel. That pop-job with just my right hand was MUCH easier than doing the doors, was pretty much stress-free, and I didn't hurt any of the clips. Don't let the fear slow you down. This is an easy project. Once you pull out the door liner around the area (easy...no clips or glue or anything to slow you down) you can pop back that bottom panel very easily buy pulling it to the right...toward the gas pedal. You don't need to take off the whole panel - just a few clips worth. The upper piece of panel (above the bonnet latch) just slides out when you pull it toward the read of the car...but the lower piece needs to come out first. That's the way this particular puzzle works.

I still have all my clips. I'd say go buy a couple ahead of time because then the Mod Gods out there will make sure you don't break any. Murphy's Law.

The assorted colored clips are only slightly different from each other. Some have a built-in washer-like felt gasket on the screw-like end, while others don't. Have the service guy at the dealer show you a few. If you had to sub one in your car for another I think the car will forgive you.

Good luck. Have no fear. The most important step is the one where you loosen the bottom of x9331 (famously shown in schatzy's photo) from itself, making pin (I did female ones) swapping with the torx bit #25 a breeze. And have something soft/comfortable for your knees/butt while you work.

Bass notes await. The rear MINI speakers are still muddy but at least they can provide some much-needed low end for you.

 

Thanks to everyone who has posted to this thread. This is my first post, but I have read everything here with great interest, and some confusion too.

I have a clubman s with HIFI system.

While these answers may be found earlier, my mind is swirling and i need some clarification.

1. I know that there seems to be a stalemate on what to do with the HIFI system, and the pin swap does not seem to be of benefit. Would it still benefit me to change out the speakers? I am thinking of starting with JL's in the front door. Yey or nay? Speakers in the back too?

2. Would it work to add a powered sub/amp+sub that connects off the feed to the front lower speakers at the x9331 pin?

I don't want my music block party loud, but I want clear, even sound with good low end punch.

Any thoughts very much appreciated!

Brent in Houston

 

Hi Brent-

I think Phurbahl has your answer:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...&postcount=263

And I think you are correct about the pin swap not helping you, as you have the HiFi system.

Good Luck.

 

allmonb: you want to go to thread https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=95211 and read everything there, carefully ... that's the better place to discuss and research what you're looking for. For one thing, the HIFI head-unit specs higher power per channel -- BUT the net effect is dependent on speaker impedance, and I believe that some of the HIFI OEM speakers are NOT four-ohm impedance, as are all of the non-HIFI head-unit channels and non-HIFI suggested replacement speakers.

 

1. Swapping out speakers -- this is a lot more complex in the HiFi, particularly for the fronts, as part of the crossover function is in the amp (and its programming). I'll defer to HiFi car owners on this one. With the standard system, it's a no-brainer, as the OEM speakers are sh*t (sorry, make that "cost effective").

2. Adding a sub -- I think this is a reasonable thing to do, and the only way you're going to get low end punch. My little bass600 does a nice job. As to picking off the signals, on a HiFi car, I'd tend to go after them at the input to the amp, rather than at the output of the amp. That could be at the X9331 connector, or right at the amp. But remember, I have a soldering iron, and I'm not afraid to use it! I also have other test gear, and the limited testing I've done on a HiFi sytem (one car), suggests that flat signals are available at the amp input.

 

I'm trying to find the preamp wires to the factory amp so I can get signal into my aftermarket Alpine amp.