I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S with just the factory stereo (no Harmon Kardon option). I am really dissatisfied with the sound quality. If I have about $400-500 to upgrade the sound system, what is my best option? I really don't want to change the factory head unit (CD player). Thank you so much!

 

Speakers!

If you do not want an amp, get some speakers that take less watts RMS. Anything aftermarket will be better than the stock speakers.

 

You can do pretty well on eBay spending $500 and get both amp and speakers. I recently bought Polk db651's and db6501's from there with no problemss and they sound great with the Blaupunk amp I installed. I think the speakers were under $200 for both pairs. The amp pushed me past your limit, but I didn't want the hassle of wiring and Blaupunk offered a solution to that. You can also buy a decent amp on eBay for $200 or less, so pricewise you should be ok, but don't forget about the install. If you can do your own wiring you should be ok. Nabeshin is right that you can buy speakers made for the low output stock amp, but if you do and you are still not satisfied then you will have really limited your amp options.

 

The problem with keeping the stock HU is that if it doesn't have pre-amp outs (which most stock units don't), you'll have to buy an amp with speaker-level imputs which severly limits your choices. Im my opinion, it's much easier just to replace the HU, rather than getting into the complexity of wiring up an amp... Although with the battery in the back of the MCS and the exsisting wiring for the H/K amp, it might not be to bad - but don't quote me on that as I've never tried it.

If you decide to replace the HU, Blaupunkt makes an excellent one that runs off an SD card (you'll LOVE not fumbling with CD's) and puts out an impressive 26w RMS - mine sounded fantastic with Polk speakers, which are netoriously power-hungry. It's called the Brisbane SD48, I believe - Crutcufield has it. For speakers, you'll ideally want some low-impendance, high sensitivity units to make the most of HU power... Infinity Kappas are excellent speakers to look at, and Polk has a new line out called the "Mobile Monitor" that is also an excellent choice. Both are 2.7ohm resistance and have sensitivity >90dB. Neither are cheap, with a 6.5" component set running ~ $250-300, but it's always good to splurge a little on good speakers.

 

you can do it on ebay.....

I got 2 JL Audio 6W0's, 1 Kicker 500.3, 1 set of Alpine Type R's and did the whole install including sound deading myself.

It can be done.

 

I'd like to resurrect this thread! I'm curious about something:

I kind of like the head unit I have installed now (the red glow and thin styling is pretty nice and fits with the rest of the car's dash), so I'd like to stay away from replacing that if I can... but what would be the one upgrade that I should do to make the sound system sound better, keeping that in mind?

Would it be speakers? And if so, which speakers? The front door speakers, rear speakers?

Considering that I would like to spend about $100-$200, what should I be looking at?

 

Light weight, low watt RMS, front component speakers.

 

BUMP.
Maybe a stupid nebie question, but here it goes:
If I have a factory stereo (not H/K) in my 02 R53, can I add an H/K amp? Does the H/K system have a different head unit? Or can I just add an H/K amp and better speakers and achieve the same thing? I found a few H/K amps on eBay and would like to upgrade if it can be done...

 

It was my understanding that the HK system parts cannot be interchanged with others, and vice-versa. Not sure how much those amps go for on eBay, but I can almost guarantee that you will find a much better aftermarket amp for the same price. The point is that the HK amp is junk compared to most.

 

Thanks nabeshin. I'll pass on the eBay junk then.