Hello all. I have been installing car audio and alarms on the side for about 20 years and have recently been asked by a friend of my wife's to replace the speakers in her 05 convertible. She claims that they are blown. I have a few questions specific to the MINI I was hoping you all could answer. I have done a little searching and found some answers but not sure on all so wanted to ask everyone.

She claims she has the "high end" audio upgrade which I assume means she has the H/K system. I understand that I need to approach this differently but, how do I know for sure that she in fact does have the H/K system?

Assuming she does have the H/K system, what is the best approach to replacing these? I understand that I can not just drop them in because of the impedence differerence from the OEM ones. I also see where I could possibly run new wires from the head unit to the new speakers, bypassing the amp. That might be an option. Have also thought of installing a small 4 channel amp and either tapping the speaker outs at the head unit or at the amp. (assuming head unit here if possibe) Considering a small Alpine amp that has speaker level inputs, or would use a higher end line output converter, such as one from davidnavone.com. I am leaning towards pushing her to add the amp. she tends to listen loud since it is a convertible, and I think it would make a dramatic difference in the sound quality.

Lastly, anyone have particularly good luck with any replacement speakers in the car. I would probably buy through Crutchfield and, for her car, would lean towards Polk or possibly the Infinity Reference line. I have had decent luck with both and can probably get 2 pair, and the amp and kep it under her budget.

Thanks in advance everyone. -Bill

 

From what I've been told, the H/K amp and speakers have proprietary connections. So the easiest route would most likely be to just splice in new wire for the replacement speakers. However, I do not know about the impedence with the H/K.

You can tell if they are H/K if they look like this:

 

Awesome, thank you for the reply. I just stopped by her house and peeked at the car before seeing this. It was kind of wedged into the garage though and I didn't look for the H/K logo on her door speakers. She does have the tweeters high in the doors. Do all first gen MINIs have those or just the HK ones. She did say that years ago, her stereo used to sound great but stopped accepting CDs. She took it to the dealer and they replaced the head unit. Said it began functioning properly but never sounded as good. That sounds odd to me as, from what I hear on here, all of the head units are the same. Defnitely leaning towards the new amp and speakers, but any other help is appreciated.

 

http://www.edmunds.com/media/reviews...cooper.500.jpg is a picture of an H/K head unit. If you push the mode button a few times, it'll give you an option to change how the sound plays... one of those ways is Harmon/Kardon IIRC.

 

Odds are it's not the speakers, but the amp. Lots of threads on it.

 

Wow, never knew that about the amp. Think we'll go with the new aftermarket amp and speakers. Apparently would cost much less and I'm sure sound much better.