Greetings,

I have a 2010 Mayfair Cooper S. I did not order the HK as I planned to build a system more to my liking once the car arrived. My component selection is as follows:

JL 3 way components (Now discontinued) for the front. I feel a perfect combo for the front doors with the smaller mid for the upper speaker location.

Tweeters in the A-pillers.

Focal 6.5 components in rear

Rockford 360.2 for processing the stock head signal taken off the X-3991 (I think) connector.

JL 10W-6 for sub in Urban Mini Enclosure or a similar enclosure of my own making.

Powered by a JL 900/5 Amplifier for whole system.

I am wondering what the community has found as far as decent, reasonably accessible amplifier locations. The amp I have is similar to the Alpine PDX-5 but richer in its sound for my ears.

Any other ideas for location for amp or improvement on anything I have listed above? Will begin install soon and I only want to do this one time.....

Thanks for your input, AA

 

I would not recommend rear speakers , they will do nothing but hurt your sound. If you must get rears I would make them the same brand and style as the fronts.

Or you can add a JBL MS-8 and it will auto-tune your system and correct any mistakes made by speaker placement.

 

On what planet would adding speakers in the rear "hurt your sound"? ANYTHING is better than stock speakers. The HK system is ok, but still lacking and not worth the $$$$ IMO. Your speaker selections are great. The 900/5 is a killer amp to power everything. All the stock speaker locations are great. The rear speakers are in their own sealed compartments so midbass is amazing from 6x9 or quality 6.5s.

Mounting the amp under the passenger seat is probably best (can access amp to make adjustments, has room to breath, and has added security). I have my alpine pdx5 in the rear where the tool compartment is just to really hide it. Only thing is amp gets hot because there is no where for the heat to dissipate (adding a fresh air port and small fan helps). I would highly recommend adding a stiffening capacitor. My pdx5 does make the lights dim under heavy use, and the 900/5 is far more powerful. Cheers

 

Planet I have a image and soundstage (it is located in the galaxy)
Basically it destroys your soundstaging and imaging ...if you don't want or care or don't want those things then go for it . Rear speakers are for rear passengers ...and in a a Mini well you know.

Oh and Caps are a waste of money. see below to fix said problem

Bug1515 ugrade your ground wire to the alternator/battery and to the frame/battery and engine block/battery, that should fix your dimming issue. You can do this by adding on ground wires .

 

with the urban mini enclosure you should have a place to store your amp

http://www.urbanmini.com/UrbanMINI/PRODUCTS.html

 

When is the MINI enclosure going to be available. It looks amazing.

 

I have to agree with Veg1515 on the issue of speaker placement, soundstage and voicing, etc.

I have written quite a bit on this subject both here and elsewhere. The Cooper is such a small volume of space that anything more than a well designed, high quality 3 way component system driven off the front channel is really taking steps backward. As Veg1515 referenced, running anything more than just low level filler sound to the rear channel will only damage your frontal soundstage. Imaging, depth, and placement all will suffer greatly and so will your enjoyment of the sound. I would recommend you do your front channel install and see how you like it.

Furthermore, I wouldn't recommend a subwoofer unless you absolutely must have it. A pair of high quality 6.5's in the front should produce all the bass you need. If you must do it, you should "piggyback" your subwooffer amp off the front channel because the rear channel has a cutoff below about 150hz.

In addition, I also agree that if you do change out to new rear speakers (BTW, the stock rear drivers in both the Hardtop and clubman are 6X9, the convert are 6.5) you should use a similar (Brand and Line) driver to those you use in the front. You will want to maintain a similar "voicing" between the various drivers other wise you can end up with a strange sounding system.

Bottom line, I advise people to do things in phases and see how you like the sound as you go. I think you will find that you may save a good bit of time and money.

 

Really? I'm seeing the rear speaks in the Clubman as 6.5"... at least in the base system.

 

Rear speakers are not needed at all. Waste of time and money. Soundstage gets trashed as pointed out above.

 

While I agree with your third statement, it really is a matter of opinion. Some people just want all the damn volume they can get :D

 

Interesting point odj... I have not actually seen the rear speakers in my R55 Clubman.

I have seen the rear speakers in the R56 Hardtop and I can say with absolute certianty that those are 6X9's.

I have read in numerous postings both here and elsewhere that they are 6X9's.

I have spoken with several people who have stated that they are 6X9's.

I have looked at the parts book and the R56 & R55 rear speakers have the same part #65133422633.

But ya know, I have never actually seen the rear speakers in a R55 Clubman.

I still think I'm correct...I believe the rear speakers in my Clubman are 6X9's not 6.5's, But I could be wrong.

 

Phase one complete, 3 way comps in front, 2 way in rear. The rears were for sure, 6 x 9s. All six speakers removed were of the lowest quality I have ever seen. I used to work in car audio and have replaced literally thousands of OEM speakers and these are the worst I can remember ever seeing.

Perhaps that is why they sounded SO BAD. I am extremely pleased with just the results of the phase one, the replacement of the stock six speakers with the new component ten speakers. No amp, processor or sub yet. The sound will only improve.

The dampening helped quite a bit as well. In my experience, I do not understand some of the previous posts as to why you prefer fronts only. Especially the post on a sub NOT being beneficial??? How is a 6.5 supposed to drop well below 150 - 125 Hz.?? I have never seen a 6.5 that can effectively play into the 50 Hz range or lower effectively.

Without these frequencies, much of today's music as well as classical, rock, techno etc. is simply not there.

Also, with proper balancing and time delay a rear fill only rounds out your sound-stage in my humble opinion. I look forward to continuing onto phase two and what I can really generate from my single amp system....

 

Continue on with the install. The "soundstage" and "imaging" snobs that prefer front speakers and no sub clearly have forgotten that a car acoustically is not ideal for that. I leave my imaging and soundstaging at home with my studio monitors and home theater systems. Sorry, but the stock speaker locations are not geared towards soundstage and imaging anyway. If you haven't noticed, anyone sitting in the front will probably be blocking the 4" mid speaker with his or her leg. In addition, the 6.5 woofers in the doors can produce significant bass, but it can get annoying having air tickling your ankles while driving. THIS IS WHERE THE REARS COME INTO PLAY! Bass, if properly executed in a car, is hard to detect where it is coming from.

I am not trying to say that you can't get great sound out of a car audio system. I just am real in terms of audio sound. I'm glad to see that Aaron brings up the most important thing in car audio- PROPER BALACING! This includes everything from quality speakers, amps, and electrical components, to tuning according the vehicle and musical situations.

 

no need to namecall

So you are saying that your home setup is a perfect acoustic enviroment? I would disagree unless you have spent tons of cash to make it that way . WE are faced with the same challanges both places . If you enjoy image and soundstage why not enjoy it in the car as well? Most people I know listen to way more music in the car than at home ....you might be different. I tend to think with time correction/ and time alignment the car is easier than ever to have a good "image" .

Rears do destroy the image you can prove it by puttinga RTA to it, so this is not opinion but fact .

AS far as low playing 6.5" speakers go ....have you ever heard a pair of Focal Be 6.5'? you should ...i actually removed my sub from my last car and was very happy and remember I am a "Snob"

General rule of car audio the more speakers you can keep infront of you the better just like your attending a concert .

I am here to help along with the others who made the recomendations

so here is some food for thought ....instead of spending money on a 2 way componet system in the back and a 3 way in the front why not combine what you would have spent and just get a really good set of speakers up front?

 

Well said Veg1515...

There's no reason to get nasty. I think we are speaking about the subject of audio and speaker system design on different levels.

I've been involved in the design and manufacture of very high level loudspeaker systems for over 30 years. From cabinet design and construction, through driver selection and positioning, to crossover/filter design. I'm not going to waste a bag of electrons trying to explain why what I have posted is not, for the most part, in the realm of opinion but is fact.

The issues are what they are, but the bottom line is what matters to each listener is what that listener prefers.

If you say you can't understand how a high quality 6.5" driver can reproduce sound in the lower mid-range/upper bass region... I'm OK with that.

If you insist that qualities such as soundstage and imaging are for "snobs" fine, I'm OK with that also.

But just because there are some of you who think this way doesn't invalidate the facts and issues. As I said... we're speaking about the same subject just on different levels.

So as long as you are happy with what you have, then all is fine with the world.

 

Hi,

Anybody knows the measurements of amp place under the passenger seat?

Thanks,

Peter

 

A capacitor may not help with sound quality, but it certainly has saved my alternator in the past. I don't have any fancy equipment to prove it, just annecdotal evidence, but I have gone through two alternators in the same vehicle before I installed a capacitor. The third alternator I installed was the last and it lasted over 100K miles.

 

Wooooow, just went to the focal site and checked out the Utopia Be No. 7, 3 piece components... $6,299!!! Fortunately woofersetc has them for merely $5,299.

Something tells me that none of my local audio stores would have those available to listen to... I would love to see the responses to the post "Powering my $5,300 fronts off the Hifi amp, they sound like crap! Help!!!" heehee

As far as amp locations go, as mentioned earlier if it fits in the recess under the passenger seat, that would be nice. Remember to account for the height of the amp too, or it could cause the passenger seat to no longer slide. Mine is going to live next to the sub enclosure, like the Urban Mini setup, most likely.

 

I am local and happen to have a set

have not pulled the trigger on install yet , you are welcome to come have a listen when finished ....but i will warn you they will make you spend more money on your audio system.

 

Excellent! I can't wait to take a listen once they are installed

 

The styrofoam piece that came out of my 2009 MCS is roughly 13" X 10 3/8" (maybe 10 1/2"). The height down there is roughly 2 1/2" high. Of course, getting wires connected to the amp will reduce the space the amp can use.

Once you have a desired amp picked out, you should compare it's dimensions to the dimensions of the various amps people have reported using under the passenger seat.

 

Thanks.

 

You're right, they are in fact 6x9". My response was based off a quick look in the back and the first search results yielded from Crutchfield's "what fits my car" app.

 

I was able to fit an Alpine PDX-5 under the passenger (right) seat of an R57. It was a tight fit with the cables. I purchased the box and the cover normally used by the satellite radio unit.

 

What did you do with the speed sensor/hydro unit?

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...4&fg=20&hl=141