The title says it all. I am in Maryland but am happy to travel to DC or northern VA to use the services of a good car audio shop that has significant experience working on Minis. I would like to avoid broken clips and rattling panel problems. I am planning on upgrading from the HiFi speakers to the Harman Kardon speakers as discussed in this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...an-kardon.html

Thanks!

 

Is there any other forum that I should post this in to get more feedback?

 

Too bad you weren't closer. You woulda had a MECP Advanced certified 12v tech. (my boyfriend) to help ya out.

 

Bringing this thread to the top. Can anyone provide any recommendations or advice?

 

Call Hurley's in Tyson's Corner (Vienna) VA. They have been around for years, service most of the dealers, are located near a bunch of car dealers and sell high end stuff like Focal. I called them a while back about the Focal and think they had done some MINI installations.
http://hurleysautoaudio.com/

 

If you haven't already seen my other posts on the subject, I would urge you to reconsider dropping the HK speakers into the HiFi system. I've posted extensively on the reasons why. You will end up spending a considerable amount of money to end up with a system that, by any objective measure, will sound worse. You will have significant peaks and dips in the frequency response, as well as reduced output since the HK speakers are less efficient than the HiFi speakers (the HK amp is significantly more powerful than the HiFi). The cost part is especially true if you are paying a shop to do the installation - there is significant time involved in removing and replacing all the interior panels.

In more direct response to your question, though, you may have trouble finding a regular car audio shop that actually has "significant experience" with the 2nd gen MINI. If you are at all handy (i.e. can tackle basic home improvement projects) you may find you are the best person to perform the upgrade. The information you need to guide you through the process can be found on this board. Almost no shop will care for your MINI the way you will - trust me, I see it all the time.