Recently bought a 2012 Cooper S Clubman with the H/K system. Love the car more than we thought possible, but I'm less thrilled with the sound system. Specifically - the bass extension is poor, there's an obnoxious bass-hump that you have to turn the bass DOWN to get rid of, which renders the poor bass extension even less existent. And there also seems to be a midbass dip, low voices and acoustic guitars will often just disappear. I wish I had a better handle of where in the frequency range these things were happening, but I'm sure others have experienced them.

Now on to my question - how much of this would the Integral sub kit resolve? Obviously the extension, and I'm pretty sure it'd take care of the bass hump, but any thoughts on the missing midbass areas? I know it comes with an amp, does that amp replace the H/K amp or is it just powering the sub? I'm actually pretty thrilled with the treble and upper mids on the system, my hope is getting that IA sub would fix the problem areas for me.

Still a chunk of change, probably still a number of months before we'd be ready to pull the trigger, but I'm definitely going to lobby for it.

 

The IA system uses the stock headunit and some of the stock wires that run from the stock amp to the speakers.

You'll have no complaints with the sound. At all. If you do, Kevin will talk you through the amp settings over the phone.

My 09 clubman has a tiny short in the stock AUX that every now and then acts up. You'll also start to notice small rattles in your car as your ears become snobby. I ended up taking my clubman door apart to silicone around the speaker grill because it's not attached the same way as on the driver's side.

 

I didn't think to say, but the system is awesome. Driving at a 110mph, not being able to hear your motor over the music with the windows down, and hearing every note? Priceless...

 

That is fantastic.

Do you have the full system or just the sub? I was trying to decide if the sub would fix my main problems with the stock system.

Anybody in the Chicago area have the system installed? I'd love to have a listen...

 

I have the whole system. The OEM can't get near as loud without lots of distortion. I would not have been happy with only the sub because my main issue was the tin like sound the OEMs give. You will need the crossovers (only come with the soundstage I think) to get rid of the bass through the OEM speakers.

If you are not interested in 'thumping' bass and only want good sound reproduction, you may be happy with the soundstage w/o the sub. Sometimes I have a passenger who does not like bass and the lowest speaker in the door still produces good low notes and pushes air at you leg, but your mirror won't thump w/o the sub