Found this adapter for the Mini. It connects the Sirius via an adapter that I found for $78 then buy the antenna & tuner for $50 from best buy.

Bam there is sirius for a fraction of the cost of the dealer. My dealer wanted $700.


Soundgate adapter for : SOUNDGATE KBMWV5 Kenwood CD Changer Interface for BMWOur Low Price: $77.99Availability: In Stock: Usually Ships in 1 to 2 business daysMfg. Part No: KBMWSIRV2

Here is where I found the info for the adapter:
http://www.soundgate.com/products/cd/bmw-mini.htm





Then buy an antenna for $50 & get a Kenwood tuner free from Best Buy

 

Ninjamini,



How is this setup working for you? What info is displayed on the head unit? I can't justify the $500 MINI wants for the deal...lemme know!!!



T.

 

I dont get my mini for a few more weeks. But when I do this will be one of the first mods that I do. I will let you know then.

 

My MA told me 'off the record' that the sat radio deal MINI offers/installs was a rip. He absolutely recommended going the aftermarket route and doing it yourself, as all of the hard work was already done (ie. wiring, etc.).

-Paul!

 

The only reason to do the dealer Sirius it to have it all official mini or to finance it. The aftermarket systems are far superior in function. I am talking about the addons not the soundgate adapter. I have yet to try this. But I will.

 

God I luv this site,
Thanks for info NinjaM.

 

Just a word of warning
Back when i first bought my car, i went that route. I bought a Soundgate adapter and a Kenwood Sirius reciever.

If you plan on just hearing the audio, you'll be fine i guess. However, YOU WILL NOT see any text on the display. It will only make the reciever act as though its a cd changer. It will show CD X - XX. The X's are the channel numbers; thats it.

This made me go the oem route. Buy it at Classic it was about 300 bucks. I installed it myself within an hour.

 

I believe that they have fixed this issue.

 

I had XM, not Sirius, added to my system by the dealer when I bought the car. The small tuner box is mounted behind the right pocket door in the boot, and the antenna comes out of the rubber grommet behind the radio antenna. I believe it has a Blitz converter mounted with the small tuner as well. Simple install to do. I believe it connects to the existing wiring, where the CD changer wiring is. And yes, when you select satelite on the radio it says Sirius for about a second, then reads XM Radio, and DOES provide all the info on the screen. Artist, song, etc.

 

So are the stock head units set up for Sirrus?

Is Satalite radio really worth the money? I have been thinking about this for a few weeks... the idea is starting to grow on me... Any input?

 

:smile: 65 channels of the best music you will ever hear. I love area 63 trance and techno.

:smile: 40 channels of news, sports and talk. I am a talk junkie. NPR baby.

:smile: Every NFL football game. I will listen to the game while out motering.


Hell (can I say that here?) Yea its worth it. Its like cable TV. Shure you can put rabit ears on your TV and if you never had cable you dont know what your missing. But ounce you do you will never be without it. Ever move and not get cable installed for 2-3 days. you go crazy.


Dont believe me try it yourself. Goto and take a free listen:

http://www.sirius.com/servlet/MediaP...mber=undefined&


Ounce you do you will never look back!

 

Has anyone heard an ACTUAL OFFICAL REASON as to why the '05 MINI does not come with SIRIUS?

T.

 

It is a dealer installed option that costs $399. They just dont have the kit yet.

 

How is your Sirius connection working? Were all the components you liosted all you needed? I have just a stock radio in my MC, will just those three items give me Sirius?

PLUS: I've noticed that there are diferent anteni. Anyone have anyinput into which ones are better?

v/r,
seabilliau

 

Hi all...this may have been addressed in the past but here goes...is the Mini OEM kit nothing more than a tuner and antenna? I have a Sirius subscription and want to transfer it to the mini, but I am a bit confused as to which way to go. Does the soundgate replicate something in the OEM setup? Does the OEM setup replace the stock antenna, or does it add one of those ridiculous magnetic Terk antennae. I love the site and all of the info

 

From what I have read it seems that you need (and please correct me if I am wrong) :

1. The antenna (not the one there now, I think that is why they charge $700 because they probably had to make a special version of their antenna for a stock Sirius radio)

2. the Kenwood Tuner

3. the soundgate adapter

All this should plug into the cd changer wires and then, viola!

I think

 

Found this on another thread:


"The interface (Soundgate device) plugs directly into the CD chagner cable that comes stock in all 03' and above MINIs, the cable for the tuner plugs right into that. I ran the antenna from the roof, under the rubber stripping, under the body panel, and out into the boot area. The tuner sits on the right side of the boot. I'm going to build something to protect. Very quick and easy intallation, looks very clean."

Hope it helps, it's what I am doing.

Chrisotpher

 

Christopher,
I am very interested in this setup. Which tuner are you using? I am hoping to go for a Pioneer that will let me use XM. How does the head unit control the tuner? How do you select stations? What is displayed on the radio display. Can the MFSW control this as well? I know many questions but I don't want to make the wrong decision.
Thanks,
Nando

 

My apopliges Nando, I should have said "...going to do." I have not installed anything yet. I was just posting what I had read in another thread on this site. But from my reading about XM on this site. I think all you need besides an XM tuner is the "blitz" adapter to use the MC head unit. I am not certain though but there is a post about this further down in this area.


Sorry about the confusion,
Christopher

 

Nando,

For the XM setup, it is the XM small tuner box, antenna, and Blitz adapter.
The antenna wire can be run to come out of the rubber grommet that leads the boot, and you can mount the antenna behind the radio antenna. This hides the wire nicely.
You can use the steering wheel controls to control XM. When you hit the center right button it changes from FM, CD, then it will pull up satellite automatically. Mine will say sirius for two seconds, then it reads XM. You can preset your channels on the head unit, and can control stations and volume with the steering wheel controls. You can push and hold the left up/down buttons on the wheel to scroll all channels.
The head unit will give you station name, artist name, and song name. When you push the info button on the head unit it will rotate this info. There were some info about pushing and holding this button to turn the scroll feature on.

The Blitz converter is basically using the CD Changer option on the stock radio/menu and turning it into a satellite radio option. When you are switching from FM/CD etc, the radio acknowledges the signal from the Blitz/XM and adds that.

That's about it. Works well. It works as if the whole thing was originally built into the stock head unit.

 

The only one I could find for XM was $279 from myradiostore. Is there another place that sells it cheaper? (I already have XM subscriptions)

 

All I have seen is that for XM it going to cost $300 bones and for sirius its gonna cost $150. They are both pretty much the same from what I've heard so why should I go XM over Sirius?

 

Earlier this year when I purchased a soundgate unit and talked to tech support for the display not showing titles like I thought, they said it wasn't their issue. They said it was a MINI radio issue and there was nothing they could do about it. It was a 2003 Sirius ready headunit.

BTW, someone got a good deal on it on e-bay.