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Navigation & AudioAudio upgrades, bluetooth, and navigation discussions surrounding the Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S (R56), and Cabrio (R57) MINIs.
Hello everyone. I acquired a new MINI and set to work on the stereo immediately! It's a base N12 automatic cooper but it gets 31 mpg and will be very pleasant and pretty pretty by the time I'm done. I'm so psyched about the stereo. I finally get to play with a fully active set up!
The components are mostly left-overs from other projects so the cost is essentially just wiring, a bezel and nick-nacks.
Pioneer DEH 80PRS headunit (single din with time alignment and other active processing)
Dynaudio 6.5 component set run without crossovers
Alpine PDX 4.150 for the components
Infinity Basslink subwoofer
No rear speakers at all.
Running independent wires from the amplifier to the door speakers was very challenging. You have to run everything passed the door-jam connector. I accomplished this by cutting an ear off the connector and cursing a lot. Managed to run 14ga through eventually. (Unfortunately I lost pictures of this process).
Last edited by DSchmale; Jun 24, 2017 at 08:12 AM.
Disassembled the right side interior to run 8ga to the sub and 4ga to the component amp. What a mess.
Grounded the sub amp to a common ground in the right rear. The component amp and headunit will share a ground near the passenger seat rail.
Last edited by DSchmale; Jun 24, 2017 at 08:13 AM.
With the wiring sorted out I moved on to the tweeters. Until I get time to fiberglass some proper a-pillars, I've constructed ghetto tweeter pods out of some grey tennis *****. They turned out well and actually match the interior aesthetic very well.
The subwoofer went in really easily. Unfortunately it takes up a lot of space. I can still fit my lunch cooler, a few gis and a change of clothes though so it works.
I'm still waiting on some odds and ends for the headunit install and some hardware for the door speakers. Until then, here are pictures of the car itself!
The door speakers need adapter plates to mount. I fabricated some out of soft 1/4" cutting boards. (Great material to have handy btw. Pick up a dozen next time you're at IKEA!)
The outer shape is just the stock speaker shape. I traced around it crudely and cut away with a jig saw. The inner took some trial and error with the jig saw but turned out perfect.
Pulled the headunit today and began some minor wiring (harness still isn't here). I do not have a switched power on the radio connector so I had to T into pin 1 of the IHKA.
Thanks for looking! Yeah, but it's as frustrating as fun at times. Anyone who's had these interiors apart can relate.
I had to remove the center console to install the CD player and bezel but it worked out. Routing the RCA cables the last leg was a challenge as well; I ended up removing the secret compartment and going up to the right of that.
Speakers mounted with copious amounts of duct seal and rope caulking installed to seal and deaden the surrounding area. It doesn't look great but it will be hidden.
Radio is in and looks quite nice. Losing the door chime was a surprise but not one I'm sad about. FM reception is horrible. I need to hard wire a switched power line to the diversity module, I guess.
Tuning has begun and I've managed a pretty strong image around the center of the windshield, especially female vocals (and surprisingly, kick drums).
