Aloha all,

Anyone put in Technic's harness? I'm thinking about adding an amp, with a little more oomph. Also, potentially speaker upgrades, I'm not very impressed by the HK system.

 

Going to post here aside from a PM to see what others' thoughts may be:

I also have an F60 Countryman with the HK system (not a Clubman), so your speakers and mine are exactly the same setups. I like Bavsound speakers. They're a nice upgrade from stock. In hindsight, I wish I installed a better amplifier first (basically the way you are planning). Bavsound has a great amp for BMWs, but they haven't used it on MINIs yet. The amp they use called the Revenant (https://www.bavsound.com/BMW-Amplifier-Upgrade). This is a re-branded version of the Audiotec Fischer Match UP 7BMW amp (https://www.audiotec-fischer.de/en/m...ifiers/up-7bmw). Other than cosmetic differences, they physically are identical...however tuning-wise they are different.

I traded emails with Doug Dobson at Audiotec Fischer to get the details:

1. Basically, the Bavsound Revenant is not tuned for a MINI and is locked out so you can't customize it like the Audiotec Fischer Match UP 7BMW.

2. The Match UP 7BMW is plug-and-play for the MINI HK system. It is fully customizable and you can connect a computer to it to tune it, and/or load presets. Audiotec Fischer recommends the "Touring" preset, but BMW forums seem to like the "Limousine" preset. All presets are freely downloadable on the web. You can make your own custom presets and share them.

3. BMW forum posts say the HK system is connected to the CANBUS necessitating having the stock amp available to swap out for dealer visits when they update the system(s). Audiotec Fischer says "The system is not in any way connected to the CAN-BUS system, so it is not necessary to do anything for dealer visits."

Anyway, that's a lot of info there, and a long-winded way of saying I like the Bavsound speakers, but would like the Audiotec Fischer Match UP 7BMW and will get it when I can save the money for it.

Let me know what you end up doing.

 

I've got the Technic in my F56S. Works great.

If you swap out the amp, the system (at least mine) will detect a missing amp and not allow you to code certain things on your car. I assume that the same would go for the dealer not being able to do certain things with your car but that issue never came up for me while under warranty. You can simply swap the plug back into the stock amp for a visit. I left mine in place and put the new amp on the floor of the boot. Don't know how it is connected to the internal workings but it knows it is gone. AudioTec Fisher is wrong, unless things have been changed recently. Pretty simple to test, just unplug your amp and try to code your car.

Amp first with a DSP built in or take a look at an amp and the Dayton DSP408. Then swap out speakers if needed. Lots of options for speakers, I went with Bavsound, but knowing what I know now I'd save some cash and look at other options for less money. See parts express dot com.

 

I know I'm a week late to this conversation but I wonder if the Bavsound amp will work in an F56 if the Audiotec Fisher model does. It would seem that the connector and pinouts are the same, maybe the tuning would be different. Upgrading the amp definitely interests me.

 

If you have the factory HK system, I'm pretty sure the Bavsound amp will *work* but will probably not be optimal, as it is tuned for a BMW. Unfortunately, it is not customizable the way Bavsound has it locked down. Apparently, AF is wrong about the CANBUS issue, so they may also be wrong about the tuning, but I'm not willing to find out by buying their amp, then having to send it back.

 

When you think a bit deeper on the subject, why would you want to replace an HK pre tuned amp with another brands pre tuned amp? What if you don't like it? Who is tuning the amp? An 18 y/o with great hearing listening to Drake or a 75 y/o listening to Henry Mancini?

If the music is important to you, go with an amp or amp/dsp set up that allows you to do your own tuning or pay someone else to tune it for you. You might get in my car and cringe at my Frank Zappa albums, but with your phone and the DSP app you could tweak the tune yourself and save it as a new tune pre set pretty easily.

All in all BavSound makes a decent product, but sells a lot of hype with nice marketing. There really isn't enough market for them to spend a lot of time on MINI.

 

It is my understanding that with the Audiotec Fischer Match UP 7BMW amp, you can tune it yourself. It requires a USB cable connection to a laptop with software. I like the idea of an app on a phone. What amp are you using?

 

JL audio 6 channel amp. But it is the Dayton DSP 408 with the tuning app. Also you can get a Bluetooth aptX dongle for signal bypassing the crappy built in Mini dac.

 

I was actually thinking of the AF amplifier as an upgrade option. Especially if the tuning profiles are freely distributed. It would be easy to swap profiles until one is found that I like. Reason I was asking about it is that I didn't want to be the first person to drop $1k and have something not work well or at all.

 

I have the Bavsound speakers and subs - considering the Match UP 7 or other amp route. What made you decide to go with the Technic PNP plus JL audio 6 channel amp route? Is the missing dash speaker noticeable? Would you recommend that route over the Match UP 7?

 

Center channel doesn't really make sense for true stereo. Don't miss it at all. PNP was done so I could easily switch back to OEM for service on car or selling car. Never needed to switch for service, they didn't care and haven't sold it yet. Makes install super easy.

As for the Match amp, I almost bought one used on the BMW forums but the seller made it sound like Voodoo to get it tuned so I backed off. Probably the Match is a good choice however, in retrospect less complex than what I have to wire up and get going. It has the Bluetooth extension card which is probably a good idea to get.

You really should consider a sub woofer in the boot!!!

 

Ah makes sense. Yeah when I first got my mini it wasn't easy to find all this out - so not surprising the tune was more difficult a couple years ago. I actually have the Technic subwoofer harness, ASD module, and a subwoofer/amp in the boot. Love the setup, but really needs the final addition - new amp.

 

Hooked up my asd harness and the amp harness today. Very easy job, just takes time. My daughters jl powered sub will be here Thursday. Can’t wait to hook it up for her. She has a 2016 f56 Cooper s 3 door. Factory Harmon systems ok just need little more bass.

 

 

Finished the install Friday. Sounds great. Couldn’t be more pleased.

 

What model of JL Audio sub box is that? I like that it sits nicely in the space.

 

That is a perfect fit. I had a custom box made, should have looked at the JL first.

 

 

$450 for box, sub and amp. Hard to beat. It sounds really good.