Hi guys and girls,

I was looking at upgrading the Audio System in my Mini Cooper S R55, the Stock one just doesn't seem to cut it for me. My car has the base model system, coupled with the OEM Navigation and Entertainment system Headunit. So 2 Mid- High range and two Mid-Low speakers up front and two more Bass oriented speakers in the back.

I noticed that whenever I listen to music, it sounds fairly different to how it sounds on my home system or my headphones. When I crank the volume up higher, "more" of the music can be heard, but it seems to get too loud on the ears, before really all characteristic parts of a song are hearable. I know. I'm explaining that in a weird noob-like way rn, but I don't know how to explain it any better. It just doesn't sound right. Like part of the music is muffled. Or melting together with other parts of it. Bass isn't crisp and treble seems to be partly absent. Kind of mushy. Meshed together with other parts of the song. (Sorry for the bad explenation. I know just how to explain it in my native, German, but in English? Some words just don't seem to align for this topic. XD)

Of course there is a load of information regarding sound systems for cars online, but for someone who has never really had anything to do with it, the options and opinions are kind of overwhelming for me. So I thought I would ask some basic questions. Maybe someone has already made upgrades to the Sound System on their R55 or R56 Mini and has some input for me.

Now some basic information on what I want:

- I'm not rich. My budget is pretty low. I've got no problem with buying used. But I wouldn't like to spend much unnecessary money.
- I want to keep my OEM Headunit. The Navigation System may not be the newest one out there, but I use it and like it's looks.
- I want to keep the car interior looking classy and OEM. So I would like to hide or integrate any possible amplifier or subwoofer.
- I'm pretty sure for good results I'll need an amplifier, and, therefore, a Line level input/output adapter for the amp.
- I'd like to have some sort of way for equalizing. My Phone, my PC, my Home Stereo... all of it is set up in one way or the other. I also worked a bit with studio and event grade mixers etc. So I'd like to have that option. "Good enough" equipment can sound a lot better than expensive stuff with the right setup, when the good stuff isn't tuned.

Now for some questions:

- Is an extra subwoofer in the car worth it? Where can I put one for the best results?
- A lot of people talk about sound dampening the car. Do you need to do that? How effective is it in bettering your stereos sound? What do I need to dampen? Where the speakers sit only? Or the whole car?
Plus, as weird as that may sound: I don't really want my car to become quiet. I like hearing exhaust and intake noises while driving and am worried these would be gone after dampening. And making the exhaust louder after sound dampening just sounds like pure stupidity to me. XD
- What are good locations for a sub to stay hidden?
- What are good amp locations in the R55?
- Any recommendations for good price-performance audio equipment?
- Is there a way to integrate some sort of equalizer?

Regarding my skillset: I do have some experience with electricals. So no worries there. I'm more worried about damaging my doorcards then doing any of the wiring or dampening work. XD

I'm thankful for any answer. Maybe one of you also has some experience to share. ; )

I'm pretty sure I forgot at least one important thing in this post. If you need some more info, please, ask ahead. : )

Hopefully all of this is readable. I'm German, so my English won't be spot on all the time.

Thank you-

 

One of the biggest problems with the R56 (and probably the R55?) base audio is that the stock system has a high-pass filter to the rear speakers. This means they don't put out much bass, and since those are the bigger speakers in the car it really hurts sound. Two ways to deal with this:

-Flip the front and rear speaker wiring. Search for "channel swap"
-Remove the bass filtering using software like NCS_Expert or Bimmergeeks ProTool. This is the better way, IMO, and I'd recommend ProTool as it's much easier to use

Upgrading the OEM speakers to higher quality ones is also pretty much always a good idea. I'm not a big audio guy but just the filter removal and better speakers made me a lot happier with the system.

I'd start with those options, see where they get you. Then if you decide you want more you can go nuts with amplifiers and subwoofers and whatnot.

 

Thank you for your answer. I'm gonna look into that. ; )

Other opinions welcome. : )

 

You should read the first part of this sticky by Kevin at Integral:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-upgrades.html

Speaker channel swap makes sense if you have larger speakers in the rear vs front ( this is true for the R56, but not R57 ) in the base system. I am guessing you have the 6x9s in the rear for you R55 ? Also - not sure if they addressed this in the later years of the 2cd gen ?

If you do replace the speakers and not the amp, you need to get very high efficient ones given the low power of the oem amp

Some people have reported success with replacing the head unit with an Android auto one ( these have nav thru your phone - so up to date ) and keeping the stock speakers. A bit of work - but they say the amp makes all the difference. Looks oem-ish

 

Thank you. That's actually pretty helpfull. Them artificially limiting the cheap system is just plainly a weird move. Nearly fraud at the customer.

Thanks a lot.