is it me or is the MINI HiFi Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? first off this system is not worth $550. but i guess its worth not having the standard setup. but its weird, ill put in one song and it will sound great. then put in another and it sounds like total crap. one the bass will hit hard and deep and the next it sounds like all my speakers are going to blow and muddy (and i dont turn the volume up all the way). anything with deep bass cant be turned up by more than half way or it distorts badly (and by the way, i have my bass setting on -2 - 1.) for crying out loud i was listening to dave mathews and had to turn the bass to 0 because it was hitting so muddy hard my speakers sounded like crap. whats the point of having so much unusable bass with crap speakers that cant handle it? another thing i dislike is that when turning up the volume, there is no numbers or level indicator. so every time i adjust the volume i have to guess how high up it is. i would leave it the same all the time but like i said, each song sounds so different on this system that i actually have to go in and readjust all the setting including volume for each song/band.

 

LOL. I noticed the same thing. I thought I was just crazy! Some days I'd think "hey this system is not so bad" other times I wondered what was wrong.

 

i ordered this with my mini, which should be here in about a week or so, now i'm wondering if its going to suck or if maybe it is just certain types of music. But something you might look into is JL audio's clean sweep system. you maintain all your stock equipment but it acts as a type of signal conditioner to clean up the sound. there are a couple of companies making this type of system now and they can be found just about anywhere, well audio stores anyways.

 

The R56 HIFI isn't worth the $550 but I can't even imagine how blah the standard system is.

Honestly, Mini got this one totally wrong on the R56. The R53 HIFI is so much better.

And every other 07 car (Civic, Scion, etc.) I've ridden in has better sound system than the R56 HIFI.

Too bad, there isn't an easy solution for R56 HIFI owners.

 

I got the HIFI upgrade and, due to the bad posts, was expecting a crap system. IMO it is far from crap. That said, I think it is a disappointment for an upgrade. The upgraded stereo in the R53 was superior. Overall, I think the sound is very good. The problem is the speakers. And, contrary to the post before, there is an easy fix. The head unit is 230 watts with very good specs. Speakers are a relatively easy fix.

 

I too find the system varies on different types of music. I think I'm going to put in a Miles Davis CD on the way to work today and see how that goes and then switch to my Band of Gypsys CD. For the most part I like the system in the car, but then again I'm no car stereo guru so I'm easy to please

 

One thing I love about the stereo (I don't know if this is just on the HIFI or all) but the speed sensitive volume control works great. It is transparent. The ones I had in my Benz Bose systmes (both speed and sound sensing) were annoying. The volume was always noticeably increasing or decreasing.

 

I can't compare the HiFi to the old HK system, but I actually think my HiFi sounds great. Of course, I had to adjust levels like on any system, but once it was tweaked, it sounded find to me....granted, my previous car's system was utter crap (Acura RSX-S with the Bose system...spare-tire-mounted subwoofer, anyone?), but I still think it sounds better than the JBL system in my wife's Solara or the supposedly "THX-quality" system in my mom's TL.

However, when I first listened to the new HiFi system (at the dealer, in a different car) I wasn't impressed. Is it possible that there are some build quality issues going on here?

 

Sound sensing?

 

yes, it sense ambient noise rather than speed.

 

My MA told me that the speakers are Harmon Kardon and the amp is from Alpine. I listen to mostly classical and jazz so I have no problem with the new upgrade.

 

That's good to know.

So, what kind of music is it that has trouble? Could people provide song title, artist, and genre for music that has problems?

 

i put akon in yesterday and the bass was so distorted on setting 1 that i could not even hear the lyrics. and that was with the volume half way up. listened to a perfect circle tonight and it was pretty good but the bass still distorts in the front speakers. oh and i also have the fader set more to the back speakers than the front.

 

If you are playing a well-recorded source of any style of music, the HIFI system will sound very good and plenty loud. The low-end has some nice thump and the overall quality of sound is excellent. Speaker placement is also improved over previous models. IMO the upgrade is well-worth the price of $550.

07 MCS, AB/AB, Cold Weather, Premium, Sport, Chrome in & out, English Oak/Piano Black, HIFI.

 

Not too sure on the HIFI system, but with the H/K system in the R53 the optimal settings for both the treble and bass are in the dead center. Don't turn them up at all or you get the chance of the "muddy bass"...

Just a thought from an R53 owner.

 

I have to side with the disappointed. One of the things I was looking for was not booming bass, but crystal clear highs. I particularly love the sound of cymbals, bells, horn sections, and other "trebly" sounds. I find that very lacking. Decent midrange, OK bass, but unimpressive overall. Sound separation is also not great. Not as good to my ear as the stereo in my Dodge Caravan Sport, which came with that minivan.

$550 is a considerable sum for an upgrade, and I don't think the upgrade presents a good value for that money. However, at least the speaker placements are all there, so I'll go off to do some shopping at some point and replace some of the speakers. If I had it to do over again I'd still get the upgrade, then replace speakers, just like I'm going to do, because otherwise I wouldn't even have the speaker placements to work with.

From some reading on the Mini forums, there is reason to be optimistic after speaker replacements that the system will sound much better. So, buy the system, throw half of it out and replace it to get a good system. Lousy strategy, but it's the only one I could see.

 

I think the hi-fi is fine. I listen to mostly classic rock, 60/70s hits and occasionally classical. I think it sounds great. I find the best settings for bass and treble are 0, maybe +1.

 

I, too, listen to classic rock and my settings are at "0". However, I lke it loud and, at times, it is obvious the speakers can't handle the amp's power. This is something that should not happen when you buy a system as a unit. Speakers should be rated well above the amp's max output.