I picked up the MC on wednesday at 11am (took off wed-fri from work). Brought it straight home via backroads and into the garage to minimize the chances of any rock chips occuring before the clear bra was put on. Had the interior stripped by wed. night thanks to many how-to's on this forum and others (too numerous to mention). Removed the front and back seats, door panels, kick panels, and rear side panels.

Thursday morning I started prepping the doors with dampening membrane and making the spacers for the Infinity's. Note that I went cheap and used rolls of "Peel and Seal" from Home Depot as dampening membrane. I was wrestling with installing the slightly bigger than stock tweeters when the clear bra guy showed up. Took time off to watch him work - very cool. He was here over four hours.

After he left I got back to work, finished the doors and put them back together - one phase done!

Friday was the big day. First I sealed off the rear speaker enclosures from the rest of the sidewall by using compressed 5 inch foam rubber, followed by dampening material then polyfill. Installed the rear Infinity's will little trouble.

One of my priorities all along was to use ZERO cargo space for this system, and to utilize the cavities under the carpet beneath the front seats. So my idea was to put two of the little T-class blaupunkt amps in the cavity under the driver's seat, and a flat clarion subwoofer under the passenger seat. Here was the moment of truth. I lined the cavities with dampening material (mostly to keep them from rattling when I stuck them down), and wired them up. I took great care to route the RCA input cables away from the power cables. At this point I had to reinstall the front seats in order to avoid the airbag light from coming on when I turned the key.

Then I installed the head unit in the dash and fired that mother up. It sounded amazingly good. Now came the second moment of truth. Many of you had talked about engine noise coming through the audio system and having difficulty getting rid of it. I started the car, put in a CD, cranked the volume, and then hit Pause. I listened and heard - nothing. I revved the engine and from the speakers - nothing. I drove it down the street while it was still paused and heard - nothing! Happy happy joy joy!

This result in my MC really makes me strongly suspect that the boot location of the battery in the MCS is the real culprit in the whining problems some have had.

So saturday I reassembled the interior (including carpet padding under the rear seats and on the wheelwells), and installed the mp3 changer and XM radio tuner in the glove compartment.

I am a happy boy. Here are the components I used if anyone is interested:

Alpine CDA-7998 head unit, (2) Blaupunkt PA-275 amps, Clarion SRV-303 subwoofer, Infinity Kappa 6.5 components in the doors, Infinity Kappa 6.5 3-way's in the rear (with 6x9 to 6.5 adapter), Alpine CHA-S634 mp3 changer, Alpine XM tuner.

Note: if you want to shake the car next to you at the stoplight, the Clarion subwoofer is NOT for you. It can go pretty loud, but not earth-shaking. I merely wanted something to fill in the low frequencies, so it worked very well for me.

I plan to put a website together soon, but I'll see if I can get a few of the more interesting photos posted to this thread.

Driving it to work for the first time tomorrow (1.25 hours each way), and I'll be enjoying the ride...

_________________
Waiting til July 9 for:
IB/Blk Cooper, Fogs, Xenons, Spoiler, Chrome Inserts, Blk/Blk/Anthracite Int, Sport Seats, Auto Wipers, Premium & Cold Weather pkgs. (Tapping foot impatiently in NH)

 

Ok here are some pics (I hope):

 

Thanks for the great writeup and pictures.
How much was the total bill and what is your warranty.
Any interference noise/high pitched whine when you are driving?

 

Nice work. I can't believe you got that stuff to fit under the seats.
I love the deck. I might have to get one.
Good job!

 

>>Thanks for the great writeup and pictures.
>>How much was the total bill and what is your warranty.
>>Any interference noise/high pitched whine when you are driving?

Component cost:

Alpine head unit 400
Alpine mp3 changer 240
Alpine XM tuner 150
2 blaupunkt amps 200
Subwoofer 160
Infinity spkrs (front) 110
Infinity spkrs (rear) 100
Cables, misc. 30

Total: about $1400

I did all the work myself, so the only warrantee I have is what came with the components.

When first considering the MINI, I was going to get the HK upgrade along with the MINI CD changer which would have been around $1170. I then decided I could create a much better system for just a little more money. I'm happy I did it.

As I said above, I was quite worried about the whining noises others were experiencing, so I took great care to isolate the signal cables fron the power cables, and I hear ZERO noise of any kind in the speakers, when either revving the engine or driving.

Here's a really quick and dirty diagram of the wiring routes I used. A graphic artist I am NOT, so if anything isn't clear, just ask.


Note: The remote turn-on wire from the head unit (not shown) followed the red power cable route. Also, I used the stock wiring to the front door speakers to save time. I may replace it with beefier speaker cable at a later date.

_________________
IB/Blk Cooper, Fogs, Xenons, Spoiler, Chrome Inserts, Blk/Blk/Anthracite Int, Sport Seats, Auto Wipers, Premium & Cold Weather pkgs. (Tapping foot impatiently in NH)

 

nice job! I really like the idea of putting the amps and sub UNDER the carpet. nice and stealth!

 

I'm an acoustics engineer in the automotive industry, and this is the first installation I'm going to say GREAT JOB! to. Scooterboy improved the packaging to each speaker location, and squeezed a lot of performance out of a fairly simple and inexpensive system.

The Dyanmat on the door, including improving the baffling of door trim is worth mentioning. Also, improving the enclosure for the rear speakers is a big positive.

I'll post it here, because I've been advising several people in dealing with whine... (including making phone calls to install shops to advise installers, as a favor, to those pyulling their hair out) I think scooterboy got lucky with the whine. Besides running a good ground, you really need to use shielded interconnect cable with a dedicated "shield drain" line that you can connect to your radio chassis. A shield is nowhere near as effective without the drain. Popular name brand cables, costing $100-300, typically make no provision to connect the shield drain to your radio's chassis. However, I contacted http://www.avcable.com, who quoted a great price on a custom made 4 channel cable with drain. I also found that scosche makes a nice shielded cable.

 

Nice install ... how I wish mine had gone like that (it is I that screamed for telephone help from Tacotim).
I wonder if the Cooper S is more likely to generate engine whine than the Cooper?

I cannot risk having Tweeter put any more "work" into my car, which they have now had for three weeks CONTINUOUS as well as two previous install visits.
I have listened to Tacotims advice on the shielded cables which should eliminate the engine noise, but Tweeter claim that even with the HU rigged up outside the car on a separate supply, with RCAs running outside the car, they get engine noise. If they are correct, I am not confident that all the noise is coming from RCA pickup.

Perhaps in time I will find someone more capable to do an install in my car which results in zero engine noise - but the terrible noise in the car at the moment gives me a headache.
Tweeters position now is "you don't hear it when music is playing" ... well that depends how loud the music is, and anyway some of my music has quiet parts or gaps between tracks!

Scooterboy - congratulations! You don't know how lucky you are.

 

>>
>>Scooterboy - congratulations! You don't know how lucky you are.
>>

Well, as I alluded to previously in this thread, I was very worried about noise based on others' problems, so I think I DO know how lucky I am!

BTW, I did use "heavy-duty" RCA cables, but they were not any of the high priced boutique brands. Just thicker and more robust than your average radio shack stuff. I got them at You-Do-It Electronics off 128 in Needham.

I look forward to getting together sometime Ian - I'd really like to hear your impressions of my system. When's the next Peabody get-together?

 

Unfortunately, the name on the cable, or the price, has little to do with the quality. I make my own for $10, or so, in parts and 15 minutes of my time in designing systems that get sold by the millions...

I e-mailed iancull, personally, but I'll pass this on here... Removing the HU from the car, and using a seperate supply, in my professional opinion, doesn't eliminate proper shielding as the issue, it reinforces it.

Those who truly understand (I only do peripherally, but I talked to PhDs in the field to be sure I'm not ill-advising) EMC noise issues !!!KNOW!!! that RULE #1 is to use good shielded, twisted pair, cable WITH A PROPER SHIELD DRAIN. This shield drain wire is usually connected to the radio chassis, which is tied to the ground plane in the radio. How do you think so many OEM systems are noise free. This simple little wire, costing pennies to run between the shield on a cable and a pin, or spade, or other means of attachment to the right place, can make the difference between noise and no noise...

Of all those that have described battling noise issues, it seems that none have used interconnects of equal or better quality than OEM, in terms of shielding. This seems largely due to ignorance of RULE #1 (not criticizing customers here, but the professionals).

I'll admit, I may be wrong. The MINI may be a special case, full of voodoo. Maybe the stock system puts a curse on those that remove it from such a cute, fun ride... Anyone, currently having noise issues, want to take me up on the offer for a free set of interconnects? The offer won't last, because I'm not in the business of making free cables, but teach a man to fish...

 

scooterboy,

looks great! Lots of work but looks like well worth it!

For what it's worth, I'm doing my front doors right now. Mostly for cosmetic reasons (since I have the HK and am quite happy with it), but have spent some time dynamatting the doors (actually an Evercoat product that is waterproof, rather than real dynamat). I did a little matting on the metal door frame, but spent most of my efforts on the plastic door panel, since that is the one that sounds hollow, plasticky, and is responsible for some speaker buzz at higher volumes. Dynamatted the whole panel, and used some felt and double sticky tape too. Also epoxied the speaker grille to the panel, since the grille is only plastic melted using three plastic rivets, and they rattled. Also used felts on the interior side of the door pockets, to reduce rattling sounds of objects in pockets.
Finally, I noticed that the plastic retainers for the door panels (the ones you can buy at any automotive store) rattled as well, so I taped them down before reassembly. Still working on stuff.

Cheers,
M.

 

Scooterboy ...
>>I look forward to getting together sometime Ian - I'd really like to hear your impressions of my system. When's the next Peabody get-together?

Don't know about next official MINI Peabody event - mid to late September is the latest rumour. Hopefully there might be something else before then - Steve is suggesting a Seekonk event at the end of August.
Maybe we can get together locally some time for a comparison ...

 

>>Unfortunately, the name on the cable, or the price, has little to do with the quality. I make my own for $10, or so, in parts and 15 minutes of my time in designing systems that get sold by the millions...

Yes, name cables are supposed to do the trick but may not. Mine were called "Streetwires- Zero noise"- well that sounded good until I got the same high pitched whine.

>>Perhaps in time I will find someone more capable to do an install in my car which results in zero engine noise - but the terrible noise in the car at the moment gives me a headache.
Tweeters position now is "you don't hear it when music is playing" ... well that depends how loud the music is, and anyway some of my music has quiet parts or gaps between tracks!

When I got the whine noise it was all the time on every mode of music- radio, CD, Aux, low volume or high volume. Didn't matter and just clashed with the rest of the music. It's wasn't that loud but it was irritating.

The key element besides using the right shielded cables and installing them correctly is that there still may be sources of noise that are entirely unique to the car. So my installers looked systematically for trouble. First they ran different cables outside the car and away from the car but the noise was there. Then they ran the AC and then various electrical components with and without noise filters checking for noise. Then they found that my Xenon lights were causing some trouble and left the filter on that power line.

>>I e-mailed iancull, personally, but I'll pass this on here... Removing the HU from the car, and using a seperate supply, in my professional opinion, doesn't eliminate proper shielding as the issue, it reinforces it.
>>
>>Those who truly understand (I only do peripherally, but I talked to PhDs in the field to be sure I'm not ill-advising) EMC noise issues !!!KNOW!!! that RULE #1 is to use good shielded, twisted pair, cable WITH A PROPER SHIELD DRAIN. This shield drain wire is usually connected to the radio chassis, which is tied to the ground plane in the radio. How do you think so many OEM systems are noise free. This simple little wire, costing pennies to run between the shield on a cable and a pin, or spade, or other means of attachment to the right place, can make the difference between noise and no noise...

My installers say that they follow this and still there are problems with some cars. In my car they did it and there was still noise.

>>Of all those that have described battling noise issues, it seems that none have used interconnects of equal or better quality than OEM, in terms of shielding. This seems largely due to ignorance of RULE #1 (not criticizing customers here, but the professionals).

I had pretty high quality stuff being used for everything from cables to interconnects with more than one brand being tried. Still had the noise.

>>I'll admit, I may be wrong. The MINI may be a special case, full of voodoo. Maybe the stock system puts a curse on those that remove it from such a cute, fun ride... Anyone, currently having noise issues, want to take me up on the offer for a free set of interconnects? The offer won't last, because I'm not in the business of making free cables, but teach a man to fish...

I'm sure your interconnects are the bomb.
The problem is the BMW wiring and the electrical system in general. Not just for MINIs but for several of the BMW models. We are not alone. That is why you want to take the install to a shop that has done alot of MINIs and have experience with BMW. Lesson learned. My system is noise free- even after adding a sub. Now I really can't hear any other sounds and neither can any cars within a ten car radius if I turn up my tunes!
:evil:

 

Minihune, my question still is, did they ever try a properly shielded interconnect cable? ...one where the shield drain is connected to the radio chassis? When I spoke with iancull's installer and explained this he said "yeah we already tried something like that", like your installer said, but when I asked more detail he admitted he didn't know what I was talking about. The reason I wonder is because the HK system is exposed to the same noise, but has no noise issues, and it just uses properly shielded interconnects...

 

>>When first considering the MINI, I was going to get the HK upgrade along with the MINI CD changer which would have been around $1170. I then decided I could create a much better system for just a little more money. I'm happy I did it.
>>


Nice work on the system! Great write-up too! But you could have gotten a great 6 CD MP3 player for $285. THat brings the cost of HK + CD changer to $835. With all adapters about $900. You'd also have almost 1000 songs at your disposal.

But in your case, especially since you seem to know what you're doing, I think you made the right choice.

Good luck with it!

 

>>Nice work on the system! Great write-up too! But you could have gotten a great 6 CD MP3 player for $285. THat brings the cost of HK + CD changer to $835. With all adapters about $900. You'd also have almost 1000 songs at your disposal.

Well, at the time that I was considering the MINI changer, I didn't know that there were other changer options. Probably would have opted for the new system anyway.

And I DID get the Alpine 6 CD mp3 changer (for $240), so I DO have almost 1000 songs at my disposal. PLUS the mp3 CD in the deck, PLUS id3 tags from ALL discs display on my deck, PLUS XM radio, PLUS Infinity's all around and a subwoofer.

No regrets here!

 

scooter, can you reply to my PM? =(

 

>>scooter, can you reply to my PM? =(

Done.

 

Bumping this old thread because I think it might be a solution to the alternator whine that I'm picking up with my system. I tapped into the stock speaker wiring, using the factory locations for the woofer/tweeter in the doors and the 6x9s in the rear.

The configuration I have is a pair of Polk MMC 6500 components in the front doors (with the crossovers inserted in the door), and Polk MMC in the rear (crossovers mounted to the "floor" space in under where the speakers sit. In the boot there is a custom box with a 400 watt mono amp on the left, 10" sub in the center, and 400 watt amp on the right. Power to the amps is connected to the battery in the boot and uses the same ground (with a distrubition block between the two amps). All stereo wires and RCAs run down the passenger's side of the car together (along with the remote turn on line for the amps), since the battery line under the hood runs up the driver's side.

Behind the head unit there is a noise isolator that goes to the rear speakers which I had used successfully in my old Impreza. Sadly, I'm getting whine again with this car.

My question is about how the shield drain works? Is it shielding that goes around the speaker wire to keep them isolated? Also, would running the remote line with the RCAs be a possible cause of the noise? The line is glued between the RCAs (part of a Rockford Fosgate amp kit), or is it more due to running the RCAs next to the speaker wires (from the amp to the wiring harness).

 

My favourite alt whine cure is to run a thin earth wire from the amps earth point to the stereo chassis

 

Finished the component install, and have a small bit of whine as well. Was running Focal mains, Audioubahn 6x9s, and a sub with an MTX amp off of the rear channel with line leveler, all driven off of the factory headunit. No whine.

Mains stayed, everything else removed. Installed 4 channel Lanzar Vibe to drive the mains, and a Lanzar Vibe 2 channel to drive a new sub. Was very careful where I ran power lines & grounds. Distro blocks, 2 guage & 8 guage power wires, well shielded, twisted pair RCAs. Now I have a small bit of alt whine.

Silly me thought that extra wire one the RCA's was the remote wire. Turns out its the shield drain! I'll be digging back into system this week to actually mount the drain from HU case to amp case, and report back.

If that doesn't remove the noise, then I'll be trying a cap/filter on the alternator, try using a common ground point for the two amps, and perhaps a ground loop isolator on the RCAs.

My finished install is:
100% dynomat coverage of interior
Alpine 9847 HU
Focal Polyglass 6.5's mains
Audiobahn 6x9 as rear fill
Lanzar Vibe 125x5 rms driving mains (installed under passenger seat)
Lanzar Vibe 200x2 rms bridged driving sub (installed in boot - might move to beneth drivers seat?)
Eclipse alum1204dvc 12" in tiny sealed enclosure

Will post final solution in my battle against the whine.
ciao!

 

Ahhh the whine...sigh...oh that whine...well lemme see if I can help you with that...if I told you how many installs I have done you wouldn't belive...

first off running the stock head unit doesn't help...

but there are a few key places you can start first...

one your ground...

you are better off running a bigger ground than you are running for power...


Two

are any of the and I mean ANY of the sound cables near or touching any of the power or ground....this is a big one in the battle...I got to the point I would run them on seperate sides of the car sound in the middle except obviously the speaker wire...

three

there is a filter you can buy when using the stock head unit but I really just recomend getting an after market one...you have spent this much time and money...(me shrugs)


again....I read your post and it sounds like you have got most of this down pretty well...so if none of the power and RCA/speaker are touching I would say try a different head unit...I had this same problem in a porche I did and all in all even the filter didn't help enough...

hope you get it...

 

Thx, Tuls.

Was careful not to run the RCAs near any power or ground wires.

Strange... no whine with factory HU, but now its present with the Alpine... even if its only very subtile... and its only in the rear channels. The mains amp is under the passenger seat and grounded to a ground point located there which is near the RCAs. I'm going to try a new ground point well away from them and also ground the chassy of the HU.

The whine is slight enough, and localized enough (in the rear channel) that I'm pretty sure if I focus on the rear channel RCAs I'll eventually solve it.

I know its overkill, and will do nothing about the whine, but the price was right... bought a 1.5f Cap to install as well -- its going inside the driver side cubby. IMO Mini alternator isn't enough to keep up with this system.
ciao!

 

Update. I guess I wasn't careful enough... I used a factory ground spot along the passenger side door sill. That point was within 3" of the rear channel RCA jacks of the amp.

Move the ground, whine gone. All's well. Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences -- helped!
ciao!

 

awsome!! good show!!