I have a Cooper with the Standard 6 Speaker system and as you all know the sound is really lacking.

Wishing to upgrade it, I would like to know:

1. What are the standard size speakers in the car?

2. Would like to leave the head unit intact. Will changing the speakers be enought to improve the sound. I do not need it to be loud, but rather just clear.

3. What speakers would you recommend as replacements. I listen to anything from dance music to death metal ... so good bass and treble are a must.

Thanks in advance!

 

I just replaced my speakers and some details added by others areHere

 

The front door speaker on the base system is a 5.25". The HK system uses a 6". The grille opening, trim, and mounting depth easily accomodate most 6.5". Whatever speaker you install, in front, needs a bracket/spacer. This is simple to construct. I have made CAD drawings of the stock speaker, which gives me the info, I'd need to make a bracket to fit an aftermarket speaker. Let me know if you need help with the bracket.

The stock front speaker is pretty efficient (89.7 dB @ 1 meter with 2V input), and has reasonable low end extension (75 Hz resonance, Qt 0.68). It has good high end extension to 10 kHz. It's response is generally downward tilting (more lows than highs), and low excursion (2 mm). The latter are its relative weak points. I have a lot of data on the stok driver, if you're interested. (If you can make sense of it, it may help in finding a suitable upgrade)

I would prioritize finding a driver with equal or better efficiency, equal or lower resonance, and greater excursion (xmax). If you plan to keep the stock tweeter, you'll likely need a different crossover to work with most aftermarket drivers-they typically don't extend to the 9kHz crossover of the stock system.

I had been helping another MINI owner plan an upgrade, and found the Focal 165V2 kit to be my top choice for the front doors, if you don't plan to change the grilles, or cut the door trim. If you do have that in mind, then I think the Focal 7V4212 DB is by far the best woofer for the front door. I haven't found a tweeter efficient enough to work with it, but I do have a custom crossover in mind to "step up" the stock tweeter to work with it.

The stock 6x9 is a good driver. Efficiency 92 dB, resonance 74 Hz, Qt 0.83, excursion 3 mm, response to 6 kHz. I'd say that the limited high frequency extension is this driver's primary weakness. Any aftermarket driver with a good tweeter and crossover should yield a noticeable improvement. Finding something as efficient as the stock part may be difficult. If you find something only 89 dB (typical), the 3 less dB of efficiency is like driving the speaker with half the power. Keep this in mind while shopping.

 

My first audio upgrade from the stock audio system was to get MB Quart speakers DSD 216 fronts and DKC 169 for the rears. I thought it was slightly better but not worth the expense. These are better speakers but not as efficient so I didn't have the power to run them at the proper level.

One option is to add a 4 channel amp and leave everything else alone. ANother option is to add just the infinity base link which is a powered 200 amp subwoofer that will fit in the mini's boot. By adding the sub the speakers work less hard at reproducing the low bass which they can't do well anyway.

|It's tough to find good efficient speakers that will do better than the stock ones at a price that isn't too bad.

Search for other audio threads about MB Quart speakers.

 

Just read an interesting comment on the MINI2 board about changing speakers ...

"ended up putting Focals Poly glass components in the front.
I found that these speakers really loaded the OEM head unit a lot.
In a lot of ways it did not sound as good as the stock speakers"
- the_mesh

 

There is nothing wrong with the Focal speakers. As was there is nothing wrong with the MB Quart speakers I installed in the fronts. The problem is how loud do you want to play your music? At low volumes it is fine but then so too is the stock speakers so that is not much improvement. If the car is parked then the upgraded speakers sound OK because the volume is not too high and distortion is still low.

If you add an upgraded exhaust that is loud then you cannot hear the upgraded speakers well and they need more power to listen the music at high volumes.

Just be sure that you upgraded speakers are very efficient- are able to work well with low power. Otherwise add an amplifier to your stock system and leave the speakers alone or upgrade the fronts only with the amp.