The harmon Kardon? I remember playing with the standard stereo in the first MINI Cooper S i ever drove and I thought it was seriously awesome!! It wasn't the harmon kardon.. So whats the real difference?

 

I believe both units have the same BMW head unit but the H/K has an external amp and upgraded speakers.

 

That's correct... also, the external AMP has a Digital Signal Processor (DSP) which gives you a number of listening "modes" to alter the sound to different tastes.

The head unit is indeed 100% identical. There is no "H/K Head Unit" that is different from the regular Boost Head Unit. They are one and the same.

 

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing.. Sounds great no matter which one you get but I would think when you want to punch it, the HK would sound crisper and cleaner.

By the way, have any of you listened to the new stereo's they put in the cars?

Sheesh, they should pay YOU to listen to that junk.. Ya gotta realize, when ever they put a generic name on a HI-FI system, its gonna be crap..

 

We've got the H/K 'premium' system in our 04 MCS and it sounds fantastic BUT it really peaks volume-wise at a surprisingly low level. I'm not talking about blasting through the neighborhood at ear-drum shattering levels either. Particularly on a loud highway, I often hit the limit just trying to crank up a good song and it that way it's kind of a disappointment.

I haven't really searched this forum though, maybe there's a solution - a setting or easy amp upgrade people have done?

 

Would it be possible to upgrade the normal ones to the HK?

 

Definitely not in any kind of practical way.

However, aside from aftermarket options, you could just upgrade to the OEM DPSM system, which is far superior to the HK anyway.

 

yea dont try and upgrade to H/K, as it wont be easy

be better off upgrading the speakers up front with a nice component set, and adding a small 2 channel amp in the back, or under the seat, or somewhere

 

+1 for the peaking early. sound quality is awesome though.

 

Peaks early -- which is a bummer when trying to drive top down on the highway.
Generally, the HK is much harder to upgrade (especially to DPSM) . . . so if you think you're eventually gonna want to upgrade, go base for now.

 

I've heard this complaint before but for some reason only experience it when I am driving with the windows down. With them up, I can get the system to play louder than I probably should.

Dean.

 

i just took everything out when i got rid of my h/k.

amp, hu, speakers, tweeters, cd changer, etc

 

^ Didn't say it wasn't possible -- especially if you strip out everything (I'm surprised you kept the wiring )

 

Haha, yeah. But I have my ROOF down, so its a different story for me!