isthar... glad to hear you got it all working...
Yeah... getting that x9331 and it's partner clipped back in was a bugger...not sure mine is in there solid either.
re: the cig/lighter/stealth... I'm really happy with what I did (see post #292).

I took advantage of the benefit it gave me today... added in some Dynamat Xtreme under the spare wheel space (not a lot, I only had the 4sq ft pack... but it makes a difference) and it was a 10 second task to add/remove the boss.

enjoy the thumpa-thumpa

 

Anyone who lives in cold climates have any issues with very little bass coming from the Bass600 when the temp is below 20 F? After the car starts to warm up then the bass is fine. Is it possible the head unit pulls bass from the fronts to avoid rattling or is my setup just screwed up

BTW, really liking the unit now that I have it dialed in better

 

I knew there was another reason for living on the Left Coast!

I'd guess the materials in the subwoofer itself aren't thermally matched, and the coil assembly is getting stuck in the magnet throat until things warm up.

 

`I don't have the same subwoofer..but i do have the same problem....and i have had car stereos and subwoofers for 20 vermont winters and this is the first car that has ever done this...it must be something the car is doing

 

I have never had a problem either. I think tonight I am going to bring the Bass600 inside to keep it warm. Then I can see if the car is pulling bass when it is cold.

 

I just re-read your post and realized that you don't have a Bass600. That must mean the car is pulling bass in cold weather.

Another good reason to move to Key West

 

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread.
I have an '07 MCS w/HiFi and am putting in the Bass600 and got the install kit.

I decided to try the low level RCA inputs first to see if they would work for me. I stripped the RCA cable back at one end and found 2 sets of three wires. I found the center pin (+) and outer sleeve wires (-) for both R and L plug, but there is another bare wire for L and R and they run through a common shielded cable.

Using the multimeter, the bare wires are connected to the outer sleeve (-) of the RCA plug AND because they are bare, both the L (-) and R (-) are connected together.

Can I use these RCA plugs if the two channels are connected through the (-) terminals or should I switch to running speaker wire to the high level inputs?

 

I think if you test the negative on the RCA jacks on the Bass600 you will find they are connected. This seems to be common with audio amps. My home systems, and my Image Dynamics Q 450.4 amp are this way.

 

Thanks Robin.

The (-) outer rim of the RCA jacks L and R on the BASS600 are connected. So I plan on soldering the bare and the (-) wire together and crimping it in the "T" tap for the L and R channels.

The wire used in the RCA plugs is very thin. I'm guessing 20 or 22 guage. Is something to worry about when using the low level inputs to the BASS600?

 

Hi All,
Sorry for the delay in posting, been a bit busy, traveling....

Making the Birdman Harness: (can I patent that? )
Anywho, I'd be in the same boat as Robin regarding making the "Birdman X9331" harness. Although I'm pretty proficient at soldering and with electronics as it's my biz as an IT guy, I'm NO expert to say the least.

I would not want to do this on a regular basis, as it was no fun doing all that soldering. I'm surprised some outfit in china hasn't seen this and jumped all over it. They could probably make a whole container full of them (10,000 units) and have em on the next boat over for $6 each or something!!

I would make a harness for anyone that really needed and wanted one as a friendly service to a fellow mini owner, for the same amount as Robin, the $175. But I'd really prefer Robin to make them!! For one thing, it took almost 2 weeks to get the parts cause they ship from Cali, I'm in NY. So your going to wait a minimum of 2 weeks. Robin might be able to bang it out quicker. But if you must, send me a PM or email and I'll bang one out for you.

The Questions:
Most have already been answered already. But regarding the Hi/low inputs. I did use the RCA low inputs as you can figure from my harness. HOWEVER, I have since found that I am getting allot of static noise on my right front channels when the volume is up high and there is allot of bass in the music. I have a feeling that is a consequence of what was discussed earlier because I have HiFi. So, I'm going to try (in a few minutes) switching to the Hi inputs on the amp/subwoofer and see if that goes away. Have a feeling it will. I'll post my results either late tonight or tomorrow.

Regarding getting to the connector. I found it MUCH easier to remove both panels on the drivers side. That is, the little piece at the top that actually cover the X9331 connector, and the lower panel that goes all the way back to the back seat. You will need to remove that panel anyway to route the wires to the boot. Once you remove both of those panels you will see the connector clear as day, piggy backed on the back of a black one, with both of them "stuck" to the bulkhead.

COLD TEMP, NO BASS:
Ok, I thought I was crazy. I too have noticed when it is cold, it takes about 5 minutes before any bass comes out of the Bass1200. The Blue "HEADLIGHT" (man that thing is ridiculously BRIGHT!!) led power indicator light on the remote does come on right away when power is applied to the car, so the amp/sub is getting power. So it's definitely something Mini is doing with the bass, whether on purpose or inadvertently. That one is weird!!


ROBIN,
You have absolutely no noise anywhere, using the RCA's with HiFi?

 

Yep, exactly what I did. If you remove the little access panel (that the hifi amp is behind) in the fake bulkhead in the boot, you just reach up and push the back of aux port and it pops out. Then just disconnect its wires which are just a simple plug with 2 spade connectors.

Yep, that would be just fine.

 

That would work, BUT, those really thin RCA wires with "shared" grounds in them are terrible for 3 reasons:
1. The wire strands in them are so thin that they are a PITA to work with/solder to anything.
2. They are so thin they may have a loss of signal. Fatter is better.
3. They are so thin, they tend to break if kinked at all, or pulled on at all....

If your going to do this, go to sh_t shack, and buy a 10' piece of wire for $10. It's well worth it instead of troubleshooting a broken wire 2 years from now when you can't remember what the heck you did.

 

Birdman...
- headlight... TIP: a couple of dabs of black or red nail varnish worked for me. Then mount in cubby under tuner.

- re: using highs instead of lows... Let us know immediately! If that helps... I'll be out there at 6am tweaking mine!

- re: amp... Hmmm I thought it was on rhs (passenger side) ie opposite side to the aux port. or maybe clubbies are different to regular MINIs

 

i lived in Key West once....seems like a couple lifetimes ago

missing the cuban food...sunsets at the square..key lime...conch...and well you know the rest.

 

I just got my music to the point where the static is.... Paused the iPod... Unplugged RCA jacks... Pressed play. Same :(. Nice try. I just messed up and bought speakers with too low sensitivity . Bummer

 

I still have the stock speaker in. And did not have the fuzz/static before installing sub.

Didn't test hi inputs last night. Will try today/tomorrooooo

 

I'm not keen on it either.

Took about the same time for me to get the parts. The company I ordered from does not stock them. They order from BMW. So, it ships twice before I get it.

No noise.

I wouldn't worry about it. You just need the signal. You need fat wires when you are pushing amplified power to speakers. You don't need it between source and amp. I'm using a commercial 4 channel RCA cable to feed signal from the X9331 connector to my Image Dynamics 450 watt amp. I cut the RCA plugs off one end to solder to the X9331 connector pins and found that they use very thin wires as well. Might even be 24 or smaller gauge. This is a commercial cable designed just for running signal to aftermarket amps in car audios. I get good clean sound, in spite of the gauge used in this cable.

The fragility Birdman mentioned was the only downside I found.

You do want this cable to be shielded, or twisted wire pairs so it doesn't pick up noise from power or data lines in the car. The cable I used was twisted pairs.

When I originally wired the Bass600 I used Cat6 data cable from a local electronics store. This is sheilded, but also has quite small wires. Worked fine.

 

Thinking about getting a high level to low level converter. I am probably gonna be adding an amp for my fronts at some point, so this seems like a good idea.

Any suggestions on a good one?

 

Some aftermarket amps will accept either high or low level input. That is the case with the Image Dynamics Q 450.4 amp I use. So, the converter may not be necessary.

 

I have not installed my PAC OEM2 hi-lo converter (LOC) yet, but I read plenty of good reviews on the company's products, and it had some nice features. It is a 4 channel LOC with remote trigger. No need to install fuse taps or tap off the cigarette lighters. While there are some amps out there with high inputs, the majority do not, so this gave me some flexibility to grab the type of amp I was looking for, namely a class D amp, because it much more efficient. I have read enough about the cooper electrical system that I wanted to keep the amp draw low.

 

Robin...just wanted to say thanks for info on ordering the X9331 connector. i ordered them from that website you posted over the Xmas holidays i did that and i just got the pieces today. so i'm almost ready to the channel swap and add the Boss sub. Just have to find one for a good price now. if i have any questions, i'll put them up. but i think i'm ready to operate on the Mini soon. Thanks again.

 

Got a little thump thump going now.... not as much bass as I thought it would be, but still better than nothing. I've got a HIFI system and am using the non RCA inputs.... could that be the reason my bass is not that strong?

One thing I have noticed is that my cig. adapter is not powered unless the car is running? Is that normal?

I tied into the speaker wires with taps because after taking the door panels off, it was obvious that getting the wires back through the door would be next to impossible.

Thanks to all for all your help... if you are thinking about doing this, if I can do it, you can too.

 

I didn't think anyone made an OEM connector for the Mini? What is the part number on the one you have?

 

If you tied into the rear speaker wires, you wouldn't get much bass. Bass is filtered out. If you tapped into the speaker wires for the lower door speaker you should be getting plenty of bass. However, my choice was to tap into the X9331 connector and use the RCA inputs on the Bass600.

Normal. Engine must be running for cig lighter circuit to be hot.

I ran 16 gauge (or was it 14 gauge) speaker wires into the doors. I didn't want to use factory wires for my 450 watt amp.

 

I got my Boss 1200 on Amazon for $129 or something like that. Cheapest I could find it....

Make one of these with those parts, will make life allot easier.