Does anyone here know of a place or a very skilled person that can add a subwoofer to my 2009 Mini Cooper w/ premium audio package?

After reading the posts on here it seems the best way to get this done is to branch off from the AUX input (I listen to the iPOD mainly) and pipe that signal to the boot where one would have a seperate amp which would go through a crossover and power a subwoofer. It seems its impossible to do anything with that head unit according to you guys on here. Plus if it was set up this way, I could turn the bass down on the premium speakers which would improve sound quality a little bit since there would be less rattle in the doors. I'm thinking out loud here but it seems like this may be the best way to do this.

Unfortunatly I have 0 experience with doing this sort of thing so if theres a MINI friendly audio place or a hardcore mini mod nut that can do it for me then thats the best.

I'm in Northern New Jersey, closer to PA then NY.

If anyone can offer any info I would be very appreciative. I listen to classic techno, house, jungle, and the like all the time so I find the premium speaker package to be not premium enough for my tastes.

I need the bass, all up in my face, all over the place in my MINI space.

 

I know that it is possible because we had a trade in where the guy took out his amp & sub before we took it in.

 

I'm planning on taking my new R56 to a local audio shop (in Bowling Green, Ky.) in the next week or so to have them take a look at it. I'll let you know what I find out.

 

We have the base system that comes with from the factory in our Clubman. I really miss the sound of the HK in my 2005, and I am looking to do something in the back. I love to work with fiberglass, might be fun to build a custom encloser (Spelling)

 

MINI really aught to supply its dealers with a subwoofer upgrade kit. That would solve a lot of problems.

Even the crappy Chevy Colbalt comes with a subwoofer.... :/

 

Seriously??? Man that sucks. Scions, Cobalts... pretty soon the beetle! (kidding - sort of )

Yeah, MINI really should have some kind of kit like this. On another note on the R56 Mods website, there's a DIY on installing a subwoofer, so it can be done... just a matter of how big of pain in pooper it'll be.

 

Exactly! Thats why I would rather pay someone who knows what they're doing to do it for me.

Someone emailed me about a place that can do it but .. BUT they are in Cherry Hill... thats Camden County, NJ (Camden County being home of Camden, the gang town that makes Compton CA shiver.!.!.!.!.). To add to that they take 4 weeks to install. So that option is out.

Moxie, where did you see this DIY MINI subwoofer site anyway? I'll bookmark it for future reference.

 

It CAN be done.

It will NOT be cheap.

This is how I did it:

PARTS:

• Aftermarket separates for the front. (Most will be two-way, so you'll have an extra empty speaker grille in the door. No big deal.) I used Polk SR6500s. You can spend a lot less and get a good speaker, though.
• Sub box. You can have one built (costs LOTS!), or buy one. I used the RoadsterSound one. We sell it.
• Sub driver. I used an Earthquake 12". It fits in the box. The JL skinny subs weren't out yet when I did this, which is just as well, because those cost way more.
• Amp. You'll want at least three channels -- two for your front speakers, one for the sub. In my case, I used a four-channel Polk C400.4 amp, and the rear two channels are combined to drive the sub.
• A-pillars with tweeter grilles. My base stereo didn't have those. We sell 'em.
• Some kind of aftermarket integration solution. There are several devices of this type, which include the JL Cleansweep, the Rockford Fosgate 3SIXTY.1 or .2, or the Alpine PXE-H650. I used the 3SIXTY.2.

We need that last item for a couple of reasons. One is that the factory head unit only outputs speaker-level signals, so we need something to adapt it to something an amp can handle. But the other reason is that the factory head unit has some weird frequency response, and we want to get rid of that -- our new speaker setup will handle all the bass we want, and we don't want to have to live with reduced bass from the head unit. Any of these OEM integration devices will normalize the head unit's output so it's basically flat.

If you don't care so much, skip the OEM integration unit and just get an amp that can accept speaker-level inputs. You may miss out on some of the sound, but you can partially make up for it with the head unit's tone controls and/or with crossovers on the speakers and amp.

I did install aftermarket Polk 6x9's in the rear, but I left them hooked up the factory head unit's speaker outputs for the rear. They're basically turned down so they just provide a little rear fill.

LAYOUT:

• Factory front speaker signal from the head unit goes to the 360.2
• 360.2 sends two front channel signals (now low level) to the front channels of the amp.
• Amp drives the Polk two-way speakers in the doors and A-pillars.
• 360.2 sends a sub output to the (combined) rear channels of the amp
• Amp drives the sub (loud!)
• Factory rear speaker signal from the head unit goes to the stock-location rear 6x9s for rear fill only.

We installed the amp in the tool kit area under the hatch. The sub box sits on top of that. The crossovers for the front separates are under the passenger seat. The 360.2 is in the cubby above the glove box.

You can't really SEE much of the stereo system, but the sub looks like this:



This is the sub box lifted up out of the way, showing the amp underneath. The silver stuff is Dynamat sound-dampening material. The white thing is my foot.



This is what the sub box looks like when it's not nestled down in the hatch:



In that last pic, there's a little two-channel amp, which would drive the sub only. The factory head unit didn't have enough guts to drive the front speakers to get the mid-bass I wanted, so I decided to amplify them, too. Hence the four-channel amp you see next to my white shoe, above.

I hope this is somewhat helpful...

--Dan
Mach V

 

Here's an overhead view of the box alone:

And a photo of my install:

I interfaced with the stock H/K system in my R53 using a line level converter and am happy with the results, I'm not a total bass head so I have the amp gain turned down but I can turn it up and the sub can handle a larger amplifier than what I'm using as well.

 

The guys I talked to said they think they can do it by "splicing in" some RCA cables into a couple speaker outputs. This is similar to what they did on my 03 MC, and it worked very well. As I understand it, basically, they take RCA ends with bare wires and stick 'em in with the speaker outputs coming from the stereo head and then lead the RCA cable from the stereo head out to the amp just like a regular subwoofer setup.

You obviously won't have any real control over the output to the sub from the head unit, but some amps (i.e., Rockford Fostgate) have a "remote" unit to help control bass levels.

 

I don't like that solution as the RCA inputs on an amplifier are designed to see a certain voltage range that cannot be adequately replicated by a head-units speaker level output. They make line-level controllers which are reasonably priced and (in my case) can also function as a simple crossover.

 

Arrggghhh... now I can't find it!!!

Let me look for it. I swear it exists. The guy used one of those Infinity amp/sub combo things. I'll keep you updated.

 

I hate to say it but I'm even more confused.

I can build a nightclub audio rack just fine, its very very easy m8. But car audio scares me to death, its like its all built by aliens who don't know anything about pro audio.

^^^^Part of my home stereo: signal processing, amplification, and DMX light control^^^^


How about this then, for the car I need to know simple things like...
where does one get an appropriate audio signal in the boot? At least I know where to get power in the boot, thats easy.

 

Your amp should have a built in crossover to solve that issue. As far as everything else... it worked out great on my last MINI. I'll admit I was a little nervous about it at first, but these guys really know what they're doing. With that said, if you're doing competition stereo stuff, I think I would agree that it's not the best solution. In fact, they asked me if I was planning on doing comps when they did the install (obviously not if I was running the stock head). In the case of the R56 you pretty much have to run the stock head. I'm not saying one way is superior to another, but that you shouldn't really count this method out.

 

I thought you may have meant this: http://www.geekshocker.com/Claire/audio/ampInstall.php
but he didn't use an Infinity Basslink
Do the R56s still have the amplifier in side of the boot? That's where it was on H/K equipped R53s. I did an install on an R50 that was using a device similar to an Infinity Basslink (this was in Germany and a brand I'd never seen in the US) and had to splice the high-level inputs from the rear speakers.

 

Well it certainly sounds like you are well versed in slaying the car audio dragon. If you weren't so far away I'd be happy to chuck some money at you so you could do it for me.

 

Are you speaking of the premium speakers? You know... I asked my dealer if I coud change the crossover settings and I was told no. Is this the case? I would LOVE to tweek which speakers are getting what freqs and how much of each.

Some of the mid bass freqs are shaved off completely with this premium package. For example, Roland TR-808 bass booms are completely invisible!!!!!!

 

I think he was referring to me using both the crossover on the amp and the crossover on the line-level converter I'm using. I'm not sure of the exact crossover frequencies of each (I'd have to look them up) but I know the converter has a higher crossover point than the aftermarket amplifier. I used both so that there's less chance of distortion through the RCA cables before the subwoofers amplifiers cuts off the rest of the high freqs. I don't know how much of a difference it makes in car audio but I used a similar concept when working with signal in the Army, eliminate the unwanted at every possible location for an overall improved signal.

 

The Rockford 3SIXTY.2 device I mentioned above has a digital equalizer and crossover built-in, so you can do exactly that.

--Dan
Mach V

 

OOOOOOHHHHH... yeah.

I found it... Cooper Mods

I was referring to the woofer amp having a built in X-over. I don't think we were on the same page.

 

Whoops... we were on the same page... never mind.

Also... Fostgate is the way to go with any subwoofer unit. I've had my Fostgate amp since 2002 or so and this will be the third car it's seen (although the my sub might get replaced).

Does anyone know if Infinity makes a sub that will fit in that "roadster sound" box. That box looks perfect for what I want, but I'm a dedicated Infinity guy.

 

The only two subs that I know of that fit given the depth and air-space is the Earthquake SWS12 and the Rockford Fosgate P3S

 

disregarding cost. which one of these would you guys recommend? looking for nice clean added bass not shaking my car apart.

 

Sundown, Hertz, DLS all SQ subs that will sound great. Will reproduce your music perfectly. Also JL now does a slim sub...

 

To add to that how about a speaker and amp combo that will fit which will not distort. Distortion is the enemy.

Once again, how does one get a good audio signal that can be used for the additional sub amp in the boot? MINI was at least kind enough to provide a cig lighter power adapter in the boot but what about a good audio signal???