I'm just wondering if anyone actually installed the Infinity Kappa 42.9i speakers in their Mini yet. I know some have installed the 42.7i which I may have to do since the 42.9i have a built in crossover as part of its wiring. See this pic

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAu...0Kappa%2042.9i

I'm not sure if I'll be able to hide that crossover somewhere that won't interfere w/ the window etc. So if anyone has actually installed these please let me know so I can order the 42.9i over the 42.7i - either way I'm sure they'll both sound great. Thanks in advance!

 

As long as you could extend the crossover out of the way there should be no problem in installing them. I would just find out (if you can) how the sires are hooked to teh cross over. I.E. does it drive both cones or just the tweeter.

 

I was thinking I might be able to bury it behind the speaker since there should be some space back there....you're saying to just fasten it to something next to the speaker? I can take a look when I have the door panel off to see if the door panel will fit over the crossover mounted somewhere near the 4" speaker. I'd hate to just let it hang. In fact I might get the 42.7i over the 42.9i just so it doesn't become a problem.

 

What i was saying is if you can extend the wire for the crossover easily and get it out of the door. Not sure how easy it would be to extend to say three feet or something like that to get it back in the cabin where there is a little room.

As for fitting it between the inner skin of the door and the cover panel, i doubt you will find anywhere to do that. I have had mine off and there is really no room around the speaker area for something like that.

I have Focal speakers in the front doors of my car and the crossover is so big there was no place to even consider putting it in the door .

 

The inside of the armrest is a perfect place to put crossovers. If the wire is not long enough you can splice it, but I think you need less than a foot.

 

Thanks for the info everyone. It sounds more and more like I'm going to end up putting in the 42.7's and not the 42.9's

 

dude, like I said, the key is the armrest. You can run the wire from the speaker, behind the trim piece on the handle into the padded armrest which has a ton of room inside. It takes all of 15 seconds to pop it on and off.

 

Thanks splicer. It appears that the 42.9's don't have enough slack to reach the armrest before wire runs out. I have a call into Infinity Tech support to try and find the length.

 

I just finished putting a 42.9 in the 4" spot on my clubman. Three of the mounting holes are perfect, the fourth one (the tab) I just broke off, it has little breaks in the tabs so you can do this easily. I extended the wiring to the crossover over to inside the armrest by cutting the connector wire in half and soldered the three wires with about 18" of extra wire. It works great.

 

Thanks for the input. I ended up going with the 42.7i but that's good to know that the crossover reaches the speaker from behind the armrest

I had dealercostaudio price match the lowest prices I could find..hence the "gift certificate" - here's what's en route:

Infinity Kappa 692.9i $118.00
Infinity Kappa 42.7i $69.00
Soundstorm USS8 $129.00
Infinity Kappa 60.9cs $149.99

Subtotal: $465.99
Discounts: -$15.00
Shipping & Handling: $0.00
Tax: $0.00
Order Total: $450.99
Gift Certificate: -$25.00
Final Total: $425.99

 

Well it sounds like you'll have a great system there. I only did half of my installation today, will do drivers side tomorrow. Wasn't too fun soldering the three separate wires in the crossover wire but it was only time consuming. I was just glad that it worked fine when I turned the stereo on and it was a great inprovement. I had taped the **** for the mirrors so it wouldn't fall apart as I did read people were having problems with it, great to have NAM. I did say I was always up for a challenge so I went ahead and ordered the 6X9's for the club door and drivers side panel, hope that won't be too terribly bad.

 

I'm surprised you did the driver's side first - good job! Eventually when I get to it, I'm starting w/ the easier passenger side.

I'm sure you read it but just reminding you that for the clubbie someone installed the 6x9 on the 3rd door without removing the pillars. He was just able to hold the panel out a little and swap (at least one) 6x9.

 

No, I did the passenger side first although the only difference is the mirror control. I would suggest to just tape the ***** for the mirrors before starting, will let you know if that works for me later. Yes, I did read that about the panel removal, hope so because it sure will shorten installation time for the 6 X 9's.

 

Well, just finished the driver side installation and it really sounds great. I must say though, that the mirror switch is definitely a PITA. I only spent about 15 minutes on it but it was frustrating, no matter what you do and no the tape doesn't help. Just glad everything is back together and working properly. Next assignment, the Bass 600 subwoofer, already have the ground wire and the power cable hooked up, yes tapped into the rear power outlet from behind the panel.

 

can you fill me in on this tricky mirror control? i'm about to go at it tomorrow night. a friend of mine who is very comfy with all of this is helping/probably doing most of it but still. advice would be very appreciated.

 

Well, it has been so long ago I can only remember that the switch wants to keep falling apart. Tape didn't help much, like I said, it took a good 15 minutes of fiddling around with it to get it back in correctly. Go slowly, REALLY pay attention to how it comes apart/goes back together, little fingers help, I don't have little fingers. It'll slide back in correctly after a few tries. Sorry this isn't much help. Once you get the panel off you'll understand.

 

once you get it off disconnect both electrical connectors from the back of it - then put the control back on the speaker cover - then attach 1/2 of the cover while putting the electrical connectors back in just before you "snap" it back on.

 

For anyone reading this thread for the first time (the original post is almost 2 years old!), I'll repeat here the words of caution I've stated in other posts:

For anyone with the HiFi - you are not going to get good results pairing aftermarket speakers with the factory HiFi amplifier.

See this post and this post for a more detailed explanation.