What are the thoughts on audio? Is HK upgrade worth it? Has anyone opted for Sirius Satellite Radio? And, finally-has anyone just gotten the base audio and gotten custom install at a stereo shop?

 

I have been leaning toward not getting the HK because it does not support XM Sat radio. I currently have XM in my car and I don't want to change. How many speakers does the HK system have and what kind of quality are they?

 

Let’s take these one at a time.

The HK is worth the money if you have no intension to upgrade your audio system IMO.

I don’t have satellite radio and think paying for it (radio) monthly is something I will never do.

I did install an after market system which does not have a sub woofer. I did an in car listening evaluation of my system to an HK install. MINE WON – and this is not based on anything other than pure sound pleasure. Both cars were side by side, we sat in each with doors closed and windows up. The same music was played at a flat, but moderately high level and done back to back so no time was lost between listening to both systems. I was not the only person. The very same music was played for the same amount of time. We also played with the tone controls some just to see if the HK needed a little more boost. It didn’t change the results.

You for the money will want to go with the HK over the standard install if you want a good sound system. I did pay more than the HK system costs for my after market install which I had a local shop install. All I did was research and buy the equipment everything with the install including sound dampener for the doors the shop did.

Figure out how much you want in sound – the HK is a great sounding system, but it was not available when I got my 02 MCS so I had to go after market to get the sound I wanted.

 

Just my .02 but XM satelite is great. Radio stations are so underpowered that
out here in Nevada/Arizona/Utah/California you get out of range very quickly.

 

>>Just my .02 but XM satelite is great. Radio stations are so underpowered that
>>out here in Nevada/Arizona/Utah/California you get out of range very quickly.
>>

I was not talking it down - Just stating it’s something I will never use.

 

I went for the H/K and I am very happy with the stereo upgrade. I am not into installing aftermarket stereo systems myself, so the H/K for $550 is a very reasonable compromise between having a factory installed system and excellent sound quality.

If you are looking for earth shattering sound performance, the H/K might not be for you. On the other hand, if you are looking to enhance your MINI stereo listening experience, the H/K offers a wide array of modes to suit your musical tastes. The system has 8 high quality speakers and an amplifier/Digital sound processing unit. The speakers (The rears) dual as full range systems or subwoofers depending on the H/K mode selected on the head unit.


There are many misconceptions floating around as to what the H/K upgrade is all about. The best test you can do is bring a few of your favorite CDs to the showroom and spend an hour or so inside a H/K equipped MINI. Play with the settings, set the EQ and knock yourself out with the stereo.

I have the standard stereo in my '02 Cooper CVT, while competent for the price, I always felt it was lacking in bass and crispier highs, so to me, the H/K setup addresses the obvious shortcomings of the standard CD Boost stereo.

Some people with the standard stereo have replaced the factory speakers and have reported improved sound quality. Others have added separate subwoofers, new speakers and even new head units to create the ultimate glass breaking system.

It all depends what you want, what your listening expectations are and how much $$$ are you willing to spend. If you are the Aftermarket type person, perhaps you'll be happier installing a custom system of your liking, but if you are like me a person that enjoys reasonably good quality fidelity in their car stereo, don't care/like to go the aftermarket route and like to spend only a few $$$ extra to get a full factory warrantied system with kick *** sound and performance, then the H/K will make you happy.

 

XM, Sirius, etc Satellite radio is actually pretty neat and like the fact is commercial free programming but you have to pay monthly access fees (Around 10 bucks a month).

MINI uses the Sirius system and I find it to be very expensive at nearly $500 for the upgrade. So the choice appears to be either the Sirius head unit or the H/K system and to me the H/K system is worth more in sound quality than the ability to receive 200 radio stations at once.

Here in Florida radio stations have generally good reception even at very long distances (Lack of mountains or other natural obstacles).

 

merbel

Here’s a link to what I think is a good review of the Harman Kardon stereo system.

Harman Kardon Review

 

Thanks to all for the feedback. Helpful, as always!

 

...and speaking of feedback,
[in my best Lumberg voice]
"I'm gonna go ahead and move this to the Audio Forum, yea."

 

I have the H/K upgrade and love it (though the jury's out on whether or not the speed sensitive volume control is effective enough). I'm considering XM as well and plan to use the AUX port ($30-40 from MINI) to give me a jack into which to plug the XM controller. It should be a fairly tidy set up once I get into it.

 

I have the standard stereo in mine with an infinity basslink and I can't believe how good it sounds.I had planned on replacing everything, but now i'm all set.

 

It appears that Blitzsafe is working on an adaptor to allow a BMW radio to play and control an XM tuner. From what I have read at their message board, this will display the info right on the existing radio and everything. I have sent them an email to see if this might work for the MINI but maybe if plenty of others asked they will make it a priority.


http://www.blitzsafe.com/blitz_catal...z_catalog.html

The Sirius from MINI is way overpriced (its $500 plus install at the dealer) and I personally would prefer XM in mine anyway.

 

i have the mulit-function steering wheel and the base stereo system on my CooperS. if i was to upgrade to the HK, would the steering wheel buttons work?

has anyone installed the HK upgrade from the base stereo on the cooperS?

do i need to make more speaker holes or does it fit the existing speaker housing?

thanks

 

>>i have the mulit-function steering wheel and the base stereo system on my CooperS. if i was to upgrade to the HK, would the steering wheel buttons work?
If you order HK from the factory and you have MFSW as well then yes it all works.

>>has anyone installed the HK upgrade from the base stereo on the cooperS?
Search the past audio threads and this has been examined in great detail.

You cannot easily upgrade the stock stereo system to the HK.
While technically possible if you are a wiring expert with lots of free time, for the average person it might be a headache x 100. The only exception to the rule is if your MINI already came with the HK wiring harness pre installed in your MINI even if you lacked the HK equiptment. It's easy to check just look in your right rear boot access panel for the HK amp plug which is large coming out from the wiring harness. I did extensive looking at many MCS and MC and did not find any MINIs that had HK wiring harness and didn't have HK installed from the factory.

You must order HK from the factory and have it installed at the factory or you are in for a lot of labor trying tin install the HK wiring harness which is not for sale anyway. As far as I know the only way to get an HK harness is to pull it out from a smashed up MINI and then reinstall it very carefully into yours-but that would mean taking apart everything which would be a major hassle and take a long long time to do right. Not to mention the risk of harming other electrical wiring. Then you need the HK audio equiptment.
If all this is soundling like it might cost more than the $550 for the HK upgrade factory price- you are right. If it was done through the dealer it would be way way over $600 in labor costs to do the wiring alone.

>>do i need to make more speaker holes or does it fit the existing speaker housing?
Speaker housing is not the problem since HK can fit in any MC or MCS.

 

I've got the HK system and love it, I'm very happy with it's sound quality.

As for satellite radio, HK or not, I would advise against the MINI solution. It's insanely priced. You can get a good aftermarket system (XM's Roady or SkiFi, or Sirius' Shuttle or Here2Anywhere units) complete with antenna and FM modulator (if needed, you can use the aux jack with all of these systems as well) for around $200. I've got the Shuttle in my car, and I've found that the sound quality with the FM modulator is as good if not better than when using the AUX jack. The only difference between the two I've found is that when you use the AUX jack the signal is stronger than with the FM modulator so you don't have to turn the radio up as loud to hear it....

 

I always thought satellite radio wasn't worth it. That is until I took a trip up to Cape Cod from my home in VA. I had a really hard time finding stations that I wanted to listen to the entire way up. Frequently I would latch onto a station just as I was leaving its broadcasting area.

I've since taken satellite radio equiped cars on 2 long trips and been very thankful for it.

I've also found at least on Sirius that they tend to play other cuts on albums besides the songs that were hits, makes for some additional variety.