I just bought a 2009 Mini Cooper S. It’s pretty much a base build except it also has the Bluetooth & IPod adapter plus the multi-functioning steering wheel. I love the car it’s so fun to drive but one problem: The factory stereo system sucks. Mine has the 6-speaker system and I’ve read the HIFI upgrade was pretty bad too so I didn’t get that.

Can anyone offer advice to get the most bangs for my buck upgrading the stereo system? The goal is to improve the audio quality & realism without spending a ton of money and replacing all components. I don’t listen to music at crazy volumes; just load enough to hear it clearly at 65mph. I don’t want to spend a lot of money, and I’m not a DIYourselfer so I’ll have it installed. Here are my constraints:
• Keep the factory stereo and steering wheel controls.
• Cost with installation between $200 and $700.
• Clean install, i.e. hidden amp if possible. Maintain the existing trunk size.
• Not voiding factory warranty.
• Good sound for my audio tastes: Jack Johnson, White Stripes, NIN, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Crystal Method, Fatboyboy Slim, Prodigy. Some hiphop/rap: 50 Cent, Kanye West.

What’s the best strategy? Add an amp? Replace speakers? Both? The salesman at Best Buy recommended starting with an Alpine 200W 4CH (MRP-F300). If I do this which speakers should I have them hook up to the amp, and which to the factory unit? How much better with the audio be? Is there a better or more price effective amp? Would I be better suited to get a 2CH amp?

If you only replaced a set of speakers should you replace the fronts or back? What kind would you get?

Where is the best place to install an amp? Under driver’s or passenger seat? The BB guy says they would probably install it behind the back seat. That seems almost too visible for me, is there a better place? Maybe even in the little tire-jack compartment hidden under the trunk. What size components I would need?

Will dealers do amp/speaker install jobs for you? I assume they know more about the panel disassembly than other people, but probably less about audio quality?

 

Hers some cliff notes:

1. stay away from Best Buy
2. Replace the front speakers (factory deck is OK for powering these if you are on a budget)
3. Add a subwoofer...check out urbanmini.com..you will need an amp.
4. Read all you can here....then once you have a litttle knowledge find a reputable shop and let them know what you want.
5. 2-7 hundred is not really a budget....you won't get anythign of value for $200. For $700 you might get some decent fronts installed off the factory deck and a small bazooka tube type sub in the boot.
Which may be all you want....and that would be a nice upgrade.

remember.....read read read....

 

you can just replace all the speakers and see a huge difference, and since it's not pushing that much power you don't need anything super fancy. I'd go to Crutchfield.com and put your car in their configurator to see what speakers they recommend and then check with your local shops to see what they have and go from there. $200 won't go very far, especially with labor, but you should do fine with $700 as long as you aren't gonna get technical and start adding amps and subs and stuff.

 

and like miniSQ said, if you can only do one thing replace the fronts with the best you can afford that will work with the headunit. You'll get the most bang for your buck there.

 

Not sure you will get much if you have an installer do it on your budget. Your speaker choices will be limited to what they offer, and a fair amount of your budget would go for installation.

Here are some options:

1. 6.5" Component speakers 4 ohm. Get something with a sensitivity rating of 90 dB or higher. You can find these numbers a Crutchfield.com. A Component 6.5" speaker would consist of a 6.5" woofer and separate tweeter. The woofer goes in the lower position in the door and will supply the bass.

The tweeter would go in the upper speaker position in the door and would require a mounting plate be made of plex or some other appropriate material.

2. 6.5" Component speaker as above, but mount the tweeter on the dash or somewhere else. The upper position in the door would get a 4" coaxial (2 way) speaker. Again, 4 ohm, and high sensitivity.

3. Either option 1 or 2 for the doors, plus add a subwoofer, such as the Boss Bass600 for about $130. This is a powered sub with its own enclosure. Several people have put them in one of the cargo nets in the back. See the thread on the Bass600.

 

So it sounds like the consensus is to replace the front speakers. Will the stock unit be enough to power the new front speakers along with the back 2 or should I really get an amp too? how much quality increase would i get by replacing the fronts vs just adding an Amp?
Keep in mind I'm not looking for a perfect system just something that is pretty good. I had a 2001 mustang who's stock stereo sounded better than the Mini. If I rated my Mini sound at 4 of 10 what would it bump it up to by replacing a) just the fronts, b) adding an amp, c) both? With my budget <700.

 

The consensus on this board seems to be that the biggest improvement comes from replacing speakers. With the standard auido, you need to use pretty efficient speakers that work well at low power.

Replacing the rear speakers is a big job. You have to remove the rear seat, and all the plastic side panels in the rear. If you are going to go to that much trouble, you might as well add an amp and put in a good system. If you want easy & cheap, just do the door speakers.

 

As all have said before replace the front speakers. A good set will cost you 200+ alone plus install if you go the installer route. A sub will cost you 130-150 minimum plus install so there is more than the top end of your budget now. Amps start ato about 350 and go up from there for something decent.

My suggestion is start with the front speakers and put in the best you can afford at this time. Then after listening to that for a few weeks if your really want or need more bass add an sub woofer. If after that yo still need more volume then an amp would be required. but remember it will cost much more than you current budget numbers.

 

I bought 2ohm Infiniti Kappa component 6.5s from Best Buy on sale for $129, and then a pair of Pioneer 6x9 tri-axle speakers for ~$40 off Ebay. I dont think Best Buy sells the Kappas anymore as they were discontinuing them back then hence the cheap cost. They sound great

 

unclemeat: were the 6x9s for the rear? Did you have trouble installing them/having them installed? Did you install an amp as well? How much better was your sound?

 

Robin: I configured on Crutchfield and these Infinity Kappas looked good: sensitivity 93dB, 2-ohm

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_108609C...9cs.html?tp=95

Is it a problem if they are 2-ohm and not 4ohm? On Crutchfield I couldn't see anything that was 4-ohm when I selected the Mini-2009 with factory 6-spk.

These looked good too: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_107MM65...501.html?tp=95
Polk MM6501, sensitivity 94dB, 2.7 ohm

If I got this kit I'm guessing the tweeter would go in the upper speaker in the front door panel, like you said...

 

No way you will be able to buy name brand front speakers and add an amp for $700 plus pay someone to install this. A decent amp and speakers will cost you $700. The install from a place that actually knows what they are doing will be around $700+ in labor and materials.

I know I went to every place here in Tampa...from the shops in da hood to the top notch places. I am doing HertZ fronts, good JL rear sub, JL amp and Alpine processor because of the weird eq coming from the stock Mini head unit plus door dampening and I will be at $2800.

 

I have the previous model Kappa 60.7cs, and 42.7i in the doors, and 693.7i in the rear. They are too bright for my tastes. I'm about to replace them. My rear speakers have been moved to a cabinet just behind the front seats, so they are dominant.

I'm thinking about JL Audio C2-690tx 6"x9, and C2-400X 4" speakers. JL doesn't seem to have a 6.5 component speaker. So, I'll probably leave the Kappa 6.5" woofer in place and kill its tweeter. The woofer gets mostly bass, so should affect overall brightness.

They have a 6.75" but it needs a larger hole. Not sure whether it would fit or not. Seems like a lot of companies are going for 6.75" components now. Some of them will fit in a smaller cutout than others. It has been too long since I did the speaker swap to recall the size of the cutout.

There is some debate about this, but I was under the impression that the standard audio needed 4 ohm speakers, and the HIFI took 2 ohm. Some people say that the door speakers are in series, so that two 2 ohm speakers make a 4 ohm load. Running 2 ohm speakers in a 4 ohm system may burn out the amp. I don't really know.

I talked to a Crutchfield rep yesterday. Polk MM series was one of the speakers he recommended as a warmer speaker (has a silk tweeter). However, he said it would probably need a an amp. I see that the recommended power range is 25-125 where the Kappa is 2-90. So, it does look like Polk MM wants more power.

He also recommended the Polk db series, which takes less power.

Here is a thread where the tweeter was mounted in the upper door location.

 

i replaced my rears and fronts with infinity kappas and added a basslink 2 in the trunk. saved ton of money installing myself with help from writeups on this forum it was really easy, took about 8 hours (removing and putting all panels back in). the sound is crystal clear in my car with bunch of bass too.

i say get a small amp for your speakers. its worth the extra money.
btw, crutchfield is absolute crap. sonicelectronix ftw.

 

I'm not in love with Crutchfield. One of their techs gave me bad info, and their prices are high, but they are reliable as far as order fulfillment and customer service goes.

Sonicelectronix has good reviews at ResellerRatings.com, but they don't carry the JL Audio C2-690tx.

I'm having trouble finding an online car audio shop that is reliable. Onlinecarstereo.com, and AutoSoundsWarehouse.com have good prices and horrible reviews.

Anyone have experience with woofersetc.com? They seem to get good reviews.

 

Robin i correct on parts of this statement. A lot of it depends on how the speakers are hooked up. In the standard system the front door speakers are wired in parallel.

For the Standard System you will need at least 4 ohm speakers. The HU can accept load down to two (2) ohms but the speakers are wired in parallel so two 4 ohm speakers in parallel is 2 ohms. (if the speakers were in series it would be 8 ohms.). The HiFi amp can accept down to 2 ohm speakers but really works best on 4 ohms each.

 

i havent tried those others, on my previous car i had 3 solobaric l7's and all fosgate amps and components which was hooked up by my neighbor whose uncle has a fosgate store in frisco...whew lol....anyway, sonics wherehouse is 4 miles from my house so its real easy for me to order and bypass shipping

 

Any one have good suggestions on where to put the amp if I got one? I'de like to have it hidden for the most part.

Where is the easiest place for an installer? Best place overall?

 

I did some research on that very amp, the MRP-F300. I know that you can use 2 of the channels to power the fronts and 2 of the channels to power the rears, or bridge the 3 and 4 channel to run a sub. The nice part about this amp for the 6 speaker system is that it has high level and low level inputs. I believe if you use all 4 channels independently they can run 50 W RMS, and if you bridge the 3 and 4 you can run a 70-100 RMS sub on it, double check that.

So far all I have done is replaced the fronts with pioneer TSA1702C, IIRC they have been discontinued. They sound great even with the windows open at 65MPH with no amp.

I took my car to best buy to have the install done, because I live in an apartment and it was hot and I was tired of the terrible stocks. If you take the car anywhere read how to do it yourself and watch like a hawk. The best buy guy said they knew how to do MINI's. He nearly ripped the welded lower speaker grill right off. I then unpolitly told him how to change the speakers.

Hope that helps.

 

look under the passenger seat....thats a good choice....remove the plastic cover and the styrofoam..nice big cut out there....

 

I did read that and it sounds good. But I also have the Bluetooth and USB/Ipod upgrade (6ND). Some people have mentioned that this component (or maybe some other BT upgrade) is under the passenger seat and takes up room where you might put an amp. Any ideas?

 

In the boot, there is an access panel on each side. The HIFI amp goes behind the one on the left side. So, that space may be empty. Might be room for a small amp in there.

I just ordered a pair of CTX65CS - Image Dynamics 6.5" Component Speakers (currently on sale for $180 w/free shipping), and CTX69 6 x 9" 2 Way Speaker w/ Silk Tweeters ($160) to replace my Infinity Kappas. I'll let you know how they sound.

 

Those parts are NOT under the passenger seat. If you have the SAT Radio that will be under the passenger seat and there is a small module for the Air bags and safety controls under there that MUST NOT be moved. It is a rotational, and motion sensor.

 

Robin, I got my Focals and PDX-5 from them, pricing was the best I could find. I had ordered a shallow mount 8' sub from them as well. I never used it called them got a return number and was given credit back within 3 days. I've ordered twice from them now with no problems.

 

Thanks. They are one of the few online places with good reviews, so I took a chance on them. I looked at Amazon, but most speakers go through other companies that have less than 5 out of 10 ratings (one had a 2.5/10). Someone should tell them about woofersetc.com.

I considered Focals, but the guy at Crutchfield said they were more bright than warm, and needed power. The Image Dynamics have a silk tweeter, are supposed to be very efficient, use the same materials as found on other brands' high end speakers, and the company seems to be aiming at the auidofile: