I just took the plunge and bought the A Pillars with the tweeter mounts.

My current plan for upgrading the Mini system is to add a nice 6.5" 4 Ohm woofer on the lower hole, a full-range 4" aluminum driver on the middle with a simple 2nd order electrical for a high pass, and use the A pillar to mount a pair of 1" supertweeters crossed over with a 1st or 2nd order filter.

I understand that in order to remove the A Pillars all I need to do is take out the "Airbag" plaque and take the screw out. What I don't know is how complex routing the wire is. I'll take the signal out of the X9331 (is that it?) connector, so up to that point I know what to do.

Any suggestions will be appreciated!

 

Since you have the standard system it is useless to add the tweeters unless you are also going to an amp. Doing so will create a system that has so many highs it will be come unbearable unless you "Cross the Highs Out" of the 4" drivers.

 

Oh, that's not a problem to me.... my hobby is building speakers from scratch Crossovers, baffles, etc. are no problem to me.

I won't be adding an amp. I'll be building a 2nd order 3 way system, with a 6" woofer, a 4" full range filtered (since it's so off-axis from the driver, I may not need to use a bandpass x-over, but a simple highpass), and a simple cap on the 1" tweeter I'll install on the pillars. No big deal, and I'll be able to use the factory system

What I don't know a thing about is how to route the wire. I suppose I should splice them out of the X9331...

BTW - the speakers I'll be using are:

Tang Band W5-704D woofers
Tang Band W4-1757SB full rangers (as midranges)
Dayton ND-F20B tweeters

I'll probably add a pair of Tang Band 6x9 subwoofers on the rear panels when I add an amp (which I'll probably build - an Amp9 from 41hz.com).

 

By the way - I just found out how much my dealer wants for installing the A-pillars (without wiring or anything else): $120. LOL.

 

It's fairly easy to install a-pillar yourself.
I just started installing the stock tweeters in the a-pillars. It seems as if you would need to take apart the dash to access the grommet to the door speakers. The rubber tube in the door jam does not line up with the grommet on the inside of the mini. Right now I have the disconnected the 4" mid and have the tweeter using that channel. The stock tweeter has a cap on it.
Just adding this has made a big difference. There is a plastic pin just under the screw try not to break it off like me.

 

Probably their minimum hourly fee. Installing the pillar isn't hard, but wiring may be a different matter. I haven't dealt with that.

 

before i ran the wires...i would leave the original a-pillar in place. and use some double sided tape to put the tweeter on tthat pillar and just make sure this is the sound you want.

I predict it is not going to sound good and you may choose to put the "super" tweeter someplace else, someplace closer to the mid and FR driver.

IN car audio less is more..

less speakers
less space between drivers
even less power if you do it right.

Good Luck@!!!

 

Thanks a lot for your comments.

It's quite possible the Tang Band mid will be more than enough. It has tremendous power response up to 22 KHz or so. Really surprising for a 4"!

I probably won't install the a-pillars. At least for now. KISS, and all that. IF I find that the mids are enough, I'll eBay the pillars or sell them here. I decided messing around with extra wiring under the dash is far too much for me. Maybe I should cancel my order... oh no. BMW charges 25% for cancellations