I spoke with a representative from Mini today who strongly advised against upgrading the stereo. He explained that due to the network wiring running throughout the car, any disruption could void any and possibly all electrical warranties and cause fault codes to appear on the computer system. He further cautioned that most shops are not knowledgeable of the newest cars on the market with these "advanced computer systems."

Obviously he's not going to encourage me to do anything to void a warranty, but how real is this risk? I'm always cautious when messing with a new car. It probably won't stop me from upgrading the stereo, but how much can I trust a shop for a careful job? Have your upgrades ever affected your servicing?

 

If you use a shop, make sure you get a written guarantee that they will cover any damage to the MINI's electrical system caused by their work. However, even if you get that, you could be caught between MINI saying it is the shop's fault and the shop saying it isn't.

You could search the forums, but I seem to recall someone posting that a shop fried the car's computer. It is just a hazy memory, so find it before you believe it. I also have a hazy memory that doing something with the HIFI amp could fry something major. Again search the forums.

That said, there seem to be a lot of people on this board who have added amps, or had shops add them. There are even more who have replaced speakers.

 

I decided not to upgrade to an amp because of this. I reckon Mini can argue that I fried something because I added an amp, but they don't have much of a case if I change my speakers.

 

The big problem is in the way it is done. if you are to add an amp you just need to make sure that you are not pumping the audio back into the OEM speaker wires. This WILL cause a problem and distroy the h/u or amp depending on which system you have.

As long as you add the necessary wiring to drive the speakers (new speaker wires) and do not connect your high current draw amp to the fuse block (i.e. install new power wires) then there will be not problem with your adding the components.

Now if you were to add an amp that draws 30+ amps and connect it to the fuse block then you will definitely burn some wires up.

Yes the person from MINI was correct in saying that some shops do not know the computer systems in cars but al you have to do is look around for a shoop that has done lots of new cars and can prove it to you. The computer in the MINI is no more complex than that of any NEW car.

 

I guess I didn't think of that. With the new amp, all of the old speakers would have to be left disconnected?

 

Did you mean speaker wires, rather than speakers?

My plan is to just tape the ends of the factory speaker wires and run new wires from amp to new speakers. The factory speakers have not been in my car for two years.

 

Modern MINI Magazine - a european mag - had an article on upgrading the stereos - both the R53s & R56s...R56s are not so easy and it seems more limiting. From what I understand, the new stereos have a bass filter right in the stereo..no matter what, you're limited from cranking up the bass? However, there were still some things you can do.

I, too, am stuck with the idea of stereo upgrades.....maybe I'll just live with the existing system...after all, it's MINI!

 

I think this may vary somewhat with the model year, and whether you have the standard audio or HIFI. With a 2007 HIFI the 6x9 rears have the bass clipped. However, this happens at the amp in the rear. So, you can get around it by connecting an amp to the X9331 connector under the dash.

The 2009 HIFI may not have as much bass clipping in the rears. I'm not sure.

The standard audio system is more difficult because the clipping happens at the head unit. I guess one would need something like a CleanSweep to restore bass to the channels that are clipped.

The lower door speaker seems to get most of the bass in all systems. Not sure if there is any clipping done to that channel, or not. I'm running a small (inexpensive) sub off the X9331 channel for the fronts and it produces bass.

 

What happened to my post? Did I hit a delete post during my edit?

 

Sorry, I wasn't watching.