with the basic stock sound system, where is $500 best spent? I'm not really into bass, so I dont think that is necessarily the route to go..

4-way amp? to get all clean power to my stock speakers?

4-way amp and new rears?

4-way amp and Infinity Basslink?

 

new rears 6by9s really put out great sound thats what i would do if you dont care about base

also a new head unit is the best thing that you can do as far as sound
only if you dont mind loosing the stack one.

 

any rec's for new 6x9s?

 

I find that the treble and overall voice clarity is sorely lacking in the little MINI. I might try to install better fronts and tweeters right now with better efficiency and maybe some coaxial fronts with directional tweeter for better spatial effects. I'd buy the best 2-way amp you can get for the money and power the rears with the existing speakers. The next step would be to replace the rear speakers.

 

I guess my question comes down to the following:

Can the stock speakers handle an amp? or will i fry them quickly

And

Would the amp be better suited for the front? or for the rear? if I were to get a 2-way

Or just go 4-way and amp all 4 speakers... but can they handle it? I guess 50watts per channel (there is a nice eclipse amp by tweeter 4-way 50watts per channel)

 

>>with the basic stock sound system, where is $500 best spent? I'm not really into bass, so I dont think that is necessarily the route to go..

In general had you not already bought your car, I would have recommended H/K upgrade for $550 which is paid for over the time through monthly car payments. Even with the added bass the overall sound from H/K gets you the most improvement hands down. On the other hand H/K is not perfect, depends on the listener.

>>4-way amp? to get all clean power to my stock speakers?

Yes, you can get an amp to give more clean power but that is not really your problem with the stock speakers. The stock speakers are efficient enough already. The added power might help a tiny bit but only so much. Can you tell? Maybe. It might not be worth a $500 improvement.

>>4-way amp and new rears?
Unless you want to treat rear passengers to better sound this doesn't really help your sound in the front seats. You could crank up the rear volume but that would just lead to distortion earlier. Let the fronts do the work in front.

>>4-way amp and Infinity Basslink?
This is certainly less than $500 and gives more bass to the system so the speakers front and rear do not have to work as hard doing something they can't do well anyway-which is to make good clean bass. Although you think you don't really need bass you would clean up the mid range and highs a bit by added a powered sub like the BassLink. I would vote for this option given your situation and budget. If you don't like it then save the unit and sell it to another MINI owner that wants to give the BassLink a try- I think it is a reasonable choice on a budget.

I would also advise you to consider with the remaining budget to add sound deadending material to the inside of the front doors to absorb vibration and dampen reverberation. This cleans up the sounds some, cuts down on rattles and cuts some outside noise all at the same time. Casacade audio makes VB-2 or VB-max material in sheets and Dynamat extreme is also good. If you are handy you can do it yourself and save money once you get the door panel off. You don't have to apply the same material in the rear quarter panels or boot area to save money and time on a budget. The place it makes the most difference is in the doors.

And for changing the speakers only? I did that and added MB Quart speakers to the front and back and kept all else the same and it cost about $600 installed. The speakers are better but not as efficient so I hardly heard any improvement, maybe a little but I was not happy with the lack of distortion free volume I had using the stock head unit amp. If you found really efficient (more than 89 dB) front component speakers of 6.5" and used a custom spacer to install it into the doors then that might work but the problem is the cost and staying in budget considering the labor to install. Retail installation about $110 for the fronts and $70 for the rears at pro audio shops. Warning-you can total screw up the sensitive electronic wiring in a MINI very easily so take your MINI to a shop that knows MINI and BMWs in general.

For those who wish to try to find better 6.5" speakers than the stock front 5.25" speakers, here is the data I got on the stock front speakers from Tacotim awhile back:

I (Tacotim) got data on the front woofer and the tweeter today. The woofer was about as expected. Good sensitivity: 89 dB.

The frequency response has a hole at 1Khz, though its not worse than some aftermarket drivers. It may be possible to fix with a damping treatment.

The excursion is OK at 2.5 mm, but it does have "offset" which contributes to 2nd harmonic distortion-strong 70-80 Hz bass will make a "growl" from the speaker. It also contributes to modulation distortion, or a tremolo effect. You'd hear this with VERY low bass, and fulte or female vocalist (little else on the track-maybe Holly Cole, or a bassy version of "Fever&quot. I'd say that limited excursion and the "offset" built in are the driver's weak points. It's disappointing to see this problem, beacuse it's free to fix in manufacturing...

Overall, good driver. As expected, it's tough to find a driver that performs better in the categories that will make the system noticeably better (sensitivity, tonality, dynamics). I'm having a hard time getting clear data on the Focal 7V driver with dual coils. Jesse, with Focal, keeps pushing the 165V2, but simulation shows these are nearly identical until driven hard.

The tweeter response looks good. As expected, the crossover is very high, 8kHz-10kHz, with a simple 1st order filter. From looking at the part, it appears to be about the same design as the MB Quart.

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I recommend looking for 6.5" rather than 5.25" speakers because you are going for an improvement which is easier with a larger speaker diameter. However it has to still fit and that is where the custom spacer which raises the speaker up to the level of the speaker grille on the door panel. This distance from the grille to the speaker itself should be minimized for best sound.

Good luck, I spend months searching and never found anything that I was happy with in a price that was reasonable.



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ALOHA

 

thats excellent advice... thanks!

I think I might end up with teh basslink per your info. Circuit city sells it.. so worse case scenario.. I return it!

 

is it an easy install... or is it worth to pay for?

 

To be safe I would suggest having them do the install. Not worth the hassle and it does take time to do.
I have seen the BassLink on sale at Circuit City for about $269 which is good. If you don't see it at that price right away I would wait and keep checking back each week with the car audio people. In my area they do a decent install for the products they sell.

 

If you get the basslink and can't afford replacing the stock speakers yet, you might want to consider installing these Bass Stoppers on your stock speakers. They'll filter out some of the bass that your sub will be handling and you'll be able to play the stock speakers louder before they distort.

 

i just bought a CD changer and the blitzsafe adapter and saved my other $150 or so for other things. :smile: the factory audio is fine for me.