So, I finally got the a-pillars I was waiting for, and took my MCSC (early 2010) in to have the upgrade installed. After a bunch of going back and forth with Crevier's parts and service departments (both of which were AWFUL), they tried to install the Alpine upgrade last Saturday. I get a call that afternoon that the upgrade will not work on my car because my VIN lookups shows that my car has the "satellite prep" option, and supposedly this changes the harness so that the Alpine install can' be performed.

The strange thing is that the install instructions say that the kit is incompatible with the satellite prep, but all of the other documentation on the Alpine kit says that it is incompatible with the stuff already mentioned in this thread, most of which takes up the space meant for the amp. Crevier is looking into it for me still, just to make certain. Did any of you guys who've had it done have the satellite prep option (923, I think)?

 

I initially thought the kit was incompatible only because the Sirius unit occupies the space, but also saw in the installation that it was Satellite PREP and figured that the harness might be different. I traded PMs with a few people on this thread, but am not aware of anyone installing the kit with Satellite prep. Good luck!

 

I seemed a bit confused. I installed this in my 10 MCS and it has sat prep. The 2 sat prep cables were in the space underneath the passenger seat. No coding, or anything else. Clean install....

 

My $tealer called me yesterday to tell me they figured out how to do it and the car should be available today. Will post impressions after I break the new system in.

 

its kinda funny to hear that the $tealership finally figured it out. I mean, the kit does come with instructions.....

My brother-in-law and I did the install in about 2.5 hours cuz we were taking our time and reading up on this website on how to remove the doors, etc...

 

The problem was that the kit instructions said it couldn't be done on a car with sat prep. Apparently, they were mistaken (or were talking about the 2009 sat prep, which was different, apparently).

So they got the amp installed, but there is some question about whether the amp is bad, since apparently the sound is really quiet. I've heard that the sound ends up a little biased towards the rear after the upgrade, but they're talking about being able to talk over the music at normal conversational volume with the stereo cranked to max. That doesn't sound right to me -- any comments from those of you who have done the upgrade? Was the difference in volume that stark?

 

No that is not normal. You can easily crank it up....

 

Okay, so either the amp is bad or they screwed up the install somehow. I didn't think it was that bad, even if I _have_ heard that the rears end up louder than the fronts after the upgrade.

 

So, I finally got my car back this afternoon, and I have to say that I'm pretty underwhelmed with the sound system. The sound is definitely a bit cleaner, but the volume is nothing to write home about, especially if you drive a ragtop. It's definitely not worth the $1200 that it ended up costing.

 

I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps after-market is a better way to go.

 

As soon as I hit 36K miles, I'll be switching to aftermarket. I need to look at the Alpine install to see if I might be able to use the DLS amp and speakers that I had in my E36 (BMW 328i).

 

work on your back end. The alpine upgraded only the fronts.

 

Yeah, but the rears are currently louder than the fronts. The last thing I want is for the sound from the back to get any louder. If I upgrade the rears at all, it'll be with a low pass filter in place, so that I'm getting bass and fill but much less directional sound. In order for the system to sound remotely balanced, I have to fade forward (to somewhere between 5 and 8 out of 10).

 

Trager,

Before you go flailing about I would suggest you check out your install. I think you have a problem somewhere. BTW, I'm assuming that since you say you've done the "MINI Alpine Upgrade" that your starting with the base "Boost System"

I have heard from a number of people who have done this upgrade and none of them mention the problems you are having. One thing that is an immeadiate tip off that you have a problem with your install is that you say that "the rears are louder than the fronts".

This shouldn't happen if the upgrade was performed properly. Kinda sounds like someone adjusted your "Fader Control" to the rear, wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. I would check that you are getting sufficient power to the amp, check the L&R drive levels, then check the quality of the system ground. I beleive you will find that for some reason your AMP is not "in the game"

Also, as far as doing anything to "upgrade the rears" I would avoid using the rear channel for anything. The rear channel is not worth using for anything other than as a "Filler". The "MINI Alpine Upgrade" is front channel only for good reason, the rear channel is "electronicly compromised" so don't use it! If you must mess around with the rear speakers drive them off the front channel and forget the rear.

Unfortunatly, I think you have some work ahead of you. I would talk to the dealer about testing the AMP first, then check all your wiring and connections. Something about your setup just isn't right. If that doesn't work, I would find someone local to go through the install for you. Remember, the MINI service tech who did the install is probably a mechanic, not a Stereo specialist.

Good Luck.

 

Okay, I'm confused. I thought that I'd seen at least one other person post that after the upgrade, they needed to set the fader forward because the rears were louder than the fronts. Is there a hardware fader, or are you talking about the regular one in the radio? That's the one that I've been playing with and usually keep WAY forward (6-8 of 10 is a lot of forward fade).

I agree that I feel like something in the setup is borked, but the dealer actually got a second amp and swapped it in to make certain. This is a strange looking amp upgrade any way, since it appears there's no line out from the head unit. It looks to me like the amp is running off of the original front speaker signal lines. (see the wire diagram on the install directions and you'll see what I mean)

I agree that there might be a problem with either power or grounding, but I also don't quite see how they'd manage to do that. All of the cables come pre-assembled. The only way I could see that happening is if there's a bad connector, and then I'd hear fluctuations as the car moves.

 

The backs should NOT be louder than the fronts - nowhere near as close. They should also sound like crap compared to the fronts as they aren't touched in the alpine upgrade. The front sound stage should be pretty darn good. Bass is the only thing you should be really missing.

Some 6x9 woofers might be a good thing to replace the backs with (and amp them too).

See the sticky on r56 speaker replacement for great bass tips.

 

chadp mentioned that the rears were louder than the fronts in his install, as did izzle22. Although it sounds like my install is more extreme than either of theirs.

I do agree that the rears sound like *** compared to the fronts, hence the reason I have the fade pushed so far forward. It would probably also help if I adjusted the bass and treble settings, but I prefer to get used to speakers by listening to them with as close to stock settings as possible.

The sound stage is decent, as long as I keep the fronts dominant. I haven't tried playing with the bass/treble settings, but depending on how the crossovers work in the Alpine system (RC vs RLC), that might be somewhat dependent on the frequency balance I have set up in the HU.

 

Is there anyone else who has had the upgrade done who might be near Orange County? I'd really like to hear the setup in another car, myself. Even better if we could do so at Crevier, so that they can hear what it is supposed to sound like.

 

I'm in OC...close to Knotts Berry Farm...

 

The head unit only has speaker level outputs. So your assumption that the amp is taking the speaker level outputs from the deck front channel is correct.

And yeah, I have to agree that something maybe wrong....Like the amp not getting any power! Because it should be louder than the stock rears.

Also, the 100Hz output filter on the rears and the other filters that are applied in the headunit DSP for the non-HIFI system can be changed using NCS Expert (if you have a DCAN cable).

 

mavic, when might you be available to meet up so I could see what yours sounds like? I live in Anaheim, right by Dizzyland, so we're only a few minutes apart.

Strobey -- NCS Expert? I need to hear more about this.

 

I FINALLY installed my alpine system today. I did the work myself and it took about 3 hours being very careful not to break anything. There were a few hitches. The front tab on my drivers side A pillars snapped off and it took me a few tries to get the mirror switch back together. The system sounds much better than stock and I am happy with the results. It's still not the best stereo I have ever owned and nowhere near a well installed custom system, but it is plug and play.

 

Redduc, do you have the same crazy imbalance between front and back that my system shows? Fade needs to be 7-8 in order for the sound to not come from behind you?

 

Not at all Tager. I'm afraid you have some sort of problem. I would start with the ground under the passenger seat. It seemed to be a bit of a weak spot. I do have mine faded to the front +1 for balance.

 

I installed this today in a 2010 MCS, which has both SAT and DSC. Thus indeed when I got to the step of putting the amp under the rear seat in the plastic box/well, no go. The box is too full--the sat radio is unduly large, probably twice the size of the one in my Audi. I even checked it with the cover off and found the amp would hit the under seat real metal cross bar had I cut a pop up hole through the plastic cover and tried to stack the amp on top of the sat radio unit. And no, they could not be repositioned in the box to make everything fit either; I looked at that.

On the other hand, it was obvious it is simply a physical fit problem. It has nothing to do with sat prep, or sat actually being installed as far as the wiring. But, my only remaining option underseat would have been suspending the amp somehow under the seat cushion. That seemed hokey. Hence, plan B. Actually what I figured would happen, and I unbolted the seat before doing any wiring back to the underseat box to avoid wasting more time.

Long story short, I found the amp just fits if mounted vertically immediately to the right (toward the wheel well that is) of the HVAC interior air filter box. I could have put it in the glove box too, but that would have compromised that badly. It could also possibly fit up under the drivers side of the dash, but I don't like the idea of the amp right there in the obvious under wheel crush space in an accident scenario. I had to open the HVAC air filter box to slide the amp up past a detent on the lower box cover on the right side, but then it went in. In fact it is basically very snug with no apparent need to use mounting screws or anything--virtually an exact fit between the firewall and dash, and also side to side. I mounted it with the connector and fuse pointed down for obvious accessibility reasons. I also bent the mounting tab on the corner nearest the passenger seat 90 degrees. That allowed me to drive a sheet metal screw into an underdash plastic support to further ensure no movement or that it wouldn't drop down over time and bumps.

See my other post for the positive side power wiring. I grounded the negative at one of the four fuse box mounting point studs under a washered 10mm nut that hold the box firmly to the sheetmetal.

And yes, subsequent power up confirms SAT and the new amp co exist just fine.

Front is clearly clean and crisp. Muddiness of rear is now much more apparent. Stronger bass from the now dedicated front woofer is evident too. And to some of the prior posts, the front to rear fade setting is correct in about the middle for overall balance front to back. Given the cleaner front and muddier rear sound contrast, it did make sense to set the fader somewhat forward.