Originally Posted by chadp

Drum roll please....

Install has occurred!!!

Sooo, I actually had the installation just over a week ago but I wanted to take it in for a while before I discussed it.

Here goes. Ok, first let me say that my replacement tweeter came the morning of my latest scheduled trip to the dealer. I had come to terms with the fact that the item was lost in transit from the UK and was going to install the less than perfect one that came with the initial delivery. Luckily, it came the day of my appointment. Great timing! I want to make known how wonderful Martin at Mini genuine parts was during this whole adventure. He is an extremely patient man and was very professional during my period of frustration. A perfect gentleman! I highly recommend doing business with them if anyone decides to pursue this upgrade!

Ok, with that said, after a week of evaluating, I must say that I am very happy with this upgrade. I can't say that I am satisfied beyond words but this is definitely an improvement! The sound quality coming through the front speakers is way better! What has me the most amazed is how the sound in the rear speakers has changed. I am convinced that the "wire swap" discussed on this thread and some others was worked in to the new harness because it is double the sound coming from the rear. I think that should be a good thing but I find it a bit odd that though they are not amplified, they now seem equal, if not greater in output. The volume is good but unfortunately the sound quality of the rear is no where near that of the alpine speakers in front. Over the past week, I have actually faded to the front almost to level 4 because I felt like the sound stage was based at the rear while I prefer the sound quality from the front. Odd! I assumed that the front speakers would have even greater output and the rears would simply become fill. That is not quite the case. The sound from the front is more refined but the volume almost matches the rear. So now having faded to the front, I feel like the overall sound experience is better and more balanced. Perhaps others will like everything balanced out but I prefer quality over volume. The bass response is great. Not as deep as i had thought it would be but SO much better. The highs are nice and crisp and it is amazing how much more the sound seems to invelop you with the tweeters added to the A-pillar. They sound great and look great. The little alpine emblem is a nice touch (they only come with a teeny tiny piece of double stick tape on them so I actually super glued them to the cover so that they would not fall off during dashboard dusting - also for the other OCD people out there, note you can line it up with the holes on the speaker cover to keep both sides level ).

Anyway, just like the crap stock system, this upgrade has taken some time to get used to. After working through a variety of music, I have all of the adjustments made and as of this morning, for the first time, I actually felt good about this investment (and the preceding run-around)!

So to summarize:
Bass: MUCH better all around
Mid: well balance in the front, a bit muddy in the rear
Highs: MUCH more refined. Not to sharp, not too soft and the tweeters look great!
Overall output: MUCH improved and as I mentioned, strangely increased in the rear while nicely balanced in the front. For me, fading to the front is the way to go.
Total investment: approximately $900. Quite a chunk of change and honestly, if I was not fortunate to be in the position to be able to afford this, I do not know if I would have done it. It is hands down an improvement and according to the tech was a pretty straight forward install. That is comforting to me and so is the fact that I had a MINI dealer install it. They did a a nice job and returned my car to me in great shape. If peace of mind is important and you have some cash available, I would go for this. If not, for the money, you could probably get a pretty sweet after market system that replaced all speakers.

I will be very curious as to how Redduc feels about the upgrade when he is able to install it!

All in all, I am very pleased!

Hope this helps anyone considering it and please throw out any questions.