I am afraid that I have the dreaded dead HK amp syndrome -- but my 2004 MCS has symptoms that are different enough from what I have read that I have some hope that there might be a cure less painful than buying a new amp. Here is what is happening:

The HK setup sounded great. I added the GROM iPod adapter, which has also been perfectly fine. Suddenly, from lowish volume and with no previous hiccups, the audio faded to nothing. It came back for minute or so, then faded again. Now, I usually (but not always) get 2 to 5 seconds of audio (FM, say) when I first turn the car on -- then fade to nothing. Also, if I turn the stereo on with the car off (you can do this in the MINI), I reliably get a second or so of audio before it fades out. While driving, I might get a brief fade in and back out if I have the volume turned up pretty high. There is no clicking, popping, whistling, etc. Just silence with occasional proper performance. It does not cut in or out suddenly -- it always fades.

The head unit sees the HK amp all the time (that is, you can get to the HK settings). When I disconnect the amp, the head unit no longer sees it -- as one would expect.

A couple more pieces of background. I bought the car with no amp in it. A disconnected sunroof drain tube had leaked onto the amp and trashed it. I fixed that and managed to lay hands on a used amp for a very reasonable sum (not easy to do) -- the amp says "R50" on it. I hooked it up and it gave me six solid months. I have no reason to believe that any water has gotten in to the new amp. Also, two days after the audio started acting up, the battery mysteriously was dead, but responded well to a jump (it has been cold and snowy here). It has run fine since and I am measuring 14.4 volts at the battery when it is running.

Does this sound like a standard bad HK amp? I am hesitant to plunk down $900 or whatever (even $300) given that this one seems to have lasted only half a year. Any thoughts on other things I might check?

 

Your first step if you've not done it yet, is to disconnect the iPod adaptor - maybe it's messing up the H/K

 

Right. Hadn't tried disconnecting the iPod adapter, but now I have. No difference in results, though.

Two updates: 1) I am revising downward my estimate of how long the audio works after turning the unit on with the car off -- it is only a fraction of a second. Long enough for only part of a word. I think it was longer yesterday, but I am not certain.

2) I note that there is just a bit of background white noise. When I change the volume with the **** on the head unit, the volume of the static changes as you would expect. When I try to change the volume with the steering wheel buttons, the volume of the static does not change. Might that be a sign of bus funkiness? (or at least that the problem might be in the head unit rather than the amp?)

I had to do a bunch of splicing when I installed the amp after I bought it because the PO had cut up the harness and routed the high-power signal between the head unit and the amp directly from the head unit to the front speakers. It is possible that one of my 24 splices (I had to add a couple of inches to each of 12 wires!) is imperfect. Wiggling has no effect, though, and they worked well for 6 months.

 

From this all, I'd have to guess a bad connection somewhere. Sadly very difficult to troubleshoot; your only positive is you can see the H/K settings, so the H/K is powered and iBus communicating OK.
You're left with a bad HU, which you could try if you have a MINI friend you can borrow a HU from, or a bad H/K - though they don't normally fail this way, or all the wiring failed (but likelihood of both left and right failing simultaneously is pretty low).

 

If it is a bad connection, it seems like it must be a digital voodoo one since both channels can be revived (if only briefly) by cycling the power. I'll do some more jiggling on the splices just on the offchance that I find something.

I'm glad to here, though, that it might be the head unit. They are easier to get (cheaper) than the amps. I may have to roll the dice and buy one to find out.

I think the HK system uses the same head unit as the standard system (at least in the USA). So I ought to be able to throw in the stock head unit from pretty much any first gen MINI. Does that sound right?

 

I have Two CD53 R50 radios dated 03 june and 03 november
Both have dead CD players radio OK
Does anyone have a repairer or a modifier who can do the Ipod adapter trick so I can get may value back out of them?

 

You should be able to use the OEM Aux-in (~$40) for ipod access for both of them.

 

The GROM iPod integrator has a few advantages over the aux-in approach:

1) It charges your iPod while it is playing

2) If you are using an iPhone (as I am) the fact that it is charging keeps the display active when you are in automatic centering mode in the map application. Very handy for navigation.

3) I am pretty sure that the sound is better using the dock connector -- and you definitely don't have to deal with the volume on the iPhone, just on the stereo.

4) the iPod integrator lets you change tracks with the buttons on the back of the left hand side of the steering wheel.

For $80, I think that is a pretty good deal. The similar unit from Dice provides even more integration with the head unit, but I think the GROM interface is more elegant and it is about half the cost of the Dice.

Do you want to sell one of the CD-less head units? I can offer lots of GROM install help in partial trade :-)

 

Someone just posted a comment on my website, about an H/K amp they have for sale ...
http://www.gbmini.net/wp/2004/06/min...ized/#comments

I don't know who they are, I'm just passing on the message!

 

Thanks Ian! Your poster had replaced both the head unit and the amp in a 2006 R53 convertible. He didn't want to go through the trouble of an eBay posting, so I bought both. I got them last night and....

It was the head unit.

So now I have an extra amp which I will be posting on eBay in the next day or so. With any luck, it will pay for the head unit as well.

Beyond the problem description in the posts above, I can contribute two pieces of knowledge to the MINI community:

1) The HK setup is functionally identical in the 2004 R50 hardtop and the 2006 R53 convertible. You might imagine that the HK "driver" settings would be different between the two but, as best I can tell, they are not different. The amps are interchangeable when connected to the 2006 R53 head unit (and probably also with the 2004 R50 head unit, but I didn't test that since mine is broken).

2) In another discussion, it has been said that you need to remove the back seats and an interior body panel to get at the amp (which is behind the access panel on the passenger side of the boot). This is not the case. You just need to pop the light to the upper left of the access panel out with your fingers. It takes a longish screwdriver to get at the top screw in the mounting bracket, but it is vastly easier than removing the seats.

Thanks, everybody, for your help. It is great to have sound again (in addition to the supercharger whine).

 

The amp is posted on ebay, it is auction number 190377970788:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=190377970788

It closes next Thursday: March 11, 2010.

Also, I noticed a type-o in my previous note: the convertible is R52. This amp should work fine in any of R50, R52, and R53 (mid year 2002 through 2007 hardtop non-S and S, as well as convertibles through 2008).

 

I just installed a new system in my 05 Mini. if you need the HK Amp and the Head Unit, send me a PM