when i first ordered my cooper i ordered the H/K sound system, got my mini today, picked up and brought it home, and dint even realzie, its not H/k! i wasnt billed for it but still....wat should i do? go to dealer, just buy after market stereo...help!

 

if you got the order slip with all the specs you wanted, then you can show that they did mess up. but i don't know what good that'll do you. i think you actually saved some $500+ cause you can do much better with only a bit more $$$. and if you end up upgrading, you can keep adding on rather than having to start over.

just upgrade speakers and you'll hear the difference. add an amp and you'll definitely hear and possibly feel the diff. add a new deck and you'll possibly hear the difference and definitely be pleased aesthetically. add a sub, custom or prefabbed, and you'll be rocking.

 

agreed - the H/K is nothing to write home about. It's only a good solution if you have no desire to go aftermarket in both cost and appearance.

also, moving to Audio Forum
Cheers,
Ryan

 

>>if you got the order slip with all the specs you wanted, then you can show that they did mess up. but i don't know what good that'll do you. i think you actually saved some $500+ cause you can do much better with only a bit more $$$. and if you end up upgrading, you can keep adding on rather than having to start over.

You should be credited for what is missing and get something for the inconvenience. I think it is the fault of the person doing the final delivery of the MINI that failed to insure that you got what you ordered.

>>just upgrade speakers and you'll hear the difference. add an amp and you'll definitely hear and possibly feel the diff. add a new deck and you'll possibly hear the difference and definitely be pleased aesthetically. add a sub, custom or prefabbed, and you'll be rocking.

Although you might think it is as easy as described it isn't so easy. Expect to spend minimum $1000 and more likely up to $2000 plus to get a good audio system better than H/K.

Upgrade the speakers and you won't get much improvement unless the speakers you choose are more efficient than the stock speakers which are already efficient. It's easy to buy better sounding speakers at high prices and hard to find good ones that are efficient using the low power from your stock radio head unit (est. 20W per channel x 4). Labor on speaker installation is about $100 for component speakers in the front and $60 for the rears.

Adding an amp usually means four channels and about 30+ Watts of clean power with low distortion, any less and you are just a tad better than the stock radio and not likely to get better sound. It's easy to spend $300+ on an amp but prices do vary, installation might vary from $60 to $100 plus cost of power cables/speaker wire- up to $30 more.

Add a new radio/CD player head unit is another $300+ and will get you more features but you loose the factory look unless you go for something that looks stock. DVD head units can go for as much as $2000+ while a good CD player like the Nakamichi CD-400 I have was $400. The radio and headunit send better quality music to the speakers via the amp but everything must be in place to get the full benefit. Changing the headunit alone and keeping the speakers will yield just slightly better music because it all goes through the stock system. Installation about $60 plus extra cost for the face trim plate and the antenna adapter for BMW ($30 for the pair).

Even after all this you still don't have the low bass of the H/K or a custom subwoofer. Prefab options are Infinity Basslink which is powered by a 200 Watt amp built in and costs about $280 plus $70 installation (this is a good budget unit and fits in the boot) or the higher end JL Stealthbox ($600 plus installation, not available on the internet) and an amp to power it (about 200-300 Watts is good). Custom boxes for 10" Or larger subs and amps start from about $500 and go up to $800+. Usually you use up precious space in the boot for the large sub and amp.

Do the math and add up these options. I'm seeing almost $2000 if you do everything. Will it sound better than H/K? I think so but that is a much higher price.

My advice to you is to keep your stock system for the time being and see how it works for you. After a month evaluate what you think and consider your options. If only bass is lacking in your opinion and you don't want to spend that much then the infinity BassLink is the logical choice to start with. It will provide power to the sub and allow the low frequency music to go to the sub and bypass your other speakers so they are not as overworked when you turn up the volume.

Good luck.