I had a 2003 with the HK and it was such a great system that when that car was totaled, I didn't hesitate with the 2011 I lease now.

The new HK is spotty at best. Some songs come in pretty good, but most don't have the full sound my old system had.

BUT

If you go through the menu settings, there is something called "gong" which apparently is supposed to set the car's chime volume, but it doesn't. So when this button is pushed, the volume on the stereo goes LOUD - it will hurt your ears - but it also gets full, even when you turn it down. It's like there's a limiter on the system.

 

Is it possible to upgrade from stock and make a big difference for only a few hundred?

 

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I have a 2011 MCS, just traded up from my 2010 Justa. I had added an amp to the Justa with Polk Audio speakers. It got loud, but with the limitations of speaker size, short of putting a sub in the hatch area, the quality wasn't great. I like the HK in my 2011 MCS. I just installed a new sound upgrade. Magnaflow exhaust.....stereo off, windows down, listen to the sweet music.

 

I have the 07 500 upgrade. Its ok and I don't have any complaints. I did a couple of years back upgrade my speakers in my 99' Honda CR-V, it already had an aftermarket Alpine head unit with XM, no amp. I put 4 polk audio speakers in it. It was a very easy upgrade as the grills pop out and voila, there are the speakers. Changing for speakers was about a 15 minute job and you didn't have to tear the car apart to do it. That 150 buck upgrade provides a lot better sound than my 07 cooper with the 10 speaker upgrade.

If I had to to it again, I'd still get the upgrade, but would do so knowing it is somewhat lacking.

 

I have HK system in 11 MC, it's ok but not something I would consider premium. It's loud but lacks the range, I normally leave it off cause I'm trying to listen to the engine to gage the shift points. But that's mostly an issue with the very light engage point of the clutch.
It's not really a good value for the $ and mostly only HK in name but not performance.

 

I have an '11 MCS with H/K...Initially I loved the system, though I immediately realized the bass can be sometimes be a little overpowering, and sometimes distorted with certain deep tones...

I've taken off the front panels, so I've seen the speakers. The front woofers in the doors are, without a doubt, cheap speakers. In my opinion, you're not getting upgraded speakers with the Harman/Kardon system per se, though the tweeters seem to be great tweeters, and the midrange speakers always sound great...MINI is charging you primarily for the cost of the amp, not the added speakers. With that in mind, and knowing that the front speakers are 2 ohm speakers, I sought out to replace them. Long story short, I went with Infinity Reference 6032si...they sound much better than the original Harman Kardon speakers. The amp powers them wonderfully. I'm not into overhauling the entire audio system with a new amp and all new speakers, so this solution fits my needs perfectly.

I listen to classic rock, jazz, death metal, electronica, rap...my system plays everything with amazing clarity and great bass tones, through out all ranges...

 

I really don't notice a difference between the HK and stock sound systems. I have the stock sound system and have no problems, but I did change the settings shortly after getting it. I compared it to my parents mini, which has the HK and I really didn't notice a difference when comparing them. The HK may be a little clearer, but that's just me. For me the stock is fine especially because its easy enough to change the settings to what I like anyway.

 

If you can't tell the difference, then you have probably been listening to Ted nugent too much.

As a side note, if you are using an Ipod to judge music, stop now. Get an actual CD and you'll be amazed at the difference in quality.

 

i did a comparison using the radio. Maybe that's why I didn't notice much of a difference. I didn't try a comparison with a cd, but I hardly use cd's anymore, so if it only really makes a difference when listening to a cd, is it really worth the extra cash?

 

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Just thought I'd add my 2 cents.

We read all the threads online before deciding on how to customize our 2013, and went with the $750 (ouch) Harman Kardon upgrade. I guess we did it mainly because it sounds like the base stereo is unacceptably bad. In my opinion, the upgrade is pretty awful and not worth $750. It's a base-model quality of stereo with lots of extra speakers. I'm not sure we would make the same decision again.

Having purchased aftermarket stereos for other vehicles, I know that there are much better systems available.

 

Are there bass, mid, and treble settings on the HK premium audio? Or just bass and treble?

 

Nope. Just bass and treble. Speakers in my opinion are not great. The upgrade gets you more speakers and an amp. It's a tiny cab, the sound should be a lot better.

We have another, much larger vehicle with the following (not high-end by any means) aftermarket system and difference in the quality of sound produced would blow anyone away: Kenwood 250W KAC 529S, plus Kenwood 500W KAC 749S under rear seat, and total of 8 speakers. Running a Kenwood Exceleon KDC X993 receiver.

PLUS: we are talking about a very old system in our other vehicle.

 

I have a 2014 R58 with the HK option. At first I thought it sounded bad. But it vastly improved when I turned the bass back. The bass at -4 and the system sounds so much better. It seems like the bass is clearer and more prominent. I am still adding the Integral Audio sub to my system to "complete" it.

 

+1.. I have the H/K in my '12 MCS. Dial back the bass a bit, and add volume. Sounds pretty good to me. But then again, my hearing isn't all that great either..

 

Anybody have any thoughts to the Alpine Sound System for our MCS?

 

I'm sorry I'm being "that guy" and digging up a 2 year old comment, but I've tried to burn FLAC audio files from my computer to a CD and it just doesn't work. The FLAC files look like little cones in my folder while MP3's burn just fine.

 

Either rip it directly, or as a WAV file. No idea what flac is?

 

If you are trying to burn a FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) file to an audio CD, your burning software has to have the ability to convert it to WAV on the fly. Most burning utilities do this with MP3 and a few now do it with flac. If you are burning the flac files to a data CD to play, I don't know if the Mini system can decode them. I think the latest and greatest system in the 2014's will, but not for sure.

To keep this in context, I have a 2012 Mini with the HG sound system and I am less than impressed. It is very harsh and sounds like it's coming through tin cans and a string. I have an '06 Mini and an '07 X3 and both sound sooooo much better.

 

Use WAVs or factory CDs. I reduced the bass. Using engineering practices I reduced treble to get more bass reduce bass to get more treble. It needs a mid control.
I had to just sit in the car and tweak. My 700w factory Volvo stereo sounded terrible until I put in the time.

 

I keep my bass set at 5 and my treble at 7 and the sound sounds good.

 

EQ is critical...I use spotify with has integrated EQ + download the highest quality audio files. For EQ I boost the mid range quite a bit and treble a little, then cut the lowest bass freq quite a bit. Then play aux-in to the MINI...makes a big difference! Can actually hear all the parts now, quite clearly...

 

Dialed my fader to get more rear speakers. No one sits there, I'm 6'13". This balance allows for more lows from back which are accentuated because of large cavities they are in, the mids are between with the tweets up high. Fronts aren't working as hard. In stock setting rears aren't doing much. Play with that. It's an added improvement.