I've seen numerous posts about the HIFI system not sounding that great and whatnot. In my opinion it sounds pretty decent although I wouldn't have added the option had I been the one to pay for it. The Mini I bought just happened to have the HIFI system. Even as good as it sounded I needed some more "Thump" because I'm somewhat of a bass freak .

So I started into researching and found, after 5 hours of searching through threads on here, a wiring schematics for the colors of wires running into the amp harness. To hook up the amp I simply bought a Line Input Converter and spliced it into the front left (Black/Red, Black/Purple) speaker wire (As I was reading through I found more than once, info on the front speakers having better bass sound to them so I did a little test of my own and found that to be quite true). I only spliced into the one speaker since the sub is a mono-tone anyway, I just used both connectors to the one speaker. As much as I didn't want to tear up the interior, I ran the power wire from the battery (under the hood) to the back, all while hiding it under panels and such. To ground the amp I just ran a wire from the factory amp bracket, seems to be working just fine. Then for the power antenna wire I ran it up behind the side panel to the rear cig lighter and just put the wire through the plug and plugged it in, quite simple for that one.

Anyhoo, since I had so much trouble finding the diagram I thought I would post in a new thread just in case anyone else was in the same situation as I was. I have the bass set at a -6 setting and the treble at +6 with fading and balance set at 0. It sounds great to me, may not be competition but you can hear me coming from a good distance. You may also want to make sure all 4 license plate bolts are in and tight otherwise you'll hear that disturbing rattle noise from it. I'm not using anything special for equipment, just a 1200w Sony Xplod (I know they "suck" but I have never had any problem with them) and a 12" MTX sub (not sure on the details of it because I bought it at a yard-sale cheap)

If anyone has questions on the install please feel free to PM me or just post on this thread. I'd be glad to help my fellow Mini drivers!

 

Pictures of the sub mount?

This is the basic way to add a sub to the stock system. You can play with the line level input on the adapter too, usually they have pods that can be adjusted and fine tuned. Normally turning them closer to the low side produces better results on a stock system.

I've replaced the center console with a new head unit, and have four new speakers in the car, but have been entertaining the idea of building my own sub box to fix in the trunk floor. This is because my friend just got a new F150 and replaced his ranger, which had a sub in it, so we threw it into his daily driver, '11 fiesta. lol did what you did, tapping into the speaker line with the level converter, sounds perfect for a system thats stock and not listened to by an audiophile.

 

It's a bit messy but I will get some pics posted.

I did mess around with those as well as on the amp to get it tuned in just right to my ear anyway.

I had thought about replacing the HU but I really like how the OEM looks with the speedometer. I mainly just needed some Bass but I wouldn't consider myself an Audiophile. Just needed the bass for my dub step. As far as the looks of the car I won't be changing much at all. At this point all I want for it is some new wheels.

 

Just give it some time and you'll catch the bug =)

First will be the wheels, then you'll notice theres too much wheel gap, so you'll want to close that up some, so then will come springs, but then you'll realize the stock shocks aren't holding up with the stiffer springs, so will come new shocks... hehe its a never ending cycle, I'm still riding it 4 years later with this car =)

 

Lol it may come to me but for now my payments/insurance are high enough I can't really afford to make too many mods unfortunately That's the main reason I wont be doing any in the near future.

 

Here is a pic. Just the box with the amp sitting next to it. As I said before it's a bit sloppy.

 

Wow, not too stealth huh? Lol

 

Not at all, I figure eventually I will update it but for now I went with what I had. Needed the bass.