Just drove a Mini the other day and fell in love.. I am ordering an S next week. The only thing I am unsure on what I want is the stereo. Is the HK upgrade any good? I have seen some mixed reviews out there and was thinking of taking the $600 upgrade price and putting it towards a complete new system with Boston Acoustics speakers and Alpine amp and HU that would run about $1300 installed. Would I get my $700 worth? I know sound is all a personal preference, but....

 

well when i was going to order my mini, i was not going to opt for the H/K, but when i found a very comparable mini, with the H/K installed, i was not really looking forward to paying the extra 500 bux. but now that i have it, i am very pleased and glad the ca came with it. definately has a nice sound and a lot of bass,i have to keep the base just below half-way

so do it!

 

My recommendation is not to go by other peoples recommendations.

Go to dealership with CD's you are familiar with from your home system or your current car/system. Then spend some time auditioning the stock system and the HK system. Do it while sitting in the lot, and while driving. Take your time, maybe an hour, make adjustments to your liking, ask questions.

This is the only way you will know if it is worth it.

If you are in a warm climate, try the stereo with the sun roof open or windows open if you drive as such.

It is $600?, and if you get it and do not like it, there are not many great options to improve it afterward IMO. Because if you want to do any upgrades to the HK system...the options are limited without removing most if not all of it, thus wasting $600?.


I have the HK and wish I did not get it. It is an improvement over stock, but I would rather have done a custom system, but my commute is so short I am not willing to spend the cash for something I use so little. I live 200+ miles from the nearest dealer and it was difficult to go back and make such a 2nd audition as I am recommending you do.

 

34Mini,

Aloha and welcome to NAM.
I agree that only you can judge the stock and HK audio systems best. Be sure to take the MINI on the road with music you know well and under true driving conditions listen up and be the judge.

For most regular people the stock system is OK and if not enough the HK upgrade is good for not that much money. But if you have owned a car with custom audio before and separate subwoofers/amps then you might be better off doing your own custom audio.

Once you have HK you can't easily upgrade except maybe adding a sub with amp.
Sound deadening material added to the MINI is always another nice thing to add no matter if you have HK or custom audio.

 

Thanks for the info. I haven't been able to listen to HK sound system yet.. Both used Mini's I drove had the base system. There isn't a Mini dealer where I live, so hopefully one of the 3 dealers that are within driving distance will have one with it.

 

that is also very true

if you do really plan on puting in a nice sound system and components, use the 600 towawrds that :smile:

 

I have the HK and its has way too much bass and all the extra "sound fields" are pretty useless. I already changed out the speakers, added sound deadening material and dampening material in the cavities behind the speakers. These changes made a huge difference in the sound. The bass isn't totally crappy anymore. Now its a 8 out of 10. If you have a sunroof its all for naught since the wind noise gets pretty dominant above 40 MPH. I would not get the HK again. Put in your own system. Add dampening materials in the doors and rear quarter panels. My wife even noticed the "quietness" in the cabin after the mods.

 

Just an FYI, with the HK system... you can only get upgrades from BMW... My source on this is a professional car audio/video installer. As was mentioned... if you are going to any aftermarket upgrades.... do not get the HK system.

 

Thanks again for the advice. What kind of material did you use for the sound dampening? Also, a local car audio place said that after market speakers are very hard to mount in Mini's and they had to fabricate a special mounting bracket for all of the speakers, making the total cost of the new system an additional 250 dollars. They said the speakers were 6x9's and 6x6's, but mounted different... Anyone expereince this?

 

You can search past threads for various sound deadening materials- common ones are Dynamat extreme and Cascade Audio VB-max but those are more expensive than generic adhesive material.

The speakers in the front doors for the MINI are rather limited in size and specially fitted with a built up plastic spacer for the 5.25" woofer mated with a small 3/4" tweeter. Many of the component aftermarket speakers such as 5.25" to 6.25 " woofers will need a custom spacer mounted to the door to allow the speaker to be nearer to the inside door speaker grill. The aftermarket tweeters sometimes are 1" which don't fit well. The spacers are easy to make out of wood or any other material. The rear 6x9 speakers usually fit with minimal fuss. $250 more is outrageous.

When I added speakers for my MCS I paid about $175 for the fronts and $100 for the rears and that was expensive for labor.

If I had to do it all over again I'd just get the HK audio upgrade and not spend over $2000 more for a custom audio system. At the time I got my MCS the HK upgrade was not available and the built wait time was 6 months.

You'll have to decide what is the best use of your funds in your case.

 

I used Polk Audio speakers. 6 1/2" two way in the front and 6 x 9 in the rear. No "special" speakers required. I put a wood ring spacer between the existing door panel and door frame in the front. them mounted the speaker through the hole. I also installed gaskets between every layer, (including all the edges of the interior panels) to insure a good seal and eliminate any buzzing when cranking it up. I left the existing tweeters in the upper door. Everything fit perfectly. I used the Cascade Audio Vblok (from sounddomain.com) for the dampening material. Used it in the doors, inside the rear quarters and rear floor (since I had the rear seat out). You can put dacron fill inside the rear cavities to damp the rear speakers. Some of the residual boominess is from the marginal amplifier used in the HK system. If your up to doing the work yourself, there are plenty of threads for info on removing the interior parts. Unless an installer works on Minis, I would not let them touch my car.