Hello,

Contemplating the addition of an amp to my 04 Cooper base sound system. Looking for a little fuller music. Will this "wake up" the stock speakers or should they be replaced too? Dealing with the non-HK upgrade. Any other suggestions without tearing the whole system apart?

Anyone fooled with this?

Much appreciated!

 

Did you wake up your stock system?
I got XFM and now need a better system without spending a lot of money or making big modifications.
I was also contemplating new speakers, and or a power sub-woofer.
What did you end up doing?
Does anyone else have suggestions?

 

I manage a stereo shop in san diego. Ive put a lot of subs in the cooper and cooper s. The best for the money without replacing all the speakers would be an 8" sub and a small amp. Good sound for not a lot of money. It would cost $300 - $500 depending on the sub and the amp

 

Could you give suggestions on components and how to wire it up?
I would visit you but I’m a couple of thousand miles away.
I saw in Crutchfield catalog a Clarion sub-woofer with amp, would that be any good?
What about having to change the speakers, is that necessary

 

And how about the Infinity Basslink amplified sub?

 

The clarion would be just fine, you do need an amp kit and a hi-low converter. It's realy up to you if you want change the door spaekers, but you don't need to if your just adding a little bass. If you want to change the door speakers you should ad an amp to them. The factory deck does not put a lot of power out to make most after market speakers sound good. The front doors take 5.25" and 1" for components, and the rear take 6x9 depending on the year.:smile:

 

The Infinity basslink system is a good clean sounding sub, that takes up very little space and not a lot of power.

 

Thanx –
but now I gotta figure out what the heck an Amp Kit and Hi Low Converter is. I was hoping the Clarion SRV303 Powered sub with 7" woofer was just a plug in affair but so there is more involved?
By the way I really didn’t want to change the speakers anyway.

 

Ontmini,
Yes many have done the upgrades to the stock system. See-
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=26547
Look at the various links that might interest you.

Adding a sub with amp would be good if you feel that deeper and cleaner base was lacking.Once you add an amp to the stock system then you can get caught up in needing speakers then a head unit, etc and it all adds up pretty quickly.

The cheapest self contained and self powered amp is the Infinity basslink and that is fine to add to the stock system or the HK audio but it isn't that powerful. It fits into the rear boot area and often goes on sale for about $280 or less with about $60-80 to install.

JLstealthbox (10" sub) is much more expensive and needs a separate amp. It's only available through JL car audio stores retail. It's designed for the MINI and fits the rear boot area.

Having separate volume controls for the sub is good.

 

What was involved with the install that cost $60 – $80?

 

i have the perfect amp for ya if ya want it and it goes ith the minis interior very well, its a 5 channel alpine v12 with a sub channel it rocks, has alot of ajustments and you can tune it to perfection!!!

it will run all 4 of your speakers and one sub and its 75 watts a speaker and 350 watts for the sub i had a ten inch mtx 8000 hooked up to it and it was awsome! let me know if ya want it, i upgraded to a 12 inch jl audio w6v2 and she just couldent pute down the power that that sub required.

well just wondering take care!!

 

I've got the JL Audio Stealthbox, it's the best thing in the world for you guys wanting more bass. I also got the JL 500/5 amp, awesome again. You do need a seperate Amp for the Sub the sub in the stealthbox is a JL10W2, meaning it is a JL's second version of their 10 inch sub. A blast to use. My amp comes with seperate controls, 4 speaker input and outputs, along with a seperate channel for the Sub. You can adjust it to all of your needs, I have mine set up for equality. nothing overpowers anything else. although i do have a seperate head unit. My head unit alone costs more than the speakers or the sub or the amp alone. Stealthbox retails for about 500-600 dollars depending on where you get it from and the amp is large so you would have to have a special mounting place. I put mine in a custom enclosure in the boot next to the sub, it is in a place where you can put things in, so yeah thats my hook-up

 

I’m not that much into audio, just want to complement the stock system with minimal money and effort.

 

thats what i did!!! and it was great, the amp i had was just enouf to really make the audio clear and it had just enouf watts for the sub, if you really want to compliment wats in their go with maby two 8 inch subs and new 6x9 and youll flow !!!

 

More questions...

How much weight is added?

With a sub in the boot are the tools easily accessible to change a flat? I like to rotate my tires every 3000 miles and don't want a hassle taking out/disconnecting the sub (is it bolted down?).

 

Mine's bolted down, but, my amp rackis removable, made it this way for this special purpose.

BTW Christian! You don't drive the curves right, you just drift through them! lol, only teasing bud! Been a while since i saw you. You throwing another party over the weekend?

 

Thanks for the helpful advice....keep it coming! Looks like an amp and sub is the way to go. As far as putting the amp in the boot goes...I tend to have the seats down for hockey bags or golf clubs on a regular basis. Can the amp be mounted under passenger seat? Drawbacks?

Thx.

 

I have a similar question. Already replaced all the stock speakers with Infinity Reference and while they sound OK, I would like to add more power.

Was going to change the headunit, but I am giving up on that idea.

So all I would like to add is an amp. Something like this would suit me just fine:
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-AztaclF...cs&i=020APA450

Question is ... can an amp like this be added to a '03 factory head unit and what do I need to wire it?

Also would like to avoid installing the amp in the boot. What are other good places for it?