When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
*I know I should post this in the F60 section but it applies to any F series as well*
My current F60 is my 4th MINI since 2003. I did complete audio install on my first 03 R53 and liked the result.
My F60 came with base stereo (4x 4inch, 2 underseat subs), with no tweeter. It sounded ok, but not that great! Last year, I got all 4 speakers replaced with Bavsound stage one upgrade and it did a little improvement over stock, especially by adding tweeters.
Last month, I decided to take it a step further and get an aftermarket 5 channels amp and 10” subwoofer, among with an extra Bavsound speaker to add a center channel, and changed the underseat subs. Here’s a list of parts I used:
- Bavsound stage one coaxial speakers (4)
- Bavsound midrange and tweeter (made for Harmon Kardon system) for the center channel
- Rockford Fosgate (RF) R600X5 multichannel amp
- RF R400X4 4 channels amp
- RF DSR1 DSP with iOS app
- Earthquake SWS 6.5” underseat subs
- TechnicPNP harness
The Bavsound speakers upgrade is pretty straightforward, just remove the door panel and swap speakers.
The center channel is bolt-on, the brackets for midrange and tweeter are there, I only wired a speaker cable to feed it from the amp.
TechnicPNP harness got me inputs (front-rear) for the DSP but I couldn’t get the speakers output to work from it. Last year, I disabled ASD with Bimmercode, so I might have to do with it. I used the speakers output from the ASD module itself and tapped in the speaker wires from
there.
Underseat subs were a little harder. I had to modify stock enclosures to get the to fit. Not a big deal, but no going back to OEM from there. I wired cables to each underseat sub and got rid of the OEM parallel setup with front speakers, which is great for adjusting front speakers and underseat subs independently, with appropriate crossover, eq, and gain.
I used Rockford Fosgate DSR1 DSP to get 8 channels from the OEM 4 channel input. The DSP had the ability to produce a center channel... and it sounds great! Lots of adjustments to play with.
For the amps, I got remote turn on from the headunit fuse (using a add-a-circuit fuse holder).
The R600X5 drives front/rear speakers and the 10” sub
The R400X4 drives the center and underseat subs
Car chimes, nav, backup chimes,... all works fine.
Wiring the car was not as hard as it seems. The panels come off easily and go back in place as easy.
Pics below...
Last edited by DarkMiniCooperS; 12-31-2018 at 04:29 PM.
What year is your countryman? I was looking at the bavsound website and they don’t have anything listed for 2018 (my car), but do have components listed for the 2017. I contacted them and asked about that and they said they are working on my year and to give them 3-6 months. Is the sound system different from 2017 to 2018?
I did a speaker & amplifier upgrade from BimmerTech.
I replaced all the 4 door mid range speakers with the Alpha One speakers & also swapped the 2 Underseat Subwoofers with the Alpha One sub woofers.
I then added 4 tweeters to the 4 doors & also installed a PP86DSP amplifier with the relevant bracket to the rear trunk space.
This entire thing is called the Studio One Package from BimmerTech & it is awesome!!.
I now see a unconnected hidden cable in the Air-Grille under the trim.
My question is if i were to install a tweeter & speaker with the correct part numbers, will i get the sound output from this air grill?.
The parts i identified & placed order for are:
#51459332792>>Indirect Air Grille.
#65139368383>>Mid Range Speaker.
#65139335308>>Tweeter.
My vehicle is a MINI COOPER COUNTRYMAN F60 2019.
I wish to know if i will get a sound output from this center air grille once all parts connected?.
Do I need to do any additional BimmerTech coding to enable the Top Hi Fi system?.
Do I need to activate any center channel on the PP86DSP amplifier that is installed?.
Please share your experiences & advice.Thank You.
"The center channel is bolt-on, the brackets for midrange and tweeter are there, I only wired a speaker cable to feed it from the amp."
What are the connections to make and how did you do this?.
I use a PP86DSP amplifier and it has a wiring harness that runs and plugs into the main head unit.
It also has separate wires running to activate the 2* Underseat subwoofers?.
Where did you connect the Centre Channel to & how did you activate the features for Center channel.
Can U share and advice for my set up?.Thanks.
I use Bimmer Code PP86DSP Amplifier & Alpha One speaker Upgrade package from them.
Can't answer your question but the center channel is often deleted. It really doesn't make much sense in a proper stereo set up. You have an 8 channel amp, depending on how the speakers are currently fed you may or may not have a channel for it anyway. I eliminated my front center speaker in my F56, sounds just fine without it.
Also many installers downplay the use of the rears and they just act as fill.
My PP86DSP has pre-configured 4 channels to the 4 door speakers which are in turn hooked to the tweeters on them secondarily.I also have separate wires running from the amp to the 2 underseat sub woofers.I want to know the method to activate the Center channel in addition..
I got through with this project.
The PP86DSP Amplifier that came in the Studio package of Bimmertech has a Center channel #E that is among the wires of the Subwoofer Output.Once i connected the wire to a speaker, i was able to get the Center Channel active!!.
My 2019 MINI Countryman F60 has a spare connector in the Center Air Grille!.
This wiring harness under the air grille is apparently active to sound output for only cars that have the JCW or Harman-Kordon(HK) HifI system.
I was able to activate a Mid range speaker & a Tweeter on this spot by running a separate wiring/Channel from my amplifier (PP86DSP-MATCH HELIX) to this Air grill spot.
The Center channel on the PP86DSP is output from Channel#E (On the Subwoofer wire Harness) in the BimmerTech Kit.
The parts I needed to additionally buy were:
#51459332792>>Indirect Air Grille.
#65139368383>>Mid Range Speaker.
#65139335308>>Tweeter.
My Mini Cooper came with a Base Audio & I had installed an AfterMarket Amplifier from Bimmertech-PP86DSP (Match).
The speakers & the amplifier were all a plug & play kit with no cutting or splitting of wires.
I also needed to swap my Rear door speaker grills with the HiFi grills to add the Tweeters on the rear doors hidden inside.
The parts i needed were:
BMW MINI Part Nos:51417404652 & 51417404651.
I now have 12 speakers with a 8 channel Amplifier-PP86DSP on my MINI Cooper F60 Countryman.
Each of the 4 doors have a Mid Range & Tweeter + the 2 Under seat subwoofers + the Mid Range & Tweeter under the center air grille!!.
All parts are available either on ebay or MiniPartsdirect website.
I’m having the Bimmertech system installed today (replacing HK) and the shop called and said the rear door on the drivers side had a mid and tweeter while the rear door on the passenger side only had the midrange and did not have a tweeter and looked to be “off a different model”. He’s getting pictures for me, but has anyone else experienced this?
I’m having the Bimmertech system installed today (replacing HK) and the shop called and said the rear door on the drivers side had a mid and tweeter while the rear door on the passenger side only had the midrange and did not have a tweeter and looked to be “off a different model”. He’s getting pictures for me, but has anyone else experienced this?
That sounds like a car produced at the end of a work week and someone didn't want to go get the right parts. Probably a rare car.
I also needed to swap my Rear door speaker grills with the HiFi grills to add the Tweeters on the rear doors hidden inside. The parts i needed were: BMW MINI Part Nos:51417404652 & 51417404651.
So Minnie, you may be dead on right. My left rear door has the grill opening for both the mid-range and tweeter and it has the accent stitching that matches the front doors. My right rear door only has the grill opening for the mid and no stitching. The third pic shows the mid-range HK speakers removed from the front and left rear while the right rear had the cheap base speaker. SMH. I've had the car for a year and never noticed ... audio installer has never seen anything like it before.
I drove by my MINI dealer and showed them since I knew they'd never believe me if I just called them. Clearly they'd never seen anything like it. They took pics and are going to get with me next week. I'll report back with the resolution ... hopefully they'll just order the door insert that matches and then I can get the tweeter installed.
Now... regarding the Bimmertech system which included all 12 (11 so far) replacement speakers and the replacement AMP/DSP ... it is outstanding! It also included the bypass to eliminate the ASP which is where BMW pipes engine noise through the speaker system. That alone is worth every penny. What I thought was road noise from my run flats what actually "engine/road noise" that BMW was forcing through the audio system. The ride is SO much quieter now and in turn, makes the audio sound SO much better.
My audio guys did the DSP tune from scratch and will tweak it again once I've broken the speakers in (and they'll install the last tweeter when I get the right door insert). They were really impressed with the Bimmertech components and sound. Two thumbs up for Bimmertech.
Yes.They/Bimmertech have a custom "Alpha One-tune file" of approx 4kb size that is pre-loaded on the PP86DSP amplifier.
When i added a centre channel 6 months later, i asked for assistance and they gave me a new custom file with settings for the center channel & guidance about playing with the settings of the amp.
The PP86DSP 8 channel amplifier is superior to the HK system.It can also be customized by adding a Director remote or BT module or Wifi-Module etc, if U so desire.
Based on the model of your MINI, they will also provide U with a custom bracket in case your vehicle did not come with one.My base audio system did not have an amplifier and they gave a bracket to install the amplifier in the rear.
The grill with the option for the tweeter, how does it look on the back side?.
Does the grill have a cradle built into it that can accommodate the tweeter?.
Can someone post a picture of how the inside/inner side of the Tweeter grill looks like?.
Thank You.
They do not. It had a "base" tune but it couldn't be edited so the audio place had to start from scratch. It really is designed for BMW's so MINI owners are still the step children of the BMW purists. The speakers fit perfectly but the shop did have to make some minor tweaks to the AMP/DSP.
Hey Varma,
I don't have a pic of the inside since the shop had already put the door back on. Whenever I get the new proper door I can do that. The shop said there was no screen that would allow a tweeter to be installed. They did say the wiring was there, just no place for the tweeter itself. Clearly, there are two separate door inserts at the factory; one w/ the base speaker set up and one with the HK speaker set up. Unfortunately my car has 3 door inserts for the HK and one for the base speaker system. Just my luck. I have faith my local MINI guys will get it fixed for me.
Ok.I am swapping my base grills to the HK grills on my F60. My parts are currently in transit and i was wondering how they would look otherwise.Thanks.
Hi, Please find enclosed my 2 Alpha Tunes files for my Bimmertech PP86DSP amplifier.One of the files is a custom to empower the Center Channel#E on my amplifier.
I’m having the Bimmertech system installed today (replacing HK) and the shop called and said the rear door on the drivers side had a mid and tweeter while the rear door on the passenger side only had the midrange and did not have a tweeter and looked to be “off a different model”. He’s getting pictures for me, but has anyone else experienced this?
How much better is this compared to the HK system? I know the Bimmertech speakers are similar to the Bavsound speakers, so does the Bimmertech amp make that big a difference?
Trying to decide if to do the Bavsound speaker upgrade or the Bimmertech Alpha One complete speaker set with the amp.
12-31-2018, 04:02 PM
.
