Hi Guy's,
I'm in the process of trying to figure out how to improve the sound quality of the H/K HiFi sound in my 2013 Mini JCW.
Now, I'm thinking of upgrading the speakers, apparently they are 2 0hms?? Can the H/K amp happily drive 4 Ohm speakers??
I'm just wanting to change the speakers at the moment and then possibly add an active sub a little later. What would you consider the best route to take?
Many thanks for any help received. :-)

 

a 2ohm amp will only provide half the power required to drive a 4ohm speaker so you'll get half the volume.

 

It is hard to beat the Harmon Kardon sound system, what are you trying to improve?

 

More power, upgrade amp first. Lots of choices like JL audio or an Alpine amp, etc.

Many people like myself hate the HK system.

 

I think you'll find that the weakness in the system is the head unit. I changed mine out for a Chinese android and it is like a new world of sound.

 

Ya, I was wondering the same. We have the HK system, I like it.

 

In my previous Mini (an R50) I fitted a really nice system, so, I suppose I've been spoilt! That system comprised of: Pioneer DEH-P88RS-2 competition head unit, 3 x Pioneer PRS-D800 reference amps, JL Audio Mini stealth sub, Focal 165 KR2 front speakers, Hertz HCX 690
rear 6x9 speakers and a Pioneer CDX-P670 6 disc CD changer. (I'm old school and still like CD's!) It sounded wonderful and, unfortunately for me, the HK system is not even close in term of sound quality. Hence me wanting to upgrade.
See pics.

 

See pictures I've added to see what I fitted into my old R50. You'll understand then!

 

Here are some pictures of the spacer rings I made. They were cut out of Mahogany & Oak hard wood and glued together (water proof glue) to get the correct thickness. 4 coats of yacht varnish were applied to protect from moisture. I used hardwood because it's dense and very rigid.
I also thought if it was good enough for high-end speaker enclosures, it'd be good enough for my spacer rings! Load of Dynamat extreme was used inside the door cavity. The cable throughout was high purity OFC and silver solder was also used for optimum signal quality.
See how serious I was about sound quality, this is why I'd like to improve my HK system, however, it is a lot more complicated than my improving the sound in my old R50. :-(


All the original door mounting holes were used. No need to drill into the door panel.

Two piece construction to get the correct thickness.

Stainless steel nuts, bolts & washers were used.

Gold plated quick release speaker connections were used. Silver soldered and colour coded heat shrink.

Even though the focal speakers were quite deep, they fitted no problem with my spacer rings. Hydro deflector installed to protect speaker.

 

You won't do better than this, even for 5 times the price. If you think you can, you don't really understand what's going on

https://integralaudio.com/soundstage...ni-cooper.html


Integral Audio Soundstage™ for MINI Cooper 2nd Gen

 

Hey Kevin,
Problem is, with me living in the UK, Cost of the speakers + shipping costs, then import duties & VAT add another 25% to the cost.
Really annoying, wish I lived in the US!

 

You should put your location on your page. so people will be able to give you more accurate information.

 

I have done so. Silly oversight on my part!

 

Looks like you know what you are doing as far as fabrication and install. Get a couple of amps, a dsp, and a subwoofer first. There are lots of options for speakers once you have those items installed.
If you only want to do speakers and a sub, then don't bother changing the speakers with the factory amp, it will only make it sound different not better. Get a sub and relieve the other speakers of their bass duties.
What is your budget?

 

When I did the install in my old R50 mini, I found it reasonably straight forward. However, with the R56 JCW I have, not being able to remove the headunit has really put a 'spanner in the works'!
I'm struggling a bit, if I'm honest. I think, ideally, I'd like to make a nice boot installation, but I'm not feeling confident as I did doing the install in my R50.
I don't have any issues making the sub/amp fabrication, it's knowing how to make the sub enclosure the right size for the sub that I'm finding confusing!

 

Yeah, I was on the same boat, I was stuck on researching subwoofer specs, fabrication, and installation etc. It took up a lot of time, so I found a sub/box combo for really cheap on walmart.com as a stop gap and I have to say that it does quite a good job after breaking in a bit and tuning. I don't really have much experience with subwoofers and haven't really heard a proper SQ sound system, so take that with a grain of salt. I bought a Pioneer TS-SWX3002 and it fits perfectly on the boot floor firing down and just barely passes the hatch lip. The JL Audio PowerWedge subs were my first option, but they were a little pricey.

Once you take apart the car once it is very easy to do again. I've done it like five times now. Let me know if you need any advice.

Why do you need to replace the headunit?

 

Sorry, I'm confusing you!
I don't need to replace the headunit in the R56, that's staying. I upgraded the headunit in the R50 and it had 3 pre-outs which made adding amps easier.
I've been doing some research and I think buying an AudioControl LC7i will make things easier. Just need to find out if it's best to connecting it after my Harman Kardon amp, or before. I think, from what I've read, it's after.
I just need to get a H/K wiring diagram from somewhere, to find which wire go were into the LC7i.
This isn't going to be as straight forward, as fitting the audio system into my R50......that's for sure! :-)

 

For the same money you can get the Dayton DSP-408 have the ability to go full active if you want. The LC7i is a glorified LOC and old technology, do a little research on the Dayton or a miniDSP or just get a regular cheap LOC (I use a PAC SNI15) and a few RCA Y-splitters. I read in your other thread that you wanted to go with a Hertz or Focal 3 way set, if you are going to use the crossovers then you just need one amp. Using a DSP will require one channel per speaker, so that most likely means two amps. Those components will require a good amount of power that you will not get from the H/K amp and would be a waste on those pricey components. Take a look at Kevin's Mini Audio Basics sticky.

You want to get the signal before the H/K amplifier and from the front speakers only from the X9331 harness. Integral audio makes a good pass through connector with proper RCA connections (https://integralaudio.com/x9331-wiring-harness.html) for adding a amplifiers. You get a full signal to split however you like from the front speakers.

Have you added any sound dampening material to the rear and the doors yet? Sound dampening is the best upgrade you can do not only for your sound system, but for overall comfort in the Mini. My subwoofer came alive after I fully dampened the car (I did not do under the front seats).

You are going to need a subwoofer no matter what you do to your speakers, so that's where I would start and did start. I have the base system and it made a huge difference, I can only imagine what it would do to the 3-way H/K system. Upgrading the system is a lot more straight forward than you think. Use the H/K amp for only the rear speakers. If you have any questions let me know.

 

Hi excuse me, I have HARMAN KARDON audio and I want to change the radio to android, I have to make some modification or it is plug and play, since I read the description on the page of each android radio and it tells me that I cannot buy if I have a factory amplifier, you know Something about it or no problem.