Hi. I've been through Kevin's sticky re: speaker upgrades and I still am a little confused. I have a base 2013 R56 hatchback with the crummy sound system. I'm not really wanting to upgrade the radio as I do not like the lower dash placement they end up in. So that leaves me with speakers. I am not a real audiophile, just want a bit better sound so I have been looking at Crutchfield and others and they all recommend 2 way's for the lower door and a 3 way for the 6x9 rear ones. They really do not address the upper door placement. That does not make sense to me at all. When I look at component systems for the doors they all have 3/4" or 1" tweeters and talk about having to fashion some sort of bracket but that too seems a bit off. If I put the woofer in teh lower door and a 2 way 3.5" or 4" in the upper and the 3 way 6x9 in the rear is that a problem? I also was planning to do the "channel swap" to move the base to the back more.

I would appreciate any thoughts on whether this can't work or do I need to do something else. Thanks

Jay

 

Hello Jay - I am studying this myself and have talked to Kevin a few times. You are missing one component in your thinking - amp. Kevin sells a nice speaker amp kit. He tuned these speakers to the mini - so they are an excellent, custom fit. Crutchfield is piecing together components they have that will fit by geometry - perhaps though not sound optimized, as I don't think they have tried all these combinations.

I would not do speakers without an amp ( from what I recall - the stock amp has preset freqs that might not sound good at all with aftermarket speakers ( I don't recall if that is for both HK and base system ) and either way - I am sure it is maxed out on power ).

Jay does not like 6 inch woofers and tweeters in the door - as I discussed this with him. He thinks the mids are limited in this set up. He does basically 3 ways in the front and adds tweeters in the pillars - have to find the trim off a used mini on ebay etc ..

Just try the channel swap first - then see if you need to go further.

 

I did something similar to what you're considering. Replaced the rears with three-way 6x9, replaced the upper door ones with better two-ways, and did the channel swap. I'm no audiophile but it's definitely an improvement and good enough for me.

 

Thanks. Since I posted this we decided to buy a second Mini (yay). Getting another R56 2013 but has the H/K system. Will do the channel swap on the 1st one (Boost CD). Debating adding a new amp for the stock one using the stock speakers. Any reasons not to? Or maybe a sub? Thanks

 

I added the pioneer TS-WX70DA active sub to my 2013 R56 JCW Mini. Admittedly, it has the Harman Kardon factory fitted. The active sub made a HUGE difference, it sounds fantastic! Fits brilliantly, too. See pictures.

Look how well it fits in the R56 boot. 'Made to measure' springs to mind!




Comes with a super handy wired remote control, too.

 

nice. Where did you tap the power and input from?

Thanks

 

I took the constant 12v directly from the battery. The input can be either via RCA's or speaker level inputs. I used RCA's after purchasing one of these, from Integral Audio.

 

Thanks. Looks like they are sold out of the harness adapters and the woofer is no longer available so going to get creative. May put one under my seat instead.

Jay

 

Yep thas the channel swap

https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...313781391ktkt/

I have seen people also swap the speakers to the HK on the Hifi pre 2011 R56s.

Other then that their is bavsound https://www.ecstuning.com/b-bavsound-parts/v-mini/ you would need to get a sub if you like more bass.

 

I am in process of a full audio upgrade one step at a time so I can evaluate each independently to my R59 w/HK. Details below.

I started with an 8835 Head unit replacement. Alone, this is a massive sound upgrade since it has a reasonably good EQ and it has higher signal strength to the HK amp, so it gets louder. Absolutely worth the cost/time/effort.

Next I added a JBL 4086 in place of the HK amp so I could define my own crossover points and center the image with time delay. This was a fantastic upgrade since it allowed me to fix the shortcomings of the HK audio scheme. A lot more bass, down to around 70hz solidly from the 6x9s. The highs no longer sound veiled. Overall it's a good bit louder but it's deceptive because of the reduced distortion making it much clearer. Equally, totally worth the expense, time, and effort.

Next step is installing a TS-WX70DA fed signal from the 4086 so I can control the EQing and flatten the response curve. If the bass has trouble getting through the midcar wall the R59 has, I'll put it in my F56. Then use a DD LE-ST06 or JL 6.5 micro sub, in cabin instead, behind passenger seat fed 300 watts. The DD is the louder option, for sure, but I'm hoping to get the wx70 to work as I want it to stay "OEM+" looking and hide all upgrades. This happens on Wednesday, I'll post results.

Final step will be installing a CDT ADP-5CH and the ML500 wide spectrum B kit, using active control and aluminum A-Pillar pods. Each ES-02EX will be fed 80ish watts from the 4086, 40 to tweet and 40 to mid. Each door 6.5 will get 125 watts from the ADP-5CH post 4086 so I can still DSP the signal. 6x9s will get channels 3/4 from the ADP-5CH with just a 12db bandpass between 70 and 500hz. If I'm using the DD or JL sub, it'll get channel 5 @300. This happens next week. Will report back, but this will take a lot of tuning to get dialed in.
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All in, if the WX70 is sufficient, costs are:
~600 head unit
~ 259 for JBL amp
~ 300 WX70
~ 200 CDT amp
~ 259 CDT speaker paclage

Everything was new and on sale except the head unit, which was MSRP. While it seems expensive it's less than 1/2 the cost of a stereo integrity upgrade and I will have a lot more volume, vastly superior imaging. Depending on which bass route I end up with, the bass should equal or surpase the IA setup easily.
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Bottom spot


Top Spot

Fits well in both locations. Bottom spot has advantage of already having strap tiedowns to hold it in place. Will be installing a black carpet over it to hide it from view. Perfect for a weekend warrior autox/track car. Pull the plugs, undo straps, sub removed in less than a minute with no bare leads that can short.

Wiring wise....
12v constant > fuse panel tap on 12v acc spot, has 20a fuse stock but I never pull more than 2.5a from it via USB charger. Sub requires 10a of power.
12v remote > back of 12v acc socket in trunk. Only powered when ignition is turned on.
Ground > trunk hinge mount point.
Signal > In a stock mini this should come from the front 6.5s since they have the widest signal range. In mine I'll use a dedicated DSP channel so I can EQ boost the 30hz- 45hz area to flatten the curve.

Alternate Mounting: it could be wrapped in black carpet and placed behind the seats on the parcel shelf so it's inside the cabin. At 3.5" thick it'll fit while leaving enough room for the seats to still accept a 6'3" (my height) driver in a fairly relaxed seating position. At ~ 12.5" wide, it will not mask the tweeters, but it will block nearly all the output from the 6x9s (which would be redundant at this point), not a big loss. I may try this first as I think being in cabin will greatly improve the results.
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Do you have any pictures?