so i finally got my system installed in my new mcs (less than 2 weeks old with less than 1k miles). i bought everything for my jetta III vr6 and decided it needs to come with me on my new journey. i went to tweeter and had everything installed professionally.

specs:

4 JL XR 6.5" components----these mounted fine in the front doors with a bracket built custom for them. in the rear they used a 6x9 bracket and mounted the tweeter and 6.5" in the same bracket.

1 JL 250/1 slash series
1 JL 300/4 slash series
1 Monster .5 farad cap----these are all mounted on the floor of the trunk with a false floor built out of MDF has a hole cut out in the middle so all you can see is the cap. soon to cut out jl symbol and fill in with plexi so amps can be seen.

1 JL 12W6v2----in custom box on top of false floor, built to fit the big bastard in the trunk while still giving plenty of room for the hatch to close.

1 Alpine CDA-9857-----with ipod adapter, i love this head unit and i dont even know anything about it. i had the cda-9815 prior to this one and they are pretty close but this one has alot more bells and whistles.

my goal with a system is excellent mids and highs with a side dish of bass for accentuation not so i can set off car alarms or scare old women.

bottom line: while all of these things put together make the car incredibly loud. i need dynamat and i need to mess with settings on stereo more to make the sound how i want it.

i have always loved JL audio and i would recommend their products to anyone and everyone.

 

your setup looks nice

i also got jl audio in my mini.. show us some pics i'd like to see how you fitted the sub in the boot..

grtz

 

I have JL too that I need to get in my new (to me) mini S... I'd love to see some pics!

 

Pictures Pictures Pictures

How responsive is the Alpine / iPod combo? How long do you have to wait to switch artist / album / playlist / whatever?

 

http://s37.photobucket.com/albums/e6.../JL%20install/


i love every minute of it.

yes the alpine/iPod interface is incredible. i have a friend who spent 300+ on an ipod adaptor for his new stock GTI and he can only play 5 playlists and he has to scroll through each individual song to get to #5000 if thats the one he wants to listen to.

the alpine as you can see from the pictures allows you to play all your playlists, recently added, recently played, top 25 most played, you can scroll through all your artists, buttons 1-6 correspond to certian places in your library (i.e. #2=33% into your library ~E or so in mine) this is a new feature for this years model, i have a 60 gig ipod with over 1200 artists and for me this comes in handy therfore i dont have to scroll for 10 mins to get to M.

i am very happy with alpine and the ipod interface and the whole thing not installed for ~$400. worth it in my book.

full speed by the way GBMINI as if its plugged into headphones. no delay whatsoever.

 

Thanks for the iPod stuff - I think my Kenwood is not long for this world

That's a Big Bad Bass unit !

 

I assume the new alpine unit can work with MFSW, does it? also can it work with the factory HK system?

 

To get any aftermarket head unit to work with H/K, you need a special adaptor (the "HKenabler") available as far as I know from only one place ...
http://www.newministuff.com/new/shop...uctshow&id=116

 

Thanks GBMINI, I looked at the enabler, seems with it all the H/K amp features are kept (though I'm not clear how a new HU can use them, and how the magic button of the enabler works), and there is no loss on audio quality, right? Is there a manual of the enabler somewhere so I can check how much effort is needed in order to hookup everything together? From what I read, to make a new HU work with a MSFW, another adaptor is needed, and probably an ISO adaptor too, arrrh. Proprietary stuff sucks.

 

A search for "HKenabler" on my website will give you background into how I created it - for example:
http://www.gbmini.net/mtblog/archive..._with_af.shtml

You can download instructions here:
http://www.gbmini.net/MINIcircuit/HKenabler.pdf
If you get it from Mikey, the wires are already linked into his harness adaptor.

If your aftermarket head unit is compatible with an MFSW adaptor that Mikey sells, he can provide a complete unit with harness adaptor, HKenabler and MFSW interface (like the lower picture in this weblog entry)
Only thing is, US units don't have the "ISO connectors" so you have to cut off those plugs, and crimp/solder the wires to the ends of the aftermarket head unit.
Mikey can also provide the needed slot adaptor to mount the unit, and the antenna adaptor!
(you can get most of this stuff from USA shops, but not the HKenabler)


A note on audio quality:
As you can read on my website, the H/K system is set up so that volume/tone/etc are digitally communicated from stock HU to H/K amp - and the speaker level outputs from the HU are fixed at about 4Vpp; the H/K amp gains these up according to the volume and sends them left/right/front/rear according to balance/fade.

With an aftermarket HU, the HU speaker output varies volume by changing its voltage level. So to get a good high level of sound, the H/K amp must be run at its maximum gain/volume all the time.
This means that when the music is quiet, you can hear a background level of noise from the H/K amp circuits. Not very intrusive, but not zero either.

On the up side, you can generally get a bit more max volume from the system, and the aftermarket HU typically allows more manipulation of sound than just simple bass/treble.

 

PS: Sorry brentsufi for taking over your thread! It wasn't my fault

 

not my fault either , how could it be? I mentioned aftermark HU all the time.

I thought the output from stock HU is through lineout ports, or better yet SPDIF port, good to know it's otherwise.

So to me the assumtion is that aftermartket HU can't pump higher voltage than a stock HU does, even if the volumn **** points to 11, well...fine then. But for a normal volume keeping amp at maximum gain isn't optimal, I was hoping the magic button of enabler is capable of adjusting H/K amp volume as well.

 

thats fine GB hey i know you have the full dynamat kit and now that i have everything installed it has become blatently clear that i need to do the dynamat, my back inner panels are vibrating very loud. do you have any reviews on how well it works and where to place. just wondering so i can maximize my dollar. im thinking a bulk pack of dynamat extreme should do the job. how much did you use?

 

Since I didn't do the install I'm not sure how much Dynamat was used - lots though!
Jamie took lots of pics during the install, and you can see the Dynamat in some of them:




Go to the Gallery for more pics.

I don't know about Dynamat on the panels - but there's no vibration in GBMINI (but then, I only have 2 x 6" bass units)

 

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-Q1aQfU5...lp&i=127SWIALP

If you go the U.S. route, this is the adaptor you'll need for the 9857 to work with the MFSW. I've got it in mine. Sometimes, like 2 or 3 times since I had it installed in May, it went dormant, but as soon as I restarted the car, everything worked as it should. It honestly has not been worth the effort to debug.

I'm totally happy with the 9857 and 422i connector. I'm still using my OEM non-HK speakers. The quality is excellent, sometimes even better than my cds, at least the ones I ripped. My only complaint is the am/fm reception. It's not even as good as the stock Mini radio. But I knew that gong in...Alpine doesn't care about 'earth radio' and I live with that.

Get the 9857, you won't regret it.

 

Nice pix on the Alpine install. Alpine is a much better look than other HUs IMO.

THe installers broke my Alpine and gave me a more expensive Eclipse HU but I've never liked the look of it, or the interface. I miss my Alpine.