I gave up on the new Alpine unit for my '03 MCS with H/K and Factory Nav.

I would like to upgrade the sound, keeping the original deck I guess. Unless a later model stock deck will work?

Would like to add an amp and 2 speakers. Has anyone tried an upgrade on just amp and speakers? No line-out on the stock deck. Looking for ideas.

 

Good idea, mingus. The HK is a good sounding unit, but lacks any real power. I'm also curious to see what my options are. If you come up with an amp solution ex-NAM could you please post any info? Thanx.

 

It is not easy as the Head unit talks to teh H/K module. Ian Cull did a fair amount of work on this and even came up with a module that is now sold by a vendor over at MINI2.com. The guy's name is Mikeythemini but I can't remember the name of his store. ANyway, search for posts by IanC here or go to his blog at www.gbmini.net .

 

Problem is, he doesn't have anything that will work with the Nav. Having the nav makes the audio system upgrade extremely hard I guess.

Would a later year srock head unit have line-outs maybe?

 

Please see the sticky at the top of this forum.

The only difference with the later decks is the '05+ play mp3 and wma files also. The earliest '02 HUs had no inputs and none of them have line outs.

Some in this forum have had trouble with speaker-level to line out converters so you may have to try a few to find one that works. Note that many modern amps already have one built-in and can accept speaker-level wired to their RCA inputs.

Personally the only thing I'd add is a sub.

 

too bad I have the nav. that h/k system is marginal at best. Going to look into selling my car.

 

Selling the car because of the HK? That seems a bit extreme. Have you listened to another HK system to confirm that maybe something is wrong with yours? Most people I know don't typically describe the HK as "marginal".

Below is a link to how one guy replaced all the speakers on his HK system.

http://gbmini.net/downloads/PGEN/

 

My HK was weak as well.... lacked power/volume/clarity.

I removed the Head unit and amp and went with aftermarket all the way around.
MUCH IMPROVED.
Still got my Steering wheel controls.
Much more flexibility than the stock stuff.

Good luck
Donald

 

yeah, I am looking for one that I could swap in and out at will.