In my experience the best place to grab the inputs is from the back of the headunit. I ran an audion control Lc6i and used the rearinputs to supply a signal to it and the front full range signal to supply a signal to channels 2 and 3. If your amps can take speaker level inputs I'd grab the front signal at the head unit and use then run your amplified speaker side to the factory wires. I also ditched the stock 4 inch and had no problem. I take it your speaking about the Kicker cvt 6.5's for bass. I was thinking of sticking a pair in the same location for a mid-bass application, I just got 2 new 8" l7's for my bass I'm replacing a 10" CVX. Let me know how those cvt's work for ya.

Neither of my amps take speaker line inputs.

I was looking at the 8 inch L7 at first and building a box on one of the sides of the boot. I'd be overpowering the D2 but i think it'd thump. the problem i was running into was where to put 2 amps and a box without mounting anything on a floor and not cutting anything up.

I cant find any actual reviews of the kicker 6.5 inch subs in action, though each vehicle is different.

So I just read through this whole thread. Lots of great info in here! I want to upgrade the audio in my wife's 2012 MC with base stereo. She's not an audiophile by any means but knows she doesn't like the stock system. Here's what I'm thinking:

Polk DB6501 up front
Polk DB691 in the rear
Bass600 for a little added kick

Seems like a reasonably price setup that hopefully will deliver a nice improvement over stock. I plan on having it professionally installed. Any thoughts before I pull the trigger?

Thanks!

NO need for the Bass 600, just go with a regular 4 channel amp in the boot and you will be in sound nirvana

Really? Well crap I haven't researched amps. How much power do I need?

Those speakers are 2.7 ohm and need more power than the stock HU can provide. Look at Alpine or Polk 45w per channel should be plenty. You do NOT need a sub woofer at all. I have the Alpine MRV-300 I think its an older amp, or you can try one of their newer switching amps. Where do u live ?

Cool thanks! I'll start reading up on the amps. I'm in Charlotte, NC.

Sounds like an excellent plan -- that's what I did!

Do the channel swap first! Then pick off the signal for the sub from the X9331 connector (tap into it while you're doing the channel swap).

You don't need a 4 channel amp in the Mini to drive the Polk speakers -- it gets plenty loud without one.

But if you're not sure, take things in steps --

(1) do the channel swap and be very surprised at how much that helps!

(2) swap out the speakers, front and rear. Yeah, the rear ones are a pain, but you only have to do it once!

(3) Add the sub if you feel you need it. I think it adds a lot.

Drive it for a while before you put in an amp. I've driven mine for a few years now, without putting in an amp!

Have fun!

Bob K6RTM

Thanks Bob! I spoke with a local installer to get a quote on the install and he talked me out of the amp and sub for now too. He was advising me to get some better speakers though. He recommended the hybrid audio image up front and mirus in the rear. Need to read up on those to see if it's worth the extra money or not.

hello guys, i just installed a new system to my mcs r56. but it doesn't sound good at all.

first of all, there are nearly no audiophiles in turkey. so there is no one i can ask any questions at all. i done research all by myself, and done the instalments.

whatever, kicker ks52 components at the front (i am not sure about 52 part but it is ks series), kenwood kfc-6984ps at the rears and kenwood kac2404s amp installed. i couldn't find any good subwoofer without killing my trunk completely. there is no false floor thingy where i live. so there is no subwoofer installed. also note that at the front, i uninstalled 3.5 speakers and changed them with kicker's own tweeters. and also because i am not fancy about electrical loads or ohms just did plain wiring. positive end to the positive, neg to the neg, fronts channel a, rears channel b.

well, i wasn't expecting something high end but this happened to be nearly as bad as the first place. is there any cheap modification(s) i can do to fix this? like buying 3.5's and changing places of tweeters, low/high-pass filter position, or just cross wiring or something. please help me guys, coz' audio quality in this car is killing me.

-note, just to point out how bad my workmanship is, i duct taped tweeters into the 3.5 speaker column. also screwed the amplifier behind the rear seat so it's all visible with wirings and stuff. i am willing to change it's position but i am not sure where to, considering it's a big amp.

Component speakers work best with a crossover between them and the amp. Check this setup to see if a pass filter needs to be adjusted. May be able to set it to improve sound. Plus, without the channel swap, your bass is getting cut off from the head unit beforre reaching the front channel.

Does your amp have a gain control or different input lines? Since you were humble in your post, I have to ask if you are using speaker level line in or pre amp input? I'll let you research the amp install but wanted to ask the question just in case.

Good luck to you.

i think it's connected with pre amp input. yes it's a 4 channel amplifier. i connected fronts to a, rears to b. it has gain control for both of these channels. also i have i/o switch for hi-pass filter for b channel and low-pass frequency selector for a channel.

and when you're saying channel swap, do i have to change rears to a, fronts to b? do i have to activate hi-pass?

thanks for helping btw.

It is so hard to figure out what can be done to improve someone else's setup through a forum. I recommend reading through the threads twice at least. I did that and then took notes the third time so that I could reference them during my install. I even pulled the thread up a 4th time during my install of my x9331 pass through connector. If that's sounding foreign to you, I recommend taking this install one step at a time to reduce variables and confirm hook ups.

The channel swap is done to get the full spectrum of sound that MINI sends to the rear speakers and send them to the front speakers. You'll read from the threads that the cut off happens in the lower frequencies from 100 Hz down. So your components may or may not be able to take advantage of those frequencies. Totally depends on the speakers you have. If you decide to hook up a subwoofer, you'll need that rear channel to go to the sub.

You've replaced all your speakers and I'm guessing you have the basic audio setup with 6 speaker locations. Your rear speakers are now more capable to produce the lower frequencies so it it's good that you didn't perform the channel swap. The sound may not be as good for lots of reasons. One of the things I noticed is that the tweeter performance is greatly affected by position. I wanted to keep my setup stock and subtle. However, that means I have high frequency sound coming out of the 3.5 inch speaker locations in the doors (like yours). When I am not paying attention, my knee will block the sound and make it seem that my car only has a right side tweeter.

These are a few thoughts only. I would be tempted to take off the speakers in the doors and test sound from the amp to the speakers to make sure the filters you have and gain are set to your liking. I know, I know, the sound is different in free space versus with the speaker mounted in the door.

That reminds me, you can use sound deadener in the doors to help as well. that's a lot more work, but everyone I've read says this pays off huge.

Sorry if this seems overkill, but hopefully, some of my anecdotes help you. Good Luck!

ty for all your help. i simply swapped the channels. sound is much better to my ears now(it could be placebo effect too though ). basses coming from rears, mids and lows on front, it's much clearer. position of the tweeters is still a problem though. like you said, driver's and passenger's knees are blocking the lows.

i have a different question there. i'm planning to buy that a pillars with tweeters. and move my tweeters into a-pillars. i have 4 channel amp btw. my concern is when i put 3.5''s into the system, am i going to need 6 channel amp, or should i cross connect, or simply put these new speakers into front channels?

one more and last question, i need this a-pillars with tweeter holes. where can i buy? it also has to be international shipping.

I think the best combination might be most easily achieved by using components that were designed to work together. The tweeter, mid range, and woofer would have complimentary ranges and all three be connected to one crossover. The crossover would then be connected to the AMP. There may be other ways to do this but I couldn't tell you how. The vendors that support this forum sell internationally as well, just need to investigate which ones. I don't have experience with them so can't recommend from experience. However, I would start looking here as they support this great forum.

Can you recommend a cheap and good crossover i should look at?

I just replaced the front stock speakers (non-HK) with Polk Audio DB6501 components, surface mounting the tweeters behind the upper stock grills. Following recommendations on this thread and elsewhere, I set the crossovers at -3 dB -- to avoid harsh treble. But I think I should have left the crossovers set at neutral. To get a natural sound, I had to crank the treble control on the headunit up to +10 and (surprisingly) reduce the bass -2. With no other mods, the sound is far better than the muddy stock speakers -- but I'm not satisfied. It can be still better.

For the rear, I WAS going to install the Polk Audio DB691 which were often recommended here. But the Crutchfield site says they won't fit models newer than 2008 (2009?), and Amazon agrees. Be sure to check fit before ordering!

After a good bit of internet research, I ordered a pair of Infinity REF-9603IX (6x9, 3-way). For now I'm leaving the Polk crossovers set at -3 dB because the Infinities will be adding treble, possibly making the -3 just right -- we'll see (or hear).

I want to avoid adding an amp, and these Infinities claim 94 dB sensitivity. No need to break windows. Once the weather warms up enough to work outside, I'll attempt the front/rear channel swap. Wish me luck! I'll let you know what happens.

Quick question: If I upgrade the door speakers, is the channel swap still necessary?.. Do I leave as is, or will a channel swap make new speakers sound even better?.....thanks!

If only swapping I would. I dont know about that too much because I abandonded the factory wiring. If doing the doors only id say no I think the swap is to get bass to the rear. I am not using the 6x9's

Little confused...first you said yes, then at the end,no. Haha!

I plan to upgrade all three sizes of speakers.

I did the doors, left the rears and swapped the channels. For the $$, it's the best sound improvement over the stock set up.

Hey Guys and Gals,

I know this is a bit off topic but I thought it would be the best place to ask. I put a small dent in my quarter panel, more or less right where the rear speaker is. When you guys are taking out the rear speakers can you access the quarter panel itself to remove dents or is there a second wall behind them? I don't want to spend hours getting the side panels out just to find out it won't help me at all

Thanks!!

Depending on the exact spot Yes you can access the quarter panel. Im not going to guaretnee it will be wide open access but it is accesable. It really isnt to hard to get that panel out either. There is a thread maybe this one step by step n screw by screw how to remove. I may have it in favorites if need be. Good Luck

I currently have the panel off and am going so splice into the wires for my amp. There is a blue wire with gray stripe and blue wire with a black stripe. Which is negative? its a cooper s 2009 left side (Drivers in US)

I got everything working right, 2 12 inch subs in the boot and a 500 watt amp to match. It all works but I have a check engine light on. Some weird things. I had to pull of the shift lever cover and pull the yellow pin to move it into neutral to push it (accidentaly killed battery). I now hear a thumping like noise when I push the brake pedal in park. All reverse and drive are fine, not sure about neutral. I also pulled the radio fuse when the car was running, not sure if that effects it. I did cut the speaker wire going to the rear 6x9 to get the inputs. Not sure exactly when it came on but i think it was after everything was done. Solid yellow light with just the outline, not half filled in