I just wanted to update this. Today my friend Vic and I rewired the subs in our hatches. While the pin out numbers are correct, the wiring colors are not.

For the front amplifier inputs,
Fr + pin 9 bl/gr
Fr- Pin 17 bl/yellow

Fl +. Pin 38 gr/bl
Fl - Pin 30 gr/br

This is for a 2010 MCS and a 2011 JCW hatch.

So if you only look at wire colors, you'll screw it up.

 

That's a very good DIY tip. Im going to make note of it.

 

Thank you all for the amazing info on this forum. Read all 37 pages. Took a few days.

I have a 2013 R56 non S non HK audio.
I do have the Mini Connected system.

I ended up going to a local shop who installed 6.5 Kenwood KFC P709PS compound speakers and a matching tweeter in the upper 4" speaker slot.

I must say I miss the mid-range and the highs are now too high and irritating. I set the high frequencies on the Tone menu to the default middle setting. The lows are improved but nothing to go crazy about.

I am ditching the tweeters and ordered 4" Alpine SPS 410 2 ways to install myself.

I will use the info I gathered from this forum to install the alpine 4” speakers on the upper door slots.

Thanks all!

 

Are you going to do the front/rear swap? Makes a big difference

 

No. If I had the time and money I would most def. This is my second mini that I am replacing the four door speakers. The other one was a 2009 and at that point I had chosen Alpine 6.5 & Infinity 4" speakers. They did sound better then the stock speakers but nothing to brag about.

 

The front rear swap is much better than any speaker replacement that you can do.
For lack of a better description it is 10 times better bass wise than before.
I also got some tweeters and A Pillar panels that they are built in to with the HK Grilles and that helps the highs bounce off the front glass so my highs are great now too.
the kit that I bought from newministuff had an option for a front rear swap built in to the harness that they provide so everything was plug and play.
I'm very happy with the system now. That's saying quite a lot because I was considering getting an amp before and now I am quite happy with the bass so I won't be doing the amp.

 

Goto radio shack and buy 274-223. Crimp pin extractor then you can swap pins yourself, its completely reversible later for whatever reason.

 

By any chance do you know which to swap? And which connector?

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nnel-swap.html

 

Much appreciated. Guess it won't change much with the HiFi system. One of these days I'll replace the speakers.

 

Swapping speakers might not help very much from what I've read. The hi-fi/HK systems are hard to upgrade with speaker swaps since the stockers are so uniquely crappy in their specs. Be sure to read up all you can stand to make the most value added choices.

 

I finished the door speakers upgrade. Thank you to everyone who has contributed over the years as I was very prepared thanks to you all.

Here's what I did. 6.5 Kenwood KFC P709PS compound speakers on lower and Alpine 4" SPS 410 2 ways on upper. I removed the tweeter that came with the Kenwood from the upper speaker slot. Now my car sounds so much better with the 4" 2 ways and 6.5 inch speakers. Took a long drive today and now I'm really enjoying my tunes. It's sound great. Yes there are more aggressive upgrades that I could of done but for me I am done and happy. I am fading the speakers more to the fronts and a bit less to the back stock speakers.

Message me if anyone is interested in the kenwood tweeters as I will not be using them. They are only about a week and a half old so they are like new.

PS. This is my second Mini R56 that I've upgraded door speakers. The first was a 2009 in which I did the same upgrade but at the time I installed a 6.5" Alpine woofer on lower and 4" Infinity on upper. I don't recall the model numbers.

Again you guys Rock and now I am motoring happy! Cheers

 

If you are happy with it then you're done. All the front/rear swap does is send bass below 100 Hz to the rear 6x9's for a fuller bottom end which you can tweak with the bass and/or fader settings. Not as good as a dedicated sub but 'free' minus the cost of the tool.

 

It's better to just disable the cutoff via diagnostics, that way you have full signal to both front and rear speakers :-)
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3136998

I'm switching the front 2x2 speakers for 2x3 Clarions (SRQ1622S, SRG1022R, SRQ6933R), wish me luck :-)

Edit: And the operation succeeded. Thanks to all before me for their valuable information ;-)

 

I left the channel swap even after adding a sub to protect the front speakers from bass damage.

 

I just swapped my speakers in my 2009 JCW hardtop. I have the non-hifi system. I used 4" Pioneer TS-G1044R. The lower speakers, when you take the stock ones out leaves a big hole. I originally had 6.5 Polk Audio speakers, but I would have to drill new holes for that I figured i could use a larger size so I tried a 6-3/4 speaker. I was able to put in 6-3/4 Kicker CS67 in that spot AND use the same screw locations as the stock speakers. The holes wont go into the predrilled speaker holes in the Kickers, but the screws will screw in around the speaker to hold them in place. For the rear, I used 6x9 Alpine SPE-6090. I went to Best Buy and bought all of the speakers. With sales, I spent approximately $180. I have a Sony 4 channel amp that will eventually be installed, but that's later.

 

SO can the top speakers be replaced without removing the door panel ?

I want to try some 2 ways there and not swap the lower 6.5" at this time.

The right up looks like the cover can removed by itself for access t 3.5" speaker.

 

According to Crutchfield these 6x9s don't fit... But I got them in my 2010 mcs. Sure they're right up against the panels, but it doesn't affect the sound and it's not like anyone shuts back there anyway. Great success.

 

No, you have to remove the door panels to swap any Mini speakers. I have a 2014 JCW Coupe with HK, and am not in love with the sound. Anyone know of a Phoenix shop that can swap out the speakers. I assume the front/rear wiring swap won't help me with the HK. The lower door bass speakers sometimes buzz and the uppers sound tinny. I liked my 2007 HK sound better than this.

 

I know I'm late to the party...
Seems like if you're going to go through all this work, this would also be an ideal time to put in the sound dampening pads. I can't imagine you'd need very much for the entire Mini though!

 

EPIC thread guys - extremely thorough and informative - a credit to all those who have contributed.

Collected my gf's 'new' 2008 Mini Cooper on Tuesday, standard 'Boost' audio so I'll be tackling the front speakers soon. I'd researched all sorts of options such as $500 component sets from Hertz, Rainbow, DLS and others. I looked at the extreme opposite end of the price range too, FLI, JBL and lower end Alpine items. After reading all these pages (and separating out the info on the uprated hifi systems from the stock) I think I'll just opt for swapping the front door speakers for some 4" and 6.5" Co-axials - it seems the simplest option, a discreet install and with a bit of sound deadening to the lower door card they should give a clearer sound than the paper mush BMW installed.

I had considered using component items and adding tweeters at the A pillars for improved soundstage but to be honest the extra hassle of running wires through the door boot isn't worth the effort, my gf is no audiophile

Channel swap - maybe in future, but that will depend on the performance of the larger drivers in the front, and doing the channel swap would also mean upgrading the rear speakers.


I'm torn between these two set ups..

JL Audio TR400Xi and TR650Xi
Hertz DCX100 and DCX165

Both are similarly priced and not hugely different spec or fit wise. The Hertz items do have higher sensitivity 93dB versus 91dB for the JL (some sites also quote the 4" JL at 85dB).

Given the weedy 15W / channel power of the Mini system do you think that extra sensitivity would be beneficial ??

thanks

 

Despite my post above, could someone give me some guidance on this possible set up..

Audison AP 6.5 for lower door position

http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=product&id=58

and Audison APX4.0 coaxial for the upper door position..

http://www.audison.eu/index.php?page=product&id=60

The AP6.5 is a mid/bass driver only, and appears to accept a full range signal (no crossover, no filters) but won't play the highs due to its mechanical design.

I'm thinking that compared to a 6.5" lower coax and a 4" upper coax this may not be such a bad thing - a single tweeter set up rather than pair of tweeters 10" apart in the door card.

The Audison items have good efficiency so appear able to cope with the head units lower power ?

 

Do the front rear swap for $ NO MONEY$, Let your non audiophile girlfriend take a listen to the drastic improvement.
Enjoy the new fuller sound.
I fancy myself an audiophile and I have put off getting an amp and replacing the fronts since doing the swap.

I bought the A Pillar kit from new mini stuff that has Clarion tweeters behind the HK Grills . I ordered it with the front rear swap speaker plug built in.
There was not wiring required. I just had to pull out the plug behind the kick panel and put the new plug in between and the wires to the other side were easily tucked under the header panel.

I also swapped out the factory 6x9s in the back for some soundstream 6x9s.

So now I have some decent highs in the front and dramatically improved bass in the back.

Start with the front rear swap for no money and see how she likes that.
I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

Thanks for the advice

I consider the channel swap a non starter, a bit of a 'frig' to get round the silly frequency cut offs BMW built into the head unit. I'm not prepared to do the channel swap myself so £40 for a simple wire loom could be money spent elsewhere IMO.

My thoughts are that if I was only sticking to the factory speakers then moving the full range signals to the rear wouldn't be a bad thing (as the 6x9s are obviously the best option for producing any bass response), but the end result is still a muddled sound from the shoddy cheap paper speakers. I'm not prepared to rip out the rear of the car to swap 6x9s; I have a busy life so it's door cards only - i know i can do both doors in half a day.

There are several posters (BASIL around post #240 for instance) who have swapped the front speakers for better untis and been happy with the improved clarity and a slight increase in bass - I'm happy to follow their experience whether its JL Audio TR400/650 units or Hertz or Alpine or another.

Moving to the bigger drivers in the front doors should in theory give more bass response, and opting for speakers with >= 91dB should give ample volume for normal listening sound level using head unit power. I'm not looking for thumping bass, just more clarity and a little wider frequency replay.

Rightly or wrongly I'm going to just swap the front door speakers, my only query is whether two coax sets are going to be better or worse than a mid woofer and single 4" coax set up.

 

Percymon, just though I'd share; whatever you do, do not install two coaxial speaker sets in the doors. After reading the very first entry in this thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-upgrades.html, I discovered that's a mistake.
I originally installed two JBL coaxial pairs in the doors, and then I read that thread; I ordered these from Crutchfield:


http://www.crutchfield.com/p_500SPS6...0C.html?tp=106


They sound is awesome!


You will also need to universal plastic panel kit and a Dremel tool with a 565 multi purpose cutting kit to make your own adapters for the tweeters. That was my tool of choice anyway.


I just finished my install yesterday, and the sound is amazing compared to the old speaker setup. Now I'm off to order my pin extractor so I can do the front/rear swap.


K