What problems did you have taking the back out? Do you have pics of how you took the back out?

The link in the first post of this thread no longer works.

 

Replacing my fronts. anyone know + and - wire colors?

 

Traditionally black is (-) red/pink/etc is (+)

Do a search here. Someone wrote the exact colors of the front speakers. I'm going from memory but I recall black so the other color is the +

 

I searched. didn't find much. My wires are brown, yellow etc. Doesn't help that i'm partially color blind lol

 

Go through this thread I'm sure its here or google it. However, if you haven't pulled the plugs on your factory speakers you can match the colors there to the +/- The speakers themselves are clearly marked which is =/-

 

I think i got it. Seems like a good improvement. Not life changing but a step in the right direction. I think the tweeters are helping fill the sound alot.

 

When I worked at a stereo shop back in the day we would verify speaker polarity by attaching a AA or AAA battery to the speaker leads to identify + and - .
You knew you had it correct when you could see the speaker cone push out as you touched the battery to the speaker wires. only apply the voltage for a second or two so as to not damage the speaker. I never damaged any speakers using this method.
The front and rear speaker wire reversal is a mod that you should try.
The difference is drastic.

 

Front speaker wires are as follows:


RT Front 5.5 Mid-bass - Yellow with Purple Line is Positive
RT Front 3.5 - Blue with Black Line is Positive


LFT Front 5.5 Mid-bass - Black with Red Stripe is Positive
LFT Front 3.5 - Blue with White Stripe is Positive.


Hope that helps. Can anyone verify the 6x9 wiring configuration?


Thanks,
Erik

 

I hope your good by now but the front speakers are both on same channel if base system on r56

 

Sorry to bring back an old thread.

I've got the 2010 H/K system and I'm still quite unsure as to how I might go about upgrading it. On the one hand I remember reading somewhere in this thread that a simple lower-door woofer upgrade brought about good results for a H/K owner, on the other hand some have mentioned that the H/K system is not easily upgradable.

Has anyone with an H/K or HiFi system replaced the door speakers with a component set to good results? And in that case would the stock A-pillar tweeters still be relevant? I am eyeing the integral audio setup as well but would prefer not to spend $2000 on audio upgrades for now.

Thanks in advance!

 

Professional Trade: Land Surveyor
Knowledge: Know enough to be dangerous

A million thanks to the person that started and everyone that contributed to this thread. Without those that contributed I would have not had the gull to attempt my own upgrade.

OEM: 2013 Mini Cooper S R56 (No HK system - 6 speaker system)
Harness: Integral Audio X9331 T-Harness
Front: Infinity Perfect 5.1
Rear: Infinity Kappa 963.11i
Amp: Alpine PDR-F50
Deadening: ≈24 ft.² Dynamat Extreme

Did NOT want a sub, was not ready to sacrifice space & wanted to keep factory look overall. Frankensteined the IA harness to get feed to the rears which I ran directly off the amp and also used the harness feed back into the front from the amp, avoiding the door fishing nightmare I've read about.

Around a solid 40-50 layman hours. First time dismantling a car, I understand a Mini Cooper is one of the more complex and many hours of those hours went to the Dynamat installation.

Dealing with some minor alternator buzz at the moment, but plan to update after some local shop quizzing.

 

Check your ground wire for the amp. Make sure the ground is on a clean metal surface. wire brush the area where you have the ground wire and try again. Also from what I am reading you are not using RCA wires but if you were I would invest in a ground loop isolator.


Erik

 

Thanks Erik, I used the ground everything under the sun was grounded to at the factory, it was close and convenient. I have since discovered that's not a good idea and I should've grounded it by itself. I am using RCAs off the Ideal Audio harness, would a few ground loop isolators solve all my problems (and save me from dismantling my ride again)?

 

Unless there is a problem with the connection/terminal/etc, the ground probably not your issue. The vehicle common ground points are good grounds. These vehicles are inherently noisy though. The "alternator whine" you hear is actually something called AC ripple. Your alternator makes AC, your car needs DC. The AC is rectified to DC with a diode bridge, but there are varying degrees of voltage fluctuation left over - you get DC mostly, but with a tiny bit of AC left over. That's what you hear as that high pitched whine, that increases in pitch (frequency) as a multiple of RPM.

Alternator whine is present in all MINI's, to various degrees, right off the factory floor. You're likely hearing it now because you have the input sensitivity set too high on your amp.

This should fix it for you:
-> Turn the door gong all the way to minimum
-> Adjust your input sensitivity (gain) on your amp up until the door gong is at the maximum level you can tolerate
-> If you still have alternator whine, adjust the gain down a bit more until it goes away
-> If you no longer have enough output at max volume, turn the gain back up a bit

There's more detail in the tuning guide for our Soundstage™ system: Integral Audio MCSS630 Setup & Tuning Guide. If you understand it, you can apply much of what it says to your own system to get your levels set correctly and minimize noise. Your audio system is still never going to sound like the Soundstage™, but hey, it's something right?

 

Yes when installing my amp I made a new ground that was away from all other wires etc so there was no chance in getting any interference from other wires in the car. make sure to sand the metal spot you decide to use as a ground point down to the steel (also make sure that the spot you pick has nothing underneath it so you don't cause more issues). get a good self tapping screw and your all set. Yes do try the ground loop isolator as well. I have had no issue with any alternator whine etc in my Mini, I also worked in the car audio industry for a time and did many installs without getting any whine through the speakers with the correct installation. You should not have to diminish anything or turn off any thing in your mini in order to use your system if you correctly install all your components. Just my 2 cents. Give it a try and let me now how it works out for you.


Erik

 

I have to disagree with Erik here. First, it's not possible to get a better ground than the common ground points present in the vehicle. The best you could hope for is to get an equally good ground at some other point, but in many cases it will be worse to some degree. Depending on where you place the ground, there might be a lot less metal cross-section between you and that common ground point.

Second, the ground is part of the DC power circuit. Any noise there (there isn't much that's relevant) won't be present or audible in the audio output circuit, unless you have a really, really crappy amplifier (even then probably not). And, even if there were, it would be present on any other ground point in the vehicle - electrically they are all identical unless it's an inferior ground.

Third, a ground loop isolator is not good practice, no high quality system will use one. They work by breaking the DC circuit (i.e. there is no longer direct wire connecting one point to the other). Instead, they use two coils paired together, which will pass AC (i.e. an audio signal) by inductively coupling (the AC signal passes electro-magnetically instead of electrically). There is ALWAYS some level of loss of quality with a ground loop isolator. Most importantly, if the OP is dealing with the issue I think he is, it won't help him. The AC ripple is present on the input signal, independent of his aftermarket equipment. And since the ripple is an AC signal on the input, the ground loop isolator will happily pass it right on thru to the amplifier.

Which makes a good suggestion: Ground loop isolators are cheap. Buy one and try it. If it works, your problem is related to your install. Find the problem and fix it, and then throw the ground loop isolator in the trash. If it doesn't work (it likely won't), the problem is what I described above. Follow the earlier instructions, and still throw the isolator in the trash....

 

I am royally confused and lost as I have a 2013 MCS LCI R56
the speakers are not 5 1/4 they are 6 1/4~1/2 - this is nor the HK stereo. the speaker mount for the lower speaker has 4 screws and is a square pattern, it is not the triangular 3 screw pattern.
I didn't know this
got a pair of JBL Concert 5 1/4" from crutch field and in an effort to not have to return them I am trying to find the 6.5" to 5 1/4" adapter and coming up empty handed.like totally empty.

the universal adapter crutchfield offered as a free addon doesn't even remotely come close to fitting and I REALLY don't feel like drilling all new holes, though its not the end of the world if I do.
just don't want to have to mar the factor door plastic mount.

does anything know of an adapter out there for this type of speaker mount in the mini.
I find it impossibly hard to believe all I am finding is 3 screw pattern adapters

 

I'm not quite sure what you mean:

Your car has 4 screw mounting points for the 6,5" speakers and you try to fit into them 5 1/4 " speakers with 3 screw mounting points?

If you mean the opposite (i.e. your car has 3 screw mounting points while the speakers you bought have 4), then I don't understand where the problem is with using the 3 screw adapters (and drilling extra holes into the adapters).

My 2010 LCI R56 with standard Audio had 3 screw mounting points (and speakers) from factory. I fitted standard sized, 4 screw mounting speakers (Hertz ECX 165.L5 for that matter) by simply using three of the four speaker's mounting screws, drilling them into the soft plastic where needed (i.e. where no factory holes where at that point). I didn't use any adapter.

 

No i mean my lower door speaker is 6 ¼ and uses 4 mount screws , not 3 like i see everything else Online use.
got to 4:10. This may be the exact speaker (much larger than a true 5 ¼ infact the Infinity one can almost as a whole fit inside the ones i removed


i think my pattern is more square but it may have been my gut wrenching disappointment that i wasnt going to be able to moint my speakers :( messing with me.
my passenger door speaker is blown

 

Apologies, I was wrong: the 6.5" factory speakers from my car have indeed 4-screw mounting points (I just checked them). The lower two are closer to each other than the top two, so it is not a perfect fit for generic aftermarket speakers.

I may have the chance to take a couple of pictures of my installed aftermarket speakers later on. If so, I will post them here for what it's worth.

Is it not possible to drill holes into the adapter you were sent?

 

The 5.25 speakers fit inside the factor hole almost. the screw mount tabs on the infinity speakers sticking out stop it from going all the way in but not enough i can directly mount them and would cause a massive gab so still needs an adapter plate to mount to and seal it

 

5.25 to 6.5 inch adapter plates are out there. Metra makes them and I see some electronics chain stores that sell them. Not going to post any links so that this message doesn't get deleted as advertising. Hint: opposite of Worst Buy ! ;-)

 

yeah i saw some metra bestbuy ones i did google but but but lol damn BMW the mounting is not round so it needs to be a mini esque mount
google here i come