Has anyone completed an upgrade to their Clubman S sound system?
What choices did you make and did you do it yourself?
looking to do mine soon and looking for recomendations as well.
I have the non-hi-fi system.

 

mosey on over to the Navigation & Audio forum. Several threads on there, such as this one
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...questions.html

Then, if you come up with a simple, straightforward solution, post that for me, because there is too much in there for someonelike me to figure out what 1-2 things to do.

 

Firstly, If you have not already doe it follow this thread and it will make a big difference in the sound quality of the Non-HiFi system.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ust-do-it.html

Then from that thread there will be links to many other threads about stereo upgrades and sub woofers.

Also search the threads in the NAV and Audio section. there are many many threads there that go over different type of upgrades and many suggestions.

 

This thread also touches on base audio system mods - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...clubman-2.html

around post#48 - coolvinny talks about getting better results by installing better front speakers, as opposed to the front-rear channel swap. hmmm . . .

 

first step replace oem speakers makes big difference.
second step get an amplifier for the speakers and maybe the a sub
3rd step get a sub -- Roadster sound or have a custom one made.
4th step put sound deadening

Look at the threads in the NAV and Audio there will be a lot of help there.

 

I am very happy after upgrading our system, the bass is nice with the sub and the infinity speakers I used for the rest of the system sounds awesome.

 

The stock HIFI system lacks bass, no, it has almost no bass.
Go after market.

 

Rasputinj do mind sharing more details around your upgrade and costs? I'd like to upgrade the OEM speakers over the next year or so. Reply or PM me if you feel so inclined.

I've wondered if I can upgrade to a new amp and relocate it from the OEM amp and use that space to put a sub in there.

 

You could do the channel swap but then you're still left with a stereo that has no tweeters anywhere, and crappy OEM 6x9 rears trying to put out bass. It's true that after the channel swap you will at least have audible bass, but you will get more bass out of foregoing the channel swap and just upgrading the front speakers. That's where you get the biggest bang-for-your-buck - upgrading the front speakers while keeping the bass on the front channel. Beyond that, you could upgrade the rears, but it's a lot more work and doesn't make very much difference if you're already upgraded the fronts (assuming you spend most your time in the front of the car...) - although it is nice having having tweeters in some upgraded rear 6x9 co-axials in order to provide some highs.

I'd recommend putting quality 6.5" co-axials in the fronts and then disconnecting the smaller 3.5" front speakers. Those changes will make a tremendous improvement. If you're still not happy, then consider swapping the rears and doing the channel swap.

One downside of upgrading both the front and rears is that, with suddenly going from 0 tweeters to 4 tweeters, the stereo becomes full of treble relative to bass. But you can control that with the stereo controls. I have my bass at +3 and my treble at -1, with my balance at -1 from the right side (mostly because the ribbon tweeters in the rear 6x9 Hertz HCX's are so damn effective).

Having upgraded all 4 speakers with Hertz HCX series (for a total cost of what the HI-FI would have cost me in the first place, including all labour by a car stereo shop), the sound is now excellent. If I wanted more, I might add an amp down the road but I certainly wouldn't bother with a sub.

 

Why would you recommend disconnecting the 3.5" speakers? Would it be worth it to upgrade those too?

 

Because you only have a finite amount of power going to the front speakers from the head unit. The front speakers are all sharing the power being sent to the front channel; it's a 4 channel head-unit even though there are 6 stock speakers in total.

By disconnecting the 3.5's, you send more power to the other, larger front speakers (which come stock as I think 5.25's but you can easily upgrade to aftermarket 6.5's as myself and many others have done).

The real question is whether one is better off going with a 2-way component set for the fronts (i.e. 6.5 driver and then a tweeter in the 3.5 spot) or just a 6.5" co-axial with a built-in tweeter. I went with a co-axial because:
- I liked the sound of the Hertx HCX 165.3 co-axial and the co-axial was cheaper than the comparable Hertz component set;
- the install of only one speaker per side is easier and thus less costly than installing two speakers per side, as the component set would've required; and
- my stereo guy told me that by avoiding the extra crossover (to the tweeter), I would be maximizing how much power I was sending to the primary front speaker...I don't know enough about electronics to say whether this was valid but it sounds plausible.

So to answer your question directly: Because it's cheaper and seems to sound just as good.

 

Thanks for that response. That's exactly what I was looking for. I see a speaker upgrade in the future, and wasn't sure what would be better (component vs. co-ax). It still boils down to price, but I'm glad to hear the co-ax sounds good.

 

I really appreciate all the inputs to my question so far.

part two is finding the specific brands anyone who has done an upgrade. Why that brand $ or features or ?

anyone have pictres of removing the Clubman inner door skins for access to the speaakers? I've seen some for the coupe but not the Clubman or Clubman S.

getting close o spending the $ just thinking brand names to ask for etc.

Again thanks to everyone for their insights so far

 

The Clubman door skins are identical to the coupe (excepting, of course, the clubdoor).

I put Polk db6501 components in the front, fabricating an adapter plate to mount the tweeter in the former 3.5" location, and concealing the crossover in the armrest; Polk db691 6x9s in the rear. All chosen for price ($200 all-in from eBay, with DIY install) while achieving reasonable quality - the Mini sound environment is not Carnegie Hall, after all...

 

Anyone add a sub in the false trunk above the spare tire well in the clubman.
JL Audio has a flatwedge sub that's only 5" and I think it will fit to fill the low end audio of the car and keep it discrete, without losing large amount of trunk space. Any thoughts.