When I turned up the volume initially I was a bit turned "off", however when I started to tune the bass and treble a bit I have to say it is just fine and dandy for my needs. I can sing a long just fine thank you...

 

If you are referring to the 07, an after market up-grade to the sound system will be difficult, as it is not DIN. I am a semi-audio geek and I do have the upgrade. However, for the average non-geek, I think the standard system is acceptible and the HIFI is not as good as it should be for an upgrade, mainly due to speakers which can't handle the amp's power. So, as I semi-geek, I can definitely see you not spending the $500 on the HIFI. I am sure after-market solutions for the non-DIN system will multiply soon.

 

After almost a year I finally figured out something . Acoustic music sounds great or any music that has the instruments well defined and seperated .But if you play a song that has a "wall of sound " like U2's "Beautiful Day" it cant handle it . Just sounds like mud .Why is for someone else to figure out .

 

I got the HiFi. It's adequate, I'm not sure I can say if it is worth the 550 or not. I am not an audiophile, but I figure the HiFi brings it to the level of other car's 'standard' option. (meaning, I suspect I'd have been dissappointed in the Stock option) But the HiFi works well enough. No, don't crank it too much. Seperation isn't so great. Not as crisp as I'd like. Bass is lacking. Distorts too easily.

My 07 Prius' 9 speaker JBL sounds far better. (yes, I have a Prius, that's how I keep the miles of my precious)... Every time I use the JBL, I go "darn, I wish the mini HiFi could sound like this..."

 

After 6K miles, Korby is exactly right.

 

Does anybody know if the "Standard Radio" have a Amp?

 

I have the stock 6 speaker, think it puts out enough power but the speakers put the 'S' in Sucks

Step1 -Replace 6 speakers
Step2-Signal Processor mentioned above (very cool in that you can fine tune sound via a bluetooth connection with your laptop, something like 150+ equalizer settings combined for all speakers)
Step 3-Amp(s) if not happy with above
Step 4- Sub if not happy with above
Step 5- Spend $500+ to integrate IPOD into head unit

 

I have the MINI CD (Not MINI CD BOOST) and it's fine. I drive with my music on loud and I love it!!!

 

IMHO, the stock audio is awful. Lousy midrange, worse high end, lots of distortion, especially since the high level of road noise makes you turn up the volume. It's acceptable with the engine off and the car sitting still, but anything other than that is pretty bad.

 

I can't stand when manufactures integrate the radio into the car in this fashion. Currently, that's my only turn off on the R56 Coopers I can think of. It is and isn't a big deal to me, too.... I'm sure I'll figure something out when the time comes. First, I have to straighten things out someday so I can buy the car!

 

What is MINI CD BOOST? Mine has it but I cant figure out what exactly it does or what it means? Also, what's Svolume?

 

The difference is seen in the pictures below. The MINI CD is basic one and does not play MP3. While the MINI CD BOOST is the one you have.

MINI CD



MINI CD BOOST

 

Anyone have any experience with/opinion about this thing?:

http://www.amazon.com/Boss-BASS600-P...9453577&sr=1-4

I've read/heard good things. It fits under a seat, apparently very easy to install.

Not intended for huge thumping ear-bleeding bass. But as an "add-on" to the standard stereo to fill in the bottom end it might be an interesting option.

I agree that the standard MINI sound system is in the "OK" range, could be better but could also be worse. I am very picky about sound quality, but real audiophile sound is difficult/impossible in a vehicle (ANY vehicle) anyway. Road noise, wind noise, engine noise - all conspire to make real quality sound difficult to achieve in practice. Sure, if you sit in your car in the driveway with the engine off the differences between a good stereo and a great one are obvious. But out on the road in a day-to-day commute it's difficult to justify all the expense and complication involved in getting high quality sound from a car stereo.

Just as an aside, my last pre-MINI vehicle was (is - I still have it) a Lexus with the premium sound system - Nakamichi CD player and amps, 2 subs in the back, separate sub-mid-tweeters all over the interior, etc. etc. Excellent sound in the church-like silence of the super insulated and sound-deadened Lexus interior. But out on the road? Not much difference from the already very good standard Lexus system. It was an expensive option and not ultimately worth the money, IMHO.

Anyways, I'm thinking of buying one of those small under-seat subs just to add a bit of low-end punch to the audio, something that's lacking in the MINI system. Price and ease of installation are also major plusses for this thing. Does anyone out there have one? Opinions and comments are welcome.


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That looks really cool. I am thinking of re-doing my new mini's sound in a year or so. Adding the under seat sub and replacing the speakers in the front would make a good DIY $400 upgrade.

 

There is a thread about it here.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...subwoofer.html

 

Channel swap the speakers. It's easy, essentially costs nothing, and makes a marked difference.

 

What does that do/mean?

 

Channel swap as in change which output channels drive which speakers? Hmm, that's something I've not heard of before...

Personally, I'm pretty happy with my stock radio. Yeah, it's not the best sound system in the world, but it works well enough. Besides, I bought the Mini for driving, not for listening to music.

 

The head unit in the R56 has a bass roll-off engineered into the channel output that goes to the rear speakers (HiFi or not). Whether you have bassy speakers or not, they can't put out bass because they aren't being sent bass. So, many of us have switched the channels for the front and rear speakers (no harm on the standard radio--all channels have the same power) because the front channel does not have a roll off. So the bass is sent where it actually has a hope of doing something. Another positive effect is that the bass roll-off is applied to speakers that can't output bass anyways, making their output cleaner.

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

No cost to do this, and it makes even the stock speakers sound noticably better! There's no reason not to channel swap the speakers.

The general theory is that BMW engineered this in to prevent rear panels from rattling with the bass--though those of us that have done the channel swap haven't had any issues.

 

Thanks for that link - what a great write-up. Sounds like a good cheap (free!!) thing to try.

I read through a lot of it but not all (it's really long and quite technical in spots - I found my attention wandering from time to time, I must admit) so excuse me if this was covered in the post and I missed it, but I do have one question about this.

The described "mod" seems to involve disconnecting the audio connector behind the panel in front of the driver's door, making or buying and modding a tool to pop out the pins in said connector and then re-inserting them in different locations and re-connecting, in order to send the front channel audio to the rear and vice versa ... am I right?

Wouldn't it be just as easy to cut/strip/solder/shrink-wrap the appropriate wires (using the excellent diagrams and instructions in the link) without disturbing the connector or the pins? Maybe this method just seems simpler to me because I've done this kind of thing dozens of times with some of the old cars I've owned over the years (paricularly the British ones!) so it doesn't really intidate me at all.

What do y'all think?

I suppose I could post this question in the "nav/audio" sub-forum, but since it came up here I just thought I'd ask.



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Yup, that's the gist of it. Take off panel, pop pins out, swap pins for front/back speakers, and tuck it back in. Most people prefer to change the pins in the connector because it's totally reversible (say if you ever need to do a warranty claim on the stereo speakers/head and your dealer's fussy). But if you're good with cutting, stripping, soldering, and shrink wrapping it, that would do the same thing. There's not a lot of wire to work with though.

 

I guess I'm a bit old school, since I think the bass response is perfectly alright once the levels are set, given this is the base model radio. Back 20-30 years ago, I was taught that a heavy bass response was a charateristic of a substandard system covering up a poor treble response. Now heavy bass response is practically required in order for the system to be called good. Times, they are a-changing.

I'd agree with Carsncars: doing the pin site swap is easier than cutting and resoldering the wires into the pins. Plugs are notorious for having exactly the right length of wireleading into them, leaving you little margin of error for cutting and soldering.

I just might start looking for a 0.093 inch Molex pin removal tool...