My wife got the HiFi on her MCS (picked it up 1 mos ago) and both of us are very disappointed. Haven't heard the HK, but the Bose system in her 97 Maxima blows the HiFi away.

 

From my own experience, and noted by others here, the HiFi speakers require a "burning in" period when new. They sound significantly better after 6-8 weeks than when new from the showroom.

I have never understood the fuss over high-performance audio in cars. The cabin of a MINI at speed, infused with a cacaphony of running noises from engine, tires, traffic, windstream, etc, has to be one of the worst possible environments for listening to high fidelity audio. It hardly seems worth the effort to upgrade if the only way to appreciate this would be in a parked car with engine off.

That said, I am quite satisfied with the stock HiFI system (once I learned to operate the fiddly controls). At the volumes I find comfortable, it doesn't distort Rolling Stones, Lynerd Skynerd, Buena Vista Social Club or Beethoven's 9th. Audiophiles may pick nits, but for me it does the job fine.

 

i have worked the speakers in, i can play hip hop cracked without distortion. Same with 80's rock or Metallica.

I was just listening to LL COOL J - I'm going to knock you out, loud...the base does not distort on mine

i have the treble set to 3 and the bass set to 2 on the eq, sometimes 1. When you put the volume all the way up there is plenty of bass to shake the seats.

 

I've been following these R56 audio system threads since before I picked up my Mini, and I have to wonder if there is some type of manufacturing variability in the audio system components that affects the sounds quality from one car to the next. I had the HK system in my '04 MCS and I have the Hi-Fi in my '08 MCS. While the old MCS had more bass output overall, I actually think the overall sound quality of the new system is better. The mids and highs on mine are crystal-clear up to uncomfortably high volumes on every one of the 100's of songs I've played so far from my iPod, and my music selection runs the full spectrum of genres. I do have the bass turned up two notches, whereas I always had it turned down on my old H/K.

I realize different people have different standards for sound quality, and I'm sure there are others who are much more discriminating than me, but I can certainly recognize distortion when I hear it. I've spent thousands of dollars installing after-market systems in many cars over the years, and even designed and built some simple audio equipment in my earlier engineering career, and I'm completely astonished by the criticism of the new Hi-Fi system by people who think the old H/K was great. In a comparison of the two, I honestly believe the new system is better overall.

I'm wondering if there could be some type of manufacturing tolerance stackup that results in lower sound quality in certain cars that roll off the line. I would not expect this from modern electronic manufacturing practices, but it would be surprising if purely subjective factors could account for such diametrically opposed opinions about the new system from people who have the same opinion about the old one.

I'd appreciate seeing a list of the absolute worst-distorting songs that anyone has found the new system to trip over - so I can download them and test them on my system. Please only list the absolute worst offenders.

 

the hifi is HK as well, just debadged I suppose

 

On another "note" does the HiFi stereo play MP3 CDs? My last car did and it was a great way to leave the iPod at home once in a while.

 

Yes.

 

What color Blue?
Thanks,
Chris

 

The MINI? Laser Blue!

 

I've read a few of these posts regarding upgrading the hifi system, but I haven't really seen much for definitive answers.

Has anyone gotten their hands dirty and started replacing speakers? I'm wondering if for the extra cost of the radio in the premium package, is it worth it just for the cleanliness of the head unit. Is that head unit strong enough to power more powerful speakers? I don't know much about stereos but I know what sounds good, and from experience, I can tell you how much of a PITA the Bose system in my TT is to work with -- basically replace everything or replace nothing, nothing in between.

 

Wow if the Hifi system sucks more than the HK system in my E36 M3 I'll just throw the stereo out the window and use my Ultimate Ears headphones

Since everyone seems to dislike it so much what do you think about just getting the standard stereo and replacing everything with aftermarket? 6 speakers should be enough for such a small car anyways.

 

I have HK in my 05,when i ordered my 07 i didn't upgrade and am pleased with the Hi Fi.Q

 

I like the 08 HIFI . The stock unit is ok too !

If you are really concerned bring your CD or MP3 player to dealer . Check both stereo's out for yourself. That is what I did.

I liked them both. Should it be $500.00 to upgrade ..... no , but what you going to do . It is what it is.

 

i have some Mp3's in 128bit and the sound is not too loud, when you get them at 192bit, the sound is much better.

 

That is what some people have done. I don't have the time to install or research on speakers myself, so I just went with the HI-FI. It is fine for me.

 

Let me introduce you to the Navigation & Auido forum in the 2nd Generation MINIs section. There is a sticky thread there with 236 replies discussing replacing speakers. The thread is titled, R56 Speaker Replacement how-to.

I replaced the HIFI speakers with Infinity Kappas. They are a definite improvement, and not too expensive. I don't know how they compare to other speakers, but they have the right specs for the HIFI system. The HIFI upgrade in the MINI provides an amp in the rear of the car. IMO, it is the most cost-effective way to get reasonable sound in the MINI. A professionally installed system will start around $2,000 and easily go up to $3,000 or higher with amp, cleansweep, sub, and speakers.

There is some confusion in the sticky thread about speaker sizes. The OP is using speakers that are smaller than what I found to be best with the Kappas.

I used:
Infinity Kappa 693.7i 6"x9" 3-way car speakers in the rear. There are two sets of wires on each side in the rear. One for the woofer, and one for a tweeter. The 693.7i have the matching number of inputs if you bypass the external crossover that comes with the 693.7i. The bass to this speaker locations is filtered out for some reason. Perhaps they had too much trouble with vibrations in the plastic pannels.

Infinity Kappa 60.7cs 6-1/2" component speaker system. The speaker goes in the door. This is where the HIFI systems sends most of the bass. The separate tweeter goes in the A pillar.

The other door location got Infinity Kappa 42.7i 4" 2-way car speakers, but the tweeters were not connected. I first tired Infinity Kappa 32.7cf 3-1/2" 2-way car speakers, but they were too small.

 

I have the factory H/K in my 2005 R53 S and the standard "CD Boost" system in my '08 R55 Clubman S.

No comparison. The H/K is far, far better system than the std setup in the second gen MINIs. I agree that while the std CD Boost system in the new MINIs lacks some bass response, it is still a pretty decent system.

But it can't hold a candle to the clarity of the H/K.

 

That's a fantastic response -- really exactly what I was looking for. It sounds like you can use the hifi option as a nice starting-off point for a truly worthwhile system. From the sound of it, the Infinity components you put in were relatively plug and play? The reason I ask is that big thing for me would be to keep as much of the system as possible except for the speakers, i.e. the original wiring and use the hifi amp. I'd really prefer to not take the entire interior out of my car :P

Forgive me, but I'm still new and there are so many forums for me to read that I've barely gotten past the Clubman one.

 

Yea..I was definitely disappointed with the system going from my 03 MC with H/K to the hi-fi in 07 MCS ...My only complaint about the car though.

 

I've never owned a MINI before but I'm more than impressed with the '08 HiFi. Maybe my speakers are already warming up or something but the sound is deep and crisp. I had a little static the first day but let the speakers bump for a few hours and now I'm pretty static free.

 

at the beginning i thought the speakers were OK, but now they seem better, maybe they did break in?

 

I'm wondering this as well. Wasn't too impressed with the Hi-Fi for the first few weeks, but I'm warming up to it. Overall it still needs deeper bass. Sounds a lot better when the car isn't moving

 

Good news and bad news. The front speakers are pretty easy to get at. I had to drill one screw hole into plastic on the door, and route a wire pair back inside the door, but these were minor things. With the proper connectors, it was pretty easy.

The rear speakers do require taking a lot of panels out of the back. You have to remove the rear seats, remove the B and C pillar covers, remove the rear plastic panels and the main side plastic panels. All this to get at the rear speakers. I did a Dynamat job at the same time.

 

All speakers (and headphones) break in. I distinctly remember one person who posted on the Nav/Audio forum making the comment that when he did custom car work he'd break the speakers in before he installed them in the cars. He was amazed when people spent tons of money on car stereo speakers and judged them before they were broken in. I think the HiFi is very good for a stock system. I only use an iPod (192kbps MP3s), with a dock connector wire (don't even think about a headphone wire, the dockwire sounds louder and better for $8). Some songs sound way better than others to me. I think that's just the way it is with music and car audio. I have no doubt that better speakers would sound better, I'm just not sure how much. I also doubt whether it's cost effective to mess with the rear speakers at all since they're far from my ears (and my ears are not the greatest).

 

I don't have an iPod connector but do have an auxiliary connector. Can you point me to where I can buy a connector to plug in the iPod to?

Thanks