I went to another dealership yesterday and retested the Hi-Fi system... well, I can confirm the first one was defective. the sound blew me away... rich and full of bass w/o any distortions.

I am not an audiophile so for those that are very picky w/their music the system might still not be great but it is way above the standard system and even possibly the old HK... I am definitely ordering it!

 

I'm having great difficulty believing that myself.

Thanks for the update. Very encouraging.

dean.

 

2 ohm speakers require amplifiers that can produce a lot of current on demand. Higher impedance speakers don't place nearly as much demand on the amp. Amps with current emphasis are heavier and more expensive by nature. I, too, am having trouble buying into the 2 ohm speakers in the R56 concept.

 

Agreed, Ken.

Here is the thread the info came from.

http://www.mini2.com/forum/2nd-gen-i...ades-pics.html

I have posted a question there about the 2-ohm load.

dean.

 

I just gutted the stock speakers from my 07 MCS and found that the speakers are all *** 4ohm*** and are as cheap and crappy looking as they sound.

The lower door speaker is a 1 way 5.25 and the upper front in the door is a 1 way 3.5". The rears are 6x9....all plastic baskets and paper cones....I can't beleive there is not a single tweeter in the whole system!!!!!

JL audio has direct replacements that drop into each location....which I have on order along with a 4 channel JL amp and a 8" JL sub....will be doing a custom false floor in the back using the tool storage are for extra air volume for the sub...

Should help bring the system to life..

 

Any chance of your sharing a rough approximation of the price for this upgrade (with/without sub)?

 

The door panel pops off in about 2 minutes max...there is a little pin that needs to be removed under the door latch and after than just work around the edge and pop the whole door off by pulling....the actual door panel is in two parts. The part that is easily removable is everything from the large oval trim ring that wraps the grab bar outward. The grab bar and the 3.5" speaker housing stay attached to subchassis in the door. The 3.5" has a secondary removable shroud on it that is eay to pop off. From there you can access the screws to remove it.....

Pretty easy to do...I am planning on using the stock head unit power and wiring for the fronts and will pull the rear 6x9" wire into the line in source on the amp and back out to new 6x9's and then run the other two channels of the amp bridged into the JL 8....

 

A decent set of 3.5" speakers from Alpine, JL or MB quart or even Focal should be in the 50-130 range. The 5.25's should be around 80-180 and the rear 6x9's should be about 110-200 for **entry level product** from a decent brand like those listed above. If I could put a new head unit in and have more control of the sound I would go up in price point with the speakers but I am not sure how much the stock headunit is going to hinder audio performance so I did not want to over invest...

Here is a list of the stuff I am putting in my car minus the sub which I already bought PLEASE NOTE, these are street prices and actual in store prices are most likely about 40% higher....!!:

TR350CXi - JL Audio 3.5" TR Series Coaxials Speakers
Item#: TR350CXi $44.99

TR525CXi - JL Audio 5.25" TR Series Coaxials Speakers
Item#: TR525CXi $84.99

TR690TXi - JL Audio 6x9" TR Series Triaxial Speakers
Item#: TR690TXi $109.99

e4300 - JL Audio 4 Ch 300 Watt Amplifier
Item#: e4300 $259.99

I wanted everything to match and be voiced the same so I tried to find a brand that had something from the same range that fit the stock locations as I hate rigging stuff and did not want an unbalanced system...

 

Is this the standard system?

Thanks.

dean.

 

This sounds promising. I wait for your further feedback with bated (or is that baited) breath.

 

Sounds like a good plan. Until I experiemented with a recent Pioneer deck I'd never mucked around with dsp on car audio. That particular deck adapts to your car's amp/speakers by running through a setup mode where it times delay of sound from each speaker (or at least each channel front then separately rear) and also measures the frequency response of each channel. It does all of this with a microphone designed for the system. My point in stating all of this is that in the end with a simple inexpensive DSP chip, the headunit was able to make up for the incredibly lame acoustic situation in a hollow door's '56 MGA.

So my question to you is this:
Don't all manufacturers use a set of known speakers/amp, run acoustic tests in that car, and then take that feedback to adjust DSP to all channels to produce the best reproduction given the original equipment. Given that situation, won't you be saddled with those unadjustable DSP biases from the head unit?

 

I found the problem has much to do with what you are used to. After listening to the radio in my wife's Expedition, the MINI's upgrade sounds fantastic. After listening to my home stereo and then a MINI's ---- not so great. But, I still feel it was definitely worth the upgrade.

 

Do the rear tweeters have to be removed to fit the rear 6x9s? (Not that I think I'd mind losing those) Any tips on how the rear panel comes out?

 

After playing my hifi for a few days, the sound quality has noticably improved. The speakers must really need breaking in badly.


It still doesn't impress me but it isn't making me cringe anymore.

 

I'm glad it's sounding better to you. I know with me, out of necessity sometimes acceptance sets in.

 

The rear 6x9's are horrible and need to be replaced....to get to them you have to take out EVERY panel from the B pilar back. I am not kidding. Every panel needs to be removed. Right now my car is a total mess because I gutted it to get the new system in....will have pics soon. Once you start pulling plastic rivets it all comes apart pretty easily....just do one panel at a time starting in the boot with the right or left wall.....and yes the seats have to come out too...

 

I'm thinking these would be great 6x9 replacements for the hifi system as they are 2 ohms. I don't know if the stock amp pushes enough power for them.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/INFKAPPA6927I

 

Sounds almost exactly like what Im planning on doing although I hadnt figured out where I was going to place the sub yet. One question though (sorry if this is a dumb question) can you set anything on top of the false floor? Do you know about how much room in the boot you will be losing? Thanks!

 

Regarding the 2 ohm impedance, OutMotoring mentioned the following in a previous post:

I just gutted the stock speakers from my 07 MCS and found that the speakers are all *** 4ohm*** and are as cheap and crappy looking as they sound.

 

I am running a 8" JL sub in a false floor 2.5" deep by 24x12 and then extending into the cavity where the tools are with another 12x9x2 to make .33 cubic feet space total .... and then running the 4 channel amp (2 bridged for the sub and the other two channels to push the 6x9's) behind the right side boot wall opening....I did not want to have a giant box in the boot...as it stands the top of the false floor will be a bit below the rear rail under the rear seat....assuming there is another trim panel to cover the main box below with a hole cut out for the grill to just pop through....

 

I went ahead and upgraded to a 6.5" in the lower door from the same JL series....a 6.5" with a baffle opening of 5.5" will drop in without modifications.

 

it's not acceptance or getting used to it. It has truly started sounding better.

 

OMFG!

Yow, I was hoping for a "pop the grill off, maneuver it in there" kind of thing.

 

Are you doing something to address the heat generated by the amp in that confined environment, or are the amps these days able to continue operating on the linear part of the curve in spite of excessive heat.

 

Sounds like a good place to look to see how this can be improved upon. Having to gut the car to replace speakers should not be required.

Hmmm. I'll be glad when I get mine so I can come up with other solutions to these types of issues. I like doing that.