All, I have the base stereo with the mini boost CD. I'm looking to upgrade the speakers and install an amp. I've searched the threads and most on this are a few years old. What's the latest options for a speaker upgrade?

 

Pretty much the very latest is Bavsound's speaker upgrades:

http://www.bavsound.com/Mini-Speaker-Upgrades

They take advantage of the fact that the Countryman (and F-series Coopers) use BMW speakers, so they just had to sort out which parts were appropriate. By reports, it's very good quality, however, I don't have personal experience with them.

You'll find it a bit of a challenge to find drop-in replacements for the Countryman's factory speakers. The door speakers are 3.5" and require you find a speaker with 1.75" or less rear-mount depth. I managed to get a set of Infinity Reference 3.5" speakers into my wife's Countryman but it was noticeably harder to re-seat the door panels after installation than before, indicating they were still a fraction of an inch too thick.

That resulted in a huge improvement in sound quality in the 300 Hz and up range. Still haven't received permission to replace the under-seat 6" speakers with better drivers, so the bass is still awfully muddy, and some of that creeps into the lower mid-range.

 

Thanks bratling! That gives me some hope. I'll keep searching for something close and will keep my dremel handy, lol.