Parts are coming in and I hope it all works. Here is my plan.

I am going to connect to the ASD with a harness that was made for me by nice gentleman on the BMW forums. This will give me 4 channels out, speaker connections and remote turn on lead (as a side benefit it bypasses the ASD).

The harness will be connected to a JBL MS-8 for processing and amplification. The JBL MS-8 will run the front center and rear speakers with the builtin amp (18W/ch). A kicker KX800.5 will connect to the JBL MS-8 for the doors, midwoofers and a sub. The factory front speakers will be replaced with an MB Quart 200.3BMW component set. I have purchased the center speaker grill and HK A-pillars. For a subwoofer I am thinking a Sundown SD-2 8" dual 4 ohm in a small sealed box.

I plan to add a small amount of damping material in the doors and rear. The underseat 8" speakers will be set as a mid-bass, something 80-250hz.

Coming from the visual boost system this should be an awesome upgrade. I hope to start on it next week. I will try to post pictures as I go.

Does anyone have any words of wisdom for running the 4ga power through the firewall?

 

Started the install this weekend. Running the power was actually really easy. There is a plug in the firewall on the driver’s side right next to the brake booster. I pulled out the plug, drilled a hole in it and ran the wire through. I sealed up the plug with some silicone sealant.

I then had to remove the door sill trim piece and kick panel. I messed up here a bit and accidently pulled the wires off the hatch release. So be careful, I could not find a way to detach the wires. I removed the back seat and the power wire was quickly in the trunk. I am still working on the best routing without messing up the trim panel alignment from having a thick wire run under it.

With power I test fitted the JBL MS-8. A bunch of soldering later I had signal and speaker connections. The MS-8 was getting signal, but I didn’t have an output to the speakers. I am sure it is just a setup issue.

It was time to call it a day and reassemble the interior. The biggest PITA was the hood release. It screws on to the mechanism under the kick panel. It doesn’t just line up though. You have to put it on and pull it up a bit and it will stick in that position. Carefully remove the lever and place it in the normal position.

Also the battery cover under the hood has 3 obvious screws holding it down. There are also two black 10mm bolts that hold it onto the windshield trim. Make sure to remove those and you will have plenty of room to run the power cable.

 

A few pictures. Things are starting to come together.

First a package from ECS arrived.



Here is a shot of the amp, sub, signal processor and component speakers.



Next two are a rough layout of the trunk. The sub will be down firing. Ultimately I want to do a fiberglass enclosure. The carpet doesn't match, but it is what I had laying around.

 

Looks like a great build. Becareful with the ms-8 , had one in my previous mini and went thru 4 units until I had one that worked.

I do love how user friendly the ms-8 is vs the audiotech fisher helix dsp I have now. I could set up a sound profile with a ms-8 in minutes vs 45 minutes with the helix.

 

Thanks for the order

 

What are you putting in the center dash channel? Or are you simply placing the HK grill there for visual consistency?

I look forward to your updates, this is a great/helpful build log!

 

I am planning on putting a door speaker and pillar tweeter in there for now as they are being replaced. It will be powered with the ms8. I figure the stock speaker can handle 18W.

 

You would be better off replacing the stock door and under seat speakers. I would leave the centre speaker alone (as in not add one)

Set up looks good

 

So far two bad kicker amps. I ordered a JL xd700/5. Hopefully that will be better. My JBL MS-8 is dysfunctional. The pre-outs work, but the internal amp isn't outputting anything. As suggested by BazV I am going to skip the center channel for now. I may sell the ms-8 for something like a Audio control DQ-61. Not sure yet. Also one of the A-pillars got mis-labeled and must be for a different model mini. ECS is nicely arranging the new part and the return.

I did get the 8" subs mounted and wiring run for the subs and tweeters. I can confirm that the MB Quart speakers fit just fine in the stock locations. The wiring harness that plugged into the stock subs runs in parallel with the door speakers. So if you don't have the HK speaker setup you need to jumper the inner and outer pins if you plan to use the stock wiring to the doors.