BMW Mini Stereo Upgrades?

[clairey]

I know, before anyone says "how sad" i want to put a better stereo and speakers etc in my Cooper S. Does anyone know of any packages that are unique to mini. As you know, the boot space is not big without adding a big sub and CD changer in it. I would want it fitting as I don't know one end of wire from the other, i just know where to put my cheesy CD's in. Any recommendations would be gratefully recieved.

Claire

[annodomini2]

iPod interface would be my suggestion for getting all your 'cheesy' music in.

Dunno bout speakers though.

[maserati3200gt]

Will let you know wed evening

[clairey]

maserati3200gt said:

Will let you know wed evening

Are you having something fitted? Would be great to know what you are having. Keep me posted.

[hughjayteens]

We have done oodles of installs in Minis, including one which cost more than the car!!

If you don't want to go crazy then just changing the head unit to a decent Alpine or similar will make a massive difference.
After that, changing the speakers, and ideally adding an amplifier is the best way forward.

Have you got a budget in mind so I can make some specific recommendations?

Cheers

Chris

[900T-R]

hughjayteens said:

If you don't want to go crazy then just changing the head unit to a decent Alpine or similar will make a massive difference. Chris

Absolutely. Frankly, I - as a declared audiophile - am frankly amazed about what the boggo six speaker (probably costing 2p each) system can dish out with a simple, decent quality head unit (don't make the mistake of specifying an OE radio/cd or 'packs' than include one -they're *horribly* overpriced and the last time I saw 2 x 5W internal amps in a decent brand aftermarket head unit was somewhere in the late '80s...) can achieve. In my normal drivng/listening, I simply never feel short changed - something I couldn't even say about the 'premium' Harman/Kardon branded OE set up in the Cooper S Works I drove. I can play The Fat Of The Land until my ears bleed and the system simply refuses to turn it into a blurry mess - that's some achievemnt in my book. For a 'freebie' OE stereo, it ceertainly knows how to rock 'n roll. Shame the optional OE head units spoil it all. And to top it off, any basic (non-bling; that's why I settled for an entry-level Clarion) black-faced aftermarket head unit with amber lighting looks pretty much as if it were OE in that center console...

Let's say that whoever designed the OE speaker system did a sterling job with probably very little budget to work from.

[clairey]

hughjayteens said:

We have done oodles of installs in Minis, including one which cost more than the car!! If you don't want to go crazy then just changing the head unit to a decent Alpine or similar will make a massive difference. After that, changing the speakers, and ideally adding an amplifier is the best way forward. Have you got a budget in mind so I can make some specific recommendations? Cheers Chris

Was thinking around 500 squid??

[hughjayteens]

Any Alpine head unit from £200+ would make a huge difference. Add £60 for steering wheel controls, £120 for front speakers, £75 for rears (again, Alpine would be a good choice) and a bit of installation time and you should be OK for £500.

HTH!

C

[mini_ralf]

Hello,

In my old Mini One I used to have a Genesis Profile 4 amp which was housed under the drivers seat. (It's just slim enough to fit underneath with a few mill to spare) Genesis 6x9 subs which fit into the back quarter panels by the rear seats. (These were specifically designed by Genesis for the Mini.) A Clarion head unit and a set of JL front speakers. The whole kit including fitting came to around £1000 and knocked the socks of the Harman/Kardon system that Mini had offered when I bought the car. Change the Clarion to an Alpine and fit an IPod interface and you can play whatever you want at fairly loud volumes and it will still sound ok.

Ralf.

[ehyouwhat]

mini_ralf said:

Hello, In my old Mini One I used to have a Genesis Profile 4 amp which was housed under the drivers seat. (It's just slim enough to fit underneath with a few mill to spare) Genesis 6x9 subs which fit into the back quarter panels by the rear seats. (These were specifically designed by Genesis for the Mini.) A Clarion head unit and a set of JL front speakers. The whole kit including fitting came to around £1000 and knocked the socks of the Harman/Kardon system that Mini had offered when I bought the car. Change the Clarion to an Alpine and fit an IPod interface and you can play whatever you want at fairly loud volumes and it will still sound ok. Ralf.

Agreed. A very good friend has a simple but effective audio setup in their MINI One. Rockford Fosgate 6x9's in the rear panels (£120), Orion components in the front (£130), Orion 400w Amp in the rear (£160), removeable JBL intergrated subwoofer/amp in the boot (£100), and this weekend he fitted an Alpine CD headunit with iPod control link (£200 down from £400 at Halfords). The whole lot cost a touch over £700 (then maybe £50 for fitting of speakers and amp), and sounds simply awesome. He sometimes removes the sub (20 second job) when he needs to fill the boot and the stereo still sounds truly immense, added to which there is no visible clue that anything has been changed aside from the headunit.

Its not for everyone, but it's a much better idea than spending money on audio at the MINI dealership.

[burns76]

I've just put my deposit on a Cooper S today! Am VERY excited! It's 2 years old and about as basic as they come - it only has a radio/cassette in it at the moment! I'm collecting it on Friday, so first thing Saturday morning it's off to have it's new CD/MP3/tuner installed, costing me only £143. The guy at the ICE place said that with the Beemer speakers, anything other than a very basic system will sound fantastic.

[ehyouwhat]

burns76 said:

I've just put my deposit on a Cooper S today! Am VERY excited! It's 2 years old and about as basic as they come - it only has a radio/cassette in it at the moment! I'm collecting it on Friday, so first thing Saturday morning it's off to have it's new CD/MP3/tuner installed, costing me only £143. The guy at the ICE place said that with the Beemer speakers, anything other than a very basic system will sound fantastic.

It will sound a lot better yes. The standard speakers in the MINI are very good as far as OEM speakers go. Eventually you may want to change the front speakers, and maybe the rears, but the ones that the MINI will come with are certainly ok for now.

[Suzi]

Hey Guys,

I bought a mini last week, what a car, so chuffed with it!

I've already got a decent alpine cd player and mini faceplate but can't seem to get the existing tape deck out? There seems to be hooks/clips holding it in that I can't see. Any ideas?

Cheers,

Suz

[KingRichard]

900T-R said:

hughjayteens said: If you don't want to go crazy then just changing the head unit to a decent Alpine or similar will make a massive difference. Chris Absolutely. Frankly, I - as a declared audiophile - am frankly amazed about what the boggo six speaker (probably costing 2p each) system can dish out with a simple, decent quality head unit (don't make the mistake of specifying an OE radio/cd or 'packs' than include one -they're *horribly* overpriced and the last time I saw 2 x 5W internal amps in a decent brand aftermarket head unit was somewhere in the late '80s...) can achieve. In my normal drivng/listening, I simply never feel short changed - something I couldn't even say about the 'premium' Harman/Kardon branded OE set up in the Cooper S Works I drove. I can play The Fat Of The Land until my ears bleed and the system simply refuses to turn it into a blurry mess - that's some achievemnt in my book. For a 'freebie' OE stereo, it ceertainly knows how to rock 'n roll. Shame the optional OE head units spoil it all. And to top it off, any basic (non-bling; that's why I settled for an entry-level Clarion) black-faced aftermarket head unit with amber lighting looks pretty much as if it were OE in that center console... Let's say that whoever designed the OE speaker system did a sterling job with probably very little budget to work from.

The HK system in mine had unbelievably good sound quality for what is essentially an OE system.

Good to see you spanked out some 'fat of the land' in yours also, but I found the volume cut out at a certain level sometimes. Really annoying when your well into a tune and hit the motorway, or drop the windows and want a tad more volume, it wouldn't let you, and that made it dissapointing for me. Also told by the MINI dealer that the only way to upgrade HK was to rip it out and start again.

All elementary now as I've sold it, but my advice would be to save the cash and not tick the box, then spend £700 or so having a half decent install put in. I'm sure there is really no need to fill the boot with subs, its only a small car, surely a single 10" in a side mounted box would be punchy and hold enough weight to give a decent sound in a MINI?? couple of components up front and a decent head unit, with standards in the back for rear fill, all juiced up with a couple of decent amps.

But I'm no expert

[simon&claire]

Hi, I have a mini fitted with the harman kardon system, but I was wondering if you can change just the head unit to get a better sound quality? Thought about getting the sony bluetooth bt2500 so I can use it aa a handsfree aswell. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!