MY10 R56 Cooper S - Audio Upgrade?

[Old Trout]

Hi there,

I have recently acquired a Mini R56 and the sound quality is pretty poor.

Are there any options for a high quality sound upgrade? I see one company offering a major install but they are in Liverpool and too far away.

What options are there and who can do such things in York/Leeds?

Budget would be £500.

Cheers,

Trout

[0llie]

I'm guessing you are referring to NewMINIStuff in Liverpool.

Mikey's work is absolutely incredible, very thorough and very high quality. He can supply you a DIY Kit from £450 (spec dependent), then perhaps you could fit it yourself, or get someone to fit it for you.

http://www.newministuff.com/new/shop.php?action=pr...

Other than NMS, I'm not too sure on other companies I'm afraid.

[Old Trout]

Thanks - I may do that - on their site it says 12 man hours to fit!!!

[Furry Exocet]

The stereo in the R56 is a nightmare as you can't just swap the head unit.
Try the audio cable swap, that improved things a lot in mine

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/how-to...

[mike9009]

Furry Exocet said:

The stereo in the R56 is a nightmare as you can't just swap the head unit.
Try the audio cable swap, that improved things a lot in mine

http://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/how-to...

I have wondered over the past couple of years how to improve the sound quality in the R56 Mini. It really is pretty shabby, the clarity is fairly awful.

I have done the following.

1) channel swap - price free-Time to install 15 minutes- minor difference in quality.
2) upgrade front speakers to Focal speakers - price about £100 - took about 40 minutes per door - minor difference slightly less than the channel swap.
3) install parrot mki9000 kit - price £105 - time to install 3 hours - biggest difference in sound clarity to date and now also have bluetooth connectivity, ipod charging and connection.

I am no expert in sound systems or installation, but the mini head unit is deliberately strangled to make people upgrade when buying new. Unfortunately for any second hand buyers upgrading is made very difficult.

Mikeys systems do have very good reviews - but i couldn't justify the cost/ time to do the install.

Mike

[Old Trout]

As Mini newbie sorry to ask such dumb questions - but how do I know if my Mini has the upgraded hifi fitted?

It is has Bluetooth built in with ipod charging and connectivity built in.

[0llie]

Old Trout said:

As Mini newbie sorry to ask such dumb questions - but how do I know if my Mini has the upgraded hifi fitted?

It is has Bluetooth built in with ipod charging and connectivity built in.

If it's a 2010 car, it will have the Harman Kardon branded system with the A-Pillar tweeters;



The HK system is pretty good, so I doubt very much that you have this setup.

The old Hi-Fi Speaker System upgrade (which was discontinued around July/August 2009 IIRC) was an utterly useless system (had this in my Cooper S), and the standard BOOST system (which you probably have) was worse than my 20 year old Land Rover Discovery Hi-Fi!

[AndyT77]

I used to be very interested in Car Audio and had over the years some very nice kit/set ups in my cars. I am dissapointed with the radio Boost system in my R56, but it's not that bad really. I notice that some tracks can sound really quite good, yet others sound pish. I am mainly running music off my HTC Sensation XE through the aux in under the toggle switches.

In general i have the sound faded the front at about 6 or 7, bass on 4 and treble on 4. I'm sure it would sound better if the rear speakers were allowed to reproduce the lower notes, and i beleive that is what the channel swap loom does, albiet limiting the lower range to the front speakers.

Could it be that MINI actually wanted to have a good sound stage at the front and just wanted to use the rear channels to help lift the image?

[Old Trout]

Thanks for all the help everyone - definitely not the upgraded sound system!

Will look at the Liverpool kit.

[CooperS]

Sorry for pulling the thread back up.

I'm looking at getting a 09 car with the HK system. I'm not looking for this to be something amazing but question is should I be looking at a LCI car with the later system?

[Visionist]

Necro alert!

I'm looking at a 2011 Cooper SD with the Harman Kardon setup. Does anybody know haw many speakers the system has? The mids in the doors and tweeters in the pillars are presumably matched by mids and tweeters in the rear side panels, and there's probably a sub under the boot, but is there a centre channel in the dash? Car has sat nav and if it's DVD capable it's very important to have the centre channel.

Cheers

[BFRO1991]

Hi All!

Apologies for replying to an old chain but it won't let me create a new post.

I have a 2010 Mini One with the Harmen Karden kit but with the standard stereo. I'm looking to upgrade the head unit to the model with the screen.

Does any know if this is a straight swap or do you need further cabling/connectors etc?

Is the model with the screen DAB? is it also touchscreen?

Having trouble finding any of this information anywhere!

Appreciate any help or to be shown to another thread.

[rigga]

By the screen you mean those cars fitted with media XL? If that's the case, then mine is like that, yes it has DAB, no its not touch screen.

[Elliot2000]

As above it’s not touchscreen, it also needs a new centre console and idrive/joystick controller, plus the different speedo, gps aerial and aerial wiring, and if yours is not dab then u will need a dab aerial and wiring

Im not sure how big of a job it is, but it’s definitely not straightforward

This looks a good option though -
https://www.seicane.com/en/carro-gps-navegac-o-dvd...

Edited by Elliot2000 on Friday 14th August 11:41

[BFRO1991]

thank you both very much!

That does seem like a lot of work but trying to keep it as original as possible.

It doesn't have the 'idrive/joystick controller' where the handbrake would be but does have the functions on the steering wheel?

I'd love to go for the original mini parts but need to figure out the cost difference between original and aftermarket (with all accessories).

If there isn't much of a difference, I'd rather spend the extra to fit original.

Questions for anyone that has the aftermarket part:

Is there any benefit other than the android operating system? I don't think it has DAB either? Pros/Cons?

Questions for anyone that has the original mini part:

Does this connect to the new type iPhone lightning lead (my current doesn't work, is there some kind of software update required?). How do you find the inbuilt SatNav? Pros/Cons?

[rigga]

Elliot2000 said:

As above it’s not touchscreen, it also needs a new centre console and idrive/joystick controller, plus the different speedo, gps aerial and aerial wiring, and if yours is not dab then u will need a dab aerial and wiring

Im not sure how big of a job it is, but it’s definitely not straightforward

This looks a good option though -
https://www.seicane.com/en/carro-gps-navegac-o-dvd...

Edited by Elliot2000 on Friday 14th August 11:41

Pretty sure I've read these only work on post facelift LCI cars, those with the black center facia, not the earlier silver coloured ones, also speedometers reads only kph, but you'd be still looking at the one in the rev counter for that.