Entertainment Electronics 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: Audio Systems...

I tried a long time to live without decent tunes in our 2004 MCS. When we bought it had a blown driver's door speaker. We had all the speakers replaced about a year after we bought it. JL all the way. Huge improvement! Worth it totally!

When I got my GP last year it too had a blown door speaker. Again...I tried to ignore it. After traveling 8000 miles last summer I decided it needed to upgraded. I went with an Alpine system, got it to work with the steering wheel controls, added an amp and rear speakers, and some Dynamat here and there. I'm happy with the Alpine R Series speakers, not too pricey, great sound, and they're durable so far. Since the GP's 'front door only' speaker setup lacks I added a pair of 5x8" speakers in the sidewall boot holes with some custom mounts, and that really makes a huge change! Even with a loud burbly exhaust I can hear my tunes!

 

HK for me, it's OK not great. Gets loud enough to hear what I like when the windows are down, the sunroof is open and the loud pedal is cranked to 11.

For me at this point an aftermarket setup is just not in the cards. I save my serious listening for the couch.

 

Either way people don't play CD any longer do they? Where do you even go to buy one besides Walmart?

I do miss going to record stores and flipping through albums and 45's at a mall. Remember those places? Sam Goody

We still have one small local record store called The Mad Platter and they have lots of vinyl.

That's progress and thanks to Apple and iTunes they ruined the retail music business

 

When my buddy and I where 16-17 we competed locally at the national level in Db Drag (SPL competitions). We built systems on a highschool budget that got us 3 invites in a row to the Db Drag world finals, which was based on points and invite only just to get in! We set Colorado's SPL record back in '99 with 164.8 db! It got the attention of the big time competitors who at the time where right around the world record at 174db, and Eddie Corman in his Chevy Astro van was at the next show 2 weeks later, to shake our hands, and take the record with 171.

Good times, but now I could care less if what I am driving even has a stock system. All I want is to build the cars to please me, and me alone.

 

Very nice choice on the front components Focal makes great speakers and you will need to add an amp since they like lots of clean power. I have a pair and they set me back just about a grand a few years ago and still sound great. I have 2 JL Audio amps and a JL Audio 10W 3 in the back. I have not listened to the radio in about 6 years because I got an Alpine iPod interface head unit and the 120 GB iPod in the glovebox has all the music I ever need.

You can also get a JL Audio HD 900 -5 (100 x 4 + 500 x1) 100w each door and 500 for your sub and it will sound great. I had this set up for years and will rock hard rock and play classical with out changing any settings.

The JL Audio amps are made in the USA and they can be expensive but they are absolutely worth it. The HD amps are small digital amps that are solid clean high power for multiple ohm loads and very efficient.

One thing I would make sure you add to get the best out of any system is Dynamat sound deadening. Especially for the inner and out front doors and the rear hatch because it makes everything sound so much better and the bass tighter.

 

Upgrading a Harmon Kardon system is a problem. It is a proprietary system where the components are matched to each other and not compatible with aftermarket. For example, speakers are 2 ohm impedence (non-standard) with no crossovers (digital crossovers are built into the HK amp). Crossovers are the circuits that filter the signals for the speakers (e.g. high frequencies for tweeters, low frequencies for woofers). Likewise, the HK amp can't be simply swapped out for an aftermarket amp.

To upgrade an HK system, it would be better if you do a complete system replacement and swap out everything all at once.

 

That's what she said!?

 

Makes life easy!

 

Shortly after record stores closed, the MALL as we used to know it followed.

But I still like having 8000 songs in one place the size of a pack of gum.

 

Parts Express has lots of good components to make custom systems for both car and home. Parts Express: the #1 source for audio, video & speaker building components

No I don't work for them I just like them.

 

Ok so I see where my next bundle of money has to be spent...

 

Yeah I could flip silver dollars on my roof without even trying the bass was so deep. You could feel it long before your ears could hear it. Oh and my roof had 2 layers of Dynamat and the rest of the car was like a tank except for the front fenders. Even my hood had the Dynamat hood liner to keep the motor noise down from the cabin and doing the inside firewall was a PITA.

 

I got a PM asking if I would put some pictures up of my installation...so here ya go!


The head unit is an Alpine CDE-HD148BT. It does Pandora, SiriusXM, Bluetooth, and has HD radio tuning which is pretty cool. Perfect fit to replace the stock GP radio. The radio lights are orange! Btw...non Harmon Kardon radios are made by Alpine in first gen MINIs. There is an adapter kit for the radio to tie into the steering wheel radio controls. My Bluetooth mic is up near the rear view mirror. (yes...that's a peanut cup to the left of the gear shift)





All speakers are now Alpine R Series. Front speakers are SPR-10T tweeters, with SPR-60 coaxial 2-way speakers. I kept the stock door speaker grilles to retain the GP look. In the rear are a pair of SPR-68 speakers. They are 6x8" speakers, not 6x9". If ya look at the photos of the rears you'll notice the mounting board just can't take the 6x9" but it can just fit the 6x8" speakers. And yeah, that was discovered the hard way...had 6x9 laying there, made the board to hang them and went...Oh Shitake... On the inside of the mounting board for the speaker are four pieces of thin metal that grab inside the edge where they're mounted. Like a tab sort of ...they're adjustable so you can lay the board flush and then turn the metal tabs up or down to grab inside the plastic interior . Once the board is mounted you screw the speakers up after ya wire them...and presto!

Up under the dash is a PDX-F4 digital amp that pushes 100w at 4ohm x4.

 

I am just running the stock system for now, may upgrade the speakers in the future when they go. I ran an active 2.1 system in my F150 for about 5 years and the amount of weight I had in that system is not touching the MINI! Light is fast!
When I get another truck I'll play with a full stereo again.

 

With the last 7 characters of your VIN visit:

BMW Model Archive · BMW VIN Decoder · bmwarchive.org

In 2006 I think the code is S674A HiFi System Harman Kardon At least it is for my 2006 build car.

You can determine a lot from that site.

If non-HK it's easy.

If HK you replace it all.

There are bridges and stuff but they limit you and make things even more complex.

 

What is this "Disc" you speak of? Some sort of adapter for a Zune?

 

Oh those things scattered all over shooting ranges around the country... Extra points if you hit the hole!