Hi All,

New member and owner here..!! Hi everyone..! Just bought a luvly electric blue/white roof Cooper S, pretty well loaded except for the ICE area. Only got a Wave radio My girlfriend has a Boost r/c with a boot changer and the difference in sound is amazing. Is it just the head unit that provides the better sound or is there a secret amp tucked away somewhere..? I'm thinking of either trying to find a boost single cd or going for an Alpine single cd (9803rm?), as I've been told I can link it up to my steering wheel remotes.
All advice and suggestions greatly accepted..!!

Nige,
Dover.
:cool:

Congratulations and welcome to MINI2
Nice colour choice :D

Hi,

If you do think about trying to get hold of a Boost with single CD, then let me know...maybe we can do a deal.

My Cooper S is supposed be delivered to the dealer by end of next week :D
She will come with Boost+CD...Have decided to install an aftermarket player since i need mp3 capability...so tried to contact dealer to downgrade to Wave (since i'll be removing it anyway)...

Bad News = I was unsuccessful
Good News = Because my baby has been built early!!

So let me know if you decide to go for the Boost option...otherwise i'll be posting in the "For Sale" in a couple of weeks

cheers
Nick

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your reply. Is the head unit the only difference between the boost and wave (apart from cd etc). Has the boost option got a separate amplifier that isn't in the head unit..? If it's just the head unit that makes all the difference, and no seperate amp is used compared to the wave option, I may well be interested. How much were you looking for..?

Nige.
:o)

I have just done this......

You may not be aware but the loom connectors are different between the Wave HU and Boost HU.

The Wave HU uses round pins for the main connector and has 10 pin speaker connectors. The Boost uses flat pins for the main connector and 12 pin speaker connectors.

I have ordered the appropriate parts from my dealer, around £30 and will let you know how I get on. Someone else on here has done a similar thing....that's where I got the Part Nos from!

From the info I've found once you have the connectors, it's pretty straight forward.

I should get the parts tomorrow.....so will keep you posted.

:D :D :D :D

Hi Wobert,

Thanks for the very valuable info. I had no idea they were different, as I've only had my min a week or so and haven't started taking stuff apart on it yet..!!
Please keep me updated on the swap..! Still after confirmation that the both the Wave AND Boost head unit's only amplifier is built in to the head unit and is not separate...!!

Thanx again.
Nige.

Hi Nige,

I'd be open to reasonable offers, but probably best to wait til i've got the car.
It will be brand new...but as I said i don't quite have my hands on it yet!! This site is the only thing that has helped make the wait bareable!

As far as i'm aware, there's no separate amplifier...so i guess it's just the HU that gives the different sound....But i'm no techie, so if there's anyone out there you could help answer, i'd be grateful.

thanks Wobert for your feedback...something else to keep in mind

Cheers
Nick

As far as I'm aware the Boost is only an upgraded HU....no separate amp....I am lead to believe that the speakers are the same as Wave too.

The Boost has additonal features, like speed-relating volume adjust etc.....

I cannot get my existing Pioneer system to work with the MFSW I paid £160 for....so it was either a changer or a Boost HU.

I found a Boost HU first!

:D :D :D :D

OK folks......some good news.....

I picked my loom adapter cables up this evening....an fitted my new Boost CD HU in.....

Everything goes together fine....except with the additional wiring makes pushing the HU home a little tricky.

I worked out by removing the middle facsia cover (the one that lies directly below the toggle switches and is held in place by a single T20 torx screw), you can pull the loom down below the level of the DIN slot. This allows the unit to slide fully home.

Two "cables" are required from your local BMW dealer the part numbers are:

61 12 6 913 954 - Cable £9-36 + vat
61 12 6 913 957 - Cable £26-38 + vat

The first cable adapts the 10 pin speaker outs to 12 pin.
The second cable adapts the round pin main feed to the flat pin configuration on the back of the Boost HU.

My suggestion is to link the adapters in the car first, then fit the HU, or you may struggle with wires causing the problem above.

Have Fun!

:D :D :D :D

sorry to re-open this thread! but I have just ordered the above cables but was told I "may" need a "CD Changer Kit" number: 61 120137671 which is £26.13 - is there any truth in this? I want to go from Wave to a MINI CD player

Oh by the way, the dealer also reckoned there is a Wave CD player and a Boost CD player :/ is there such a thing?!

sorry to re-open this thread! but I have just ordered the above cables but was told I "may" need a "CD Changer Kit" number: 61 120137671 which is £26.13 - is there any truth in this? I want to go from Wave to a MINI CD player

Oh by the way, the dealer also reckoned there is a Wave CD player and a Boost CD player :/ is there such a thing?!

Depends what you mean by CD player...????

If you mean from Wave Radio Cassette to Boost CD HU then no you don't need any other cables than the ones above.

If you want to go from a Wave Radio Cassette to a Boost CD HU with boot mounted changer, then you may well need the "CD Prep" cable, so long as it hasn't already been fitted to the car. I'm not sure what the cable you describe is.....it sounds like the prep cable to me...!!

Never heard of a Wave CD player, unless, again it's the boot mounted changer....I was lead to believe that the CD changer is the same unit irrespective of what is driving it...ie Wave or Boost.

Hope this helps......

Robert

Hi Robert

Thanks for the reply.

I am going from a Wave to CD Player but I also have a boot changer - I suppose I'll find out when I pick the cables up!

Picture of the unit is attached - I'm sure it is the standard boost.

So my question is...has any gone from a Wave to CD Boost with a MINI CD Boot changer?? I'm such a pain :-)

More on this topic, just changed from the wave to cd boost radio and found another little spanner dropped into the works.

The cables you need are as earlier mentioned,

61 12 6 913 954
61 12 6 913 957

These cables include the CD prep cable adaptor for the boot mounted CD changer.

You also need an aerial adaptor. The wave radio has an ISO connector and the boost has a wierd plug in jobby. When I find out the part number I will post it in this thread.

More on this topic, just changed from the wave to cd boost radio and found another little spanner dropped into the works.

The cables you need are as earlier mentioned,

61 12 6 913 954
61 12 6 913 957

These cables include the CD prep cable adaptor for the boot mounted CD changer.

You also need an aerial adaptor. The wave radio has an ISO connector and the boost has a wierd plug in jobby. When I find out the part number I will post it in this thread.

That's strange, I changed mine on Saturday and just needed the two cables as previously mentioned. The aerial adaptor fitted on fine. My wave is from an October 2003 model Cooper and the CD player is an old 2002 model from the US.

I'd just like to say thanks to everyone that assisted me - especially wobert, mikey and snoopy.

I did a bit of an experiment. I saw players going for around £120 on Ebay and thought it was a little overpriced. So I went onto the US Ebay and got a player for £37, with the exchange rate being so favourable. Not bad :-) (although someone got a MINI MD Player for £45 on the UK Ebay!!)

I have a factory changer, MFSW and everything works a treat. Attached is a photo of the connector cables. Kudos to wobert who said to remove the flap underneath the main centre console. The cables are tucked down there now :-)

With regard to fitting, the MINI2 Instructons aren't too bad :) Maybe need a little tweak. GO MINI magazine instructions were crap :p

That's strange, I changed mine on Saturday and just needed the two cables as previously mentioned. The aerial adaptor fitted on fine. My wave is from an October 2003 model Cooper and the CD player is an old 2002 model from the US.

One of the penalties of having an early model then. The later wave radios seem to have the same aerial connection as the boost radio whereas the early wave radio's have an ISO connector and you will need an adaptor.

The ISO to Boost radio aerial adaptor cable is a part No. 61 12 0 144 351

So, to summarise, going from wave to boost:

61 12 6 913 957 is the main adaptor cable
61 12 6 913 954 is the cd changer or cd prep cable adaptor
61 12 0 144 351 is the aerial adaptor for early wave radios only

thanks for the info. Looks like I was lucky :) How much was the adaptor by the way?

Aerial adaptor costs £9.51p, so if you need all 3 leads, it will set you back about £50. On the plus side, the boost radio certainly seems to be better than the wave.

I'm glad you got it installed finally! The sound is pretty good!
(Must get myself some black wheel bolts!!!!)

D

Systems up and working Doug :D I will be giving it a good try out this weekend, about 500 mile round trip on the Heartbeat run should see it tested well enough.