My door speaker install and the rest someday.

[LordOfTheFlies]

Quote: Originally Posted by scooterboy

Tough to say. Are you confident that you know how all the interior bits come apart? That's the most time consuming part IMO. I had read and printed out all the posts and FAQs I could find in advance and it still took me between 2 and three days to finish it. You have an MCS, so pay particular attention to the posts on this forum about people who had noise problems with their amps in the MCS.

My advice is to do it in steps. That way if you can't do it in a day, the car is still usable the next day. For example:

1) Replace head unit. Involves removing downtubes, installing new harness, etc
2) Replace front speakers. Involves removing door card, installing deadening, etc.
3) Replace rear speakers. Involves removal of rear seat bench and backs, then side trim panels. Sealing spealer enclosures, then putting it all back together.
4) Install amp. Decide on location and run cables (power, gnd, remote, input, output).

If you do the project in this order, you can stop after finishing any one of the the steps and you're still functional until you have time to pick it up again. I'm assuming the HU can use its own power until the amp is installed.

Try to make a list of everything you may need so you don't have to stop for a quick run to radio shack. For example, do you need an install kit for the amp (cables, power distribution block if needed)? New speaker cable to go from amp to speakers?

Best of luck and let us know how it turns out!

Ok well I just received all my parts! Quite a bit earlier than I thought btw.

Anyhoooo......I will do as you did and print out all the forums and guidelines I've found on how to remove the interior bits....I bleieve that I will have to pay a little extra attention to the front seat removal as I have heated seats so there must be a cable I have to disconnect.

I've got two sets of amp install kits actually...as I ordered a 2 channel amp at first (thinking I could only do that back speakers) only to find out that I can do the fronts with a mounting bracket for the fronts supplied by mikeythemini (though after looking through my parts it comes with a bracket that I just might be able to use anyways).

I've got 50ft of 14 gauge speaker wire as well as 17 feet of speaker wire that came in my initial order.

I'll probably open up the door panel tonight and see if the bracket will fit any of the holes (the less drilling required the better)

I'm alittle worried about the remote turn-on wire for the amp as I'm probably going to moutn the amp in the boot....I doubt it's long enough to wrap all the way to the hu....Perhaps I'll take the stock speaker wire and use that for the connection.....

Pics and install to come this Sunday!

[LordOfTheFlies]

Well, I said Sunday but lemme tell you something I just finished the job today.......

Started out on Sunday and drove up to the Bronx (from Brooklyn) to my g/f's house because she has lots of space to work with only to realize that I left the head unit at home.

Great start.

Anyways, I had pretty much everything else so I proceeded to remove all the panels...only to discover that a couple of the yellow panel clips had been crushed upon initial installation by MINI!

Anyways, everyone here pretty much knows the deal with regards to installation, but this is what I finally installed:

Polk DB6500 6.5" Components in the front (100W)
Polk DB690 6" x 9" 3-ways in the rear (100W)
Phoenix Gold Octane R 5.0:4 4channel 50W x 4 RMS amplifier
Pioneer DEH-4600MP CD/MP3 head unit

I haven't gotten around to installing the Pac SWIX unit to enable the MFSW...Will get around to it.

One thing I discovered is that the glove box is just not secured very well. I ran the speaker wires from the amp to the HU along the passenger side (to avoid the power cable on the driver's side) and up and around the glovebox. When I put the glovebox back together the screw just popped right off, as did the blue bracket that the screw (on the left side towards the center of the car) attaches to! Unbelievable. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to secure the glovebox better?

Another thing is that the Polk DB6500 6.5" speakers did not fit the bracket that I got from Mikeythemini very well at all.....The bracket was too big to allow me to screw in the speaker top and bottom...I ended up not having a fit and just deciding to screw in three screws on top....Seemed pretty stable....Hope it stays that way.......I thought about returning the speakers but I couldn't be bothered......

The amp that I got is also just too big to fit into any hidden cavity. I ended up just having it sit on top of the floor in the boot.....The cables are pretty well hidden except for the wires that come up through the center of the carpet.....(they have to come out of somewhere)

And yet another thing is that this amp really gets hot. I might consider getting another amp....I drove it for about 1.5 hours today at pretty high volume and it really was hot to the touch....Even with the heatsink still attached. I am thinking that maybe I need to get another amp or put some kind of metal cover on it or else the trunk will be useless for storage.

I will post pics after dinner.....

Shoe

[scooterboy]

Many have built a false floor in the boot to contain an amp, but if you keep that amp it sounds like you may have a heat problem with that solution.

If you do decide to get a different amp, I can recommend the Blaupunkt PA series amps. They run very cool and will fit in the cavities under either seat. Mine are working great and have never felt more than slightly warm to the touch. Though they aren't the "current" Blaupunkt model, you can still get them new on ebay for a good price.

Can't help you with the glovebox - I ran my subwoofer feed RCAs from the headunit under the carpet just below the glovebox so I never had to remove it.

[LordOfTheFlies]

The first pic is called "trunk with junk.jpg". Enough said.

Been like that since last Sunday.....

[LordOfTheFlies]

Here you can see my tight parking spot as well as the glove box removed......Also shown is the ground point on the left side of the car.....All brown wires are ground and it kind of made common sense as there were about 15 brown wires all attached to one bolt.....

Oh and one note about reinstalling the door panel after mounting the crossover..........I wanted the crossover to be mounted flush and the only place I could do it was where it ended up......But it ended up blocking one of the door clips......so I just grabbed my drill with the bit in it and just drilled off the plastic that held the clip. The door is fine without it.....doesn't rattle at all.....

[LordOfTheFlies]

New head unit, me installing the rears, some speaking wiring work.......rear speaker comparisons, and some dynamat in the door. By the way the dynamat in the door is an excellent mod.....Really tunes out road noise (no pun intended)........

[scooterboy]

HU looks great! That pic of you sitting in the back seat with the tools in the seat well brings back memories - been there!

The one thing you haven't described - how's it sound?

[LordOfTheFlies]

Sounds great....much better than stock...and I mean much better.......I haven't tweaked the amp and the hu to perfection yet but I get some siginificant bass response now and much better highs.....Having the three ways in the back actually make a big difference as they are pretty much right behind your head......

Now the bass response is not as good as having a sub but methinks it is good enough for now!

[Speedd]

I think i just may install my old amps into the back when the Mrs goes to her mums for a week.. looking good peeps ...

keep up the good work

[LordOfTheFlies]

For the glovebox, there are two blue clips that hold in the screws on the top front part of the glovebox. These clips are not secured at all and kind of flip flop around as you insert the glovebox for reinstallation.

After being a complete dolt and trying to screw everything in about 6 times, it finally dawned on me to tape down the clips with some black tape so that the holes line up properly.

After the taping job the reinstallation was a snap other than the screw that goes on the left side of the glovebox (LHD). I didn't even bother screwing it in and the box is still very secure.......

Shoe

[LordOfTheFlies]

Here's my false floor.....pics attached in the link.........

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...753#post866753

[LordOfTheFlies]

Oh and I'm getting a glovebox organizer, a center console drawer (I suppose), the parcel shelf under the steering wheel...

I'm also getting this really neat center console that clips over the hand brank and has a compartment for storage as well as an extendable leather armrest. Will let you know guys know how that works out.....

Shoe

[chrisknight]

I have replaced the front door speakers with MB Quart 6.5" discus components. To fit these, an adapter had to be made out of MDF, allow the magnet to clear the window mechanism. The adapter pushed the speaker forwards by approximately 20 mm. Fitting this to the passenger door was pretty easy, and gave the speaker magnet a couple of mm clearance. The driver’s door proved slightly more difficult. Using an adapter identical to the one fitted to the passenger door, I found that the speaker magnet was hitting the window mechanism. After much confusion, the problem was found to be caused by the window adjustment. On the bottom of the door there is a screw which allows the window 'tilt' to be adjusted i.e how much the top of the window leans inwards (or outwards). After slackening this screw the window mechanism was pushed out by a couple of mm. I found that the window would still wind up without any problems and still formed a good seal against the door rubber. The adjustment screw was tightened and the speaker fitted fine. I have found that with the MBs fitted, the grill does not need to be moded in any way.

I would definitely suggest changing the front speakers - with the MB components fitted the trebble, bass and midrange sounds far more defined than the factory fitted speakers. Spinning no Doubts 'Its my life' certainly shows this, but also shows how bad the rears are! All the speakers are powered directly from a Pioneer DEH 77mp head unit.

[roolau]

Quote: Originally Posted by minhi (original)

considering it's the same amount of work for 5.25 or 6.5s why did you decide to go with the smaller speakers?

I put in Focal 165Ks (which are pretty deep) and did not have to modify the door card at all.

Ok....so which is a better fit? The Focal 5.25 or 6.5" as i am looking to replace the factory fitted speakers at the front. Currently looking at either 130V1, 130KF and the 165K2P......