[Dom]

Does anyone know how to change the front speakers?

I've already replaced the head unit and the rear 6x9s - will I be able to put some 6" Focals in the front?

Another of those wonderful how-to guides would be nice

Cheers,

Dom

[mini-mini]

dom,

as regards to the fronts 6" are not standard size they are 5.25 but they will go in, the only thing i dont like about my stereo is the poxy tweeter positions they fire the sound across the car rather than to middle to give proper sound, time correction on the headunit has helped a bit but not much, what else have you go in there?

Tom

[Root Ginger]

Tom not strictly true.

Treble is directional therefore tweeters should be on axis to your ears ie pointing towards them. Pointing to the middle of the car they would definitley be pointing in the wrong direction.

The idea is to get the sound crossing just in front of your head for correct sound replication. Setting the correct distances for the time delay on the speakers will certainly aid this.

It all depends on your driving position in the car though as to whether the tweeters point correctly. Better off ditching them and swapping for a set that have adjustable positioning. All you need to do then is spray the grills and base silver to match the car.

[Dom]

Quote:

Originally posted by mini-mini
dom,

as regards to the fronts 6" are not standard size they are 5.25 but they will go in, the only thing i dont like about my stereo is the poxy tweeter positions they fire the sound across the car rather than to middle to give proper sound, time correction on the headunit has helped a bit but not much, what else have you go in there?

Tom

Will adding swapping the standard 5.25" for 6" involve me having to cut any of the door panel away?

I've currently got a Nakamichi cd-45z head unit and pioneer e-motions 6x9s. After the focals I think I shall add an amp into where the spare wheel goes (and make some kind of vent in the carpet). I might also add a sub or two, if I can find a decent place to put it...

Cheers,

Dom

[space_cadet]

I have replaced the standard front speakers for infinity 5.25 jobbies. I don't see how you could get 6", as I shall explain.

First you have to remove the door panel and as usuanl you
will need a TORX socket set


1) use a small protected screwdriver to remove the
red reflector

2) Use your TORX driver and remove all the the screws.

The two at the front are much longer than the two
at the back.

3) remove the silver surround around the interior handle
/tweeter. This is quite hard to just pull of. I found that if you firmly yank the part of the door pull just below
it, it will start to come away.

Then you can reomve it quite easily by pulling at the surround itself


4) Now the whole panel just pulls of. This requires at LOT
of effort to get the clips to relinquish their grip. I found the best place to start is at the curved up front section where you can get your fingers behind.

5) With the panel off, you can unscrew the speaker and
disconnect the electrical conection.

The speaker itself is designed so it sits pround
of the door frame by about an inch. If you try and fit a similar (or larger) speaker flush to the frame then you have 2 problems, the first being that the speaker is now too far away from the grill (when fitted), and the other
that there is not enough clearance behind. Until somebody makes some proper adaptors, the only way is to canabalise
those standard speakers. I found that you can cut out the
speaker cone, and the magnet by cutting through the webs at the back of the spaker chassis. You are then left with
effectivly just the outer surround part of the speaker chassis. Its just the right size for mounting a 5.25" speaker with a little triming and adjustment and using some
self tappers screwed into holes drilled into the surround.

6) When reassemblting the door panel, rememeber to poke the
lock/unlock button through the hole before pushing all the
clips back in.

[Dom]

Cheers for the instructions... just need some funds to buy the speakers now!

So if I opted for 5.25 inch speakers, will they go straight in? This maybe easier (and cheaper) than the 6"'s...

Cheers,

Dom

[mikelnike]

I´m from Spain, sorry for my poor english. I had some questions: I want to change the head unit but the adaptator is not sold in Spain yet,would you tell me the trade mark which makes it?
Is necessary any kind of adaptator to change the speakers?, I have JBL 5.25 for the front and JBL 6x9 for the backside.

Thank you.

El MINI es la caña de España!!!

[Minty]

Welcome aboard!

The facia adapter is mad in the UK by AutoLeads. One of the main UK distributors for then is Halfords. See link below:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthrea...ighlight=facia

There have been a few posts on this topic. just press the search button at the top of the page, then type in what you are looking for.

S

[snoopy]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dom
Cheers for the instructions... just need some funds to buy the speakers now!

So if I opted for 5.25 inch speakers, will they go straight in? This maybe easier (and cheaper) than the 6"'s...

Cheers,

Dom

Dom have a look in the gallery for a users name of grahamG and the thead he wrote about his MINI and the install.

I think he used 6" up front and he did provide good photos of the mods done to the door trims to get them to fit.

Snoopy

[mikeythemini]

replacement custom pods now available for inside the doors, take 16.5cm speakers

[monsta]

Quote:

Originally posted by mikeythemini
replacement custom pods now available for inside the doors, take 16.5cm speakers

Yes, but from where?!

[Dom]

You don't need custom door pods for speakers that size - I'm using 6.5" speakers up front and still using original door cards...

Dom

[GaryM]

I to have fitted 6.5" speakers. Rather that ruin the original speakers I used them as a template to make two MDF mounts. When I sell the car (Never) I can put them back. These MDF mounts were then cut to take my Alpines. The thickness of the MDF needs to match the depth at which you wish to mount the speakers, to deep and they will hit the window mech when the window is down. To far out and the cone will hit the speaker grille. I then used a foam strip to seal the front of the speaker to the grille. Although the Mini does seem very well built while I had the door card off I applied some Dynamat Extreme to remove some of the vibrations and give nice tight base. The final touch was to go around with a tube of silicione and place blobs over anything which looked or felt might rattle.

[daryl]

How thick is the MDF that you used?

thanks,
Daryl

[jmardy]

Quote:

Originally posted by daryl
How thick is the MDF that you used?

thanks,
Daryl

If I might offer a suggestion, think about using lexan instead of MDF. Because of the likelihood of moisture getting in the door, MDF isn't such a good idea. I made apadpter plates out of half inch lexan (clear plastic) for my Miata and it worked very well and was fairly easy to work with. I used a jig saw with a very fine pitch blade and a dremel. You can really crank the screws down too which gives a better seal than MDF.

[GaryM]

mmm now that's a question, about an inch I think but obviously it would depend on the speakers you are using. One way of making up diffenent thicknesses is simply to gule panels of MDF together first and then cut them to size.

The idea is to get a good seal to the front grille with a foam strip without obstucting movement of the speaker cone. If you can do that, it is effectivly the same as mounting the speaker on the outside of the panel except the thieves can't see your kit.

[Dom]

Quote:

Originally posted by GaryM
mmm now that's a question, about an inch I think but obviously it would depend on the speakers you are using. One way of making up diffenent thicknesses is simply to gule panels of MDF together first and then cut them to size.

This is what I had to as my focal's needed bringing 'out' towards the door card quite a bit. I also painted my MDF mounts black... you can't see them, but it helps make it a more moisture resiliant, and I just wanted to play with the spray paint

Don't forget, the more sealed the door is, the better the bass will be.

Dom

[GaryM]

Yes, spot on, had sprayed mine as well.

To cover the sealing aspect a little more... Beacuse of the way the door is built the only part of the door card that is really critical for sealing is the recessed oval pocket as this seals to the door skin via a rubber gasket. I used foam strip to seal the MDF to the door, the speaker to the MDF and Door card to the speaker. Silicone was used primarily for stopping things rattling. On the bass side of things sealing the door helps but Dynamat is tops. As I said the mini build is good, certainly compared to other cars I have seen but adding the mat does tighten the bass further and make it more refined.

One of my next projects together with fitting my new Rockford 500X is to look at upgrading the speaker cabeling through out. Has anyone attempted this? I'm specially intrested on how the wiring is replaced at the door hinge.

[Dom]

Quote:

Originally posted by GaryM

One of my next projects together with fitting my new Rockford 500X is to look at upgrading the speaker cabeling through out. Has anyone attempted this? I'm specially intrested on how the wiring is replaced at the door hinge.

Yup... I've done this. That plastic tube goes into a plug type of thing - no room to fit a cable in there. At the moment, my wires come out from the door seal and into the grommet in the side of the actual door. This isn't very good though, water will run down the wire, under the door seal and into the car... Without drilling holes, there's no other way around it... although I am thinking of bringing the speakers inside the car and taking them out of the door, haven't looked at this in detail yet though.

Dom

PS - I didn't use silicone, I used windscreen glue. Same stuff, lots stickier and if you know the right people, a lot 'free-er'

[snoopy]

Quote:

Originally posted by GaryM
Yes, spot on, had sprayed mine as well.

To cover the sealing aspect a little more... Beacuse of the way the door is built the only part of the door card that is really critical for sealing is the recessed oval pocket as this seals to the door skin via a rubber gasket. I used foam strip to seal the MDF to the door, the speaker to the MDF and Door card to the speaker. Silicone was used primarily for stopping things rattling. On the bass side of things sealing the door helps but Dynamat is tops. As I said the mini build is good, certainly compared to other cars I have seen but adding the mat does tighten the bass further and make it more refined.

One of my next projects together with fitting my new Rockford 500X is to look at upgrading the speaker cabeling through out. Has anyone attempted this? I'm specially intrested on how the wiring is replaced at the door hinge.

GaryM

Have you got photo of your sealed up doors using Dynamat.