[Juan Pablo]

Does any one know anything about this? A friend read it in one of the sunday papers this weekend:

Boost for music-mad Mini drivers


Music-mad Mini owners have the option of a new high-power stereo system for their cars.

The Digital Power Sound Module costs £995 and can be fitted by any Mini dealer, as long as the car already has a Radio Boost option on board.

At 660 watts, the system is three times as powerful as the average home stereo and can produce sound levels of 128 decibels through its six speakers. This is louder than the world record set by a screaming crowd at a rock concert in Hyde Park.

The upgrade from the Mini's standard Wave stereo to the Boost system costs £140 if you have it factory-fitted, or £350 when added by a dealer afterwards.

Not bad for a factory system, if it's true!

 

[Enders]

Hmmm

I spent £280 on a new head unit, £250 on a sub and amp (I made the enclosure) and the system kicks ass. The standard speakers can loose it when I turn the volume to full, but it's getting darn loud by then.

That amp for the sub is 700watts Peak (that relates to 200watts RMS) And the head unit is 4 x 15 watts RMS (35 peak I think) so that's like over 800 watts right there as a comparison.

I don't know if this upgrade includes speakers. It will need some people to hear it before anyone can say how much better it really is. But my theory is that you'll alway do better installing your own after market stuff as it will be cheaper and more in tune with your own taste.

 

[Paul]

If you go to www.mini2.com (the front page of ths site!) you'll see at the moment it's our lead news story.

 

[NotTheOracle]

The big question is... will it work with aftermarket head units??

 

[GaryM]

Forget it, if they are still using the standard Boost HU.

The standard HU's do not have line outputs nor have a very good dynamic range so just going large with the amp and speakers is not going it make it sound better just louder. The HK is boarder line on value but at a grand the money would be far better spent on a professional aftermarket install. In fact £1000 would get you some really decent kit.

As for the wattage... Only look at the RMS values for a judgement on how loud the system will go. If you look at other values like PMPO then the marketeers just make it up. Just look a cheapy unit bet it's figures are louder than anything

My current ICE install has one external 4 channel amp rated at 62.5W RMS, per channel. Sounds puney dosent it? But it goes clear and loud.

Anyway just cos it is loud it is not going to drop bass like an aftermarket system nor sound as clear. As I said, the HU aint up to it.

What will be intresting though is to see what speakers they use, where they are placed and what extra sound deadening they use if any. Nice to see some pic's if some one goes for it.

 

[jwardell]

How does it compare to the HK system? Or is it simply the same thing differently branded for europe?

 

[MadisonMini]

It sounds like for all that money all you get is a 660 watt amp, which is insane for that amount of money.

 

[CooperSBe]

I was wondering if anyone could tell me what this is? I found it on the Belgian MINI website in the accessories section. It is "SoundModul pour autoradios Boost, Boost CD ou Boost MD" and 'only' costs € 625,15. Is this the same thing as the Digital Power SoundModul?? Because if it is, why is it so much cheaper? Fitting costs? I have attached a picture of it, to show that it is not the HK system that they are refering to.

 

[StevePSB]

£995 plus 5 hours labour. Ouch!

It is a complete system though, speakers, huge amp, wiring - everything bar the head unit (BOOST reqd.)
Any more info needed, give me a shout.

 

[ImageKing]

Well my Guitar amp is only 7 watts (Class A) and even played through a single 12" speaker rated at 15w is bonkers loud.
You would certainly not want that level of noise inside your car...or indeed inside a bus.

So the amount of watts doesn't really mean a good sound.

I would want to hear it first to decide if its a £GRAND sound,

 

[GaryM]

Well my Guitar amp is only 7 watts (Class A) and even played through a single 12" speaker rated at 15w is bonkers loud.
You would certainly not want that level of noise inside your car...or indeed inside a bus.

So the amount of watts doesn't really mean a good sound.

I would want to hear it first to decide if its a £GRAND sound,

There are at least two good reasons for this...

- In this area quoting large wattages is not yet a key marketing ploy, there are lots of other more important factors. So what you see rated are typically genuine RMS figures. The ICE market is flooded with high powered marketing with all the associated hype.
- Your amp, relatively speaking, is working in free air, where in a car you are having to compress air in a much smaller space and so need more power.

If you just want volume then you do not need a lot of watts but if you want sound over the full range then the power is mainly needed at the bass end as it gets absorbed by the chassis and overwhelmed by road noise.

Anyway like all this stuff you can become very anal. It is up to you and your own tastes we all know what we like and how much we are willing to pay to get it. Many people just want to "show" their systems, others want quality and others just want a basic radio.

 

[ImageKing]

- Your amp, relatively speaking, is working in free air, where in a car you are having to compress air in a much smaller space and so need more power.

.

Working fee air ~ well sort of, its a sealed baffle, and the interior of a practice bedroom is not that big so it has rto be padded down woth a power brake.
There is no way anyone could stand it in a car at 1/2 power, yet at low volume it does a fine music reproduction.

Having had 25+ years as a Hifi nut & and more recently a sort of musician. I do understand the subjectiveness of sound.

I have been known to spend £1000 on a mains cable, but I would like to hear a demo system before I spec a my next MINI.

BTW that mains cable was the largest increase in sound stage I have ever experianced.

 

[GaryM]

But a 12" cone is moving a much larger amount of air in a much more controlled environment. In the car the enclosures vibrate, distort, leak and allsorts of other hideous things and the speaker also has to overcome the background noises before it can start to convey the whole sound field.

As you get ever closer to ultimate sound the cost rises exponentially. I bet your system was fantastic (to most of us, anyway), for it to so up changes in the mains cable?

I have effectively achieved a similar result powering my amp. I have an oversized power cable from the battery and large capacitor just buy the amp to ensure that the power drops to the amp are minimised under load. This is a point that I think a lot of people miss when doing ICE. Car amplifiers draw Huge peak currents.

What I'm curious about the mains cable, is if it made that much difference how much better would things have been if the feed was taken direct from the fuse box? Rather than the ring main which is collecting the interference from all the appliances connected to it and dropping that into your amp.