MINI S Hifi Replacement

I spend a lot of time in my car, which is often the only place I can enjoy good hifi. I've always been an audio nut (I have a vacuum tube system at home), but don't seem to be able to find the time to enjoy it. Therefore, a good car hifi is a must.

I was only mildly satisfied with the sonic quality of the stock MINI CD and speakers.  I had local stereo shop Stereotomy configure a custom install using my supplied gear that I pulled out of my prior ride. A look at the stock components reveals why the stock unit sounds weak. The CD unit is made by alpine but likely puts out less than 10 usable watts per channel (in hifi terms, the wattage is frankly not a relevant figure; the better figure is how stable the amp is. Amps that can power a 1 ohm load have the advantage and will deliver higher wattage and sound cleaner doing so). The factory speakers use paper cones, a cheap basket, small voice coils, and foam surrounds (which will rot out over the coarse of many years from the effects of ozone).  The Focals, by comparison, use kevlar drivers, rubber surrounds, and have cast baskets with large magnets and voice coils.

The replacement system, saved  from the my recently sold BMW E28 % series) consists of:

Head Unit:

Blaupunkt Las Vegas CD (older unit from prior vehicle)

Amp:   

Soundstream Reference 405s (5 channel 50w x 4; 100w x 1) with internal crossover (older amp from prior vehicle)

Electronic Xover:

Audio Spectrum electronic cross over and bass boost (used for the sub)

Front Speakers: 

Focal 136k (5 1/4 mids and titanium tweeter)

Rear Speakers

Focal 690 HC 6x9's (co axial tweeter in the middle)

Subwoofer

Kicker 10" Solobaric (in a sealed q-logic box)

Install

My instructions were simple: don't cut or drill into the car, and make it look like it always was there. I wanted something that I could remove easily for track days, and I wanted at least something left over for trunk space, recognizing that the subwoofer box would take up half the boot. These requests were easy for the speakers, since the Focal replacements fit neatly into place with no mods. The amp and sub cross over and wiring were more difficult, since they required a large mounting surface and the rear boot was the only candidate.

Nate, the ace installer at Stereotomy, created a false floor out of MDF in the boot (the floor is actually a shallow box made of MDF and carpeted to match). To cool the amp inside the box, he left vents in the sides of the box and added a quiet fan. For looks, he cut two plexiglass squares on the top and added a neon blue light, which could be covered with carpet covers so the plexiglass would not scratch. A local shop etched the MINI logo onto plexiglass, and laser cut it out so the light could shine through (these pix are forthcoming). Very custom and very cool. Enjoy the pix. BTW, the total install price (including installing all the gear and the custom floor) was slightly more than the cost of the MINI sunroof option (which I did not order). The gear itself can be pricey, but I pulled most out of the old car. Speakers were about $500 for the fronts and rears (via the net; retail is much higher). I really recommend Focal; they have long made high end tweeters and drivers for home audiophile speaker systems, and lack the bright sound of Infinity's and the dull sound of Boston Acoustics. I know others like the MBQuarts, a bit too bright for my tastes.

The sound is terrific! Nate at Stereotomy says the MINI install is quite easy and no surprises. He had high praise for the build quality of the MINI; double steel floor, double plastic walls for many trim pieces, terrific design for many functional pieces. The only gripe is that installing new speaker wire in the fronts is nearly impossible; you have to tap into the stock wire.

The false floor covers bottom of boot, is about 5" high and cut to fit. It removes easily by quick disconnect of speaker wires and power cables, accessible via second cut out on right.

Picture at right shows carpet cover removed to reveal plexiglass covering the amp.