R56 - Double Din Stereo Conversion

[G17RDY]

One thing i'm not a fan of in the R56 is the integrated cd player and radio, i didnt like it when the wife had her clubman, and with my pending ownership of the cooper s next week, i'm already thinking of ice upgrade options.

First off, what are your thoughts on the stock speakers, and if you have upgraded what did you go for?

The next question is, has anyone seen or carried out the Double Din stereo panel center panel conversion. I didn't even know such a thing existed until this morning, and i'm thinking this would be very cool indeed.
What would be your thoughts on this?

Double Din conversion..
http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/connects2-ctkbm02-bmw-mini-mkii-2007-double-din-car-stereo-fitting-kit-p-24722.html

With this head unit...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110974903035&fromMakeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

[Gismo]

Hmm, i'd never heard of this before either, according to the fitting kit it doesn't specify a patch lead for that head unit.
Would be interesting to see it fitted, but, I would get in contact with Mikey at newministuff.

[The Dogfather]

What's the reason for an upgrade sound quality or features on the stereo?

For sound quality the best route is fitting an Audison Bit One with amps. Tweeters on the dash, mid range in the doors with a lot of sound deadening and a boot mounted sub.

I did something similar using a Deh 88rs head unit mounted in the upper glove box rather than a bit one. I ran 6 amp channels 2 for the tweeters, 2 for the midrange and 2 bridged for the sub. There's a thread on here showing the install. I'll see if I can find it.

I looked at the double din but they don't do a high quality sound head unit (or they didn't back then) and the price was too high.

- - - Updated - - -

Here's my install thread. http://www.newminiscotland.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?20588-Clubman-High-End-Audio-Install

[mikeythemini]

Be careful
You need the car coding to tell it there is no stereo otherwise if it goes into the dealer for work there machine comes to a halt as its sees no stereo & won't let them proceed.
The facia you link to I have tried & its not very good
The stereo.....

[G17RDY]

Hey Chaps, thank you for the info, very interesting indeed.

Paul, both really, sound quality and stereo features are the two main aims of upgrading for me. I had the HK upgrade in the old cooper, and loved the quality of the system, every other stock set up in all other cars i have heard is rubbish and i don't know if i could live with it in the new mini.
Stereo features are everything, i really want an SD card driven head unit, that's top of the wish list, so i don't have to faf about with my phone every time i get in the car.
I had no idea that you could fit something in the top glove box, is this a full size head unit you have in there?
I'm not one for bass tubes and amps, but i know very little about ice, so if i need something like that for good sound quality, then i will start having a look into what i need.

Mikey, thanks for the info, how's the car coding done, eg, how do i get around this? as i assume the same issue exists when fitting a single din head unit in the glove box?
Are there other facia's out there, worth bothering with? I really do like the idea behind the double din facia, i think i have to make this work!!

[Gismo]

Trust me, take your car to Mikey, depending on your budget he will tailor the best setup that your car can take.
I've always hated the fact that you couldn't really do anything with the R56 onwards stereo system, but, Mike has many tricks he can achieve and i'm sure something along the lines of Paul's install is easily achieved.
Simply changing the stock speakers and adding the A Pillar tweeters will increase your stock system.

I do know how convenient it is to have an SD card slot, Me Julie's Dodge has it and it literally takes minutes to add songs to it.

I used to drive my car 350 miles (700 round trip) to get Mike to work on it, i would stay overnight if the work was lengthy, result, a magic install and a very satisfied customer

[G17RDY]

That's some good advice, I may be contacting Mikey very shortly!!

All i want is to play my music, and it sounding really good when i hit play!

Loads of options i guess, is there any way of integrating my Sony phone into the existing stock stereo setup? Bit like the IPOD integration for MINI.

Think i need to chat to Mikey!!

[Gismo]

Think i need to chat to Mikey!!:thumbs up:

[The Dogfather]

The head unit in the glove box was acting as a signal processor rather than a head unit, the main stereo worked in the same way as your car, it supplied the signal to the headunit in the glovebox.

The idea behind signal processing is to separate the stereo signal into 3 different component parts (high frequency, mid and sub) and then align the timings from each of the speaker locations so that you get good stereo imaging in the front of the car. The signals from the front speakers are delayed fractionally so that the sub in the boot seems to be in the same location. If you get it right when you listen to a song the singer should feel as though they are sat in the centre of the dash with the instruments behind in the locations where they were recorded.

In my MINI I used to listen to a live version of Hotel California by the Eagles, you could tell where the individual members of the band were on the stage.

If you just want a simple improvement then an upgrade to component speaker with sound deadening should be your first step, followed by amps and then if you want to go full tilt a processor unit like the Audison Bit One to sort out the frequencies and timings.

The key is to buy once so spend as much as you can on each part, don’t skimp as you’ll end up wanting to upgrade later. Speakers are the most important bit as they’re your systems voice. Mine cost £350, on special offer, but they’ll last a good ten years so its a worthwhile investment.

I recommend looking at the Talk Audio site for clues.

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/index.php/index.html/_/reviews/speakers/

You can fit 17cm speakers in the doors without an issue, you need a lot of sound deadening as the R56 doors aren’t suited to audio. This is were Mikey’s expertise comes in he’ll know how to keep a door from buzzing with the bass.

Happy to give you some advice if you need it, just ask.

[joec73]

Where you based mate? We have a R56 using original Headunit fitted with a set of JL speakers upfront and a 10" phoenix gold shallow mount sub in the boot , both of which are running from a alpine pdx amp. I know what u mean about the mini Headunit but I got a price to do the double din swap over and felt it wasnt really worth the extra work or cost involved.

[G17RDY]

Paul,
Thanks again for the help, time and advice. You've given me some food for thought there!

Joe,
Based just north of Glasgow, thanks for your input, if it wasn't for the fact replacing the head unit caused issues with the existing stereo i would give the conversion a go myself, however the fact that i may cause problems put's me right off. Think i need to talk to the experts on this one!!

i'm looking at two options i think - One: replace speakers and improve sound quality or two: That plus double din conversion with this:

http://www.dynamicsounds.co.uk/pioneer-avhx1500dvd-double-din-car-dvd-cd-mp3-stereo-61-screen-usb-ipod-iphone-p-37654.html

[mikeythemini]

You can fit a new stereo in the storage comp & control it from the mfsw, keeping the factory one connected to the canbus system so the car doesnt see an issue.
The car can be made to sound very good even just using the factory locations.
In addition to our usual packages we are now offering Focal speakers

[Gismo]

Mike, you anywhere near Pensacola :Whistle: on second thoughts, maybe it's a good idea you're not :lol:

[mikeythemini]

Mike, you anywhere near Pensacola :Whistle: on second thoughts, maybe it's a good idea you're not :lol:
Where's that??? ;)
ANywhere near Disney??

[Gismo]

Where's that??? ;)
Anywhere near Disney??I'm about an 8 hour drive from Disney :thumbs up:
I live North West, almost into the state of Alabama along the Gulf Coast, if you fancy a few days over this way we've got loads to do, jet ski's etc