There isn't a car on the planet that needs a cap. A cap is a band-aid. Also, the Minis are Class G/H amps and draw minimal current. Even at full tilt only the sub amp will draw any meaningful current. I had dual 125.4s and a 500.1 in my GTI (ine 125.4 in 4-channel mode and the other bridged to the midbasses) and didn't have a problem.

 

No, no need. If you are using a quality amplifier with a well-regulated power supply (which the ARC is) there is no need for a capacitor, as sufficient reservoir capacity to avoid sag is already present in the amp.

Same as for the R57 - under the driver's seat, or if that is full under the passenger's seat.

 

I've had the R57 setup for some time and started a thread but didn't catch on. Should have found this one first Anyway...

As everyone has stated, Kevin has been extremely helpful and patient with my questions and concerns. I've pushed this system as hard and far as possible and the only issues I've had were a speaker blew, and a little bit of overheating but with Kevin's help with explaining some amp settings and the fact that my top is down all the time, really all the time, came in 4th for the OpenOne contest MiniUSA did. He replaced the speaker and explained how/why the original blew, most likely a defect but possibly driving it too hard with the bass boost option. As far as the overheating it was over 90 degrees outside with high humidity, Philly area, and was at full volume for over an hour. Even though he's concerned about my hearing with the top down I'm impressed with the sub and with the top up I can't listen at full volume as that would actually probably would damage my hearing.

I'm so looking forward to the internals, they've been driving me nuts since I first hooked up my iPod. I have noticed using a USB stick seems to be better than that iPod hookup. Same music, different device, better results. I'm also a bit biassed as I'm not much of an iSh.. fan but that's a whole other story.

I just wanted to chime in as a satisfied R57 owner as it seems all the posts are from non-verts and when the internals are available I'm signing up again!!!

Thanks again Kevin.

 

4th in the Openometer contest? That's a feat living in Philly.

I'm assuming that by internals you're talking about the Soundstage - sounds like a line is forming once that comes out. Having the prototype in my car is a little like drinking alone; better shared with like-minded MINIACS if you get my meaning. I was reminded today just how good it sounds - have a brand new 2012 Clubman as a loaner with the the base stereo - it sounds sad. There's no richness, no clarity, muddy bass - it is truly one of the most glaring weaknesses in an otherwise stellar little car IMO.

I really wish the complete IA set up could become a dealer installed option one day and preferably by the time I order my JCW in about 5 years. In the meantime, I can't wait for the Soundstage to come out so I don't have to drink alone anymore.

I've posted about the hum in the Aux. port but gotten very little response - maybe no one has it, maybe no one's checked - I don't know. The reason I have a loaner is that mine's at the dealer having the head unit changed out. Changing the Aux jack didn't change the noise at all. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon, I'll be motoring without an Aux. hum. Cross your fingers and anything else that's crossable.

 

You are alone no more. Kevin installed the production Soundstage in my JCW last week. To say its a MAJOR improvement would be saying too little. I find myself driving around a bit more slowly because I am enjoying the music in my car so much more, I want to stay in my car longer.

I am going to post a full write up over the weekend.

-Super thrilled Steve

 

Can't wait to hear, Steve. My system just took another giant step forward - no more Aux hum. Dealership replaced the head unit today - now I can listen to any Pink Floyd tune without hearing a hum during the quieter parts. Dogs of War is particularly sweet to the ears now.

It may not seem too significant, but Kevin's worked too hard to set this up only to have it marginalized by a MINI component. And I'm glad that my dealership went the extra mile, too.

 

So I love the way this system looks, but are there any numbers as far as SPL in an R50? The girl and I just got our mini a couple months ago, and as someone who is an audiophile as well as a bass fiend, the stock stereo is making me lose my mind and start resenting an otherwise all around awesome car.

What kind of spl numbers is this putting out?

I fully intend to do an aftermarket deck soon as having no bluetooth, mp3 or ipod compatibility is making me crazy, will this still work after that?

For example, here is a pic of my last setup:



It was a bit overkill, and my gf would KILL me if I put something like this in "our" car, so I am looking into some of the options that dont involve removing all of the minis hillariously small boot space. (Also it hit 138 db and spidered the windshield because of an unnoticed fine crack from a rock )

 

I'm assuming you are asking about the subwoofer system. 120+dB in testing - enough to damage your hearing over sustained periods (which is pretty much our definition of as loud as it needs to get). To be honest, though, the testing we do focuses on sound quality, not SPL, so it is possible that it does a bit better than that. I know of a few self-described "bass heads" who have installed our system. They push it reasonably hard. Think of our subwoofer system as the BMW M5 equivalent. Can it do some serious straight-line acceleration (SPL)? Yes. But it's really a luxury sports-sedan, not a drag racer.

 

whats up kevin, where are you located in brooklyn? i think i want to stop by and check out the system first...hearing it in person makes a huge difference

 

Sorry urrrric, but we don't operate a retail shop. The Brooklyn location is strictly R&D. We have done a limited number of installations for folks willing to come to Bklyn. There is no inventory there (it's all at a warehouse in Michigan) and there are no MINIs with systems installed on site for you to listen to.

 

oh okay...guess i'm going to have to pay steve a visit again ever since lyle came to ny

 

Yea, I've read the whole 5 pages, and still have some questions...

If the factory speakers suck at reproducing low frequencies, and would be much better at fill, why don't you put some crossovers or bass blockers in to keep them from playing those frequencies in the first place? It seems you are just using the fader to lower the level of the distortion at the speakers, and then jacking up the gain on the sub amp.

Isn't the gain on the amp an INPUT gain, not an output gain. You are just jacking the input signal, along with any system noise and distortion. I thought the object was to use as little gain on the amp as you can for the signal you have, or have I got that wrong?

 

The amp has the crossovers built in so you don't have to use power wasting passive filters. Also, IIRC, the front output from the HU is flat, where the rear is not. Kevin will correct if I'm wrong here.

Yes, you have that wrong. A gain control's primary purpose is to match the device attached to it's inputs (not always a HU) to the gain structure of the amp. The idea is to make it so the amp reaches it's maximum undistorted output the same time as the component in front of it. It's secondary fuction is level-matching.

Any modern, high-quality amp, like anything Arc makes, will not have a noise floor high enough to be a problem.

 

I'm assuming that you are referring to the Standard 6 Speaker system here. The end result is the same regardless of Std/HiFi/HK, but the details vary a bit.

The distortion that we are concerned with here is non-linear distortion, i.e. level-dependent. Relegating the rears to fill - which is what they should be anyway - keeps the non-linear distortion to a minimum. At the levels needed for rear fill and given the level difference between front and rear for a properly setup system, the difference between the rear factory speakers and higher quality speakers isn't enough to justify the cost of upgrading them for most of the MINI demographic.

A "bass blocker" is just an inline capacitor, i.e. a first-order high pass filter. It isn't something that you would use in this case - the woofer has a natural roll-off below an already high Fs and isn't being driven to a level that would require protection from low frequencies.

A crossover is a network of filters that divides frequencies up among two or more speakers. Again, not something that would be appropriate here for a number of reasons, not least of which is that there is only one speaker in the rear.

If any passive filtering were to be applied, the most helpful would actually be a series inductor to attenuate the high frequencies and minimize the impact of the breakup node of the rear woofer. However, the benefit would be extremely minimal given everything described above - it just isn't worth it.

It's actually not a "gain" at all. It is more accurately called an "input sensitivity" control. The gain of any amp is fixed. The input sensitivity control is a potentiometer (variable resistor) that attenuates the input signal to match input and output levels in the signal chain, as quality_sound described, in order to optimize Signal/Noise and output levels throughout the chain. This is CRITICAL in minimizing non-linear distortion.

If you install one of our systems and follow the detailed instructions - which include setup & tuning - you don't have to worry about these details. And that's one of the primary selling points - this work has already been done for you.

 

Sounds good, I just ordered it.

Can't wait.

 

This is a great answer to my question, thank you!

Now if you dont mind, just one more:

I plan on replacing the factory radio with something aftermarket as well as the factory speakers and running an amp to them. Will the subwoofer system still be compatible with this? ReWiring (if even necessary) wouldnt be a big deal to me, I just want to know that when it comes time to upgrade the deck and interior sound that I wont have something that is going to be unusable.

Thank you so much in advance!

 

Yup. You'll just get signal from the new HU's RCA cables rather than splicing into any of the OEM wiring. Easy peasy.

 

But you'll have to keep the stock head unit connected to the bus. If you don't, any future updates at the dealer will fail.

 

Absolutely. Connection would be as quality_sound described.

I'm think R50 Steve has a first gen MINI, so he'd be ok.

 

Hey Kevin, did you get my order? Any idea when it will ship?

Thanks,
Rich

 

Kevin, for non-DIY folks like myself...do you happen to know of any installers around the country who could handle the install? I can, of course, shop around locally to find capable personnel but if you guys had a list I'd much rather go that route.

Full disclosure, I'm still about 6 months out from purchasing the system (hell, I don't take delivery for another month or so). =)

 

Ok, no joy on the email... Would you send it again?

richardsperry at comcast dot net

 

So now there's an R57 with the soundstage and subwoofer! I can't thank Kevin enough and know that some of this has been a problem child. Problem being with the install, not the equipment, a whole other story. Either way, driving from Brooklyn to Philly with the top down the clarity is just amazing. Since it was chilly the windows were up and do have a wind deflector in the back but road noise is something of the past. The sound was so good that wind, trucks, and honking wasn't phasing me from enjoying my car the way it should sound. I'll be at the dragon in May and am part of PhillyMINI so if you're in the area or a member be sure to track me down. Midnight Black, silver bonnet stipes and a kickin system.

 

Ahhhh, finally someone else! You brought back some memories of when I left Brooklyn last June with everything installed - headed in the opposite direction - also with the windows wide open. I was amazed at how the system eclipsed the wind and road noise.

Congrats, Halo! Now you know how I feel commuting 60 miles round trip every day!

 

Any updates for the Soundstage availibility?