I posted this on Mini2... now here: :smile:

Like many, I'm not willing to loose boot space to a sub box. I also don't need or want 130db of here-me-a-mile-away bass. Just good, low, tight, fast, clean bass that sort of pats you on the back.
I looked for 6x9 subs on a lark and read many threads on several web boards about the couple brands that manufactures them. I wasn't impressed with the mediocre reviews. I began a quest, and found what I believe is the ideal solution.

Goal: Near flat output down to 35hz; no loss of boot space; easily powered by an old 100x2 sub amp I had available.
Result: 100% achievement!

The Speaker: Audiobahn AS96Q. A 6x9 4ohm component system w/ 95db per watt sensitivity, 180 watt RMS power handling and 360 watt peak power handling. A very robust driver. For, get this, $50 per pair on Ebay and elsewhere. Amazing.

The specs on this driver indicated they would be very happy with the largish airspace in the body panel. I added some dynamat to the inside walls that I could reach, and forced closed cell foam into the "cracks" to the rear of the speaker opening, then I filled the entire airspace with polyfil (pillow stuffing). Finally, I just screwed the speakers into the factory mount clips, and tossed the rather cheap looking tweets and crossovers.

I'm driving these speakers with an older MTX 100x2 channel amp connected to the rear factory headunit through a PAC 2 interface. Bass boost turned all the way down, gain at about 1/2, and the 80hz built in crossover is engaged. The amp resides under the passenger seat, where there is a thick area of foam under the carpet... I just cut out enough of the foam, and some carpet to let the amp stay cool.

I have been designing and building home speaker systems, and installing car audio as a hobby for years. Although interesting for a little while, I am not impressed with SPL, rather I prefer SQL, with a little over the top bass. I gotta say I am amazed at the result with a mere $50 pair of drivers. They will go WELL over the top, yet, the bass is so fast and tight. Cabin gain brings the output flat without a trace of boom... unless you crank in the bass boost which increases output at 45hz on my amp... when I do that it gets muddy and too boomy for me. I can't imagine wanting anything more. But, if I ever want more, I can simply drop in a bigger amp...

For me, its holy grail of bass and boot space for this tiny car. I hope you find this useful and worthy of your time. I promise you won't be sorry.

Oh, sorry, no pix as this is a completely stealth install. There are a couple really good threads here and at NAM with pix that show how to do a 6x9 install.

regards,

 

Very nice review and tempting recommendation. For $50, I might just give it a shot myself.

 

Couple of questions. Do you have the H/K system and if so, do you just keep it on the MINI H/K and DRIVER settings all teh time?

 

As I understand it the BMW H/K system is not interchangable with any after market parts. You have to replace all the bits of the H/K system if you are going to replace any... So thats just some food for thought.

I have a good friend who has a car audio / video shop and he is the providing this info. I have not done much research on this myself because I trust his input. I would research it for youself further before making any audio choices. When I ordered my MINI I didn't go with the HK system based on his input.

 

Thanks for sharing! From what I gathered, the rear speakers now act as dedicated bass drivers/subwoofers. Do you now have only the front 2 channels for mids/highs? Do you feel that there's a need for rear fill?

_________________
Singing the blue! Indi Blue, that is.

 

>>As I understand it the BMW H/K system is not interchangable with any after market parts. You have to replace all the bits of the H/K system if you are going to replace any... So thats just some food for thought.
>>
>>I have a good friend who has a car audio / video shop and he is the providing this info. I have not done much research on this myself because I trust his input. I would research it for youself further before making any audio choices. When I ordered my MINI I didn't go with the HK system based on his input.


True enough as far as the whole system goes. The head unit does integrate with the amp in the back. However, I always use my H/K system on Driver optimization so that the rear speakers only function as woofers AFAIK. I was wondering if maybe a dedicated woofer might be a little better for this duty that the dual voice coil one that is there now since I really never use the full range coil anyway. Heck, you could maybe even run a seperate small full range driver back there for fill anyway if you wanted.

 

Sorry for disappearing for a few days...

I have only the standard BOOST CD player. I know nothing about the HK system, so I can't comment on it, except to say that if the HK system uses 3, 4, or 5 ohm speakers, then you can use any brand of 4 ohm driver you wish. Unless the HK system uses some form of feedback from the factory drivers (doubtful). I'm told it does have its own separate amp, which means you'd have to splice into the speaker wires before the amp & after the headunit to integrate a line level converter like mine.

My factory drivers were 5ohm... meaning it takes slighly more power to push them to the same SPL as compared to identical 4ohm drivers. Again, I don't know what the HK uses.

The rear Audiobahns now function as subs only. I use the 80hz crossover in my amp to cut everthing above that. If I turn off the amp crossover, and add some good tweets and an inline crossover to the tweets, they would easily work as full range set. They have a 95db sensitivity (exceptional) and will outdrive my front stage Focals if I used them full range. Which would be kinda wacky, as you would want the front stage drivers to be the most sonically visable, with perhaps some ambiance in the rear fill. I have merely elected to forego rear fill, and simply use that space to extend the bass well below what the front drivers can do. I don't miss the rear fill at all, which to me always pulled the sound back and made me fell like I was sitting on the soundstage with the band beside me, instead of out in front of me. I actually prefer the imaging now, over what the factory setup did-- which pulled the sound too far to the rear for me. BTW, turned up fairly loud, I can't see in the rearview mirror... it vibrates too much :smile:

For the front stage, I'm using Focal 6.5' polyfil separates, and driving them right off of the factory headunit. The Focals have a sensitivity of 93db a watt and can take 75w RMS, 180 peak. Eventually, these will be amped as well. They certainly sound better than the factory drivers, and play louder due to their sensitivity. However, they start to distort at the same point on the volume **** that the factory drivers did (the factory headunit is limited). When I can afford a highend Alpine headunit, and another amp, I'm certain they will really shine. I had some of these drivers in a Durango, amp'd at 50w, and I absolutely loved them. Imaging is already much improved over the factory drivers. Instruments appear to be positioned outside the windshield and windows and forward of me. Those Focals were my big "pop" at $265 bucks.

Have a great one!

 

I would agree with most of you about taking up space in the boot if this was a daily car for me, but I bought mine for show, so please no flames . I bought my 04 MCS about 3 months ago and so far have put less than 200 miles on it. I bought this car with only one thing in mind, and that was to do a huge system in it. I know there are better choices for cars when it comes to sound systems, but the mini is a hatchback, which is great for subs and SPL, and it has great looks, and will not be seen on every street corner like other cars. I already have all my performance mods, just not installed. I have my wheels on order which will be here in a couple of weeks. NOw, on to the system. I started by dynomating the front doors, both the door skin and the inside of the door, built some speaker plates and installed my focal utopia separates. I decided to do things right and ran new wires into the doors through the factory harnesses for a facotry "stealth" look ( a major pain in the butt ). For my source unit, I went with the Eclipse 55090, which is a stand-alone SIngle Din DVD player without a monitor. It looks like a regular CD player, but can send video to visor monitors when I eventually get some. I must say that the Eclipse looks awesome in the dash! I ran 2 sets of JL Audio Interconnects, but this turned into a pain since I ran them through the center, under the carpet, and I had to get under the carpet with my arms to reach and I got pissed and tugged a little too hard and ended up screwing up one of the plugs, which I discovered later.
Anyway, I then Pulled out the rear seats, removed the seat belts since the back seats are not going back in, and mounted a temporary amp rack. I connected my amps, a JL 300/4 for the front stage and a JL 1000/1 for the subs. For now, I have a JL 12W7 in there and it pounds. I have not yet decided what I am going to do for subs. I am thinking either 3 12W6V2D4's, or 2 10, 12, or 13 W7's. I want this car to be loud and move a lot of air.
I am not one of those people that plays the music real loud in puiblic and annoy people. I just want something different and that can show up to a local sound off and blow peoples socks off.
Quite honestly, I am doing this to keep my sanity. I work everyday and need something to do to take my mind off of the daily grind and I love cars and audio and have had this hobby for over 17 years and am in a financial position to afford to do it. I will post pics when it is done.
I would like opinions on what sub setup I should go with. I can make up my mind!

 

That's cool, rocman. The mini would make an outstanding show vehicle. Going that route, there is no such thing as too much of anything :smile:. And there is never enough SPL in a show rig. JL makes some darn good equipment and they were pioneers in the subwoofer arena. Now days, there are so many other choices. Try something different. Blaze your own trail. Its possible these days to find subs with fast accurate bass that can go nearly as loud as a driver designed for a ported box. I'm a fan of the sealed box or horn-loaded enclosures which can do realistic sounding bass at scary SPL. Have a look at this double horn-loaded enclosure:
http://decware.com/whorn.htm

DECWARE has a support forum for this design, and I've read posts there of peeps getting 150db easy, and one guy getting 161db at the mouth of the horn with a version using 2x12s. 'Course you'd have to loose the rear seats to fit it, and it may not fit between the shock towers, but it would be amazing.

I think you are most correct... those of us who use our mini for daily drivers want to keep its functionality.

Your project sounds terrific. I'll be anxiously awaiting pics and magazine reviews! Good luck with it.

Now get out there and put a good 15k miles on that thing to get it broken in and through the first dealer service!

 

Hey Blu -

I just ordered a pair of these from an eBay merchant ($45)

Can you elaborate on the "closed cell foam" you used? I'm not familiar with that term. Like you, I don't want to lose the boot space and I'm looking forward to trying your suggestion.

Thanks!