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#1 Ouster

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Posted 16 September 2008 - 09:07 PM

This is intended to be a worklog/guide for anyone to follow if they're thinking of installing audio stuff in their mini. It's nothing too special but should hopefully clear up a few questions that some of you ask! It's tailored more to those who are running components speakers with an amplifier.

Stuff you will need
Speaker wire (I used 16 metres of 16 gauge wire, which is enough for at least four runs from the front of the car to the rear);
Sub wiring kit (power wire (normally 0 to 8 gauge), remote turn on lead, earth cable, in line fuse etc);
Pliers/crimping tool, screwdrivers etc;
Drill;
Female and male spade connectors;
High quality insulation and duct tape;
Some form of enclosure for your speakers;
Speakers, head unit (HU), subs, amp etc (below is what I am using);
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Amp - Vibe Blackbox Stereo 4
Components - MB Quart PCE 216
Subs - Genesis Profile 69
HU - Pioneer DEH-P7000BT

Time, good weather, and a strong back are also ideal!


1. Start!
The inside of your mini should look something like this (if it doesn't, you're in the wrong car!)

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2. Rip 'em out!
Disconnect the negative terminal at the battery. Undo the dashboard by undoing the wingnuts behind the dash, and disconnect the speedo cable and wiring going to the dial cluster. Lift both away and store in a safe place where they can't get damaged. You'll be left with something like this:

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Also, take out all the seats (believe me, this makes life so much easier) and any old equipment you won't be using anymore.

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(This stuff is now for sale. Everything you need to get some tunes into your mini!)



3. The start of the wiring
You may already have a HU installed - this is what the wiring dangling down is for. Mine was wired by a monkey which you may or may not be able to see, so tidy this up (twisting wires around each other and insulating them with bluetacks is not suitable!) and wire it into your new HU's connection block (usually an ISO connector if it's a newer model). If there's no wiring at all then look here to see how. Once this is done, lay down your RCA cables and remote turn on lead which will go from the back of the HU to your amplifier - if you're not using an amp, then simply wire your speakers to the different coloured wires coming out of the HU. Your job is already done (and really, you don't even need to take the dash out!). Here's how mine was looking so far - you can see here how I routed the cables under the dash:

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4. Getting the wires to the amp...a.k.a drilling time
If you're mounting your amp in the cabin, then this step is pretty easy - just find somewhere secure to mount the amp, and screw into place. If you're putting the amp in the boot, like I am, then a little more effort is required. Drill a hole large enough for your RCA cables to pass through in the back of the rear seat, and a similar sized holed in the bench - file any sharp bits of metal away. You may benefit from using rubber grommets here to stop the wires chafing away - I didn't do this however, instead choosing to put tape around the holes and securing the wires in such a way that will stop them moving and rubbing. Once this is done, pass the RCA cables and remote wire through these holes into the boot, and tape down the wires using duct tape underneath the carpet. I was left with something like this, although in the picture below I haven't quite finished doing below the seat:

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Of course, this is just a suggestion of how to do the wiring. However, you most make sure that you run the RCA cables as far away as possible from the speaker cables to minimise the chances of interference.



5. Mounting the crossovers and laying the initial speaker wire
If you're using component speakers, then you need to make room for the crossovers. As I can see it, there's only three options here - in the boot with the amp, under the front seats, or under the rear seats. I went for the last option. Bear in mind that the further away you mount the crossover from your components, the more wire you will need.

Similar to step 4, drill holes in the back and bench of the rear seat, this time on the other side, for your speaker wire. This wire goes from the amp into your crossovers - you need two lengths (due to having two crossovers) so make sure the hole is big enough! Pass the end of the wire into the boot. In the photo below you can see this, and also the holes I drilled for mounting my crossovers:

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6. Ladies and gentlemen, please secure your pods
The best sound you are going to get in a mini is if the speakers are in front of you. Unfortunately, this limits choices somewhat. If you're running 6.5" components like me, then the only place these can go are under the lower dash rail - either bolted to said rail or bolted through the wheel arch. I went for the former option as I didn't want to drill through my bodywork to the outside world! Smaller speakers e.g. 10cm can be affixed to the dashboard, but this involves blocking off your fresh air vents.

After deciding where to mount your speakers, also consider how. I built my own pods (guide here) - and it's a lot easier than it looks! There are no decent after market pods for the mini when I looked, which is why I went down this route. Anyway, once you've decided and got your bits together, drill the necessary holes and secure them into the car.

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The above shows the bracket attached to the dash rail that I bolted my pods to.

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Don't forget to drill a hole for your speaker wire to pass through!

Addition: If you have one, you may have to move the switch box to create room for the pod. I did mine like so:
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7. Spaghetti, anyone?
Now that the pods are attached, lay your speaker wires and take them back to your crossovers (or straight to the amp if you're using coaxials). Remember that you will need to run a wire for both your tweeters and woofers. To keep things tidy, and yet accessible, I ran the wires for the left hand speakers inside the area left by the dash, and taped them down so they remained secure. These were then run down the right hand side of the car along with the other set of speaker wires to the crossovers. It may help at this point to tape together the woofer wires and tweeter wires for each channel together so they don't get jumbled up.



8. Wire up your crossovers, and tidy up
Ok, things are taking shape now. Strip the ends of the speaker wires you laid down in steps 5 and 7, and wire up each wire into your crossovers. Once that is done, you can now secure your crossovers (however you are doing it), and run the speaker wires under the carpet, making sure to tape them to the floor at regular intervals. The following pictures show this.

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I mounted them upside down, just to be difficult. Well, the real reason is that I can still unscrew the cover this way without unscrewing the mounts.
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You'd never know the wires were there :P

Edited by Ouster, 17 September 2008 - 04:51 PM.


#2 Ouster

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Posted 16 September 2008 - 09:24 PM

9. Secure your speakers, wire and mount the amp
Ok, now that that the speaker wires are in place, strip the other ends of the speaker wires, and crimp a spade connector onto the end (this is of course if your speakers have spade terminals on them!). Plug this into the speakers, and screw them in place. Once that is done, wire your sub up - this bit is easy. Attach one end of the earth cable to the amp, and the other to a clean, rust free mounting point (I used the same one as the car battery). Attach one end of the power cable to the +12V connection on the amp; the other directly to the car battery. Important note - ensure that you put the fuse holder as close to the battery as possible (but don't put the fuse in until you're ready). All that's left now is to wire the remote lead (remember that one?) to the "rem" connector, plug in your RCA cables, and then screw the speaker wires that you passed into the boot in step 5 into two of the channels on the amp. Once that is done, work out how you're going to secure your amp. What I have done is drilled through the rear seat (it's becoming full of holes now!), through my boot tidy, and secured the amp with some bolts. I also drilled additional holes into the boot tidy to hide all the speaker and RCA cables. Stealth ftw!

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Testing the amp was working correctly.
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Holes drilled in boot tidy
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Amp mounted and wired up. The wires are a bit messy as I haven't tidied them up properly, but you get the idea. I guess one could put a false partition here to hide the wires completely.
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General shot of my interior. You can see where I've placed (but not secured yet) the tweeters in the corners of the top dash rail.

During this step, I also installed my two 6x9 subs. First I made a baffle board to go in the parcel shelf:
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And then I secured this in place, screwed the subs in, and wired them up to the amp.



10. Cross your fingers - it's time for testing!
That should be all the wiring done now - hope for the best and re-attach the car battery. Check all settings on your amp are "safe" (e.g. gain turned down to a minimum), and then plug in your HU, turn it on, and check that this switches on the amp at the same time. If it does, great! if it doesn't, go back and check your wiring. Play a few songs, check that the speakers work, and identity any rattles. Rattles can be solved by adding mass or by using sound deadening materials such as Dynamat (I have not done this in my install yet).



11. Time to tune your system
Turn on the engine, and rev it whilst music is playing to see if you can hear any alternator whine, interference etc. If you've got issues, check your earths and what you've screwed things into. Sometimes mounting your amp onto bare metal may cause interference, instead screw it into wood first. Once you're happy everything is working, set the gain correctly on the amp by following this guide.



I think that just about covers it. I'll try to answer any queries and add the answers as appropriate to this guide.

Edited by Ouster, 19 September 2008 - 12:25 PM.


#3 Mark@IR

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Posted 16 September 2008 - 10:34 PM

Looking good.

I really hope that power cable is like 97 foot long for a reason though! (you've probably mentioned, and i've probably missed it but meh!)

This should sound pretty darn good.

#4 Ouster

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Posted 17 September 2008 - 04:06 PM

I've yet to cut it down, 'tis all. I may leave it coiled up in the corner as it will stop the corner of the bottom boot board from flexing.
The components already sound amazing, and I haven't even started doing the gain properly or setting the high/low pass filter yet!

Just updated post #2 update slightly. The guide will be finished by tomorrow.

#5 Mark@IR

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Posted 17 September 2008 - 04:39 PM

Shorter the wire the better though as you know.. Not so its tight though, still needs a little bit left over for flex so it doesn't yank itself off the battery or out of the amp when the body flexs and all that malarky.

Glad your liking the set up, your local says somerset amoungst others, if your ever across into the world of Bristol, send me a PM before hand and we'll have a little meet up so i can have a listen to this bad boy!

#6 ninham

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Posted 18 September 2008 - 02:57 PM

I cant see any of the pictures :dontgetit: ;D

I can now ignore this lol

Great post :)

Edited by ninham, 18 September 2008 - 03:01 PM.


#7 Ouster

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Posted 18 September 2008 - 05:39 PM

;D :dontgetit:
Just about to finish and was wiring everything up, and then the middle plug on one of the RCA cables decides to snap off. Grr!
Hopefully I can find my soldering iron and put a new connector on before dark. So annoying!

#8 Ouster

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Posted 19 September 2008 - 12:30 PM

Soldered a new connector in last night, and finished up the wiring etc this morning - all is finished now. Need to tweak the gains and settings on the filters to get the best sound but it's already sounding pretty tight! Guide updated - can I get this stickied?

Quick question - I can't hear the speakers or subs clipping, even when I turn the gain all the way up. I've backed off the gain for now just in case, but what signs should I be listening for? Unless of course the system has plenty of power and the amp isn't driving them into clipping at what I deem to be a loud volume?

#9 WiredbyWilson

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Posted 19 September 2008 - 02:45 PM

it won't be the speakers clipping, it will be either the HU or the amp.

the ultimate way to do it is to set everything up using a scope (looks a bit like the offspring of a graph calculator and a voltmeter).

I had this done by a mate for my 106; first he tested the output of the HU via the RCA's - wound the HU up till it clipped the signal (which my Pioneer HU didn't even at full chat).
Then we disconnected speakers from the amp and connected the RCA's to the amp.

Then with HU flat out (or the volume prior to clipping) he opened the gain until the amp was clipping, then backed it off.

That way you know you can have the system as loud as you like with no clipping >_<

other than that, try to set the gains with the HU very loud (not in a residential area at tea time lol)

#10 boister77

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Posted 19 September 2008 - 07:39 PM

as poted by wilson, that's the best method to use to check for clipping. in fact, that's the exact method i used when setting my gains.

since most people don't own or have access to an oscope, the second best method is to use a dmm. you have to calculate the proper output voltage of your amp. use the calculator below:

http://www.realmofex...Set/voltage.htm

follow these steps:

1. disconnect your speakers from the amp and lower the gain.
2. load a 1khz test tone @ 0 dB to your hu. if you don't have one click the link below:

3. running the tone and set your volume to 3/4 of max volume.
4. with the dmm connected to the amp out and set to measure ac voltage, raise the gain until you achieve the calculated voltage.

#11 Ouster

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Posted 19 September 2008 - 07:49 PM

Cheers, I'll try that tomorrow when I'm moved back up to Uni.
I guess at the point of the required voltage it will be close to clipping?

Edited by Ouster, 19 September 2008 - 07:51 PM.


#12 PartySausage

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Posted 18 January 2010 - 11:36 PM

Hey man read up on your page pritty simular stuff to me i must admit,

what battrey are you running and auto does it hold well?

i know your not using as much power as i am i mean im sure my amp for my subs alot more rms right?

im not familar with the vibe black series i know there the top of there range and not the cheepest of amps does it peform well? heat problems? fueses okay?

im running a temp sub in my car atm which is a vibe running off a fusion amp just temping as im still saving for new battreys wire and auto! got all my speakers now....

but the vibe sub has not let me down not as powerful as what i would like but does the job.. where is your sub mounted?

back to my orion its only a 10" but check it out on youtube or online and its got some serious power i would blow most 12"x2! away! the magnet is 4" high and the excursion on it pops about 4" in your face its amazing! same as my focals they pop real good!

where abouts r u from?

#13 minimissions

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Posted 23 January 2011 - 07:06 AM

Hi you have a simular sub and amp to me what cables do i need to fit all this to the car and to not have the battery go flat?




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