5 replies to this topic

[Darren]

Alright, as from tonight, Amelie rocks. Yes, seriously, she really does! The CD player and one 6x9" speaker have been installed in the mean time, and rock-a-by Amelie!

Anyway, I'm having a few problems... Well, personal taste problems, more to the point! It's to do with the Amp going into the boot, and having 2 speakers up front...



Amp. Where the hell can I mount this!? I have a boot lining kit, and that is staying! With that though, I don't have anywhere to mount the Amp. Sure, just mount it onto the rear board that sits up against the seat bench, but then you can't take out the bottom board. The bottom board has to be lifted up on the left side, but the amp, which is attached to the back board and sits out, doesn't allow for the bottom board to be lifted any more than, about 1".

The speaker on the passengers side of the parcel self sticks down, meaning the left carpet board of the boot lining kit has to be moved over to the right about 3/4". I'm going to have to cut a new piece of board and carpet it to cover the tank. Anyhow, I'm left with a 3/4" gap between the petrol tank and the left board? Would mounting the Amp in there have disadvantages? The guy installing it told me it would be a bad idea.

His misses suggested cutting off about 3/4" off the right of the bottom board, and mounting it with angle to keep it steady. This means the Amp can attach to the back board and the bottom board can easily be pulled out and pushed back in. All other boards should also easily come out and go back in. What do you think?



Front speakers. Where? Door speakers are out the window as I simply don't like them! Personally, I think the front speaker pods look bulky and leave you with even less room so they are out the window to. And no to dash speakers, because I don’t yet have a dash, and I want to keep the air vents! Ha! So original!

Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be anywhere else. Sorry, I mean, there doesn’t seem to be anymore space! Also, if you put a speaker on the passenger side, there isn’t any room on the driver’s side to put it in the same place! I guess that’s what the door speakers, speaker pods and air vents are for!

The speakers I have for up front are about 5”. I’d rather have them hidden, but there isn’t anywhere to hide them, unfortunately! I was just going to have little tweeters up front sitting in the dash, but I’ve been told there isn’t much sound from them? The only other place I can think of for the speakers would be on the floor; under the front seats, or perhaps in a corner box where the front of the bar and the door meet (facing in towards the gear stick). Would look good I think, but I’m not sure about the sound from them?

I also thought about just using one speaker… Perhaps make a nice little box and set the speaker on the top dash rail in the middle, (fits nicely), but doesn’t look overly good as it does actually sit up looking at it from the outside! OR... Towards the top of the middle of the foot well where the hill starts to fall... (Up pass the gear stick). Would these be hard?



If you read all of this, thank you, and if you reply with some help, thank you very much! Need some help super fast, and it would be nice to try and get this job completed before the end of the week!

[Jordie]

Thought the boot boards worked like that anyway....roberts??? i think has one and his amp mounted to the rear seat.

The speakers might get damaged in that postion, dont know how it would sound tho.

[Purple Tom]

I also thought about just using one speaker… Perhaps make a nice little box and set the speaker on the top dash rail in the middle, (fits nicely), but doesn’t look overly good as it does actually sit up looking at it from the outside!

Darren

I made such a box, to house two 10cm Pioneer speakers. It fitted absolutely lovely, and I sprayed the MDF it was made from black, which left it with almost the same effect as the top and bottom dash rail (you know the mottled effect?). Any 10cm speakers will fit, and I also drilled it for a 12V (cigarette lighter) socket. It doesn't look at all out of place, and still allows the use of the standard clocks and air vents, and still leaves enough room on the dash for some belongings too. Coupled with a centre console where the stereo was mounted I ended up with front and rear speakers, a stereo and still plenty of storage space.

I'd take a photo but unfortunately have just removed it and stripped the dash down to bits and pieces in preparation for the re-spray. However I have it (its in two pieces), I could post a pic up if you're interested?

Tom

[tipcat]

Darren,
I made an MDF mini-dash big enough for 2 10cm speakers and a glove box for the front, an under-seat board for 2 6x9's (I know the arguments - the sound isn't brilliant with the seats in, but it does fill the air a bit!), and put 2 13cm's in the rear shelf. I put my amp in the right-hand side 'companion box', then fabricated a clever cover to hide and protect it - as well as providing ventilation. My head unit is in a Custom Consoles console - IMO the best design, as they allow for the fact that, in most Minis, the heater heats - and the HU doesn't like it! Their design includes heater vents and a clever redirection of the heat away from the radio.
Where you manage to fit an amp depends on how big the amp is, and how ambitious your plans are. Alex1380 has (or had) two amps in his boot - but he had to dismantle everything to get the spare out! With a smaller amp, you might be able to bolt it to the 'roof' of the boot - between the speakers.
A radical option is a full install in the rear seat area - good if you don't plan on carrying more than one other person!
Hope this helps!

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[Alex1380]

i've had a boot liner from mini trailer and i have extensively changed it, i mounted my 4 channel amp on the boot lid and the fuses and spliter box on the right hand pannel then the rest is filled with the bigest subbox i could make and fit in. which has its own mono block mounted on the box (on rubber to remove some vibration). im just putting the fineshing touchs to it today so i will see if i can get some pictures.
Alex.

[Darren]

Thanks for all your help guys!

Tom, could you get me a picture please? Sounds very interesting!

tipcat, thats some set up you have there! Nice pictures! The dash and back pocket look real well!

We got it fitted tonight! The rear speakers and the amp, anyway!

We mounted the amp to the back board of the boot lining kit, then mounted the board to the back of the seat bench. We're going to hinge the floor board onto the back board so that it easily lifts up and down so you can get to the spare wheel and battery!

As for the left board that didn't fit against the tank because of the size of the speaker, well, we cut a bit out of the top of that so it fits nicely were it's meant to!

The sound is perfect, and very boom boom, but it appears the amp is slightly to powerful for just the 2 6x9s! Thats not a problem though! Over Christmas I'm going to look into front speakers, and where I could get them, so we can get back to that and see what happens!

With Amelies new evil facial look, aswell as her badass boom boom, I'll be one very proud Mini owner this Christmas!

Attached Files

•  Boot_Sound.jpg   0bytes   4 downloads