Tricked Out – upgrading the MINI stereo

Posted on by Ian C.

I recently watched a great episode of Tricked Out where a MINI was worked on to improve the stereo system.
The actual work done on the MINI was nowhere near extreme – they just added an amplifier and subwoofer to the car, leaving the factory head unit and speakers. But the program goes into excellent detail on the work involved.

If you visit the Tricked Out website, you will find a detailed step-by-step photo sequence showing the removal of the MINIs head unit, connecting wiring adaptors and line level converters, running wires to the trunk and connecting to an amplifier, and finally installing the subwoofer.

The subwoofer is particularly interesting since it is custom shaped for the MINI and uses space behind one of the “cubby” storage spaces in the trunk to give extra resonance space with minimal intrusion into the trunk.
I could not find any reference on the Tricked Out website, but a quick bit of Googling found me this page which looks to be the same enclosure …

If you did not see the Tricked Out episode, and prefer a video guide to removing the MINI head unit, here’s a video that I captured from the broadcast:

Happy New Year!

Posted on by Ian C.

The first day of 2006 begins, with snow everywhere – but only a light 1-2″ … The weather has not been much below freezing recently so the bubbler created ice hole in the pond is quiet large – and you can sometimes see fish slowly swimming underneath:

Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC
Minolta DSC

It would be nice to think that this years winter will be easy and mild, as it has been so far – but somehow I think it will get worse in the next two months (it always does!)