More than a year ago, I installed MINI’s high end factory stereo DPSM system in GPMINI – it sounded very good but lacked the punch of good subwoofers (which I subsequently solved!)
A few weeks back, I noticed a slight background noise from the speakers, when music was silent – it sounded a little like the clicks & burbles of failing electronics.
This past week when I drove GPMINI again, my heart nearly stopped when the speakers suddenly started “exploding”, cracking with such a loud force that I felt the breeze on my legs! A scary deafening thudding noise!
I was pretty sure that the DPSM amplifier had failed – but to confirm it, I removed the Alpine head unit and temporarily re-connected the original … after a couple of minutes, the same explosive noises occurred (apparently the amp fails as it warms up).
With Josh’s help, I was able to confirm that the amp turns it’s “error” light on every time the speakers crack – it’s as if it realizes it just failed, and shuts itself down for a few seconds.
I bought the DPSM kit from MINI of Peabody and called them – it turns out happily that the kit has a two year warranty, so once I took the car in for them to confirm my diagnosis, they were able to order and install a replacement amplifier.
This morning I headed down and got the keys, then spent half an hour re-installing my Alpine head unit and putting the dash back together (including re-installing the glove box) … then a nice 100 mile drive to check that everything is once again working perfectly, which it is 🙂
Many thanks, Scott and everyone at MINI of Peabody, for getting my car back together so quickly!
M&I / GBMINI 