ALLGBMINI – Page 421 – M&I / GBMINI

F1 GP: Heading to Montreal

Posted on June 9, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

The drive to Montreal from home was 320 miles total – on the way we decided to take the scenic route by ferry across Lake Champlain. By luck we arrived within minutes of departure and the ferry was not busy … Leaving hot & sunny weather in Vermont, we enjoyed being out on the deck of the ferry and watching the day go by … At least we did until we noticed lightning flashes over New York state, and the wind picked up … then HEAVY rain lashed down and everyone headed for shelter in their car or the depths of the ferry. I got soaked through outside just in the few seconds of taking a picture!

Minolta DSC

Minolta DSC

But we made it over, and soon the weather improved as we continued north into Canada. We arrived at our hotel about 5pm and after settling in found excellent dinner at Asiana, a “Szechuan & Thai” fusion restaurant!
Then we prepared for our first day at the Gille Villeneuve race track (tomorrow) …

Reflections on an “S”

Posted on June 7, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

While waiting to meet Jamie Perkins (The Car Audio Specialist) today, I noticed a nice reflection of the tree I had parked next to, on the roof. Suddenly I realized that if I removed the antenna, I could get a better pic! Why didn’t I think of that before … anyway:

GBMINI#3 “S” reflection

This is much more like the image I wanted on the roof – the way it “floats” above the black and of course the deep reflectivity of the black (thanks, Zaino!)

Jamie Perkins “The Car Audio Specialist”

Posted on June 7, 2005February 11, 2017 by Ian C.

You will remember that, even after the terrible Tweeter experiences, I was ready to try again with GBMINI#3, again installing a Kenwood head unit and Kenwood Keg (20GB MP3 drive). The new head unit improved sound a little over the stock head unit, and of course gave me access to more than 2,500 MP3 files on the Keg, but there was still a need for more bass – so new speakers and an amplifier were required.

So on May 18 I left GBMINI#3 with Jamie Perkins, the Car Audio Specialist, in Melrose (40 minutes drive). On 21st, I picked it up again, finished. I have been waiting to get hold of the pictures Jamie took during the install, and of course I have been testing out the system.

My priorities were:
– Clean Sound
– More Bass
– Minimal loss of trunk space

I think Jamie succeeded! Only MINI fanatics will even realize there is a false floor in the trunk now, so that I have lost a couple of inches of depth – under the floor is a Rockford Fosgate P4004 four channel amplifier that drives a pair of Boston Pro 60 speakers in the doors, and a pair of JL Audio 6W0 subwoofers – the trick was for Jamie to build custom sealed enclosures and put the subwoofers in the rear 6×9 speaker positions!

Minolta DSC

And as you can see, Jamie used lots of Dynamat too – I have not noticed any vibration so far!

It took me a few days to adjust all the cross-overs and sound levels to get the sound how I like it – sometimes having too many adjustments is a bad thing! But I am now very happy with the result.

The sound will not be LOUD enough to some people, but loud was not on my list – of course the system is anyway much louder than the stock system (I don’t know if it is louder than the HK upgrade).
If you are going to MINIsOnTop, you will be able to check it out! 😉

THANKS to Jamie for doing great work, and of course to Jayson for recommending him!