GBMINI stereo – back to Tweeter for “do or die” repair

Posted on by Ian C.

I am taking my MINI back to Tweeter (again) tomorrow. I plan that this is their final “do or die” attempt to get a good stereo install in my car.
They must get rid of the engine noise (which appears to be pickup through the “Monster” RCA shielded twisted pair cables which cost $100!) and I also want them to make the system sound better than the Harman Kardon was before they ripped it out and replaced it.
On the initial install they got two speakers out of phase, and “tuned” the car to have ZERO bass.
On the second visit to eliminate the engine noise, they were completely unsuccessful and for extra points swapped the RCAs to cross front & rear fade, and dislodged the radio antenna connection.
I wonder what they can do on visit three!
I also discovered today that, despite my regular comments to leave the stock wiring untouched – backed up by my running all new wiring for them to use – they decided to CUT OFF some speaker wires which I found laying in the car.
I strongly DO NOT recommend Tweeter Nashua at the moment.
MANY thanks to Dan (DanzMINI2 on MINI2) who has kindly offered to meet me at Tweeter in his HK equipped MINI so I can show them what my car used to sound like!

MINI sales figures from Fred Meloan

Posted on by Ian C.

Someone asked about MINI sales figures on MCOL tonight; Fred Meloan kindly posts them once a month on Roadfly; the latest is May ’03 MINI Sales Report which shows just over 22,000 Coopers and almost 17,000 Cooper S for the March ’02 to May ’03 period:

May 2003 sales of the MINI brand were almost double those of May 2002 and sales reached a new high of 3,310 for any month.

MONTH Cooper Cooper S TOTALS
Mar 02 716 71 787
Apr 02 1,477 82 1,559
May 02 1,365 431 1,796
Jun 02 1,432 1,165 2,597
Jul 02 1,388 1,478 2,866
Aug 02 1,441 1,748 3,189
Sep 02 1,536 1,431 2,967
Oct 02 1,533 1,312 2,845
Nov 02 1,312 1,394 2,706
Dec 02 1,703 1,575 3,278

Jan 03 1,499 1,319 2,818
Feb 03 1,444 1,100 2,544
Mar 03 1,660 1,161 2,821
Apr 03 1,768 1,353 3,121
May 03 1,970 1,340 3,310

TOTAL 22,244 16,960 39,204

Fred Meloan
Customer Satisfaction Consultant

MINIsOnTop review on Gabe Bridgers web site

Posted on by Ian C.

Gabe Bridgers amazing web site put up my “NEMO” review of the MINIs On Top event (I might have prompted it a little … but the event was great enough to deserve more publicity, and hopefully will generate interest which will keep going till the next event).

A new MINI2 thread discussing the (hoped for) 2004 event is already 9 pages long in less than a week and has generated much discussion including the hot topic of sticking with June 21, or sticking with a Saturday event! Check out (or vote) on the poll and stay tuned for lots more.