Stereo Stuff

It’s a little surprising to me that I am not the only crazy MINI owner in the world 😉
Long ago (on GBMINI#2) I decided to fit an aftermarket head unit to the HK (Harman Kardon) upgraded stereo; the HK amp “talks” to the original head unit so I had to leave it laying in the trunk!
After a while I replaced the complete original head unit with a stripped down one (from ScooterBoy) which was easier to hide – but the functionality of the “kludge” was still not right, especially regarding volume control … So I next developed a software “mimic” of the head unit which gave me a “clean” system.

Then MikeyTheMINI contacted me; he sells & installs stereo stuff in England (and via NewMINIstuff.com) and had someone who wanted to do the same – run an aftermarket head unit through the HK amp/speakers. I sent him another “EZcal mimic” which worked fine, so I then decided if someone else wanted it, I needed to make a better product – more rugged and eliminating the un-necessary / expensive display & keypad; hence the HKenabler.

So I built and shipped about 10 HKenablers to Mikey last year – he has the harness adaptors to package them into a “plug and play” aftermarket solution, which he sells on his website.
Then I shipped nearly 20 more.
And now I just shipped another 15 more!

So somewhere in the world there are a surprising number of MINIs with aftermarket head unit driving the HK upgrade …

See this thread on MINI2 … when MikeyTheMINI does an install, this is what comes out, and this is what will be going in to replace the original stereo:

See the thread on MINI2 for more progress pics – I am sure the system will be amazing when Mikey finishes!

A while back, I was asked what my preferred music was … so here is the list of artists / albums currently stored on my Kenwood Keg. I can guarantee there will be stuff you have never heard!
10cc: Greatest Hits
ABBA: The Hits 1, 2, 3; Definitive Collection
Abbacadabra: Revival – Flight One
Abbamania
Ace Of Base: Collection
Adam & The Ants: Kings Of The Wild Frontier
aHa: Hunting High And Low; Scoundrel Days
Annie Lennox: Bare; Diva; Medusa
Bee Gees: Greatest Hits; One Night Only; This Is Where I Came In
Billy Joel: Greatest Hits 1, 2, 3; River Of Dreams; Storm Front
Blue Man Group: Audio; The Complex
Bob Rowe: Bob Rowes Music Box
Bond: Born; Classified; Shine
Bryan Ferry & Roxy Music: Greatest Hits
Bucks Fizz: Are You Ready
Carpenters: (boxed set)
Casablanca Records Story (various artists)
Chris de Burgh: The Ultimate Collection; Best Moves
Cirque Du Soleil: Dralion; La Nouba; O
Depeche Mode: Speak & Spell
Dire Straits: Love Over Gold; Making Movies; Money For Nothing
Donna Summer: Endless Summer
Duran Duran: Decade
Eagles: The Best Of
Earth Wind & Fire: Best Of
Electric Light Orchestra: A New World Record; Balance Of Power; Discovery; Flashback; Out Of The Blue; Secret Messages; Time; Zoom
Elton John: Greatest Hits; Love Songs; Very Best Of
Elvis Presley: Greatest Hits
Erasure: Pop!
Eric Clapton: August; From The Cradle; Me & Mr.Johnson; Pilgrim; The Cream Of; Riding With The King
Eric Idle: Sings Monty Python
Espuma: Espuma; Planet X
Eurythmics: Greatest Hits; Peace
Fine Young Cannibals: The Finest
Fleetwood Mac: Rumours; Say You Will; Tango In The Night; The Dance; Very Best Of
Fraggles: Fraggle Rock
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Welcome To The Pleasuredome
Genesis: Abacab; Calling All Stations; Genesis; Invisible Touch; Turn It On Again; We Can’t Dance
George Harrison: Cloud Nine
Hollies: Greatest Hits
Hot Butter: Popcorn
Howard Jones: Best Of
Huey Lewis & The News: Time Flies (Best of)
Human League: Dare; Love & Dancing
In My Life: Various Artists Play Beatles
Jean Jacques Perrey: The Amazing New Electronic Pop Sound; Mood Indigo
Jean-Michel Jarre: Oxygene; Equinoxe; Magnetic Fields; Chronologie; Oxygene 7-13; RendezVous; Waiting For Cousteau; Zoolook
Jeff Lynne: Armchair Theatre
Kevin Brown: Rust
Kraftwerk: Computer World; Electric Café; Man Machine; Trans-Europe Express
Legacy A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours
Leo Sayer: All The Best
Level 42: Level Best
Madness: Divine Madness; Its Madness
Madonna: True Blue; Bedtime Stories; Erotica; Music; Something To Remember; Immaculate Collection
Marillion: Singles Collection
Mike & The Mechanics: Living Years; Mike & The Mechanics
Mike Oldfield: Complete; Elements; Tubular Bells II
Monkees: Greatest Hits
Monty Python: Sings
Perrey & Kingsley: The Essential
Pet Shop Boys: Actually; Very
Peter Gabriel: Shaking The Tree; So; Us
Phil Collins: Dance Into The Light; Face Value; Hello, I Must Be Going
Pink Floyd: Animals; Dark Side Of The Moon; Wish You Were Here; The Wall
Police: Greatest Hits
Queen: Greatest Hits I, II
Robert Palmer: Addictions Volume 1, 2
Robin Barrett: Blue Movie
Rutles: The Rutles; Archaeology
Sarah Brightman: Time To Say Goodbye
Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: Various Artists Play
Shania Twain: Come On Over; Up
Simply Red: Greatest Hits
Squeeze: Piccadilly Collection
Stranglers: Greatest Hits
Supertramp: Very Best Of
Suzi Quatro: Greatest Hits
Tears For Fears: Greatest Hits
The Art Of Noise: Best Of; Ambient Collection
The Beatles: 1962-1966; Abbey Road; Help; One; Sargent Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
Tina Turner: Simply The Best
Ultravox: Dancing With Tears In My Eyes; Extended; Vienna
Vangelis: Albedo 0-39; Spiral
Visage: The Best Of
Walt Disney World; Various tracks
Yazoo: Upstairs At Eric’s
Yello: Essential

(I have bolded my favorite albums – not including “best of”s which is cheating!)

UPDATE:
DB has put up a list of his “top music” too …
And another list from UKPylot …