I'm new to the forum and new to my mini cooper(06 cooper S) and my last car had an aftermarket alpine stereo in it. I'll be the first to say I spoiled myself on the ability to have either an ipod or just a little flashdrive as well as an mp3 cd in there and then have the ability to use the in dash reciever to scroll through and search for songs.
so far i've been getting by with just an mp3 cd but I just curious if anyone has put in an aftermarket stereo in their first gen mini. I thought id read somewhere about not being able to do it because the speakers are only 2ohms or something, or maybe it was that you couldnt put in aftermarket speakers with the factory radio. im not sure, either way i just thought i'd ask.

 

Yes they are easy to replace adapter and wiring harness needed If you have the premium HK system you might need to remove the amp (I've heard both answers)

 

thanks for the reply. i think ill leave well enough alone for a little while at least but its always good to know.

also i swear you're one of the only people answering questions on here haha every thread i click into you've posted in it haha.

 

well im leaning towards replacing the factory stereo already haha. but now i'm interested in figuring out how to do it without messing with the overall look of the interior. By this i mean i want a stereo that has the same or at least close to the same display color as the factory stereo of the redish orangeish color. I had an alpine 9886 unit that i really liked but its primary color was blue and i figure that wouldnt really mesh, they had a version the 9886r (i believe it was only in europe tho) that had a red primary color. any help please. id prefer to stay in the alpine or pioneer brands.

 

This is the stereo I put in my gen1 S. It uses your smartphone as the screen and is customizable to any color you can think of in the settings. I purchased through crutchfield and it came with all the parts required to install with the Harmon Kardon stereo for $285. It’s clean and doesn’t interfere with the gauges above the Radio at all.