Monday, November 13, 2017

mini love - part 32


I thought I would write a post about the legacy audio system in the Mini. Shortly after I took delivery of the Mini back in 2004 summer, I installed this Sony Minidisc system.
I never care for factory audio system, no matter how much it cost and how wonderful they tout.

the base factory head unit with CD player - it was a step above the cassette one

I took it out almost right away and sold it very cheap to another Mini owner who wanted to upgrade from cassette head unit

in order to maintain the functions of the multi-function steering wheel's audio control I purchase an adapter from UK for a premium price



the thing in the black heatshrink is the multi-function steering wheel audio control adapter for Sony head unit

quite a job as I wanted to preserve the ability to revert back to the factory audio and not wanting to cut off the multitude of connectors




in the boot is this 6 disc Sony Minidisc changer - it is much smaller than a 6 disc CD changer as well as less prone to skipping from shock and vibration


the head unit installation all done and buttoned up

the MFSW controls all work

the head unit also has Minidisc support


 the changer's door is most interesting; it has two panels due to the diminutive size of the changer

loading and unloading of the Minidiscs is much easier than CDs as they are very well protected by design


As we are in a mobile age, I removed the entire Minidisc system and replaced it with an Alpine CD head unit. I did so not because of the CD is better than Minidisc. It is the support of USB, and most important Bluetooth support of smartphones, including hand-free calling.

3 comments:

  1. Are you going to reserve a new Tesla roadster? https://electrek.co/2017/11/17/new-tesla-roadster-halo/

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  2. LOL. This has to be a troll, as you know my thought on electric car.:-) High performance hybrid might have a chance in my garage. I recently just replaced the batteries in my Thinkpad. They are only good for a few hundred charge cycles and with each, the capacity deteriorates. The Thinkpad batteries has been discontinued for many years now, so I bought the last stock.

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  3. Here is some facts on the lithium-ion battery for my Thinkpad. The battery seen 966 cycles and it's lost about all usefulness. While it can still be charged to 100% the Battery Manager shows it is "Fair". Instead of able to sustain normal use of a few hours, it now would not last an hour. This battery is no longer manufactured since about 5 years ago by Lenovo. While I can buy aftermarket ones, when it comes to rechargeable Li-ion battery I will never want to risk burning down my house with these fly-by-night dangerous products.

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