>I have been following this thread with >interest - great discussion and info!

Yeah, its a great thread for any Benz owner, especially W124 owners. ;-)

>I have an 87 300E, and there seem to be
>some subtle differences in the body from
>the later 500E described. My spare tyre
>cover is a large rectangular lid which has
>a well mokded into it. this well nests into
>the spare, and is covered by a secondary
>circular lid.

Yup..this is it... Just remove the whole lot and replace with an MDF sheet ofver the entire well & tire. ;-)

>I am interested in replacing the dash
>speakers with quality 2 ways, and placing
>the 12" small enclosure sub in this well
>the way you described, and have several >questions.

Quality 2 ways are the best way to get a decent sound, an adding the sub should give you weight to the sound.

>1. If I remove the two rear speakers and >use the holes as ports for the sub, can the >speaker wires be used as inputs to the >sub's amplifier?

Depends on the amp. You need to find an amp with 'Hi-Level' or 'Speaker Level' inputs. If you get one of these you'll be fine.

> If so, will the existing fader control act > as a control for the amount of bass?

Yes, if wired this way you can use the fader to fine tune the bass. Very useful as you need more bass at higher speeds to overcome the roadnoise.

>2. Can the trunk light wiring be used to
> power the amp, and is there a way to use
>the power antenna feed as an on/off switch
>for the amp?

You could not use the light wiring... theres not nearly enough current coming through... you need a seperate power feed, say an 8 gauge feed from the battery (with a fuse near the battery). Theres an easy way to get the wire through the engine firewall and into the cabin. Ask for more details if you wan them ;-) You then need to use a grounding point in the trunk, which is easy to find...there are plenty, just pick a bolt that goes into the main chassis and ground the amp to that.

You are spot on with the attenna feed... just wire it up to the 'REM ON' input on the amp. Then it'll only turn on when your headunit powers up ;-)

Bri



------------------
Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069