PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post

96C220 · #9 11-13-2002, 09:59 PM

MB audio systems, especially in the 80's were nothing short of terrible. It's not that the Becker units were particulary of bad quality, but rather lackluster in features, and severely underpowered.

Any Aftermarket stereo of the day - Sony, Alpine etc would easily outperform and sound better than its 1987 becker counterpart.

The thing with becker is this though - It looks like it belongs in the car, and with the "natural" lighting mb's have this is almost impossible to achieve with any aftermarket unit.

Even my kenwood, which uses similar color lighting on the display doesnt look remotely stock, although it doesnt stick out like a sore thumb like some other head units I have seen in MB's.

All in all, they are adequate, but nothing spectacular. Also dont forget that these were specified for mass market sales. MB priced the sourcing of the audio system to a point. This point is enough that it would passify the average consumer, and not much more.

There arent many people willing to spend thousands on a stereo especially in a car, so there is no point in making that standard equipment in the car, and reflecting it in the price.

Companies have gone to much greater lengths in the 90's to improve the audio systems, or to capitalize on "upgraded" audio systems as options... which in all reality are wastes compared to what you can get for similar $ from the aftermarket.

They have also gone to extreme lengths to make the cars unfriendly to the aftermarket, to force the average person to buy the "upgraded" stereo, even though its not exactly what they wanted.

MB BMW and FORD are the worse (as far as late model aftermarket upgrades).

MB because you have to start from scratch.. with the fiber optic radios, you have to rewire the car.

BMW because The heads in the 5 and 7 series cars are so eccentric, that you cant realistically replace them without the replacement looking horrible. The 7 has no way to replace the head at all, cause other functions are built into it....

FORD for designing radios into the dashboard, so once again there is no provision for replacement....

Becker may be a fine company, especially after the merge with Harmon Kardon, but the stuff featured in MB's especially older ones, fails in comparison to the aftermarket.....