PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - 95 W124

TROVERMAN · #3 12-06-2004, 01:42 PM

I have the "active bass" system in my E320 wagon: 6 total speakers. Two on top of the dash, made out of paper with foam surrounds and whizzer tweeters built in. A little over 5" in diameter. Two more small 3-4" paper mid-range speakers in the armrest of the rear doors behind a grille. The "active bass" part of the system are two 6.5" woofers located in the bottom panel of each front door. These are better quality speakers in their own plastic housings. In the rear underfloor compartment of the wagon is an amplifier which looks decent sized and drives those two woofers only. End result: a system that basically sounds like garbage. There is never enough bass. Turn up the volume and you get plenty of distortion. There is little musical accuracy to the system. I think the only problems with the system could be resolved by better speakers and perhaps more powerful amps. The head unit is nice enough--it has an auto-seeking weatherband, CD changer controls and prewiring, auto speed-controlled volume, Dolby B & C noise reduction and full-logic cassette. This unit is also used in the S-Class sedans of around the same years 94-97? and is (I believe) the same one in the "Hi-Performance" E-Class system. My guess is very few cars have the better system, just like very, very few W124 E-Classes have the factory-offered switchblade key / keyless entry, or auto-dimming rearview mirror.
Probably the only difference between the high performance stereo and the active bass stereo is better (maybe Bose like the S-Class) speakers and amps.

I am embarassed to have such a lousy system in such a nice car. My 92 Range Rover has an amazing stereo (a/d/s -Range Rover, all seperate amps, wooden subwoofer enclosure, port tuned, liquid-cooled tweeters, 6-CD changer, Weatherband, etc) all factory in 1992. 120 full-bandwith watts RMS; very little T.H.D.