Last month I fell in love with an '83 300D Turbo, and last week I bought her. While I've got the seats and carpeting out so I can turn back twenty years of cleaning neglect with a shop-vac and shampooer (watching the sheer amount of pure sludge pulled from the carpeted well in the center console was a real freakshow), I'm stringing the wires to put an amp and subwoofer in the boot.

I bought the first amp kit I came across (and am kicking myself, having come across a Monster Cable kit in the J.C. Whitney catalog for ten bucks less than what I paid!) and have already strung the power cable alongside the vacuum tubes on the passenger side, with the RCA cable on the driver's.

I've already passed the RCA cable through the short wall which the front lip of the rear bench sits atop (with no ease, let me tell you), but am not sure of the correct way to continue; what's the best way to get the RCA cable behind the console?

This is a quick but by no means dirty job to get sufficient audio for an upcoming long trip -- I'm going to tear everything back out next month or so to lay some top-end four channel RCA cable, replace the speakers under the dash, perform the center-vent mod, and replace the sun-worn dash itself with an uncracked donor pulled from the junkyard. In the mean time, however, what speaker sizes can I drop into the rear shelf without any cutting?

And, lastly, is it alright that I'm stringing the power cable on the passenger side? There's no risk having a power cable so near the vacuum tubes (heat or static buildup, or something -- I know I sound like a total rook)?

Any help's much appreciated!

Can't tell you about the speaker sizes - but do a search here and on the web in general. The sizes are out there... just have to find them.

As for your wiring - it sounds fine. You want to keep your power wiring away from our RCAs and your speaker wires - but it sounds like you've done that.

To get your RCA behind the console (where the head unit is), your best bet is to wire it alongside the frame where your doors are (not through the middle of the car). You should be able to work your way under the carpet (remove various moldings, etc).

Good luck

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1995 E300D - 225,000 miles - White Exterior, Grey Interior - original owner

I redid my speakers, deck, and added a subwoofer. what you should do is pull one back speaker and one front speaker out, and take them to a car audio store. They will tell you the sizes, and then you go online and buy them from an online dealer, such as http://www.hifisoundconnection.com/Shop/Control/fp/SFV/30046 they have some really good speakers at a really good price. Phoenix Gold speakers seem to fit the best into my mercedes because of the shallow mounting depth. and if you can find one, get a xenon 12 inch 2 ohm sub. It's a great sub. what kind of power wire did you use?? copper welding cable works really well. if you want to have two amps in the trunk, use a 0 gauge wire to run to the area where you mount your amps, and get a distribution block. use a 4 gauge to get to your sub amp, and a minimum of 8 gauge, although 4 works good for the speaker amp. I have had no problems with running my power cable to my battery along the vacuum lines. you might want to run the ground back to the battery. or have a static strip on the ground. the sub can generate a lot of static, and it's shocking to touch the door.owww. let me know if you have any more questions.

4" up front, but beware of tweeter protrusion issues..
and 5.25" was stock in back but why bother?

if you haven't noticed yet, the entire rear deck is made of fiberboard.
the speakers actually sit in these pathetic plastic trim rings to give them "support"
you can install any size you want in the fiberboard.. but will definitely need to come up with something more solid for any real sound.

currently working on building an entire new rear deck of .75" solid wood to be stained, laquered, and then installed for a 10" blaupunkt TH (thin series) free air mount alongside alpine 6.5"s. going to mount twin amps on the back wall in the trunk.. definitely be running about a one farad capacitor.

should be getting more complete this week.. keep you posted.

If you can find them, get some speaker angler boots for the rear (about 13 degrees is ideal). This gives a great improvement to the sound. Angle them so they are facing foreward, and point inwards about 22.5 degrees from straight ahead.

Be carefull drilling holes in that back wall because the
gas/diesel tank is mounted behind it.
You don't want to end up with holes in it(very bad for
fuel economy).

Louis.

I've been reading thru the service manual and was well surprised at how easy the rear parcel shelf lifts out; in most everything else I've owned it's been a solid part of the chassis. I'm no longer going to be hesitant about sawing bigger speaker holes thru it!

Building a custom wood shelf is a terrific idea, I really wanna see how it comes out!

In the meantime, I think I'll saw thru the fiberboard and put in a pair of three-ways and maybe a subwoofer, like you're intending, rudolph. I'm hoping I won't have to saw the doors, which I'd earlier resigned myself to.

I've got a pair of 10" subwoofers mounted in a box in the trunk of my previous daily driver, but read that the solid construction, soundproofing and tank position of the W123 really defeats trunk mounted subs. Has anyone experienced mounting subwoofers in the trunk?

Made both a mental and written note about the angler boots, amos; sounds like a great idea!

I put a sub in my trunk, and it worked well, but my car is a 300 sdl. There is some venting into the trunk on the hatboard. A 12 inch mtx 4500 Dual voice coil worked quite well, and had enough omph to get through, but the sub was no where near as clear as the Phoenix Gold sub I have in there now. I built my own box out of 3/4 inch MDF. The speaker boots I have were already in my car, and were used in the 87 year. The speaker is glued to the boot. I just took a knife and split them away. you could probably find these boots on a 300 SEL and other similar models. I will warn you however that you will be limited with these to using 6" speakers. Very few companies make these. Phoenix Gold is one of them. Can't remember the other one off hand.

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All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

I'm a fiberglass junkie and I've build a custom enclosure for 2 10's on the passenger side of the trunk. Even with 1500 watts of power, they're not as loud as the same ones in my 06' M3... that truck is REALLY soundproofed (things were built better in the 80's)

As for the gas tank being behind that nice little wall... yeah... we found that out the hard way... let's just say... I solved the bacterial problem I was having in the fuel.... I bought a new tank...


CanadianB

I once saw a Mercedes (don't ask me for the year or model) with a sub mounted in the hatboard in the back. The guy just cut out the hole and mounted it upwards. What some guys will do for a boom box.

__________________
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good men to stand by and do nothing.

Too many people tip toe through life, never attempting or doing anything great, hoping to make it safely to death... Bob Proctor

'95 S320 LWB
'87 300SDL
'04 E500 wagon 4matic

Is this too radical?

See thread

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Small Stable:

2002 C240 My first and certainly not my last!

Is this too radical?

See thread The best audio system to install in w124?

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Small Stable:

2002 C240 My first and certainly not my last!