Dear whom it may concern

Hi, I am experiencing problems with my new head unit and I am very depress. I don't know much about car stereo, I really hope that some one here can advise me what to do.

I replaced my broken stock Becker with a Kenwood eXceleon KDC-X817 CD reciever. http://www.crutchfield.com/cgi-bin/S-goUVl5jw6nD/ProdView.asp?s=0&c=3&g=300&I=113KDCX817&o=M&a=0

As far as my concern, I think the sound quality is worst then the stock system.
The front speakers located at the dash becomes very loud and sharp. The speakers on the door becomes sort of dim and lack of bass. When I try to turn the bass up or the volume up high, the speakers at the dash board will make cracking noises after couple of minutes.

If I really want to have a little bass, I will have to turn the bass level up and fad the speakers to -7/10 towards the back in order to prevent the cracking noise coming from the dash. Cracking noise will disappear at -7. But at this setting, front speakers are too dim and speakers at the back becomes too loud. I tried adjust to different settings but just doesn't help in obtaining the overall balance.

I took the car back at car toys and the installer told me that the speakers on the dash cannot handle the power and bass. After time, they heat up and crack. (I don't know if he is right though ?)

To prevent cracking noise and increase bass output, he suggests a sets of new speakers up front (door and dash) to take out the cracking noise and better sound quality (That was what the sales person told me when he tires to sell me the head unit). He also suggests a 2 channel amp to power the door speakers for little more bass (Are they mid ranges or co-axial or sub? and what sizes are they ?) . Should I take his advise ?
I have read some of the threads, but I am not sure. Please forgive my ignorance, as some W124 has 4 speakers with a 4" front and 5 or 5-1/4" at rear. Some has 6 speakers with 2 by the door. I am afraid there might be sizes differences.

My goal is not to catch attentions or blast someone off the street and I don't want to spend too much on the car, as I already did for the looks. All that I am looking for is clear sounds and some bass.

Should I replace all of the front speakers ?
If so, What type of speakers should I put by the door and the dash ? co-axial on dask, sub by door ? Which brands are recommaded ?

I heard that if you need to stick with the stock sizes, you will need MBQuart ? I have heard some MBQuart systems on BMWs and others cars. They seems to be a little to high.

Please, any tips or concerns will be helpful.

Thank you very much for your time,
and your help is greatly appreciated.

Pete regards

93 300E 3.2
94-95 updated look
European headlights
Eibach sway bars
H&R springs
Koni adjustable shocks.
AMG 17" monoblock with SP9000




[Edited by cheyun on 03-28-2001 at 03:41 AM]

Pete:
I am not an expert, but I think that several things are going on: 1)mis-match of impedance between head unit and stock speakers. 2)overload of factory speakers in dash/rear deck at low frequencies - high pass Bass Blockers for dash speakers is MINIMUM that you would need. 3)Possible presence of factory amps at each speaker distorting the signal on some models - needs to be checked on yours. 4)The door speakers are, at best, mid-bass speakers. driving them hard enough to get reasonable bass will overdrive the dash speakers. 5)If your model had the fader knob in the console like mine does, and it wasn't bypassed, you may be trying to drive everything on just 2 channels from your head unit in addition to all the above!

Speakers are the weakest link in your system. The improvements from adding a new head unit will be mostly lost on the stock speakers. I would check out the car for the presence of any factory amps, remove them, and buy new speakers. A/D/S, Focal, Boston Acoustic, Diamond Audio, Infinity, and Polk all make speakers that will work - find a store that carries your head unit and listen to the above speakers and pick what sounds best.

Then, it depends on budget. Cost no object and don't care about rear speakers, read the following thread: 500E Stereo upgrade . On a budget (like me!)? replace the dash and rear speakers with something from the above list, and get more bass by either adding an amp and some quality 6" bass speakers in the doors, or ignore the door speakers, and get the Blaupunkt add on amplified bass module from Continental Imports to plug into your 'sub out' ports on your head unit and hide the Blau under the seat.

Good luck!

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

JCE
Thanks for your reply.
I checked the things you listed.
On my head unit, there is an option which allows me to block most low frequencies going to the front. I did that, but I will lose most of the low frequencies at the front. Since, the door and the dash speakers are wired on the same channel. However, my lowing the low frequencies going to my speakers that delays the cracking noise to occur.

My installer told me that the front speakers are powered by the head unit and, the rear speakers has an amp. (That is what he told me, do know if it is right ?)
My model do had the fader knob in the console, but when i install the head unit, I have already paid extra to rewire that switch.

Yeah, after reading the treads you metion, i am thinking about getting some 4" coxial speakers up front for sure. If I want to add a 6" bass speakers in the front door will they fit the stock slot ?

which setup do you have ? coxial 4" up front ? 6" by door ?
Thank you for your time.

Pete:

I don't know if the fronts are amplified or not on yours. Mine only had 4.5" speakers in the dash, and 5.0 in the rear deck - no door speakers. My Grand Prix Becker was 2 channel out only, divided into 4 by the fader switch.

My POS Acura Legend needed a new engine before I could finish the stereo on the MB, so now all I have is a hole in the dash and speaker openings. My plan is to put Diamond Audio 4.5" coaxial speakers (Or Boston Acoustic 4") in the front dash. The diamonds are biamp capable, so I will use the rear output of the new head unit through some high pass Bass Blockers to power the tweeter part of the front speakers, and the front channels will run the mid section. That will let me use the fader on the head unit to adjust the brightness of the dash speakers. For bass, I plan on running an amp and trunk mounted sub like Michael did, but if I run short of cash, I will get the Blaupunkt sub CMS265 http://www.continentalimports.com/bl_speak_spec.html and hide it under the driver seat.

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

Thanks

JCE - what's the difference between using the biamp inputs and using the bass/treble controls on the head unit?

anthony

The bass/treble control will adjust the SHAPE of the sound (relative bass, relative amounts of treble) reaching the speaker, and will still be used. On a biamped coax speaker, 2 additional things happen. The front/rear fader will adjust the VOLUME of the sound from the tweeter and the volume of the mid (instead of the volume of the front and the volume of the rear). Using the Bi amp will also let me send more power to each part of the 2 way front speakers - ~12 watts/channel to the 4.5" mid, and ~ 12/channel to the 1" tweeter. If they were not bi-amped, the tweeter and mid would be sharing 12 watts between them. Basically, it allows more power and more control of the volume of each part of the front coax speakers after the bass/treble has shaped the sound to my tastes.

__________________
John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

Click to see 87 300E

I see, very nice!

anthony