My tunes are suffering in the SE. I have the original Becker with a Sony 10 play cd in trunk. The unit worked great and sounded fine until a while ago, when the door speakers intermittently went on and off. Now they don't work at all. The only speakers that seem to be working are the two in rear.

From reading the forum and asking some questions at the local Car Stereo store, it seems like the amps are notorious for this. I don't want to spend a fortune! What is the best way to get it sounding good? Can I replace the factory amps and solve the problem? What do they cost?

Advice is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

__________________
FL Ken
89 300SE, 157,212 miles
new addition, an 86 300E, 188,900 miles for 17 yr old daughter
97 Expedition 4X4, 114,230 miles
98 Honda Valkyrie, 48,987 miles

Past Mercedes:
82 300SD, 168,350 sold
78 300CD, 118,600 sold(wish I still had)

Sparks,

Sounds more like your fader quit. The amps are split left and right, not front and rear.

There is a forum member who goes by Horst who should be able to tell you what new amps will cost you. I can't imagine they'd cost that much from a parts recycler.

You can try an aftermarket amp, but I don't know if the inputs are speaker level or line level. And the input seems to have a common ground rather than a floating ground like most aftermarket amps require. Again, I defer to Horst.

But start with your fader. It could little more than cleaning and a good squeeze on the connector.

Is your CD changer playing through the tuner or have you figured out a way to get the Becker to control a Sony changer?

Thanks,
Sixto
91 300SE