audio system on '95 E320

anyone have answers to the following questions?
1. is there a seperate amp running everything
2. what crossover point are the speakers in the dash and the subs in the doors
3. what size speakers are in the rear deck and are they dualcone or 2 way?
4. Has anyone replaced the speakers but left the factory amp?

thx

[Dr. Julio Fuentes]

Welcome to MercedesShop! You'll soon come to understand the addiction we all have to this site- for the great information, resources, and of course, all the great people here. To answer your questions (more or less), here's some recommended reading on the subject of W124 stereo upgrades:

This is by far the best link, as it is a fairly exhaustive description of one members quest for the best sound:
500E Stereo upgrade

Another bit of good 124-series reading:
Speaker Upgrade on W124s

And, another good read, with other solutions:
Subwoofers in 124 body styles?


Welcome aboard, and enjoy your ride!
-Dr. Julio Fuentes, BS MD PhD

[Michael]

Thanks Dr. Fuentes for your recognition of what was one Pain In The ___ job! Although my install was complete in nature (I replaced everything, not an OE wire was used anywhere), as I understand it later W124 cars ran 4 ohm sound systems, which are MUCH more easy to upgrade.

In answer to your questions:
1.) There are several amp configurations: give the S/N to Beckers and inquire because there could be either 2 smaller amps or one large finned amp (which I've heard runs the lower freq,'s only). If you'd like, peek behind your passenger-side trunk liner, below the hinge: let us know what you find.

2.) Your dash speakers are either one way deals or dual cones. A neat feature is that the front left one runs a dual voice coil feed so it can also work as a speakerphone for cellular. It's anybody's guess where they cross, but it's fairly low methinks.

Those are not really subs in the doors, but simply 6 1/2" low-freq drivers. I doubt they go/are capable of going subsonic.

3.) Rear deck speakers are typically 2 way speakers with 5 1/2" woofers & dual tweeters pointed in different directions, for dispersion.

4.) I haven't done so, but I think you can do it with your '95; I'd definitely try in your case, just confirm you're outgoing speakers are 4 ohm (remove a dash speaker & find out).

Good luck!

1) My car has 2 small amps in the trunk
2) driver side is a dual cone with whizzer(6ohm), passenger is oneway midrange(4ohm). Both have a 67mf cap which crosses them over at approx 600HZ on 6db slope. When I replace them with aftermarket, I will use a nice 100mf Mylar cap for around 400hz.

Door speakers sound like they are crossed over at about 500HZ and down with a coil probably. Nothing special there. I think the amp just runs juice to the speakers and has no internal crossovers. Simple to then add aftermarket speakers off the factory amp for time being

3) Yes
4) I am definitely doing this with fronts first, should be fine