Hi,

I just registered on this forum, I'm looking into upgrading the sound system in my car, I know alot about car audio, but have never installed anything in a mercedes, I was told that there is some sort of wall between the backseat and the trunk that would block out the sound from a subwoofer

Some ?'s

1. How can I gain access to a positive terminal of the battery?

2. Any ideas on how to improve the bass in the car?

3. What sizes are all the speakers?

4. How do i gain access to the speakers?

5. Is there any sort of factory amp?

6. what are the wattages of the stock speakers?

BTW: I have the factory stereo system (lowest model)


Thanks

I have the stock Bose sound system in my 1995 C280. The only thing I did was add a sub to the setup. You can't just change the speakers on a Mercedes, then everything would have to be changed, same with the deck, amp and all. And yes, there is a factory amp.
I figured that my sound loudness (usually) and clarity were just fine, but I was lacking the bass. Therefore, I only added a 10 inch sub and a 300 watt amp. Gutting the whole system would cost over a grand and was definitly not worth it.
Now I have great sound with a nice amount of bass, not ghetto, and not too little. A good balance IMO.
Yes, you can get power to a sub/amp in the trunk, it's no problem.
And as for the barrier in the trunk, that is somewhat of an issue. Mind is left as is and I can still hear my sub just fine (it's facing the cabin) though. I did once remove the foam insulation in a dead speaker spot in the rear deck, and I personally didn't notice a difference... all I heard more were the things moving around in my trunk.

__________________
2006 E350 w/ 155k miles (Daily Driver)

Previous:
1993 300E 3.2L Sedan w/ close to about 300k miles
2003 E500 Brilliant Silver (Had 217k miles when totalled!)
1989 300E with 289,000 miles (had for <1 yr while in HI)
03 CLK 500 cabrio (Mom's)
2006 C230k (Dad's)
1999 S420 (Mom's/Dad's)
2000 C230k Sport sedans
2001 CLK320 Cabrio (Mom's)
1995 C280 My First Mercedes-Benz... (155k miles. EXCEPTIONAL AUTOMOBILE. Was Very hard to let go of!)

The trunk is especially thick on a benz, so it will block the sound tremendously.

However, you can notice the difference even without cutting holes, just not as much as you would want.

You have to ask yourself a few questions when doing a sub in your benz.

1. How much Bass do I want?
2. Do I want to cut holes in my benz?
3. How much trunk space do I want to lose?
4. What does my local proffessional installer think I should do?
5. What have the people on this site done?

Once you have found the answer to your questions, you will be tremendously satisfied.

For me, This is the route I went:

Put in 400W Amp to a 10" Sub in a sealed box with a single 4" port and an 8ohm 10" Fosgate Woofer (woofer purchased in 1995)

Put a 150W amp to the rear factory speakers (non bose system BTW)

Put the front dash speakers on the radio's Front channel power.

Put the door speakers on the radio's rear channel power.

Make a few adjustments, and the sound is much better than stock even with stock speakers.

Decide I need to hear the sub more.

Cut a 4" hole into the first aid kit box. Move first aid kit to trunk. Put Bass port straight through hole and into sub box bu using extension pieces.

Tune lenghth of inside box port for better sub performance.

Dynamat inside of first aid kit box lid to stop it from rattling (this I am in the process of and haven't done it yet, but lets hope it works)

Enjoy the sound until speakers neeed to be changed out for better ones.

Hope that helps some, you can do a lot with very little, but you can't do too much to a benz for bass with subs unless you are willing to cut some sheet metal.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Hi,

Thanks for your quick responses

As for the answers to those questions:

1. I am looking for alot of bass, I have installed many systems like i said, i am looking to get alot of bass, as much as possible, We have a local car club and i am trying to be louder than my friend with 3 12" jl audio w6's powered by a Pheonix gold xs2500, which is setup to run 4 ohms

2. No holes if possible unless they are unnoticable

3. I really can't lose any trunk space, but if i have to i want to lose as little as possible, What i was thinking about doing is installing 2 8" woofers in the space that has already been cut from the factory next to the rear deck speakers

4. I am going to see a professional tommorow

5. i saw one setup with one jl audio sub which was in the trunk but i want more that that, it was nicely designed and very clean but i am looking for more bass

Which leads to my next question, how do i get access to the rear deck speakers from the top? I want to install the woofers there and possibly replace the rear speakers

any help would be great

Thanks

Well for alot of bass, you will most likely have to take up some trunk space.

If there are already holes for 8" speakers in the deck, then You should be able to use those to get sound into the cabin without cutting.

3 12" Woofers, PPI's sound good, and I can't tell you on other brands, I can just go by whata friend has that I know how it sounds. have a friend with 4 12" PPI's in his yukon, in sealed boxes, and they hit ridiculously hard. I think he has 1000 or 1200 watts on the subs bridged mono down to 1ohm I think not sure though.

He also has the crazy digital processor, tv, dvd, plastation2, and all that stuff.

But his bass is hard, ear drum hurting almost.

You can also take out the rear speakers, but I personally like rear fill on my car.

Either way, 3 good 12's, in the proper sized enclosures, with the right power to them, should hit beautifully.

You can always have the rear deck ported, and recovered so its hidden.

Lets us know what you find out. I decided to cut the hole in my car, it has really made a huge difference in the sound.

Alon

__________________
'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

If you want LOUD, go for four Rockford Fosgate POWER DVC series subwoofers. Each is 4 ohms, so if you wire them all in a parallel, you'd need an amp that is half-ohm stable. I beleive Zapco makes an amp that will satisfy this. Orion HCCA subwoofers work well for loudness too.

Hi,

The 2 options i was thinking about were

1. Use the 2 holes for 2 8" woofers

2. Build a ported or bandpass box with the ports that run into the holes that go to the cabin

as for woofers, If i want to do the 8's which i really am leaning to, i will need 2 free air subs, the only 2 subs that i know of are the JL audio IB4's and the Cerwin vega Stealth woofers

I had 2 other questions

1. How do i get access to a positive power terminal

2. How do i get the power wire through to the trunk from the 12v source if there is a wall between the trunk and cabin

Thanks

YOu battery is under your rear seat. There are two latches and the seat comes up easily.

Factory amp is behind the drivers side wheel well. Cheap unit that might put out 15-25 wpc.

I just went through this exercise with my 98 E320.

Changed all the door speakers:
New Focal 7" components fit in factory locations with tweeters in the a-pillars - excellent crisp sound powered by conservative 75 wpc. If you take off the doors and need a kit to fit the speakers, I know where to get one (German company)

Rear door locations have focal 4" coax powered by the Nakamichi head unit. Only for rear fill.

Opened the four 7" holes in the rear deck to port a single 12 inch Image Dynamics sub built in a custom enclosure that fits behind the drivers side rear wheel well - NO loss of trunk room. 300 watts for excellent low bass response. As someone pointed out, the trunk is very sound proof with the gas tank betwen the trunk and back seat. It actually makes the car more quiet. If you want your bass to be hard hitting, you will need a second 12" woofer behind the other wheel well. There is also the possiblity of using the spare tire well to add subs. In fact, if you really want to get creative, you can leave in the spare tire and build a sub enclosure that will drop right into the middle that will hold a 12" sub, so you could have three if you wanted.

You can see my install at:
http://www.sounddomain.com/member_pages/view_page.pl?SID=GAT80WMMLE4rRQsyQg__&page_id=133487&make_type_query=make=Mercedes-Benz&model_brand_query=model=all_models&tree=Mercedes-Benz%20(all%20models).

I walk through the construction of the custom enclosure. Send me an email if you have questions.

Good luck.

Hi,

Thanks for the help

I have 3 questions

1. How did you get the power wire from the battery to the trunk?

2. I was told the holes for the trunk where big enough for 8" woofers, which one is it?

3. How do you get to the rear deck speakers?

Thanks

Your rear "so-called" full range speakers are in your back doors, not your back shelf. The back shelf has four holes that could house speakers. The holes are about 7" in diameter which will hold 8" woofers. There are two BOSE "so-called" subwoofers in my outermost cutouts which I left in place and disconnected.

The woofers drop in from the top so you will have to remove all of the covers over the deck. If you want to take them out, I would go to the dealer and either have them do it or ask for detailed instruction on how to take them out. It is really difficult and complicated because everything fits together so well. That is why I left mine in and used the other two holes as "ports".

It is really easy to run power cables from your battery to the trunk. First, take out your trunk liner and the liner that covers the gas tank. Take out your back seat bottom and the trim next to the seat. That will give you access to a space up near the window, beside the seat where other wires pass throug. I used the driver's side pass throughs to run all RCA cables and speaker wires to kep them away from the power and grounds. Check it out and let me know if you can't figure it out.

BTW, while I had it all apart, I covered it with dynamat to deaden all rattles and made the car even quiter than it was. I even took the trunk lid liner off and dynamatted that. The E-class is already really quite and actually has some dynamat type material in the doors - what a pleasant surprise. But I can tell you that it made a considerable difference.

Good luck

I just read back up into your posts.

If you really want to blow your friend away without doing any cutting, you can go with four JL IB4 8s in the four cutouts. You will also need to reinforce your rear deck so that it completely seals the trunk from the cabin. With this arrangement, you will be using your entire trunk as the sub enclosure. I have heard four JL 8's it a similar config before. The bass was tight and loud. Four IB4 8 ohm woofers will configure out to a 2 ohm load and you can use a JL 500/1 amp to power it.

Sometimes, I wish I had gone this route it would be sweet with no appearant aftermarket stuff in sight.

Don't go bandpass if you want good SQ and besides, it will take up a lot of room in your trunk.

Now for the four other speakers......

With 500 watts of hardhitting bass you will need to upgrade the anemic factory system.

Go for it man!!!!

I looked around back there but i can't seem to figure out how to get it through, i removed the bottom, then followed some wires along the side of the back seat, but lost where they went to, what trim next to the seat are you refering to?

Thanks

Trim between the seat and the door. Follow the wires up and then they will pass through to the trunk.

If (1) you really don't want to cut holes in your Mercedes, (2)assuming it's a W124 and (3) you don't mind sacrificing the ability to fold down the rear head rests, here's a thought:




This is what I'm doing to my 500E. I've computed the internal volume and I can fit in an a/d/s/ rs10.2 in there. With the sub, mounted between the head restraints firing directly into the cabin, a 10 inch sub powered by a decent amp should be more than enough.

The second drawing allows some flexibility in box size if your sub needs more space.

Just wrap the box in the same material as the rear parcel shelf and you're all set. No eating up space in your trunk as well.

The pic of the interior isn't mine by the way...

__________________
Rainmaker
93 500E, 43k mi, Pics of upgrade parts
Evo II Wheels on Dunlop FM901 235/45x17s
94 Facelift
RennTech CF Airbox
RennTech ASR Defeat
RennTech Chip
1st Gear Start
97 Range Rover 4.6 HSE Vitesse, Yellow, "Tonka" (sold)

My interior is different than yours, i have 3 headrests instead of 2, i am seriously looking into putting 2 8" jl audio free air woofers into the rear deck

I'm still reserching though

Thanks