Is Circuit City trying to make me buy more stuff? (upgrading sound in 400e)

[Air Jordan]

Hey guys,

I have a 1992 400e and am in the market to upgrade the sound system. They had a pretty good deal at circuit city for a in-dash reciever (pioneer 4800) so i bought it. I just wanted something to plug in my mp3 player and play cd's. About an hour later i come back and they said i need 4 new speakers (front and back) and an amp to power the speakers on the side doors! Really pissed me off cause all im using right now are the two front speakers which start pop at high levels. Are they trying to jip me off? They said the speakers were 2 ohm which i dunno what it means. I'm already strapped on cash as it is.

IF i really do need new gear, what size speakers do i need to get (front, back, sides).

Thanks guys for your time

Thanks guys

[Carson357]

i had some stereo upgrades installed there, i would avoid circuit city installation at all costs!! they really butchered my car. i had to re do every thing over. they connected 10 guage monster speaker cable to the 18 guage factory wiring harness at the speakers. talk about morons

[Air Jordan]

Sweet, thanks for the advice. Right now I just want to experience some quality of sound, im getting desperate. It's hard to woo the ladies when your music sounds like it's running on a small hand-radio...

[snowbilt]

Due to your bose system each speakers have a amp. You have to replace all speakers because of this. Unless you want to stay with bose. I have heard of adapters you can buy to join a head other than bose, but seems like everyone has issues with them. I researched long and hard on this and the bose sound decent but not worth the hassle and risk of someone scratching the wood etc etc. I will stick with the factory in this car.

[Dee8go]

I've never had anything installed at Circuit City, but the quality of their sales people seems to have dropped considerably ever since they did away with their commissioned sales people. If that's any indication of the quality of their installation people, I'd stay away from them.

[E320wagon'94]

i do have to give circuit city and other low quality install places like that credit for giving me the drive to learn how (more like just try and see if I can really do it). Just to avoid the headache. I do know that Best Buy, depending on location usually does a good job, just ask around.
-Zach

[Hit Man X]

Best to install yourself, it's not that bad.

If you really want to use deck power (I'd HIGHLY recommend against), you need to bypass the factory amps (read, lots of work). I'd pick up a nice, small used amplifier from ebay (old Kicker, PPI, etc) for maybe $40-60. And install some new speakers too...

Dash will hold a 4" and the rear I THINK a 5.25" in the W124. You could have all this done for less than $200. Not to mention you could probably find a better HU online for less...

[snowbilt]

I have to agree best buy and circuit city suck, Especially for a high line car. If I were going to have someone re-do the whole sound system. I would call the nearest dealership and see if they have recomendations.

[Air Jordan]

thanks guys for the replies.
Ok I think im gonna redo my entire car stereo. How many channels should i get for the amp? So the speakers sizes are- 4" for the front, 5.25 in the back and what about the sides? I'm hoping to spend under 500. Any other reccomendations? I called Fletcher Jones Mercedes and they reccomended a shop for me already. I just need to buy the stuff now. THanks

[Hit Man X]

I wouldn't worry about the doors, they're only midbass drivers for the factory setup. You could spend some decent cash to bandpass a set of drivers there but you'll be past your budget easily.

Figure these digits:

$50 for amplifier kit

$200 for headunit

$25 for wire

$75 used four channel amplifier

~$150 on speakers. I recommend bringing some music to a store and listening to lots. You could get two pairs for maybe $80 shipped from ebay.

For the W124 Rainbow makes a pair of direct fit ones, if you're up to spending just a tad more. They're excellent quality and no fab work to install, worth the extra few beans to me.

[greasybenz]

I have some good amps sitting around.

most likely if you want to run 4 speakers youll need a 4ch amp which i have ill send you a PM and we can negociate a price to fit your budget.

[iwrock]

Ah, another W124 stereo thread.



Ok, as many have said, the 400E has the bose system in it which means that all of the speakers are ran off of an amp. You need to bypass the amp in order to attain the sound quality that you wanted in the first place. You need to run new wires to either the headunit or the amplifier (your choice). Personally, I would run a 4 channel amp, becase it provides crisp clean power! Not only that, but an amplifier is rated to handle higher and lower frequencues than a cars headunit will ever be able to. You also need to swap out all of the speakers in the car in order to attain crisp highs, and astounding mids. Note, that in order to have mind boggling sound, you need to run subwoofer, in that a 4 inch or 5.25 inch speaker isnt built to carry deep clean bass. Circuit city already did the wiring, in that they already bypassed the stock tuner, and ran the assorted wires needed to support an aftermarket stereo. This is good. I would go behind the headunit to make sure that they did a good job and did not botch the wiring up (best buy botched mine up).

As far as speakers are concerned, I would highly reccomend the infinity kappa series. I have all kappas in my car, as well as an Alpine V12 4 channel amp. Many of my friends are inpressed with the clarity all the way up the the maximum volume. I also ran new wires to my speakers, as one of the rear channels had a problem with cutting out at high volume, and the new wiring fixed it!


And as for the active bass system in the doors, there have been many propositions. People have used components up front, and some have found small subwoofer drivers and powered them with an amplifier. I would personally they the component approach, but it still will not be the same as a good subwoofer in the trunk.


Anyways, good luck in your quest for good sound. Let us know how it turns out!

[mwood]

Funny, I was just at Best buy looking at a new system and found out because my car has a central ground system (whatever that is) they would have to replace the door speakers and run new wiring. Bottom line: the "free" installation would end up costing me about $200 with the speakers and wiring plus an hour labor. On top of that is the H/U! What I thought was going to be an easy swap out for a couple hunderd bucks is starting to look like closer to six hundred! Nothing is cheap on these cars, I just had it at the shop for an oil change and some diagnostic work and it was $165!

[Hit Man X]

Originally Posted by mwood

I just had it at the shop for an oil change and some diagnostic work and it was $165!

What a rip.

[Air Jordan]

sorry for all the stupid noob quesitons.. but the four-channel amp will be used to power the front two speakers and the back two. What about the ones on the sides?