Why do the benz's from the 80's such as the W124, 126 and 190's have such bad sounding stereos. I mean why do they put those small speakers in the cars that are quite big and expensive? I understand there is no room on the dashes but plenty of room on those big back panels! And now on top they make it hard to change i.e cutting, drilling like crazy!

Can others let me know what they think?

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BenzOnline,

I can attest to your harsh feelings. I guess when MB built their cars in the 80's, they didn't have sound as one of their important factors. 4" speakers are not going to cut it.

Anyhow, probably the only way around it would be to build some kick panels out of fiberglass. This topic has been discussed about before, and I'm sure if you did a search, you'll be able to find it. Others have replaced the factory dash speakers with some aftermarket ones and added a subwoofer in the back, and are quite happy with the results. Personally, I think nothing beats a pair of 6 1/2 or larger midrange drivers, coupled with a sub.

I will start building some kick panels for my 190E so that I can house some 6 1/2 speakers. I'm tired of the 4" " radio talk show" speakers.......


vutown

I have replaced in my W126 all four speakers with the same size Kenwood speakers and the only difference was the clarity and treble but not much bass because of the size. I also replaced the stock stereo with a JVC cd player which gave better sound and reception.

I was told I can fit 6x9 speakers in the back panel where the 2 boxes are in the back (one of them is for the first aid kit and other is empty).

If I put a sub, wont it rattle the trunk lid and boom alot from the outside of the car because thats something I dont want?

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The MBs are really tight cars. My 85 380SE's sheetmetal already had dynamat type dampner on it. The only thing that rattled on my car was the trunk latch linkage. Very easy to resolve. Oh, I had a 12" with 400W going to it.

I have a 380 SEL which is basically the same as you 380 se but a bit bigger. How do you like the car and what problems did you have with it so far?

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Well, mine sat out in the Texas heat for all of its life prior to my purchasing it 3 years ago. So, all of the rubber items were cracked.

Tie rods, drag link, lower ball joints, track rod mounts, flex disks, rear subframe mounts, brake hoses, belts, idle speed control module, a/c manifold pipe (R134a conversion), water pump have all been done

Fuel sending unit, brake hoses, front bearings, upper control arms, sway bar bushings, rear glass delamination, muffler, and timing chain all need attention.

You really have to love these cars to keep them. Otherwise, they will make you crazy. Mine seems to have needed a lot more TLC than most. With only 105,000 miles, you wouldn't think it would need all of what it has had. By the way, none of this includes the $6,000 from State Farm to repair the front end where some dummy backed into me. From the outside, it looked like the grill was broken. Radiator, fan shroud, fan clutch, a/c radiator, grill, headlights all had to be replace. $500 per headlight assembly!

My 500 had the dash speakers a blapunkt aftermarket stereo. 2 kenwood 8's 2 horn tweeters 6 inch speakers all in the back window ( had the wood deck in back not cloth). The doors had 5 1/4 mb quart speakers it was a nice system back in 85 but it is just ok now.

My 380 needed some work to but has about 250 000 miles on it. It needed the usual such as the chain, idle control, some gaskets and didnt have to touch it now in about 3 years (knock on wood)! I am going to get the a/c conversion done pretty soon.

After sitting in the sun how does your paint look like? How often do you wash the car and wax it?

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I have an '88 420SEL, i recently replaced the becker crap with a Kenwood eXcelon, and put an Infinity Kappa component set in the front. I mounted the tweeters under the stock grills in the dash(with much difficulty/drilling/dropping pieces deep into the dashbord assembly) and the 5 1/4" woofers in the stock door locations (again with much difficulty/drilling). This cost me around $900, but it's worth it. Sound quality from the Infinity's is outstanding. The only problem is zero bass response. Soon, i'm going to run new wires and re-hook up the stock rear speakers untill i get better ones, and add a couple cheap Q-Power subwoofers someone just gave me. Which should fix the bass problem to an extent, untill i can get better subs.