I'm putting together a simple sound system in place of my stock in '90 300E. CD deck player, 4 speakers in OEM locations, sub in trunk, and a 5 channel Soundstream amp to power them all.

I'm not looking for glass shattering decibels, rather just clean, sparkling sound.

My question is: will I even hear an 8 in JL Audio ported sub in my trunk, with no other modifications?

I read the long 500E thread, but it seems Michael went with a pure brute force sub to get bass into his cabin.

Seems I don't have that option, so I'll have to pick a strategic spot to place the sub, and somewhere to let the bass in.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

~Paul

If you are keeping your rear speakers, you are going to need some kind of port (under the first aid kit, usually). It may not be as load as a 10 or 12" - you didn't mention the amp's rms power - but it should be nice if ported properly. On my '87 when I look inside the trunk, the area under the first aid kit has a rectangular hole in the metal, but not the carpet material. It should be relatively easy to put a hole in this material and use it for a port, if it is on your 90. Hope this helps.

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John

2003 Firemist Red/grey leather SL 500
2015 Palladium Silver/black mbtex GLK 350
1987 Smoke Silver/burgundy mbtex 300E Sportline (SOLD)

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Cutting that rectangular area wont yield much better result.

i did that before I ported right into the cabin in the first aid box with a 4" port.

My 10" sub with 400 watts, hit decently without the port, but now it hits soo much better.

You should consider cutting a hole and porting directly into the cabin through the first aid box. I just moved my kit to the trunk, and left the lid in place for now.

I am now working on deadening the rattling of the first aid kit lid. Some dynamat should work nicely, otherwise I'm just going to remove the lid all together, and stretch some material over the whole rear deck to cover the holes.

If you want any sound int he cabin from a sub you should port it.

The metal in the trunk and the rear deck panel are a few times thicker than most other cars.

I have a friend with a honda that his deck is so thin, he didn't have to cut any holes to get good bass.

Every benz I have seen with a custom stereo, that wanted any kind of real bass sound in the cabin had to cut holes.

John I did however rewire my stereo using your idea, and it is working nicely. the front speakers int he car (door and dash are powered fomr the head unit, the rear's are powered form a 2 channel amp, and the sub is powered form a seperate amp.

The end result is it is now louder than before I seperated the rear speakers off the radio's power. It was putting a serious load on the radio. 6 speakers on a head unit's power was just not good.

Now it is much much better.

Alon

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You could try this. It should be self explanatory.



Ashman,

You might want to use the amp on your front speakers instead (assuming your speakers in front are same or better than the rears). You'll get much better overall sound quality. Most amps would be better than internal amps of a head unit.

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93 500E, 43k mi, Pics of upgrade parts
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well later on I plan on changing out all speakers, and going with new amps and all. For now, it is perfectly acceptable.

You wouldn't believe the sound that the car produces even with factory speakers in it.

Alon

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2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Hey how is everyone?
Sorry , I hope you people dont mind me but i am a little out of it when it comes to stereos and all.
i have a 1987 300e
i have a 12" kenwood bandpass box in the trunk
i get good bass out of it and all its max power is 500 watts
its pretty good.
I jsut wanted to know the deal about this whoel port thing and how it works. I mean do you actaully port it from the box all the way to the rear deck? and how will i port it exactly??
buy a tube and connect it in the box and rear deck?
or
Do you just cut holes in the rear deck?
and does that make any difference to the cabin?

Please help thank you.

dknyliquid

Doing some research and noticed your questions were not answered.
Q1, I don't believe when the members are speaking of porting, they are speaking of actually using a tube of some sort from the box to the first aid kit. I think they are just suggesting that you create/cut a hole 4 to 5 inches in dia. in your first aid kit. What this does is allow the bass to escape thus in turn escaping in the cabin so you can benefit.
Q2, It does not make any differences in the cabin as far as street noise because of the excellent insulation MB uses throughout their vehicles. (trunk should be air tight, older models may have more noise but less then lets say a 2002 Camry) Hope this answers all/most of your questions.

I think it's much better to "feel" the bass then to hear it. When you port through the first aid kit or where ever, it lets all the bass in and, yes, you can here it better, but you can't feel it as well. Plus if you go to sell your car and they don't like subs, and they see the big port hole you made, that may be what makes them not like your car since it can't really be returned to stock. Plus if you do it wrong then it'll look bad. I say it's easier to just by a bigger sub then to worry about porting it. Also once you get a sub, after awhile you'll always want a bigger one or more of them, so you might as well start off with big ones.

Just take out one or both of your rear speakers. Connect a full range tweeter, that can be moved to the side, to the outputs. The holes will act as a port into the cabin. You can leave the stock speaker covers on. Done.

I'm out of the stereo lingo myself, but here's my experience. In my '87 260E I have an Alpine cd with an 8" Bazooka tube and small amp that came with the tube.

In the '90 300E I have an Alpine cd, 12" Infinity sub with Phoenix Gold amp, lots of power, but unsure of the amps.

In the '92 400E again Alpine cd, 10" Alpine sub and Alpine 5 channel big boy amp.

All the cars have new Boston Acoustic/Infinity/Alpine speakers as well.

Of all the systems, all installed by the same shop and professionally done, the 260E has the best sound. I've gone back and they have fine tuned the systems to each of the auto's and the 260E stills sounds the best with the smallest system.

Is this a side effect of not listening to really loud music? I'm mostly a Blues/Jazz/Classical/Pearl Jam/Bush/Nirvana listener. Does the smaller system more closely match my listening level?

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Brian W.

01 S55 AMG Silver
01 CLK55 AMG Silver

Hey BrianW,

I am getting the same set up. I have mb quart all around and just got an 8" amplied bazooka because I need my trunk space.

Did u mount it right below the first aid kit? did u have to port anywhere?

Let me know. Thanks.

Well guys,
all nice ideas about the placement / size of the subs and amps.
However, I'm wondering if someone actually has tried using a free air sub attached right under the first aid kit and then cutting the hole matching the sub size. perhaps an 8". I've seen this setup on most of the lexus and wonder why it will / wont work on the w124.
any input ?
btw the good free airs that I've heard of are the JL10ib4 and then the ones by Infiniti.

wotan,

The shop placed the tube on the right hand side of the trunk on top of the "empty" space. It doesn't interfere too badly for space, and I can still get 4 snow tires in the trunk. The tube actually sits down in the hole a bit allowing for a little better usage of space. No porting.

Good luck!

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Brian W.

01 S55 AMG Silver
01 CLK55 AMG Silver

Getting my sub installed today! Will do a post install review!

James.

"8 in trunk sub for 124 ... will I even hear it?"

Probably not very much, your satisfaction will depend on what you're expecting.

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