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Any 123 Radio Wiring Expertise?
Purchased a Sony XPOD 410U CD receiver to replace the existing Kenwood KRC-860 cassette receiver in my '83 300D. Looks like the PO got the Kenwood for hookup into the car phone. For some reason the original MB speakers were replaced with no name JUNK, which is the real reason I've decided to replace the entire sound system. The new speakers are Polk Audio db 400 in front and Polk Audio db 525 rear.
Had to do a little corner trimming on the front speakers (easily with back and forth bending with vise-grips). The plastic dash speaker cover is a little snug on top of the center tweeter? but is not noticeable. Rear speakers went in easily after removing the plastic bellows which surrounded the original speakers. When I removed the Kenwood I saw that whoever put it in did extensive rewiring. The normal blue, red and black wires are no problem but it's the yellow and orange which I can't figure out. The orange-white striped wire has a plastic marker which says DIMMER on one side and ILLUMI on the other. That variable adjuster at the back of the shifter console would adjust the volume between front and back speakers. I can't figure out how it's tied in. Also I can't locate the rear speaker wires in this tangle. The color codes don't match and after I disconnected the battery I couldn't get a continuity check between any of these wires and the rear speakers. Does anyone know where a radio wiring diagram is for the W123. I'd like to rip out all this crap out and rewire it.
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83 300D 328k mi (623) Light Ivory - daily driver 82 300D 166k mi (881) Thisle Green - fixer upper 82 300D 282k mi (473) Champagne - parts Last edited by rkohut; 09-07-2008 at 07:48 AM. |
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I just put the GT520 in mine, and I used the diagram on this thread for help. Getting rid of the fader switch is pretty easy- just peel back the black plastic wire sheath and follow the directions on the thread. It has a good diagram that helped me a lot. I'm not sure the colors will help you, but the wire position may. You can use a small AA battery to find which wire goes to which speaker. The speaker will crackle when it is hooked up to the small battery.
And speaking from experience, tape the antenna connection really well if you are using a cable extension (I put in the XD-100 HD tuner). It fell out when I installed the headunit and was a pain to get out. Also, don't drop one of the two radio removal keys behind the headunit when you install it. It made getting the headunit out to access the antenna cable a PITA. edit- that is a fader switch, BTW
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Andrew 1989 Volvo 745- 202K |
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New wires
I recommend abandoning the existing wiring and running all new wires. In the 123 body it's fairly easy to do, just lift up the carpets. I replaced the speakers with MB-Quart speakers, there's a thread here somewhere on that project. You can abandon the fader switch in the console and use the controls in the radio so that you have true 4-speaker stereo. I ended up installing a switch in the fader position and wiring it to my garage door opener remote (there's a thread on that, too).
Jeremy
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"Buster" in the '95 Our all-Diesel family 1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car 2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022) Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762 "Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz." -- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970 |
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orange-wh is for dash lights- will dim when headlites are on- can ignore or tie into the+ side of any lights under the console. yellow should be switched ignition, red to batt. or vice versa.
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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven. 1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven. |
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I just did this in a 300TDt a couple weekends ago so the info is pretty fresh in my head. Those 4 speakers wired in parallel with a common ground will provide a 2ohm load to your new head's amp and it probably won't put up with that for very long, plus modern heads have fader controls onboard so I'd recommend definitely taking the factory fader out of the equation and getting all of the wires up to the radio where you wil forever have all the options you need. I didn't run new wires to the speakers - the factory wires were a heavy-enough gauge and all in good condition.
Here's the basics of the factory wires: Brown = Ground - Black = Switched Ignition + Red = Always on + (memory) Grey = Dash Lights (dimmer) Blue = power antenna The speaker wires you'll find behind the radio are; Red+ Black- Left Speaker (goes to fader on console) Green+ Black- Right Speaker (goes to fader on console) To bypass the fader: . remove the ashtray . remove the two screws from the ashtray mount and pull that out . the center console slides back an inch or two and can then be lifted. One mine, the front corners had to be bent slightly (be careful not to break anything) to come out from under the plastic bits and be careful with the back (the end closer to the armrest) - there's a pin at the very rear that goes into a hole in the console mount - if this pin isn't fully free of the hole and you yank up, you'll break something There is a plug on the bottom of the fader unit that has 6 wires going to it - 4 speaker + and two common grounds. Pull the connector off the switch and snip the wires off the connector and then pull that entire sheathed bundle back up under the console into the hole behind the radio spot. I had to remove a large zip tie near the shifter and there was masking tape around a few of the wire bundles way underneath that I basically had to tug that bundle out of. Once you have the whole bundle available, carefully remove the sheath from the wire bundle and what you need to do from there is pretty obvious. Clip the connectors at the ends of the wires you find joined and you'll end up with the original red, green, black, black set completely unhooked and 4 pairs of wires that go directly to speakers. I did some extra cutting at this point to make even-length pairs as they were all different lengths in the bundle so that the splice points weren't all in one place. I left the individual pairs different lengths, but do whatever works for you. You'll have plenty of wire to work with when you're done freeing them I won't mention wire colors - they seemed to vary a lot from year to year and I know at least on mine, the colors were hard to discern anyway. The fronts on mine were pretty obvious; they were the pair that just disappeared left and right behind the dash - the rears disappeared back into the wire bundle under the console. A quick test of one of these pairs told me which one it was which made the other obvious. It was all straightforward butt splices from there on out and everything was good to go. Last edited by EricLee31; 01-23-2008 at 09:53 PM. |
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a) fade the dash lights or b) move between the front and rear speakers as was improperly? wired on mine
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83 300D 328k mi (623) Light Ivory - daily driver 82 300D 166k mi (881) Thisle Green - fixer upper 82 300D 282k mi (473) Champagne - parts |
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83 300D 328k mi (623) Light Ivory - daily driver 82 300D 166k mi (881) Thisle Green - fixer upper 82 300D 282k mi (473) Champagne - parts |
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You mean to dim the SUPER bright 123 dash lights.
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83 300D 328k mi (623) Light Ivory - daily driver 82 300D 166k mi (881) Thisle Green - fixer upper 82 300D 282k mi (473) Champagne - parts |
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yeah- I would definitely use the dimmer function- otherwise the radio lites will blind you compared to others.
fader is for speakers....
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1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven. 1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven. |
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83 300D 328k mi (623) Light Ivory - daily driver 82 300D 166k mi (881) Thisle Green - fixer upper 82 300D 282k mi (473) Champagne - parts |
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I just wanted to add, that the "no name, junk speakers" are probably still better than the paper crap that was in there go begin with. Obviously, the MB buyer for those speakers was deaf and blind, or else he wouldn't have put such an embarrassment of a speaker into a Benz.
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It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so. Robert A. Heinlein 09 Jetta TDI 1985 300D |
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Andrew 1989 Volvo 745- 202K |
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B- they have a tendency to go bad and ruin the sound from the headunit. My fader took out 3/4 speakers if it wasn't in the all the way forward position. Talk about no bass...
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Andrew 1989 Volvo 745- 202K |
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Last edited by EricLee31; 01-31-2008 at 06:49 PM. |
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Wire gauge was mentioned above somewhere, but I didn't see a particular gauge noted. What is MBs standard gauge wire for stereo speakers? If you have you car torn apart anyhow, would you replace these wires with someting heavier?
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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century OBK #55 1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles 2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles 2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles |
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