I am getting ready to modify the stock system in my 1990 300E with an Alpine 7875 Cd player XM Radio, Polk 4" Speakers in the front, and Soundstream Exact6.2 system in the rear. Any suggestions on how to access and remove the factory speakers and radio to install the new system? Also looking to put in a 10" woofer where the First Aid kit is, do i need to enclose it for better sound? Any suggestions from anyone on a good 10" woofer that would sound great in this car?

Gkassens.

Welcome! There is a photo essay on removing the speakers and stereo head unit from a 1987 w124 at the top of the page under the DIY tab. Your 1990 may have some differences - I am not sure what year they started adding speakers in the door or added the center consol, but this is a good starting point. The Archives have a number of threads on stereos in these cars, speaker selection and mounting location for subs, how to port, etc. Search under '500E stereo' for a good long starting thread for a nice system.

500E Stereo upgrade

Terms such as 'w124' , 'speakers', '300E', etc. will bring up dozens of other threads when combined together. About 13 good ones by searching under '124 speaker' for example.

Good luck with your install.

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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)

Click to see 87 300E

Regarding your sub, I'm very happy with a IDQ10 svc I installed in the spare tire area (keeping the spare, of course). IDQ has an excellent reputation. I found this sub on eBay for $40. You will need an external amp to drive it though. Will you be running your front and rear speakers off the head unit power or an external amp?

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http://www.belmontgroup.com/images/300Ewcolor.jpg

'88 300E 265K
'91 300TE 155K

Thx JCE.. all looked easier after the info.. at least until i got to hooking up the speakers.. I saw the diagram for the speakers from fader, however do the Mercedes only have one wire and a common ground for the speakers or am i missing something?

My '87 300E has 2 wires to each speaker. I don't know if they changed it for later models.

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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)

Click to see 87 300E

John
Ok.. been taking my car apart to finish this install.. I located the connectors for the front speakers after looking at the diagram you posted thanks a bunch.. that really helped. Now the problem, I have been searching and searching for the connectors for the rear speakers and haven't found them. Can you let me know where to look for those? I hooked the front speakers up and they sound great now just need to find the connectors for the rear speakers so i can get those done. are they in the same area as the fronts? or do i need to look someplace else to cut the wire and hook up the rear speakers into the head unit? please help.. thanks a lot..
Also.. any suggestions on installing new front and rear speakers in the 300E? I bought some polk 4" speakers, and the setup seems different than the Mercedes ones.. any tips? also on the rears, I decided to move up to 6 1/2's instead of the stock 5 1/4.. any tips for getting these in.. thanks a bunch as always...
Gary

The rear speakers are wired right into the fader plug. Connect the original speaker wires to the left and right rear speaker output of your new radio and leave the fader control in center position.

do you know the color codes for the rear speakers into the fader?

On my 1987, the drivers side rear speaker is a red wire and a black wire, into a white plug. The passenger side rear speaker is a green/black stripe wire and a black wire, black plug.

At the front of the center console, down below the ash tray area, is where the fader control comes foward towards the radio. there is a white and black plug bundle, wrapped in gray foam (usually). If you can't find them, trace the fader switch wiring bundle from the consol towards the dash and they will be there. The speaker wires will unplug, and should be the same color as where they exit at the speakers in back. Wrap the unused part of the plug in electrical tape, get new plugs to wire in, and connect the speakers to the new head unit! Viola, fader is bypassed.

For installing the front speakers, I bought some hi density adhesive back 1/4" foam, cut off a strip long enough to go around the speaker hole.

tip: I cut little notches in the rubber strip around the inside edge to help it form a circle:
__________________________________
---^--^---^---^---^---^---^---^---

I pressed this down on the body metal to stick in place. I rested the front 4 1/2" speaker on the foam circle, and cut another notched strip to go around the top, making sure it stayed away from the speaker surround butyl so that it wouldn't interfere with the sound. I checked the grille for clearance on the speaker. Where it was coming close to the tweeter dome, I trimmed out the plastic supporting egg crate (#) in a couple of places with wire cutters - instant clearance. the downward pressure of the grill on the foam circle sandwich holds the speakers in place, and provides plenty of clearance. I took the grill off after about 2000 miles, and everything had molded itself in place and nothing moved around.

I haven't done the rear speakers, (doing something different) but I would start by removing the old speakers, and placing a 6 1/2" piece of cardboard over the hole and seeing if it will fit! If it looks like they will go in, I would remove the plastic speaker mounting frame (3 plastic ears) and try to attach a piece of plywood or metal to the mounting frame, and attach the speaker to this. Remeber that you want to accoustically isolate the front of the speaker from the back, so don't leave any gaps.

Good luck on the install.

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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)

Click to see 87 300E

john,

i am going to try and tap into that fader switch bundle to get at my front speakers. i hope they used the same convention on the split setup. do you know what impedance the stock speakers are or will it matter? i am curious what the effect of bypassing the fader will be. i am also curious about how the aktiv bass amp is wired input-wise because all i am feeding the wiring harness i got are the left and right speaker channels.

cheers

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joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
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I think the 93 is a different proposition. If you have the nice thick parts book that came with the car (at least, in 87 it did) there should be a diagram of the speaker/radio assembly. If not, maybe the dealer parts counter computer diagram? In 87 it was 6 ohm speakers, doubled up through the fader circuit to tie into the 2 channel amp of the head unit. I don't know how the active base hooks up, or if the Becker was still only 2 channels in 93 - I seem to recall that they used a seperate amp for the door speakers (and rear speakers too???). I am over my head on this one, so maybe the archives or someone more knowledgable has some input ideas. Good luck.

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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)

Click to see 87 300E

i have scoured the archives for info on this. it is pretty obscure since the setup was in effect only from 91 to 93. i don't have a thick parts book, i have the CD which isn't any help on this. i know that the tuner in the back has only two channels and it plugs into the amp which then has 6 pairs of wires running out from it. i checked the door speaker "aktiv bass" subsystem and it does not seem to be affected by the fader control. i could tap into the amp output wiring harness but i'm not sure what that would do to the fader.

some basic car audio questions:

-if i choose not to use a pair of speaker leads will it harm the amp in the head unit? my harness only needs one pair, the other will be unused.

-what do you think i should use as input into the stock amp - line out or speaker out? the wiring harness indicates speaker out but that is specific to a becker radio.

footnote on the split 1432 retrofit:

if anyone wants the harness from becker, you will be paying $100 for two speaker leads and a turn-on connector plus the antenna extension. if you want to go that route i can detail what has to be done to accomplish the same thing.

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joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif

Hi John
Thanks for the Info.. I had found the white and black connectors for the fronts before, but i'll look in the same spot and see if the rears are laying around there too.. thx again
I don't think the 6 1/2 speakers are going to fit.. so think i am just going to cut where the head rests go down into and just have the speakers feed up from there.. then later when i install a subwoofer in the first aid kit area, i will just use my stock speaker locations as ports..
Gary

I just wanted to say that the Mercedes are the HARDEST cars to get bass out of because of the gas tank. I thought of mounting a 10 there, but it was too complicated to get the aiirspace correct to make the bass undistorted. I decided to mount a 10'' RF in the trunk and I couldnt hear a thing, so I put 2 12'' Diamonds in, and the are still semi weak oh well//

i've seen these 100W low-profile kenwood subwoofers that you can mount under the front seats. i was going to go for those but my install using the stock active bass amp turned out ok. this system, found in early 90's 124's, uses the front door speakers for bass and is fairly effective. i used to wonder why there were speakers there since they are obstructed by the seats but with bass it doesn't affect the output. depending on the type of music you listen to the kenwood might not be a bad idea...

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joE
1993 300e-2.8 - gone now <sigh>
"Do not adjust your mind, it's reality that's malfunctioning"
http://banners.wunderground.com/bann...L/Key_West.gif