I am assisting a friend who is the new owner of an '85 280 SL (Euro model). First, I have to say that, so far, I'm very impressed with the sturdiness and quality of almost everything on the car. I have little Benz experience, but tons of BMW experience, and the Benz is a far nicer product, from a quality standpoint, than any contemporary BMW. Now on to my question: the car has two small speakers in the lower dash, but no rear speakers. Did 107 cars ever come from the factory with rear speakers? If not, are there any locations in the rear area where speakers can be installed without clearance problems? (This particular car has a small factory rear seat in the rear shelf area, which the owner wants to keep, if possible.) Any help would be much appreciated!
Colin

I have seen placements under the rear shelf and have read that speakers can be installed in the "Hat rack" or whatever it's correctly called, but with the seats back there I think you are out of room.

Steve

85 500SL Euro

Speaker placement for SL model
 

I have a 1986 300 sl (euro) model. As you may know, the speaker selection is quite difficult for this model. I was determined not to "customize" my SL by drilling any holes to the doors or to the firewall (where the backseats would go) I replaced my front 4" speakers with Polk Audio ones. Anything is better than the OEM speakers. Though I was not able to add any real speakers in the rear, I wanted more bass from the system. The solution was to add Bazooka bass speakers. These basically fit in between the front seats and the floor board from the backseat. Note that you will lose about 6 inches of front seat adjustment.

I use more treble up front and add bass through the Bazookas. It's not perfect, but the sound is quite clean once it is balnced out.

Hope this helps.

My Brother's 380sl has two 4x6 speakers mounted on the rear panels, right behind the drivers seat and passerger seat, like right by the seat belts.

The pretty much face forward.

You can do some very creative things with speakers.

Definately replacing the fronts is a good start.

You can do some more serious massacre on the interior if you like, like door panels etc, but minimal is best if you ask me.

I like ot have stock locations used, stealth install is best in my book, I hate seeing things that just look out of place. Only exception are tweeters, and those would be mounted to look as if they were factory:)

Alon

I install a 5.25" alpine speaker in the rear side panels and use a bmw grill to keep it flush so the top release handle clears it. It can be painted to match if you want it to blend in better. Here is a pic

Scott@La Jolla Audio