Go Back to Becker

[jcantor]

My car has an Alpine unit installed (AM/FM/CD) by the PO. The CD never worked very well but recently stopped working altogether. I took the car to the local Alpine dealer who advised that a replacement would be better and cheaper than fixing the current unit - no big surprise there.

My question is, would it be worth it to find an OEM Becker and have that installed? What was the standard unit in an '87 560SEL and how much do the tend to go for these days? I'm assuming that these OEM units were AM/FM/Tape with connections for a trunk mounted CD changer but no indash CD - is this correct?

Finally, not being all that knowledgeable on the various makes of car audio, how do Alpine and Becker compare? Are the of comperable quality and features or is one far superior to the other?

Thanks
jlc

[96C220]

Factory head unit is 1985-87 or so technology. I dont even think there is a provision for a cd changer. My advice find a decent aftermarket unit, with 2002 technology, it will by far outperform anything Mercedes has to offer even today.

If you need help with anything, I'm in Hamilton, e-mail me and we can discuss whatever it may be...

George

[WTBerks]

I have owned Alpine units and Becker. Without question, the Becker is better built and you can always get it repaired, no matter how old.

But, as was previously posted, the Becker Grand Prix, as found in your car back in the late 80's will not sound nearly as good as some cheap, throw away radio. True, the throw away radio may only last a few years, but it probably will sound better.

But, don't dispair, there is a great solution. Becker sells a model called, I believe, the 4602. This unit, which comes with a built in CD changer will, with the wiring harness as provided by Becker, plug right into the existing wiring in your car. Everyone who has upgraded to this unti raves about it.

It may cost more than the typical disposable radio, but it will last as long as you can stand to own the car.

[96C220]

He said that his car already has an older Alpine CD radio that has quit on him......

There is no way that the wiring is in tact in that car, since no one makes a wiring harness to plug into the factory mercedes wiring.

At this point, even wiring in a Becker is probably not an option, unless he finds a boneyard car that has the original becker in it to donate the wiring harness ends....

I also unfortunately dont have the factory plugs in my car as it had taken a trip to the aftermarket before I owned it as well.

The becker CD head is a good solution, but only to cars with factory untouched audio.

George

[WTBerks]

When I yanked the dead Alpine out of my 450SLC, I found that they had done very little to the original wiring. They had simply wired the front speakers to the fader switch. When the old unit is removed, a carefule examination of the area may show the original wiring still there.

[96C220]

Its all relative to how much of a butcher the original installer was. On my 420SEL all the original plugs to the head unit were cut away and gone. I would tap the wires but leave a 1" tail and the plug still there if I was doing it.

Only real way to find out is to pull the head and go from there,

George

[jcantor]

William,

You raise a good point about the wiring however given some of the other points brought up here and the fact that I know that they by-passed the factory fader, I suspect the wiring is a might bit different than factory.

Part of my original question had really been aimed at where Becker sits in the pecking order of auto sound at any given time period. I would expect that today's units from almost any manufacturer to be far superior to something 15 years old but how did a 1987 Becker unit compare with what was being offered at that time by Alpine, Sony, Blaupont (sp??) etc? Where does Becker stand today?

As for my own sitiuation, I'm in the middle of replacing the timing chain etc in the car which is obviously much more important than the sound (okay, for some this might not be so obvious ). Once I have that project successfully completed, then I'll get back to the stereo questions.

George - I haven't been able to get to my email but the timing chain project is going well although slower than I planned (no surprise there). If you'd like to see things torn apart at sometime over the weekend, give me a call tonight or tomorrow.

jlc

[WTBerks]

Becker has merged with Harman Kardon. They are still quite active and produce very good, and of course, well built units. I just saw one of their newest units at the M-100 meet. Someone was testing their new CD/GPS stereo unit. This item will give you verbal directions to any destination. I believe it uses both the CD reader in the head unit as well as a CD changer in the trunk.

It was a bit pricey though. I think they were talking about a retail price of around $1,500.

Anyway, you can see what they have and get iformation from tham at Harman Becker .

[96C220]

MB audio systems, especially in the 80's were nothing short of terrible. It's not that the Becker units were particulary of bad quality, but rather lackluster in features, and severely underpowered.

Any Aftermarket stereo of the day - Sony, Alpine etc would easily outperform and sound better than its 1987 becker counterpart.

The thing with becker is this though - It looks like it belongs in the car, and with the "natural" lighting mb's have this is almost impossible to achieve with any aftermarket unit.

Even my kenwood, which uses similar color lighting on the display doesnt look remotely stock, although it doesnt stick out like a sore thumb like some other head units I have seen in MB's.

All in all, they are adequate, but nothing spectacular. Also dont forget that these were specified for mass market sales. MB priced the sourcing of the audio system to a point. This point is enough that it would passify the average consumer, and not much more.

There arent many people willing to spend thousands on a stereo especially in a car, so there is no point in making that standard equipment in the car, and reflecting it in the price.

Companies have gone to much greater lengths in the 90's to improve the audio systems, or to capitalize on "upgraded" audio systems as options... which in all reality are wastes compared to what you can get for similar $ from the aftermarket.

They have also gone to extreme lengths to make the cars unfriendly to the aftermarket, to force the average person to buy the "upgraded" stereo, even though its not exactly what they wanted.

MB BMW and FORD are the worse (as far as late model aftermarket upgrades).

MB because you have to start from scratch.. with the fiber optic radios, you have to rewire the car.

BMW because The heads in the 5 and 7 series cars are so eccentric, that you cant realistically replace them without the replacement looking horrible. The 7 has no way to replace the head at all, cause other functions are built into it....

FORD for designing radios into the dashboard, so once again there is no provision for replacement....


Becker may be a fine company, especially after the merge with Harmon Kardon, but the stuff featured in MB's especially older ones, fails in comparison to the aftermarket.....

Interesting discussion. I hope I'm not disrupting any train of thought with my next question, though. Just wondering if any of you might have any suggestions on what to put on a '72 300SEL. It currently has a Becker Mexico that doesn't work and the speakers are dead. I just need decent sound from an affordable head unit that doesn't look too out of place on the vintage dash. I was looking at a Blaupunkt in-dash CD unit - seems to be the simplest design with decent sound. Does anyone have any experience with Blaupunkt? Might there be installation quirks I have to know? I was thinking of replacing the rear speakers as well with simple 6.5s or 6x9s. Is there any way to put front speakers without damaging the door or dash? ... mounts in the footwells perhaps?

hey William, I noticed you have a '72 300SEL 6.3 - any recommendations?

Ian