I just bought a 94 E320. It has the becker am/fm/weather with cd controls. I have 2 issues. When I adjust the volume, it responds however it feels.. I turn it up and the volume goes down. I turn it down and teh volume goes up. It is like it has a mind of it's own. It does not do it every time, but most of the time. Is this a common issue? the other issue I have is the all the speakers work except the driver dash speaker. There is NOTHING coming out of that speaker. Is that speaker powered by a component amplifier or the head unit?

In all my other cars I have replaced the factory radio with a high end HU of some sort. I was, for the first time, actually planning to leave the factory radio in a car. If I wanted to replace the Becker with something, can anyone make a suggestion? I would like to keep all six speakers and ADD a sub box in the trunk. Thanks in advance for the help.

I believe that speaker is for a phone.
The radio has a built in feature to keep you from blowing the speakers when you turn the volume too high at least it does in the s class cars of that year.

If it's the same radio as in my '95 the problem is probably contacts on the volume control itself. I believe the unit sends the volume signal digitally, so don't try to take the knob off and spray it with anything. Call La Jolla Audio and ask them about the problem. I had the same problem with my unit, they fixed it, and it now works great!

As for the speaker, I don't think the E class has the feature that protects the speakers from being blown. I'm pretty confident that one of my dash speakers has recently blown.

Now I've got the excuse I've been waiting for to upgrade to after market speakers in the dash!

ps Here's what Cleeve at La Jolla Audio says:

"FYI
To All,

The vol. control you are looking at is a Hex Encoder type. Simply put, it sends digital pulses to the main radio CPU. This is how the vol. is controled.
So, if the control gets dirty (by wear of the inside of the control not external dirt) replacement is the only solid fix. This is not a temp fix that I do. I replace it with a brand new one and as you can tell the radio has had 7 years to wear to the point it is at. I would have to say that 5 to 7 years is a long time for something used quite a lot to hang in there. Like tires on a car, friction takes a toll after a while. I say for $85 plus shipping you can't buy a good radio that fits your car without any changes to the wiring for that.
By the way I change the control and the knob for that price. It's a good deal for everyone.

Let me know.

Cleeve Morrison "
La Jolla Audio Repair
www.lajollaaudiorepair.com

__________________

Current:
2014 VW Tiguan SEL 4Motion 43,000 miles.

2016 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport (wife's).

Past:
2006 Jetta TDI 135,970 miles. Sold Nov. '13.
1995 E-320 Special Edition. 220,200 miles. Sold Sept. '07.
1987 190-E 16 valve. 153,000 miles. Sold Feb. '06.
1980 300-D 225,000 miles. Donated to the National Kidney Foundation.
1980 240-D manual, 297,500 miles. Totaled by inattentive driver.