To everyone who owns a Benz designed before the W140 series and their Bose sound systems:

Have you replaced the original stock Becker stereo, or do you still have it in the dash as a purist touch?

I've been wondering this since 90 percent of the W126s I see on Ebay still have their stock Beckers (Ours ceased working, and we got a CD player because frankly, it was too lousy to warrant fixing--and I've seen discussions about where to get Becker stereos in 80's Benzes fixed. WTF are people thinking?!)

-Sam

the becker is junk in my opinion....

My car had an aftermarket in it when I bought it, and I would never put a becker back in. in fact even if my car had the becker in it, I would have replaced it with an aftermarket anyway.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

To be honest, if the tape player had worked on my Becker, I would have kept it. But it doesn't, so I pulled it and put one of the last Radio Shack CD players in there instead. The faceplate still matches the interior pretty well

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2001 VW Jetta TDI, 5 speed, daily driver
1991 Ford F-350, work in progress
1984 Ford F-250 4x4, 6.9l turbo diesel, 5 speed manual
Previous oilburners: 1980 IH Scout, 1984 E-350, 1985 M-B 300D, 1979 M-B 300SD, 1983 M-B 300D
Spark-free since 1999

I have a Kenwood CD with a Burlwood front, they don't make a Zebrano

I was at the local junkyard the other day and saw a W123 with a becker, i pulled it out and found the warranty card and a bunch of other stuff in the glovebox, took it home just for "nostalgia" .

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280 SE 1980 W126+280 SE 1982 W126
280 SE 1972 W108
220 S 1961 W111
280 C 1977 C123( no. 1097 of 3704 made -Sold)

I don't think mine had one when we bought it, even if we did, I replaced the stereo about a year ago or so along with the speakers.

Interesting...my tape player conked out a few years ago on my Becker. I used to be an avid autosound competitor, but family and priorities leave little time (and money) for things like aftermarket installs.

I listen to CDs anyway, so I just put up with the half-lit backlit display and press on.

If I was to do anything, it would be a video entertainment system for the ML...so Becker replacement is pretty far down the list...

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

83 SD came with a Sony. Radio works, CD doesn't

87 SDL came with a bottom-of-the-line Blau CD. Not bad.

91 SE still has the Becker but the tape doesn't work. It's the more annoying version with the brains in the trunk so there are no proper connections for an aftermarket unit. Hence the 'big money' Ted mentioned. Oh, it also came a Silverstone 10 CD changer that plays disks 1, 2, 9 and 10... and only sometimes at that. Heaven forbid you offer it a home burned CD. There's a nice MB logo on the CD cartridge so I leave the cartridge on a table by the front door to the house as a conversation piece. I replaced it with a Sony RF changer I had but now that the head unit won't turn on...

I replaced the fuses in the SE. The radio went to CODE. I entered the code - no dice. I verified the code at the dealer - right code. A tech tried the code - no dice. I verified the VIN and Becker serial number at the dealer - right serial number. Becker wants $30 for a new code card. Why do I get the feeling it'll be money down the drain?

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

Is that the 10-speaker surround system that came with a lot of later W126s?

-Sam

I don't know if it's a surround system as much as a system that physically surrounds you. There are a pair of speakers in the dash and 4 sets of separates (bass and tweeter) in the front doors and rear deck. The count is 10 drivers but effectively 6 speakers.

You can keep the speakers since it's a 4 channel - 4-ohm system (each door and dash set adds up in the impedance sense to 4-ohms). All you need to replace the head unit is to run an antenna cable to the dash as well as speaker wires to the speakers. The shortcut I plan is to run speaker wires to the amps behind the rear seat and tap into the speaker harness at those points. Switched and unswitched power, ground and antenna signal wires are available in the dash area. Not difficult but try getting a worthwhile price from an installer.

Sixto
91 300SE
87 300SDL
83 300SD

Just wondering, do you know how yours conked out? I pulled the Becker adn took it apart; found a plastic piece in the mechanism that "flips" sides on the tape was busted, so it wouldn't stay on a single side. Were it not for that, it would actually have worked...but I doubt that that part is available anywhere and besides, I don't know if I could put the Becker back together

The Becker Electronic Grand Prix was replaced when the cassette drive quit and was replaced with a Kenwood deck. The "military" 24hr clock readout was a pain after the dash clock quit working, but I changed that too!

I've kept my Becker in the dash because I can honestly say I have an addiction

If I change the deck I will notice that the speakers can sound better too, so then I'll have to change all the speakers. If I change all the speakers I will soon realize that the deck doesn't have adequate power to really make the speakers sound good so now I have to get an Amp. Then I would realize I have great High's, midrange and midbass but the bass doesn't really kick so now I need a sub. Of course if you get a sub you'll need an amp

So now I just bought $3500 worth of stereo equipment because I didn't like the damn Becker in the dash!

See my problem!

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Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

The new Becker stuff is GREAT. High quality, clean and simple design, German made of course, and they look smooooooth. Much better than the current trend, which seems to be overly flashy displays and arrays of microscopic buttons!

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When I bought my car it had a funky Alpine unit, with detachable unit! (NOPE... not detachable face.. but the whole unit itself could be pulled out!! leaving the chassis and wiring only)

The thing worked great but sounded really bad!! It also had some MTX speakers....

I thought maybe the speakers were dry.. so off they went and new speakers went in. Not much better.

The Pioneer head unit made the whole thing sound so much better.

I guess if my car came with a perfectly working Becker I wouldn't have replaced it just because I don't care too much about sound and I kinda like the stock look.



I like that new Becker a lot. I have also learnt that it's the same thing they put in the Ferrari 575M !!!

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2008 BMW 335i Coupe

Most car audio speakers are 4 ohm. so there would be no problems there.

THe stock speakers, with a new head unit, will actually sound pretty decent. I had my stock speakers, hooked up to my stereo, and it sounded fine.

I added a subwoofer and amp, around $200 to $250

I added infinity seperates, reference series... $150 for front and rear.

I added a cheesy amp, because I didnt want to spend any money on an amp when I have a friend int he stereo bizness anyway, who ows me some equipment, $40 for the cheesy amp.

Install is really not that hard if you dont mind pulling some interior panels to run wires.

Overall I;m in for less than $500 in my system, and it sounds pretty good.

The real money comes with stereos that sound good outside the car. if it sounds good outside, its gonna have to be loud inside.

Mine is perfectly loud enough inside, but outside you can't hear it that much at all.

Thats how I like my systems, sound good and clean enough for me inside. people outside the car I oculd care less about if they hear me or not.

My factory speakers were 2 ohm, and sucked major power from the stock stereo.... my interior speakers are now all 4 ohm, and my subwoofer is an 8 ohm. I can throw tons of power at the sub and it just keeps taking it. The interior speakers without the sub just lack any good bass, thats where the sub is.

a properly designed system, for those that just want decent sound, is not expensive. most of the cost is in the installation and in the high end stuff or radios with all the gadgets.

My alpine which is several years old, works perfectly, and does what it was designed to do, play music.

Every benz my family ever owned with a becker had problems, from tape decks frizzing to code errors to displays burning out, bad sound quality and all.

I would never hesitate to spend a few bucks on my car stereo to make it sound better, I'm just not the type to spend thousands on it.

My friend has over $60k in his car in stereo installation, equipment, and upholstery work. He is building a show car, and the car has had already hundreds of man hours working on it. the entire interior has been stripped out, put back in, again and again. Thats overkillt o me, but he loves doing it, so thats what counts to him.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon