aftermarket stereo/speakers 72 250c (114) advice needed

[1972 250c]

i am looking for advice on after market speaker size and placement for my 1972 250c (114). I will also accept advice on stereo placement as well. i will be keeping the original radio in it's place and may possibly put the new stereo just under the glove box. i may fit a pair of speakers on the back ledge behind the rear seats like most cars and a pair of speakers in the side panels by the drivers left foot and the passengers right foot. any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

[Russ114]

the only drawback is that if you want to fit decent sized speakers, you need to cut holes..

i've taken the pockets off my door trims, and put the speakers in the front of the doors, and 2 on the rear parcel shelf. Using 4 x JL audio 6"s they fit nicely and the sound levels are great! This was in a 250CE too.

[ctaylor738]

There is very little depth in the footwells, which is why the orginal speakers have a mount that sticks out about 1/2".

Same in the package shelf. It is a shallow "plenum" and to get any depth, you need to go through the lower panel which exposes the trunk. Not a big deal if you don't car about originality.

In my 280C, I used 4" speakers (Panasonic, I think) in the original mounts in the footwells and bought the proper "shallow mount" rear speakers from beckerautosound.com. The front speakers were a waste of time and money.

The rears work OK, barely.

But I am driving them with a 1970's Becker Europa II - you will probably have better luck with a more modern unit!

[Mark DiSilvestro]

My '72 W114 250 sedan originally had a Becker stereo radio with 4 speakers. The original 3" speakers in my front kick-panels were really pathetic and the 4x6 Beckers on the rear shelf weren't much better. I wanted to upgrade without cutting my original door panels or sheet metal. I installed a pair of Sony coaxial 6x9 speakers under the dash in the cardboard panels that hide the backside of the glovebox and the drivers-side dash wiring. If yours are missing you can make some, but it's a lot more work. Once the panels are loose, you can see and mark where to place the speakers so the magnets won't interfere with your wiring, AC lines, etc.... In my case, there was also a flimsy metal bracket under the driver's side dash than I had to remove to make room for the 6x9 speaker. My 6x9s are now driven directly off a Becker stereo cassette/radio from a 1980 vintage 300D and sound better than anything else I tried in that car. For some degree of 'surround' sound (optional), I retained my original 4x6 Beckers on the rear shelf and they're adequate for that.

My '72 W114 250Coupe still has the original Blaupunkt stereo radio with a single 3x8 speaker in the top of the dash, where it's normally mounted for the factory mono radio installation, and a second, matching 3x8 speaker, mounted in the center of the rear shelf, in what appears to be a factory cut mounting. That setup actually sounds pretty good and I would recommend it, if you have the same mounting setup, and good 3x8 speakers to fit.

My easiest speaker installation was in my '60 Fintail 220S. I simply placed a pair of old 2-way 50 watt 'cube' speakers, that I had on hand, on my rear floor, where they're out of veiw. I'm driving them with a 100 watt amp, mounted behind the dash, and connected to a Panasonic battery CD player in the center tray between the front seats. Radio-Shack currently sells a modern version of my speakers with cast aluminum cases, in a choice of black or white and rated at 100 watts. A modern car stereo unit may be able to power those without the 100 watt amp I used.

Happy Motoring, Mark

[Catrinus]

In my 73 280C I had really good success with the rear speakers. At my local stereo shop's suggestion, I bought a pair of 6" adapter rings, which essentially give you more depth (and inch or so) so you don't have to cut a new hole to fit either larger diameter speakers or deeper speakers. The (plastic) rings mount to the parcel shelf, and the 6" speakers mount to the rings. It looks fine and sounds awesome.

The front speakers: not much you can do in the original mounting place (kick panels) -- there just isn't enough room. I bought new 4" speakers but the original cover wouldn't fit (I suppose I could have ground down the speaker metal a bit and made it work, though). The sound out of a 4" speaker is pretty bad, anyway (since we don't have enough depth for a GOOD 4" speaker).

The more interesting problem I had was that I didn't realize how little DEPTH you have to work with where the stereo head unit goes. I bought a fairly cheap CD player and discovered it stick out about 4"! The original radio just wasn't very deep. But I wrapped the part that sticks out with black tape and it actually doesn't look all that bad. The added benefit is, the controls are 4" closer to you!

I did pick up a vintage Becker radio (but alas not one that is correct for the year of my car, it's all black plastic and seems to be newer) radio but I really like playing CDs so I'll probably never install the Becker but will leave it with the car if I get rid of it (the car).

Catrinus