Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > Mercedes-Benz Tech Information and Support > Vintage Mercedes Forum

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 02-17-2004, 02:08 PM
Tim's__Benz
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
Speaker Size

What size speakers could I fit in my car? In the rear and the front. I do not want to have to cut out either the rear or front dash. I was looking at 6" X 9" for the back and maybe 6" for the front. Do you think this would work?
Thanks
Tim

Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 02-17-2004, 02:24 PM
kpb's Avatar
kpb kpb is offline
just a guy
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Central/SE Ohio -- Heart of the Rustbelt
Posts: 810
I believe 4x8 is the size of the dash speaker I just pulled out. I held it up to the outlines under my rear deck and it fit perfectly. Good luck finding a modern speaker this size
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 02-17-2004, 04:31 PM
Tim's__Benz
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
You are talking about the rear correct? I was thinking about putting the 6" X 9" speakers in the rear and just putting them under the dash a little, but I don't think they would sound as good. What size are the ones in the front?
Thanks
Tim
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-17-2004, 04:32 PM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
Tim's benz-

I spent most of last summer totally re-doing my sound system- if you search threads I think I called it: 108 chassis sound system or something like that. Pretty much details my whole experience. Did 6 new speakers all under the stock factory grilles, so you cannot tell that anything different is in there.

I am still very happy with my whole job. New head unit, disconnected the fader, and did satellite radio too. Sounds awesome.

-JAS
__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 02-17-2004, 05:14 PM
Tim's__Benz
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
What is the fifth speaker, and where is it located? I understand you have two 4" in the footwells and the two 4" X 6" in the rear dash and the two tweeters in the front center piece. What is the fifth one?
Thanks
Tim
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 02-17-2004, 05:41 PM
Tomguy's Avatar
Vintage Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: near Scranton, PA
Posts: 5,407
He said 6 speakers -
The rears he put in are probably dual-units, that is, one woofer and one tweeter in them.

The fronts are 4x6, IIRC, the rears are an odd size - like 3x9 or 4x9 (or 10... don't recall).
__________________
Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 02-17-2004, 08:31 PM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
The original rear deck speakers and the front center dash speaker are all three the same size, right, like a 4x8 or other such size that doesn't exist anymore.

If I remember correctly, I did a pair of 2-way 6x9's in the rear deck, a pair of 4" in the front footwells, then a pair of tweeters in the center front opening (it was just a blank piece of cardboard in that space from the factory, so I took apart one of the originals from the rear deck, and mounted the pair of tweeters in that, which then dropped right into the space it was designed for originally)

So, the car originally had 4 speakers with a blank in the front center spot-

I replaced all 4 under their original grilles, then did the custom mount of the pair of tweeters up front and center.
Attached Thumbnails
Speaker Size-lftrear-web.jpg  
__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 02-17-2004, 09:24 PM
Tomguy's Avatar
Vintage Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: near Scranton, PA
Posts: 5,407
Why only a pair of 4" in the front? The grill holds a 4x6 stock... a (modern) 4x6 fits with a bit of trimming! (You need to cut some of the metal frame out, they make the frames massively big to be "Universal" but they don't fit inside the smaller plastic covers)
__________________
Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 02-17-2004, 11:58 PM
Tim's__Benz
Guest
 
Posts: n/a
I think that the 4" speakers would be plenty to have in the front, but if the prices are similar I might go bigger.
Tim
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 02-18-2004, 12:03 AM
Tomguy's Avatar
Vintage Moderator
 
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: near Scranton, PA
Posts: 5,407
I picked up a rather good (used) pair of Kenwoods that I heard at Best Buy and liked... only like $20 with shipping on like an $80 set!
__________________
Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k
Reply With Quote
  #11  
Old 02-18-2004, 10:13 AM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
Where are you talking about putting 4x6's instead of the 4"ers?

I used a pair of 4" in the front footwell locations, mainly because I wanted to use all of the original interior trim pieces. The 4" fit in the space vacated by the original units, and then I was able to re-use the covers. I thought that using larger, modern speaker grilles would really look terrible in that footwell location (especially all of the swoopy, gen-x looking stuff that is out there now...)

-JAS
Attached Thumbnails
Speaker Size-drfootwell-web.jpg  
__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
  #12  
Old 02-18-2004, 10:18 AM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
I love the asymmetry between the driver and passenger footwell speaker housings. Pass. side shown here-

My 70 280SE 6-cyl. (my 1st car, long gone) had only the center front speaker in the dash from the factory!

The 4 speaker set-up in this 73 4.5 was positively hi-fi by comparison!

I am very very pleased with how it sounds now. Fills the entire car, good quality sound without going crazy. The tweeters really add a nice touch, too.

-JAS
Attached Thumbnails
Speaker Size-footwellweb.jpg  
__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
  #13  
Old 02-18-2004, 11:22 AM
kpb's Avatar
kpb kpb is offline
just a guy
 
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Central/SE Ohio -- Heart of the Rustbelt
Posts: 810
hey, jas2wa...

I am wondering about those 4" footwell speakers. My 4.5 had only the single speaker in the dash for the mono Europa. I intend to pick up at least a Europe II for stereo or a Mexico with the integral cassette. I have a pair of discrete Blaupunkt 4"x6" which will go in the rear shelf spots. Their grills are acceptably subtle.

I also picked up two 3" single speakers out of a MR2 which I was going to transplant under my original grill on the dash. Unfortunately, their magnets are too large to permit side by side mounting in a fabricated plate as I intended. Now I am thinking of utilizing the footwell spots for these but I have no grills presently. I see your 4" are in a bit of a housing -- are there actually holes in your locations to accomodate the magnets or are they true surface mount units?

I may be stuck with just using one of these 3" under the front grill and try to balance between the front and rear as best I can. My original 4"x8" is shot -- the paper cone pretty much is dust now!

BTW, been a while since I saw "vestigial" used in everyday talk (your post on the ebay 280SE with the gruesome 10 speaker outfit)

Any advice, insights appreciated. I did look at your thread from your installation process -- Enlightening.

kpb
Reply With Quote
  #14  
Old 02-18-2004, 11:32 AM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
kpb-

That's why I posted those pictures of the footwell speakers from my car- it seemed that not everyone was on the same page as far as what they actually were-

I think the 4 speaker set-up must have been an option. I have my original Becker but cannot remember exactly which model it is.

So, instead of the one center-mounted dash 4x6, there were the rears 4x6 and footwells 4".

They were certainly designed as an afterthought, or addition to the 108 interior beyond how it was originally designed- that asymmetry (and their construction) make that very clear...

So, the dr. side 4" sits in a cut-out in the sheet metal, so yes, the magnet fits in there, and the stock grille sits on top, protruding out a bit as you can see in the pic.

Then, on the pass. side, that piece of trim that bows out into the footwell is actually encasing the a/c blower, then the speaker is mounted to it, again with that protruding grille (looking somewhat 'vestigial', if you will...! )

I actually took one of the originals to Crutchfield with me, and found a 4' speaker that was similar in height (so i could mount it under that original grille.) The magnet depth was actually less of an issue, though it DOES have to fit against the blower motor/fan cage.

Does that help at all?
__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
  #15  
Old 02-18-2004, 11:34 AM
jas2wa's Avatar
3point5
 
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Charlottesville, VA
Posts: 548
I wish I had taken some pics of the process as I was doing the whole thing, might have been very useful. Especially how I re-used the mount/base from one of the original rears to mount the pair of tweeters in, in the front center spot. (Still proud of that one, for a non-professional...!)

__________________
94 E320
71 350SL
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 10:53 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page