PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum - View Single Post - What kind of sound system should I put in my car?

Zeus · #2 03-14-2007, 02:18 PM

When I had my 300E, I used a full Alpine system. I used the stock four speakers (2 front, 2 back) and hooked them up to a four-channel Alpine MRP-F250 amp, and set the amp to hi-pass.

I used a separate Alpine MRV-T320 amp, bridged, to power a 10" Infinity sub in a ported box, in the trunk. Amp set to lo-pass. Although this amp's ratings are lower than other brands, it is a high quality amp. The V-12 series is well built and this one had more than enough power to drive the sub. Quality, not false RMS ratings are what I was going for here - you need clean power for clean bass.

I found this gave me acceptable sound. Volume was not a problem at all, and the stock speakers sounded quite good. Plenty of highs, decent mids. My Alpine head unit also had 4V preouts, which was nice.

As far as the sub, I had it set to the default level and it was plenty loud. You could feel the punch in the back of the seat.

I'm a musician and I like to think I have a decent ear, especially for distortion. I would say that this system gave me pretty much 90% of the max volume I would ever want before any significant and audible distortion occured.

So, I think your system should be fine. My advice would be to get the subs and amp, and get a separate amp to power the existing speakers. Then listen to how it sounds. If you don't like the stock speakers, upgrade them at that point, not before. As long as they are not damaged, they should sound fine. There is nothing really wrong with them. Newer speakers may provide some extra performance but no where close to the improvement that proper amplification to each speaker will.

All IMHO.

Good luck!