Hello Everyone...

Here's the deal. I have a 92 400e and while the radio is on, it sounds like the front speakers are blown. (Hissing crackling sound) Today I removed the grilles and noticed the speakers dont have any visible tears or breaks in them. I'm just thinking about replacing all 6 anyway. If I buy some good hi-qual speakers, will it sound ok or do I need "special" speakers to compliment the Mercedes system. Also, the drivers front dash speaker has two leads going to it, why and how will I hook up a new speaker. The door speakers look like they are in some type of a plastic box, and the rear speakers seem to be part of a 3 speaker component set. How the hell do I buy new speakers. Basically I don't want to throw money into the sound system, as I'm doing other exterioir/performance upgrades. But, I want the stock system to sound as good as possible by changing the speakers. I know there are lot of pro's out there who have faced this before...so can someone please help??? THanks in advance...

Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

The problem is that these systems run at a 2 ohm impedance, so any speakers other than OE are poorly suited. As to the front speaker with 2 sets of leads, that front left speaker has a dual voice coil, the second being used for the cellular phone.

The front door speakers are indeed in a box; actually, it's a ported enclosure. I adapted 6" drivers to fit into these enclosures.

Sorry I can't offer better advice, but this same predicament pushed me into replacing my entire system. Good luck!

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"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

Michael...

So, if I buy all 2ohm speakers should I be ok? I guess I need to buy tweeters for the front, and bass for the doors and rear dek panel. Will the door speakers just pull out of the ported enclosure? And whats up with the combination of sub-tweeter-tweeter on each side of the rear? How can i replace THAT sub? I'm just really stressed on this stupid system, and i dont want to spend any more money other than buying new speakers. THanks for the help.

Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

If you can find them, then I'd absolutely suggest that you try them...I've simply never seen speakers of this specification advertised.

As to the door speakers, yess indeed they simply unbolt from their enclosures. I don't exactly know how these speakers are crossed-over (or at what freq), but I'd think a full range driver of similar size (and resistance, of course) would work fine.

As to the speakers in the rear, I believe the 2 tweets simply do the same job, they are simply pointed in disparate directions to spread the high end out a bit, perhaps with the idea of widening the sound stage by directing high-frequencies in many directions. The rear speakers I do believe are passively crossed locally, meaning that the speaker wire leading to the speaker is running full range.

I hope this helps and wish you luck...I've just bought a '92 300D for work, and dread the thought of re-doing yet another W124 stereo! It'll be great if you can find good speakers to do this...keep us all posted

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"If God had meant for us to walk, why did he give us feet that fit car pedals?" Sir Sterling Moss

Michael
2014 E63S Estate
2006 SLK55
1995 E500
1986 Porsche 944 turbo

Hi! If you're looking for 2 ohm speakers, I believe that Bose has them. You may want to e-mail them. I know that I wanted to upgrade my speakers in my R 129 and I was told the same thing about the speakers, and also to replace the whole system!!! Good luck....

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Dale, R129
W202

From my understanding, the stock non bose stereo's in mercedes use 8 ohm speakers or 4 ohm speakers.

Most car speakers are 4 ohm, I believe bose is onf of the only companies that use 2 ohm speakers.

I have seen 16 ohm speakers in a car before.

My only suggestion to you about the problem is to first look into problems with the wiring. You mgiht want to test the speakers with another radioif possible.

If you are going to replace the speakers, its better to go with the ones that sound the best to you and will work with the mb system.

Alon

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

Ok guys get this---

First let me clarify this: the music sounds bad when I play tapes, or my portable CD player (by tape adapter). Also, FM doesn't work in this car. I contacted Becker Audio and they said I don't recieve FM because in the tuner in the trunk, the capicitors in the FM circuit leak over time and spill gunk all over the whole circuit. This indeed will cause distortion in the music they said. Anyway, they quoted me $125 to replace it plus shipping. Being a skeptic, I pulled the tuner out of the trunk and opened it up. SURE ENOUGH, there was this caramel looking gunk all in it, and some of the capacitors were busted open. Maybe because of heat in the trunk??? I'm pretty good with this sorta stuff, so I'm gonna replace the capacitors, clean the gunk out, then see. If this dosen't work, I'll buy a new tuner. If that dosen't clean the sound up, THEN I'll buy new speakers. Sorry to write so much, but I think this info may help alot of 124 owners. THanks for the replies...

Peter

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Peter Balias
pbalias@hotmail.com
1992 400E
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?...103&p=46824109

From my experience with becker units, the tape decks seem to fail often.

it could be a problem with the tape head as well if you are getting a crackling. Have you also looked into a tape head cleaning kit to try to clean it.

It definately sounds like you need to fix that tuner too. If the tuner is messed up perhaps it could cause these same symptoms.

keep us posted. I myself have an alpine unit in the car, but I have had experience with beckers in two other benzes we have owned. And a 3rd in my dad's SL600, which has buttons that fall off all the time.

What a Piece of crap that thing is. we are preparing to gut the system and replace it with very nice aftermarket equipment.

my dad likes his sound.

Alon

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

Hey Ashman!! Could you post what system you replace your dads stereo & speakers with?? I have a '97 SL 320 and was told that I would basically have to gut the system also if I wanted to upgrade....Not my first choice, but was informed that the car would require total rewiring for the stereo!! Thanks for the info...I will be anxious to see how your job comes out.

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Dale, R129
W202

His car has the crappy bose system. And When I say crappy, I mean compared to what will be put in there. The bose system is good and all if you like the pre programmed to how someone else thinks it should sound, sound. Otherwise, the bose has gotta go.

We are most likely going to go with a pioneer premier head unit with changer. Though I'm not too crazy on that liquid plasma display and the look of it in a benz, If thats the best unit thats what is going in.

As for speakers, we will probably do MB Quart or ADS as my dad has ADS and MB Quart in his other car and loves it.

For Amps we plan on going with high end amps and lots of good clean power.

For base, two tens will go into the boxes behind the seats. one in place of the factory bose box, and the other in the other side which is for storage.

The car will be completely gutted, pretty much all interior panels will be removed, seats are coming out, carpet is coming out, and the all new wiring will be run to look factory. The car will be sound sealed with dynamat or equivalent sound deadener, everything will be put back together.

The original wiring will stay as the system will be using all stock locations for equipment and will be reversable if he decides to get a new 2002 or 2003 SL, depending on when they change the design. hehe

My dad listens to lots of music, not rock though, he loves jazz, blues, classical, world music, opera, and talk radio. The system will be designed to sound excellent with all the types of music he likes. The MB quart's have a nice hard dome tweeter that sounds great with the music he plays.

His system in his other car was done years ago, but still sounds great.

Pioneer premier headunit and changer, alpine 3339 digital EQ, ADS 330I seperates int he front, MB Quart 19HC tweeters in the roof, PPI Amps, In the back of the car it has some 5 1/4 inch full range speakers for the little rear fill that is needed for rear passengers.

a 10 " Sub is mounted in the rear deck and a 10" Bazooka is in the trunk for that extra oompf.

I think the system will end up sounding great, I'll keep you posted.

He's been bugging me to organize the equipment for him. and that means he's ready to buy. hehe

Alon

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

Ashman,
What kind of high end amplifiers are you thinking about when you talk about lots of clean power? I recently called Harman International about the supposedly High-end system they put in those Lexi and couldn't get much information. I don't really want the car audio to sound like my audio at home, but there are certainly some characteristics that I like, specifically tube power and ribbon tweeters! Perhaps this should be a different thread!

kuan

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

No highs, no lows,it must be Bose. The Bose speakers are probably not the problem, it's the amps which used to be in each speaker enclosure. The capacitors leak and ruin the circuit. You can find places to replace the amps on the net at about $45 each if you are lucky. Otherwise the the speakers are like $425 retail with the entire enclosure including the amp. Your alternative is to tear out the complete system and run 8 amps. Someone who has already done this may have some good amps left over and sell at a good price. That is how I replaced mine on my 300ZX.

You can build an excellent car system without "8 amps" - it all depends how much you want to spend. For a very reasonable amount you can pick up focal utopia components, ppi amps, a good sq (sound quality) sub, the best bargain being an infinity perfect 12.1. For the head unit, try nakamichi - the 45z has the best quality out there, and looks absolutely perfect in a mercedes (no frills, just quality). You'll learn that, unlike home audio, in your car as long as you get good components, the install will make or break your system. Pick up some good parts; focal, mbq, nakamichi, ppi, phoenix gold, etc, and get a comprehensive install done at a trusted audio shop.

We are putting in some class A Amps that are made by a friend of mines friend. Called Furi. I have seen these amps hit speakers unbelievably.

They may not be Name Brand like PPI or some others, but they have good power, and its very clean power.

Alon

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

A person on the classifies section of http://www.sounddomain.com is selling a furi amp - she also has nothing but good things to say about them. Get some quality equipment, but focus most of your budget on an excellent install done by a competent shop that knows mercedes.