NightSea

For my S600(w140) , I am using also two sets of ADS 345is(
each for 4 doors;but front tweeters at the dash board) with two
ADS A10s( as an infinite baffle type , this is only available among
ADS products) over the trunk.

Two ADS PQ40.2 amplifiers, PPI DEQ230 , etc.

I am ALMOST satisfied with current system .(I don't mean
my system will be good for other people. )

Problem is ;

ADS A10s' plastic corn paper is too weak for SPL.
Easily torn apart.

Heat of amplifiers are too much. During summer time, just one
hour playing at maximum level results in circuit protect( sound
off). I need to make an air hole.
But as this car will be replaced with another one ,
I will not do anything additionally.

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My friend also complained of his tube amplifier's heat.
He installed a temperature sensor inside the trunk,
but the only thing he can do when he sees high temp above
50 degree C, is just lowering the volume or turn off the audio.

If you listen loudly, I don't recommend a tube car amplifier(
expensive).

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MacIntosh made a replica of old tube model for home use , but
they don't make any car tube amplifier, as I understand.

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I am thinking of upgrade on my SL55's Bose sound.
I can say it is good , but looking for better(always this desire
is a problem).

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BTW, people who are middle or above ages can not hear the sound frequency above 16,000 hz.

mctwin2kman

NightSea you are correct they made the home unit but no car unit. Also a tube is bad for a car due to the vibrations in the car would cause the tube to have a shorter life cycle, plus the lack of air flow to cool the tube. I used to install a fan next to my amps in my trunk to keep the air flowing across the heatsink, I also removed all the shrouding on the side of the amplifier so the air would flow both above and below the Orion 250 HCCA amp I had. 12 volt fans from Radio Shack are what I used, and I turned them on with the amp turn on lead. The amp turn on lead was adapted to turn on a relay to supply power, since the amp turn on circuit is a low amperage line. This kept the amp cool enough on the hot summer days to eliminate the turn off. You may want to look into the JL Audio free-air subs they have a little better cone and are fairly inexpensive. And if they sound anything like other JL's they should be fine. They also have some MB custom boxes with 8 Inch woofers. I think more for the C240 and C320, I do not recall, but I am sure you could find a custom enclosure to fit the trunk and still leave you with optimum trunk space. Check them out.

Edit: Oh and I had my second interview yesterday at 2 PM and by 6 PM I found out that I was picked for the job. Just waiting now to see there offer, and go do the drug test, background check, credit check and reference check. I am excited, getting that much closer to ending this dead end job and go to a new one and get the stock check and get my damn Mercedes.... My wife told me that I could take the model of the C230 K to work since I will never be driving the thing. Oh well, she has a longer commute and a crap job so I will let her have it a couple days a week so she can **** off her subordinates....

peet

Nightsea, go to the 312RS or if you have to keep 10" woofer, 310RS... this woofer uses a solid aluminum cone.

VERY nice speaker. It will fix all your probs on the sub side.

On a related note, you have P series amps but you're using A series subs? that's like running one of the aforementioned tube amps and using the headphones that came with a free walkman to listen to it!

Hope this helps!
Peet

NightSea

I have 5 fans( 3 for input , 2 for output of air surrounding amps.).
But as long as the ambient air in the trunk has no change,
my amps on max level ,during hot weather with strong sun
lights at day time , automatically turn off after 1-2 hours playing.

So I am thinking a water-cooling system.

I will check JL Audio free air type. (My limit is I don't like to
sacrifice the trunk space . So I don't like woofer box.)
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BTW, I have been fighting(?) to get better sound spending
money and time. One of my experience you may be interested;
one time I installed JBL home use subwoofer at the trunk of
CL making ski hole as air-out of that woofer.
Result? I enjoyed it very much until I sold that car.

NightSea

Peet, I agree 312 and 310 are better, but
I am using S600 trunk as infinite baffle ( so called
free air type ; no woofer box).
312 and 310 are not recommended for infinite baffle use by
ADS. ADS recommends only A10s for free air installation.

mctwin2kman

Well if you have the fans then water cooling will be the way to go. But you would need to install a small sealed tank in the trunk and that would take up some space. I once saw a car at a competition that had a fish tank installed for the water resevoir, totally sealed one. The ports for the sub box were molded in the middle of the tank and the tank acted as a barrier between the sub box and the passenger compartment. Must of cost a fortune but still looked cool.

And on a side note, I got the job I was interviewing for, for the money I wanted. I have not recieved a formal offer, but was told over the phone most of the specifics, must go sign the waiver forms today for the drug test, credit check and criminal background check. Should find out Monday the formal offer. I am excited as it means I am leaving my dead end job and get my ESOP money from them to use to pay off bills and add to my down payment on the C230 Coupe I will be ordering soon. I am so stoked....

Clownburner

For what it's worth, tube amplifiers can work very well in a car, thank you very much.

http://www.tubedriver.com/tdblue.html

sl3204me

I have the 6 speaker Bose with subwoofer in my 1995 SL and my brother has it in his S320 and both cars are dynamite in the sound category.Now if all you listen to is rap or heavy ear pounding base music,then you must get an aftermarket system because nothing takes the place of 10 or 12 inch subwoofers for base response.But I can't drive in my SL with my head pounding.Classical music sounds superb on the bose sytem.