Thanks! I will be installing a 2/4 ohm, 5 channel amp: 1 for each door and 1 for the subwoofer, and also a preamp to get custom equilization. Although mine is not HK but Bose, I will give it a try to the OEM speakers with the new amp and, if not satisfied, will replace them. I have had good experience in the past with 3-way 6.5's, combined with 6x9's or subs. I have installed all this by myself a hundred times in every Honda and Toyota I have had before. This is my first MB and it is absolutely another animal. It is frustrating that I have been 6 months trying to do this, have taken the car to 5 different car audio experts and when they take a look at the radio and realize it is optic fiber nobody wants or knows how to work on it. But it is simple and clean once you know the wiring. I will be working on this during the next few days (or weeks?); I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks again!

 

I am sorry that I did not update this before, but I got caught in several issues at work tah have kept me busy. I completed the project and it sounds very good. The StarTek info website gave me the clor an polarity codes and they matched perfectly to what it was in the car. Instead of cutting the wires coming out form the AGW where you did it, I cut them maybe a foot ahead below the power trunk mechanism; there was more space to work there and I installed connectors as you did. The only difference to your job was that since I installed a 5 channel amp, it was larger and did not fit behing the navigation unit , so I put it under the rear deck. I got a piece of cloth almost identical to the trunk factory cloth and covered it. Beisdes that, I put a 10" Bazooka sub at the far end inside the trunk. After al this, voila!!!, it sounds very very good. I think it might sound better with a Cleansweep sound processor but I am not sure if it worths the difference in sound (do you have installed one of these? or know someone that have installed it? did it make a difference?). I do not want to get any cables to the cabin and saw a Rockford Fostage that you may control via Bluetooth with your laptop, but it is very pricy ($600). The beauty thing about all this is that it is fully reversable, it is working ok with the factory head unit and speakers (as you said, do not know how long they will stand the abuse but they are handling it ok right now), and I saved over $200 on the instalation doing it myself. Thanks for all your tips.

 

Great job! I am glad my tips were of use to you; my purpose is to inspire others. Depending on your audio setup and input level you have, you may benefit from a sound processor especially since you are powering 5 channels. I did not find need to install a Cleasweep or similar sound processor though I have not completely ruled out an option to install a sound processor like the Fosgate, Mobridge or similar that I can install and forget with no fiddling and no cables. New projects on the Benz will likely wait till the weather opens up though I recently replaced brake pads with ceramic ones. Next project on my plate is my basement remodeling

 

Thanks my friend. By the way, did you replace the pads yourself? or did you take it to a MB technician? I took advantage of the time I paid at StarTek Info to check on how to change pads, and the first step is to disable the brake system using the computer. I had no clue about how to disable that system without the scanner. As I told at sometime before, I had always did these things myself but the MB is quite different in everything.

 

Myself

 

Hello, I'm doing my own install on my 2003 E320. I am installing an Pioneer AVH 4200 and an MB Quart Amp 60rmsx4 , keeping the speakers and sub stock for now. I will power the fronts and bridge channel 3 and 4 for the sub. My question is, what is the color wire codes for the speakers leading to the Front Speakers and Subs?

Thanks
Christian

 

Sent you an email.

 

Thanks Pinebaron / Zayasw, you guys inspired me to upgrade my system DIY. I went a step further and changed my head unit. See this link:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...h-4200dvd.html

 

You are most welcome! I like the clean look.

 

Thank you again! I am now putting my efforts to upgrade the tweeters. Do you know if the stock speakers have crossovers built in?

 

OEM speakers (from what I've seen in my vehicle) only use a high pass capacitor on the tweeter. I used Boston Acoustics Pro60 SE component speakers for the rears after I blew the OEMs. All others are still OEM.

 

Ok, only the rears blew? What about the fronts?

 

I'll change the fronts when and if they blow, in the meantime they are doing fine

 

Happy 4th of July! Anyways, I had some time yesterday to check out the tweeters. I pulled out the little triangular cover and saw the tweeters. I did see the capacitor, and you are completely right that it doesnt have a crossover.

The weird thing is, I saw the tweeter with 4ohms. I keep reading that the speakers are 2ohms. I can only guess that the stock woofer is also 4ohms, and that they are wired in parallel to produce 2ohms right? Pinebaron, can you confirm this when you pulled out the front woofer?

The reason I'm shopping for the tweeter only is because I notice crackling noise on my front left tweeter only. The woofers, like you I will keep because I have no problem with their sound. Also, I have been researching about DIYmobileaudio.com and you can select each component of drivers to match your needs. You can get raw drivers from Scanspeak, Vifa, Dayton, Peerless, and Seas for less than a hundred bucks. These drivers are used in audiophile speaker systems that cost over a thousand dollars a pair. Scanspeak I believe make the drivers for Alpine F1 Status witch are over $1200 a pair.

 

Happy 4th of July! Anyways, I had some time yesterday to check out the tweeters. I pulled out the little triangular cover and saw the tweeters. I did see the capacitor, and you are completely right that it doesnt have a crossover.

The weird thing is, I saw the tweeter with 4ohms. I keep reading that the speakers are 2ohms. I can only guess that the stock woofer is also 4ohms, and that they are wired in parallel to produce 2ohms right? Pinebaron, can you confirm this when you pulled out the front woofer?

The reason I'm shopping for the tweeter only is because I notice crackling noise on my front left tweeter only. The woofers, like you I will keep because I have no problem with their sound. Also, I have been researching about DIYmobileaudio.com and you can select each component of drivers to match your needs. You can get raw drivers from Scanspeak, Vifa, Dayton, Peerless, and Seas for less than a hundred bucks. These drivers are used in audiophile speaker systems that cost over a thousand dollars a pair. Scanspeak I believe make the drivers for Alpine F1 Status witch are over $1200 a pair.

 

I do not recall how it is wired, but may also be based on which level of audio. My drivers are all laying around in a box somewhere so I can check when I have some free time.

In regards to what is found in the DIY route .. many of these drivers are fairly good and inexpensive, BUT it is a lengthy trial and error voyage. Even when 'on paper' parameters line up, it still might not be a suitable driver for YOU. Also mind you the majority of DIY'ers ( myself included both personally and professionally) using this method are are actively processed where tuning is a breeze. With the OE configuration you are limited to the T/A and passbands already preselected.

Overall you may get lucky and find something that works for you, alternatively and more common your search and labor could take more time than anticipated.

 

6spdcoupe, thank you for your advice. My Pioneed AVH 4200, has high pass crossover, so I was thinking of crossing the stock front woofer to 63hz as the stock sub is low passed at 63hz also. As a lot of people said, the stock speakers are quite good and I will keep the front woofers, but since my tweeter is crackling, I will replace that first and see how Vifa's or Seas work with the stock woofer. I will use a bassblocker for the tweeters though as I am short on cash to get an electronic crossover from Alpine as I was planning.

 

Front and rear door speakers are 2ohms each; I still have the old speakers for reference.

 

Just to confirm- will the Hertz speaker fit the W211 model? (given your suggestion below)

emilner, for a center speaker that fits with no problems, check out the Hertz HL70.4, it has to be the .4 model though as it is the new version. i just used it in a 5.1 system with a separate tweeter, and I can only say phenomenal![/quote]

 

I got a second hand 2006 E350 in July. H-K/Logic7/Command (NTG1). After driving Volvo S80 with Dynaudio Premium Sound, MB was huge disappointment. It just sounded wrong.

After 6 months of trying various things, and being ready to return the car or rip the whole audio out and have something decent insalled, (because I am an audio purist and I have no fun driving a car with substandard sound), last week I fixed it.

As I mentioned, i am a purist. All virtual surround systems (e.g. Dolby PLII, etc) always soudned wrong to me nd first thing to do would be to switch them off. But MB sounded better (although still horrible) with Logic 7 on. i could not understand why. And then I realised that even with Logic 7 off, there was some sound coming out of central speaker and the to satellites next to the subwoofer. This was against the logic (at least my logic). Mid-rage mixed into a central channel? I thought this might explain the horrible flat sound, no power, and lack of ability to localise sounds.

So the first thing was to disconnect the central speaker. What a change! All of a sudden, things were clear, localizable and powerful. There was however still a bit of funny high-pitch echo coming from behind. Guess what I did - disconnected the satellites. Now it sounds excellent - very close to what I was used to on the Volvo. Bass is bass, and drums sound like drums, and even violin sounds like violin on classical music. Of course Logic 7 is off (when I turn it on it turns the sound into flat plastic bass and treble, because middles cannot melt into the central anymore).

So I saved myself a good couple of $000s by switching off and disconnecting all pieces of Logic7. The amp, good set of speakers, and no fiddling with what is a good stereo recording is all I need.

I would however appreciate a real surround system that can play DVD-A or SACD.

My audio rules for home and car are:
Down with mp3!!!
Down with virtual surround!!!
Long live proper speakers!!!

And i do not care if you think otherwise.

Joyjay

 

Do you have an active link to your pictures. I'm looking to install a new amp to bypass the Harmon Kardon MOST system. I am keeping factory speakers but I replaced the sub and sub amp and replaced the head unit. I'm looking to find the termination of the speaker wires in the trunk.

 

Mine is in the left side trunk. I kept the Comand unit, HK speakers but I did add an amp to them, plus added a sub and amp.

 

Hello, I'm just about to embark on the same project after reading this thread, IV just spent the day wiring the power , ground , RCA's up to a 4 channel pioneer and a dream 1 mono, IV managed to take a high level input from the sub connector for the mono, however I now need to get the speaker outputs from the AGW but can't figure out how to, and I wondered if it would be ok to see how you did it? The links to the pictures are no longer working ☹️ any chance you still have them ? Or any info on how to get at the agw and the speaker wiring ? Thanks in advance 😊

 

Hi Suraj, Send me a PM and I'll help you with the photos

 

Hey there,

I've been looking into the whole topic and I'm loving this project so much, I'm actually looking into doing a similar project of my own, however, I don't have the HK sound system in my car, I do have the second option however, the "premium" sound system, in short, I only lack the parcel shelf speakers and subwoofer but everything else is there, including the center speaker in the dashboard. Everything is also driven by an amplifier which is hidden under the piece of plastic in the trunk area near the backseats.

Would it be still possible for me to simply throw in another aftermarket amplifier and rewire the existing sound system to said amp? Or would that be an really bad idea?

I'm not sure if the non hk "premium" speakers are far worse or how much they can handle or if it's even remotely possible, quite new to this I must say, although I have been adding options and modifications to my W211 with success so far.

Would love to hear from you guys, any information is appreciated!