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I know this has been discussed, but out of frustration I'm posting again with hopes that a solution can be found.
My wife's car is a 2013 ATS Lux. I really don't drive it too much and today I had to take it in to have the CUE screen replaced (luckily under warranty.) This was a good opportunity for me to listen my new playlists on the SD card. Got to say, that the sound was real good, filling the cabin very nicely. So, as I drove home, all I could think about was how terrible the Burmeister system in my 5 month old C300 coupe sounded. No matter what settings I have tried (using the same SD card that's in the ATS,) the overall feeling of sound still only seems to come from the center front of the car and definitely doesn't fill the cabin.
This problem has existed from the very first time I got into the car. I had the car over to MB service and a "concierge specialist" agreed that the sound didn't fill the cabin (no matter what he tried) even though all speakers appeared to be working. He offered no fix. So, in my frustration, I'm again asking if anyone had found a solution to this poor performance...other than modding the sound system?
Ah flycaster, we meet again.. Just kidding lol. I was going to refer you to Mike's blog about the Burmester sound system, but unfortunately, that requires modding the system itself.
I can sort of share your sentiment, although I don't have as much of an issue as you do. What are your current settings on (bass, mid, treble, surround sound, fade) ? Once I tweaked my settings a little, the system sounded much better. I should also note that my music is loaded through a USB, so I'm not sure if the quality differs from an SD card.
Ah flycaster, we meet again.. Just kidding lol. I was going to refer you to Mike's blog about the Burmester sound system, but unfortunately, that requires modding the system itself.
I can sort of share your sentiment, although I don't have as much of an issue as you do. What are your current settings on (bass, mid, treble, surround sound, fade) ? Once I tweaked my settings a little, the system sounded much better. I should also note that my music is loaded through a USB, so I'm not sure if the quality differs from an SD card.
Hey Tej, yeah, I had already read Mike's blog, and does he ever knock the sound system...rightfully so. I've tried many, many tweaks (as suggested on this and other MB forums,) and yes there is some impoverishment, but not much. Most of the sound still emanates from the center dash rather than giving a full cabin sound. Also, although not really sure, but I don't think that the sound from the USB or SD slots should differ much. I'm not an audiophile, but it irks the hell out of me that a car of this caliber should have such a sub-par sound system. I was hoping that this cry for help would come up with a fix. If nothing comes my way, I'm just going to go to a different dealer and push the issue...who knows what will happen then?
Last edited by flycaster; Jan 11, 2017 at 08:43 AM.
Have not tested sound in another coupe...a good suggestion as if there was a marked difference in favor of the other coupe, then that would verify that I am not crazy. In about an hour or so, I'll be calling another dealership for an appointment...
Did you try my suggestion I posted in your other Thread about this? Our Treble, Mid and Bass settings are around the 6,5,5 respectively but can be adjusted to your own liking.
Originally Posted by Hapa88
I did some more fiddling around with the settings for the C300 Coupe and found better settings by switching the Surround setting to ON and to FRONT seats. Then adjust the Fader to -3 or -4 (more to the rear).
With the Surround setting to FRONT the rear speakers end up working similarly to rear speakers in a home theater system where only the "Inverted" audio (the ambience, instruments, and no vocals) is sent to the rear speakers, while the front takes the typical stereo information. (Turn to the fader all the way to the rear and you'll hear what I'm talking about.) It's the same effect you hear when you pull your headphone cord halfway out of the jack on your iPod and don't really hear the vocals anymore.
Anyway, I find that even though the front soundstage is still very much forward (gets even worse with the Surround ON & Front), you can even it out a bit by moving the fader bias to the rear and with the added ambience it gives the overall impression that the sound is fuller.
Lastly, remember that each source (radio, CD, SD media, Bluetooth) needs to be changed individually, so you basically need to make the changes in all sources, one by one.
Got to the dealer at 1:30 today and my new SA got in the car to test the sound. This was not what I was expecting. I expected to meet with a sound tech...fat chance! The SA fiddle with the sound controls, but no matter what he did, no cabin fill. We then got into another coupe, but it's sound was also crummy...same as mine. Back into my car and some more fiddling with the fade controls and then it hit me - When moving front/back and back/front, the sound didn't smoothly transfer along with the fade dial as it moved from front/back; but rather it sound as though the sound jumped over the middle...and this probably is why I'm not getting the cabin fill I get in my other car. The SA agreed with me and put his ears to the rear speakers, fiddled the dial and said something is wrong with the rear speakers. Now have a service appointment on 1/24. Keep tuned....
Last edited by flycaster; Jan 14, 2017 at 03:40 PM.
This is really very easy- the Burmester system you don't care for isn't necessarily broken, its just not very good.
I've driven a few C's with the Burmester system and I know what it can and can't do. I do know good sound- as I have a pretty decent system at home (Revel, Pass Labs, Linn, Bricasti, Simaudio, McIntosh)
This is really very easy- the Burmester system you don't care for isn't necessarily broken, its just not very good.
I've driven a few C's with the Burmester system and I know what it can and can't do. I do know good sound- as I have a pretty decent system at home (Revel, Pass Labs, Linn, Bricasti, Simaudio, McIntosh)
Nice home system, Zavato. Interestingly, after realizing that there was an apparent inconsistency in sound position when moving the fade control (no apparent proper sound coverage when fade is positioned in the middle between back and front,) I'm now thinking that this is where the problem is rather than in the Burmeister system per se. That is to say that monkeying with the equalizer is not the answer as sound quality is good, but more likely something is not responding correctly.
Nice home system, Zavato. Interestingly, after realizing that there was an apparent inconsistency in sound position when moving the fade control (no apparent proper sound coverage when fade is positioned in the middle between back and front,) I'm now thinking that this is where the problem is rather than in the Burmeister system per se. That is to say that monkeying with the equalizer is not the answer as sound quality is good, but more likely something is not responding correctly.
I doubt there's anything wrong with your system, as we have the Burmester in our Coupe and have the exact same "problem." It's mainly a design flaw in the aiming & positioning of the speakers for the best sound staging.. they should be angled forward and up for more filling sound.
There's a center speaker in the dash and two speakers in each door that are aimed at each other (basically they're aimed at the steering wheel). Coupled with that, the speakers themselves have a vary narrow dispersion. This is why the soundstage is so far forward. I'm willing to bet if you took two halves of a SOLO cup like this and put them over the door speakers it would move the sound stage backward.
Like I said in a multiple posts before. Try the settings I outlined by changing the Surround to FRONT then using the fader to -3 or -4 to the rear and see how you like that.
Ultimately I think the solution is new sound guides for the front speakers that help disperses the sound similar to what's used in Mirage's OmniSat speaker line for the home:
I doubt there's anything wrong with your system, as we have the Burmester in our Coupe and have the exact same "problem." It's mainly a design flaw in the aiming & positioning of the speakers for the best sound staging.. they should be angled forward and up for more filling sound.
There's a center speaker in the dash and two speakers in each door that are aimed at each other (basically they're aimed at the steering wheel). Coupled with that, the speakers themselves have a vary narrow dispersion. This is why the soundstage is so far forward. I'm willing to bet if you took two halves of a SOLO cup like this and put them over the door speakers it would move the sound stage backward.
Like I said in a multiple posts before. Try the settings I outlined by changing the Surround to FRONT then using the fader to -3 or -4 to the rear and see how you like that.
Bad news that it may be a design flaw and thus no real fix is possible from MB. And from the way the SA fiddled and fiddled in trying to document the problem before writing up a service order, it was obvious that MB knows there is a design problem and before writing up a service order they have to be fairly certain that the "problem" isn't related to the design fault...otherwise they may not get paid for warranty work. Nonetheless, I'll try those settings and let you know how it sounds. If the car wasn't leased I'd be much more PO'd, but now I'd settle to just get a little better perceived sound stage positioning.
Bad news that it may be a design flaw and thus no real fix is possible from MB. And from the way the SA fiddled and fiddled in trying to document the problem before writing up a service order, it was obvious that MB knows there is a design problem and before writing up a service order they have to be fairly certain that the "problem" isn't related to the design fault...otherwise they may not get paid for warranty work. Nonetheless, I'll try those settings and let you know how it sounds. If the car wasn't leased I'd be much more PO'd, but now I'd settle to just get a little better perceived sound stage positioning.
I believe that there is a small, small chance that much of the sound staging can be fixed with a digital signal processing software update that modifies the perceived soundstage from Burmester. The likelihood that it will happen would be very low unless enough C300 coupe (w/ Burmester sound) owners complain about it. I really don't think there is enough people that are audiophiles that care (but who knows, I could be wrong).
The reason I think that is my wife is the primary driver of the car and she's completely fine with the sound. The adjustments I made and recommended make it bearable for me and I consider myself somewhat of an audiophile but not enough to feel the need to complain to MB.
Bang & Olufsen uses an Acoustic Lens Technology to get more sound dispersed over a wider area (the tweeter fires into an inverted cone shape that helps disperse the sound in 180 degrees - same idea as the Mirage OmniSats). You may want to look into having something 3D printed or adapted to work in our cars. I'd be interested! http://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/car-audio
Wow,I'm glad I came accrues this forum. I too was very disappointed with the Burmester in our C-Coupe. I have the Bang & Olufsen system in my Audi A5 and compared the two systems by listening to the same song from the same source back-to-back. The difference is night & day. The Burmester almost sounds like it's on staticky radio compared to the Bang & Olufsen.
Happa, I doubt that I'll do any mods to the sound system, but thanks for the suggestion. However, I have tried your Surround - Front and Fade to -3. Although the sound stage isn't moved to where I would like it, the setting was the best one I have tried so far.
My wife's car is a 2013 ATS Lux. I really don't drive it too much and today I had to take it in to have the CUE screen replaced (luckily under warranty.) This was a good opportunity for me to listen my new playlists on the SD card. Got to say, that the sound was real good, filling the cabin very nicely. So, as I drove home, all I could think about was how terrible the Burmeister system in my 5 month old C300 coupe sounded. No matter what settings I have tried (using the same SD card that's in the ATS,) the overall feeling of sound still only seems to come from the center front of the car and definitely doesn't fill the cabin.
Flycaster this surprises me since I am turning my ATS lease soon. But I just purchased a new C250 (believe it or not It's a 2015) and I think thought that the Merc was superior to the ATS. What's Burmeister? Mine says Harmon Cardon.
Flycaster this surprises me since I am turning my ATS lease soon. But I just purchased a new C250 (believe it or not It's a 2015) and I think thought that the Merc was superior to the ATS. What's Burmeister? Mine says Harmon Cardon.
My understanding is that the Harman Kardon audio is in the older W204/C204 chassis (previous body style).
2017 is the first year that the new C205 chassis cars were available in the US. The premium audio in the C205 is by Burmester.
Flycaster this surprises me since I am turning my ATS lease soon. But I just purchased a new C250 (believe it or not It's a 2015) and I think thought that the Merc was superior to the ATS. What's Burmeister? Mine says Harmon Cardon.
Your MB most likely has the base audio system which fills the cabin with sound better than the Burmeister. The Burmeist system sucks in that the Fader doesn't move the sound off the front of the car. The ATS' sound does fill the car and its fader works very nicely.
Just got my car back from MB service for the lack of fader control. As expected, MB service said that everything was functioning fine...NOT! As the fader doesn't move the sound, I consider this to be a design fault. I know that the dealership's service won't have an answer, or waon't be truthful about this issue, so I'd really like to put the question to MB corporate and see what they have to say.
I am relieved and disappointed that other people are experiencing the same issues in the CCoupe as I am.
As Hapa88 mentioned, it probably is a design flaw. Hopefully, the new ECoupe doesn't have this issue
Too lazy to actually contact MB corp and also I doubt they will admit to their mistake in not having proper fading controls (more likely improper use of speakers) in the coupe. I would have liked to have put their feet to the fire, but that only would have given me some revenge satisfaction without a solution. These guys never admit to mistake when safety is not involved. Had the same type of experience with my 2013 ATS. Cadillac had led everyone to believe that there would be free updates to the CUE infotainment system...BS!
I realize this is an older thread concerning the C300 audio performance and it is not my first time commenting about the poor quality.
If you think the Burmiester system sucks you should listen to the base A20 system. It is down right terrible. Up to now my last 4 cars have been Lexus. They come with a standard "premium Lexus sound system with 8 to 12 speakers depending on the model plus it's has a surround sound processor. When I bought my C300 Coupe never did I think that MB would put in the piece of crap they are putting in this model. Only 4, 4" speakers with what is described as a sub. It's not a sub in as much it can't deliver low frequency sound.
I went to my local car audio guy and he suggested to try and replace the 2 front speakers with better quality ones. We actually did a sound comparison of different speakers against the MB. I ended up with a pair of Hertz 4" speakers. Since these are a 2 way speaker they do sound better, a bit! To look at changing everything could be $3000.00 or more due to unknown labour issues. Not spending that kind of money.
So I contacted MB Canada and expressed my disappointment with the audio system. Basically I was told that I should have listened to the audio before buying the car. Maybe they are right however I have never done that before (with the Lexus) and since I was buying a luxury brand I wrongly assumed the sound would be good. Their other suggestion was to trade the car for another MB that had a better sound system.
Needless to say I was very disappointed with their reply. I asked if they could arrange a great deal for trading a 2 month old car. They didn't know what to say at that point. So bottom line, MB will not address this audio situation, period. So I am very disappointed to have bought this car.
Mike (Canadac300)
I am thankful for flycaster's "solution."
it has likely prevented my speakers from suffering a quick death. It also has made the sound quality a bit more tolerable.
And...I hate it, because i would NEVER do this. Using "surround" or any DSP feature is cringe-worthy.
But the system doesn't sound great, so this helps. A lot.
Thanks - while i curse my own actions. 😀
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