the new c class sound system is a piece of crap
Super Member
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 911
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From: Rhode Island
Debadged 6-Speed '05 C320 Sports Coupe
Isn't the H/K upgrade, for COMMAND or standard, amps speakers and subwoofer, without changing either head unit?
My impression of the intermittant weirdness is that the head unit, COMMAND in my case, get confused, then is fine. The weirdness has included very bad distortion, that sounds like blown speakers. In my case it has gotten confused four times in 12K miles.
My impression of the intermittant weirdness is that the head unit, COMMAND in my case, get confused, then is fine. The weirdness has included very bad distortion, that sounds like blown speakers. In my case it has gotten confused four times in 12K miles.
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Joined: Nov 2001
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From: Gaithersburg, MD
2002 C240 6-spd (ret)
Originally Posted by vin1215
..right now i cant wait for the new 3 series to come out in 05 so i can get that when my lease is up in 06
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Joined: May 2002
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From: GA
'06 Lexus GS300 RWD, '07 Camry SE V6 auto, '91 190E 2.6 auto
Originally Posted by wingless
Isn't the H/K upgrade, for COMMAND or standard, amps speakers and subwoofer, without changing either head unit?
Is this true? Does anyone know the location of the amps(s)? What about the size and location of the upgraded system's subwoofer? I'm assuming (in the sedan) that the sub is mounted in the rear metal shelf. That's where it was in my old C240. As I recall, when I looked in the trunk of a C230 sedan at my local dealer, I remember seeing 2 large circular openings in the rear shelf. Is that were the sub is mounted? Anyone have the spec's on the upgraded system's speakers? I'm getting the standard stereo in my C230, but I'm thinking I might like to add a subwoofer and small amp if they can easily be installed in the rear shelf and without losing any storage space.
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 503
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From: Manchester, TN
2004 C320 pewter/charcoal
Originally Posted by vdubpower
very cool, think of geting it now, but do u agree that the command sound is better than the non command one, even tho both are HK??
Although my car is a 2004 and didn't have the H/K option, it came with the Bose premium sound package. I had the original headunit (i.e. non-comand) on it and although I thought it sounded good, there were some issues (bass not deep, going through the FM radio stations it seemed that sometimes it would sound like it switched from stereo to mono and back despite being in an area with good reception). I switched out the headunit for a Comand (got it done by Steve) and the sound improved drastically although the other components stayed the same. My Comand system gave 3 choices for the Ambient setting (which was the best setting on the original headunit but it only had just 1 choice). On the Comand it gave you a choice between small, medium, and large for the ambient presence (I picked large). The bass is much deeper and crisp, the FM stations are no longer a problem, and the sound is much more "airy" with the large ambient setting, so you can't localize it 1 speaker or location, rather it sounds like the sound is coming everywhere. It was the difference between night and day. Not sure if the newer comands have all these choices, but I presume they probably have even more.
One thing I hate still is the fact that MB didn't let us have a graphic equalizer setting rather going with the ancient way of letting us just adjust bass and treble. It would be nice to adjust the midrange settings individually to taste.
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Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Long Island, NY
08' BMW E92 Coupe
Originally Posted by Imperial C320
the HK in the 3 series has alot of rattling issues.
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Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Long Island, NY
08' BMW E92 Coupe
Originally Posted by mick1
i haven't heard the H/K on a car without the comand, so I can't make on comment on that. Mine got the comand and the H/K sounds very awesome and I didn't even adjust the bass and treble settings. I had the premium H/K system on my '99 bmw 328i and the one on the mercedes is clearly far superior.
Last edited by mbny; Jan 24, 2005 at 02:23 AM.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 694
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From: Long Island, NY
08' BMW E92 Coupe
Originally Posted by MarkL
The '05 3-series is the E46, same as '99-'04 -- I know because my new '05 330i is on the ship from Germany. The '06 will be the US introduction of the new E90 platform -- expect bugs first year??
what color and options did you get by the way.
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: Jun 2004
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being that im the pne who started this thread. Ill give you a little update. The system does sound great when it works. so far ive had to tape down my trunk release button to stop the rattle, the front center speaker rattles but when everything is running great which is like 4 or 5 days a week it sounds really good... oh yea and i havent had any volume the past 2 days but it magically came back 2day. so theres my new problem. so we got rattling due to poor configuration (trunk release), static due to the crappy system and no volume sometimes due to the crappy system that i paid extra for.
Junior Member
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 48
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From: Miami / Milwaukee
1999 G500, 2015 ML250d
Stereo
Agreed...i'm not too pleased with the HK...my center channel makes the grill rattle at certain frequencies and i also had to stick some tape in the trunk button. I kinda wanna get the center channel disconnected but that would be worthless seeing how i paid extra for that BS. For now i bought one of those small anti stick square mats for putting cell phones on the dash on the c-channel grill and it took care of it...BOO!
