Wawatusi

Oh the one thing I noticed, is that the audio 20, seems to increase the volume as you accelerate, or whenever the road noise gets louder.

I asked the dealer, He said they thought that they didn't have that anymore. Any ideas how to turn it off or am I crazy. lol

Acapulco Bill

@Wawatusi: Break-in, can't stress enough that for the first 20-30 hours of use, one should take it easy. Haha, right. I am sure most are tempted just crank up the volume right away.

The Focals, as well as the MB Quarts, should be a good sound match for the Monitor Audio speakers in your office system, their sonic characteristics are similar. The true measure of a sound system is how it sounds "flat". Since the 1970's, none of my systems have ever had tone controls. If the speakers needed correction, then logically they must be inferior.

Not so in a car, which is a difficult sound reproduction environment. Probably the highs should be slightly boosted/shelved depending on their characteristics, also one's preference for the music itself. The parametric equalizer in the Audio20 headunit can lead to a lot of abuse, as few understand how it operates and the kind of sonic defects it is capable of correcting, as it is NOT a tone control and cannot provide shelving.

Acapulco Bill

The Audio20 system I think through early 2012 still had the volume vs. velocity automation. I think it's great, especially since I have to drive through a lot of toll booths locally. One less item to distract the driver's attention.

Wawatusi

Rooms have sonics as well. Vaulted ceilings, windows, floor type all play a role. But yes in a neutral environment the tone levels should sound good flat.

I tried playing around with that parametric equalizer, tried reccommended settings but it never sounded right until i set it to "flat".

Wawatusi

We have ez pass, i would prefer to be able to turn this on or off. But its not the end of the world.

Acapulco Bill

Only a third-octave spectrum analyzer with a small omni-directional mic would reveal the sharp peaks and valleys the parametric equalizer would resolve. Albeit for one location inside the W204.

HK has done a tremendous job, spending millions in research and development, on the Logic 7 surround system for both the W204 and the BMW 3-Series. Other offerings, such as the B&O, B&W or the Bose systems, are not up to par. Will have to audition the Dieter Burmester audio system in the new S-Class, although IMO I know of no high-end German audio system with acceptable sound.

Unfortunately there few specific aftermarket audio/nav options for the Audio20-equipped W204. Here the BMW 3-Series has a huge advantage, our M3 has a fantastic aftermarket system, the sub specifically tailored to fit in the rear armrest slot. Pull down the armrest for gut-punching bass, put it up to hide it when parking. Nav gets broadcast on its 9" screen from Googlemaps from an Android smartphone, and TorquePro is a hoot to display. Ruined a set of rear tires @ $600 each checking out the 0 to 60 times (manual of course!).

Acapulco Bill

@Wawatusi: Since this automatic volume function is in ROM, perhaps your MB dealer can disable it with the Star system. The update for 2009 W204's with the Audio20 uploads the parametric equalizer. There may also be another option in the Engineering menu to disable this. I agree than on quiet road surfaces and especially with an EZ Pass, the automatic-volume function is unnecessary. Not here in Mexico, where the road surfaces seem universally constructed to produce the highest levels of noise and uneveness, with huge bumps and dips making high speeds perilous.

codeblue5007

Bill, I was unaware of this extraordinary thread when I last wrote to you. I had only read the DIY by viper and Akadan. Thanks are due to Icon, jimmythegreek and of course you, again, for the the disquisition on second order harmonics and distortion.

I bought the infinity shallow mounts for the rear and the kappa 60.9 for the fronts, a b&k dremel like tool, lots of disks, double sided 3M foam tape, and some sound insulation, and now I'm waiting for a day in the 60s over the holidays in Atlanta to retrofit the new speakers.

I reread the threads and have a couple of questions. The main one is where to make the first dremel cut to hack out the stock speakers. Is the cut made all around the top of the plastic spacer so that the three spokes are attached to the part sawn off? Is the idea to leave as much of the spacer intact as possible with a smooth top edge -- where the cut is made?

How is the stock speaker fastened to its own spacer/mounting plate? Does it come off with a flat head screwdriver?

Do the stock tweeter wires connect to the stock woofer so that they can be onnected to the crossover down by the woofer without more wiring or is it necessary to run wires from the tweeters to the xover, which will then be glued or taped inside the door frame?

Although I'd like a subwoofer -- I have several in the house -- I m not up up to running wires to the head unit unless I can see a clear DIY. I was wondering, meantime whether I shouldn't splice two wires from the rear right speaker and run them outside the door for a future installation in the trunk with a standby/ signal sensing woofer plugged into the trunk power port. Installers here, not to speak of the dealer, are surely he most expensive in the country.

Again, thanks to all!

sev7nflow

hey guys

Just wanted to make sure that the infinity kappa speakers would fit my 2013 C250 sport in North America...

Was there any change to the body styles the past couple years with the new face lift? Or am I safe to order the speakers mentioned by Acapulco Bill

Also, would they be a large improvement over the stock speakers? I read some things about some bass being lost after installing the speakers

Sully

I finally got around to getting some pics of my upgrade on the internet.
http://audiophiletrading.com/gallery...des-c180-w204/

The car was built to compete in IASCA sound quality competitions, and I'll be happy to explain what was done, and why.

Doanster

After getting tired of staring at the 60.9CS and 6032si speakers that have been sitting in my garage for months (), I finally got everything installed. I kept putting it off since I had delusions of finding a few spare contiguous hours to install everything at once.

Once again, much thanks to Vic, ICON, Akadan, MX Bill, and Scat01. I would've never even tried to pop the door panels, much less anything else, without all the info/insight they've provided!

Only adding to this thread as I took a few pics which haven't been previously shown. Should help others take the plunge and do this upgrade.

I'm not going to comment/provide what I did for the rear 6032si set as following Akadan's pdf is fool-proof.

For the 60.9CS set, I took a phased approach since I wanted to be methodical and tidy. Also, as I was doing this completely solo and wouldn't have a second set of hands to hold the door panel while I did the final wiring/connecting, I used bullet connectors throughout. That allowed me to have everything wired with the door panel off the car. When it came time to re-install, all I had to do was make all the connections, something easily done by propping the panel on my knee.

Step 1 - pulled both stock tweeters and then Dremel'd out the housing, leaving only the flat grille.





Step 2 - hollowed out some of the foam backing so that the tweeter will sit flush w/ the grille; then added the wire/bullet connectors; Note - the retention screws on the tweeters are HORRIBLE; TINY little hex head screw that can only be loosened/tightened with the included allen wrench; lose it and you're done



Step 3 - pull door panels, mount the crossover w/ industrial 3M tape as well as epoxy, measure three sets of wires, add bullet connectors, and run/route to the top of the speaker grille; use zip ties to tidy things up



Step 4 - demo time; use an exacto to cut the paper surround out; Dremel out the three support legs









Step 5 - mount the woofer; as previously stated, the included mounting ring fits *perfectly* in the stock cavity; rather than mounting the connector block inside the door, I dremel'd out a side hole and mounted it against the sheet metal; I used caulk when finished to ensure an air-tight seal

This pic shows the stock inputs; I chose to snip the stock connector as I'm never going back to a stock setup; green wire is positive.





Step 6 - mount the tweeter into the door



Final Step - make all the connections, *triple checking* the polarity; before popping the door back on, turn on the radio to confirm you have audio from both the tweeter and woofer; if all is good, mount the panel and button everything back up

All in all, a highly recommended upgrade. The stock tweeters had next to no output due to the capacitor being the sole crossover (if you even want to call it that). I will let the sets break-in, but there's already a huge improvement heard. Will update this thread with notes/gotchas later.

codeblue5007

Thanks for posting the pictures. I have the Infinity speakers in boxes along with the prying tools, Dremmel, extra MB door clips and side locking pins, sound insulation, etc. All that's holding me back is the weather and the fear of screwing it up. I'm also pretty sure a sub is needed, which is a big complication.

Did you have to replace the pins in the door after unlocking? You did not have to solder anything? And, lastly for now, how does it sound without a sub?

Good job!

stilolos

I have the same issue. Scared of messing it all up. Speakers have been sat in my cupboard so long now. My main worry is removing the door panel and breaking clips. I have the spare orange clips but what about the black clip that needs replacing?

My wife has a small renault clio and replacing speakers is as simple as just removing the grille for full access. None of this removing panels and stuff.

I definitely need to get mine done. Your photos are a big help and it may just be what I need. Thank you.

Doanster

Dahhhhh!! Dyslexia! I am getting little to no mid-bass. Been racking my brain as to why/what I could've done wrong. Looking closely at the pic of the woofer in the door, I have the stock input signal reversed in polarity!
Positive is green, negative is green/brown. I've corrected my post above.
Looks like a quick pop of the door panel tonight to swap bullet connectors. That is exactly why I chose to use them vs hard-wiring/soldering.

Codeblue/Stilolos, I bought replacement locking pins, but decided not to even use them. The panel is rock solid w/o them and that area is hidden behind the window trim anyway. I also bought five extra orange clips and broke two... only because I was stupid. I started popping them off *before* removing the two torx bolts in the armrest. That provided no outward movement/relief for the lower clips. I've removed/installed the panels three times each now and have not broken any since. Lastly, I used 16ga wire, but that's probably overkill. Using 18ga will make wiring even easier as it's more flexible.

Go for it, Stilo! Just take your time. Everything is engineered to only fit one way. Feel free to PM me with specific questions...

stilolos

I think that's all the motivation I need! It's definitely back on my to do list. My main reason for wanting to do this is because my driver side speaker is intermittent. Sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Extremely annoying having an unbalanced soundstage.

Thanks again. Now all I need is a nice Sunday with no rain...

Doanster

Problem fixed. Righted the polarity and voila... vast improvement.

Two quick tracks I played to get a feel for the highs as well as the mids/lows:

Aloe Blacc's "Wake Me Up" - most notable improvement here due to the new tweeter. Very crisp vocals w/o being too bright. It is early, though.

Bastille's "Pompei" - has good kick-drum section. Again, very crisp. There are some lower bass notes that I don't recall being there before. Overall, this isn't a huge SPL improvement over stock. There is definitely more, but to me, it's tighter, which is more important. I used to have dedicated subs in my previous cars, but with this upgrade, I'm almost certain that I will go without. I don't need people hearing me coming down the street...

ps this is w/ the EQ settings changed from stock, mind you

codeblue5007

Glad to hear the sound is sorted out Doanster and you may do without a sub. I just bought some bullet connectors on amazon for good measure.

Tempted to run speaker level wires on one side only to the trunk for an eventual sub. Then all I would need is a decent self-powered sub I could tuck under the shelf plus power upstream from the SAM. I'm puzzled why the volume to the speakers would not automatically raise the volume of the sub too, thus doing without the return trip forward with the remote. Are people with remotes constantly fidling with the sub volume?

Doanster

Don't get me wrong, I'd add a small powered sub if it were easier to do so.
Running speaker level outs is not simple, though. If you're thinking of tapping from the door, how will you get the wires back into the cabin and run to the back? It's even tougher for me since I only have P1 w/o folding rear seats.
I recall seeing a video where someone removed the lower B-pillar shroud to uncover the wires for the rear speakers. There was much prying etc., which didn't look clean at all to me.
I guess you could run directly from the HU, but again, R&I looks painful.

Acapulco Bill, where did the factory techs run the inputs from when they installed your Boss sub?

ICON 1

Great install. When I started this thread almost 3 years ago I did not expect it to be still ongoing. Glad my experience has helped others.

I've just upgraded my 2009 to a 2012 (dealer made a great offer) with Harmon Kardon system. The Harmon Kardon system overall is nice but IMO the Infinity system is clearer. Don't know if that was due to my tweaking the sound in engineering mode but I do miss the clarity of the Infinity speakers.

robnyc

So rear seats are not in the way?

Would of figured the HK system would have more pound ? Since I thought it had more speakers and better sub than our stock. btw, what tweak did you do in engineering mode and where ?

i'm looking at options to upgrade as well might add first a 10-12" L7 Kicker sub since i have a 1200 mono amp pretty much new only used 6 months in my previous car

thx

Sully

I didn't make any changes in the engineering mode. One of the features of the Bit One is that it takes the input signal and runs a de-equalization function on it. That way the signal being processed essentially has a flat response.

After that I used an RTA and then fine tuned by ear to get the response that I wanted.

ICON 1

The HK system is nice and does have more power but I found certain sounds in the Infinitys to be more precise and clear. Especially in the mid-range area.
To enter engineering mode go to the following -

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-clas...udio-20-a.html

Depending what music you listen to the tweeks may not be good for you.
I like listening to a wide range of music but mostly adult pop and jazz.
Here are my adjusted settings for all 4 speakers -

sev7nflow

Glad to hear the infinity speakers are still going on... I'm about the pull the trigger on buying the speakers but wanted to double check before buying. Are the recommended speakers still 60.9cs for the front and 6032 for the rear? or is 62.9i for the rear a better choice?
Are there better speaker versions now that I should look into?

I'm planning on having it profesionnal installed since I really don't want to take a chance at screwing something up. SHould I go to a professional audio shop or MB dealer to have them installed?

I have a 2013 4-dr C250

Thanks for any reply any help would be appreciated!!

KCaudell

I'd be surprised if the dealer would even touch it. I think you'll have to go to an audio shop for the install. I'm not a pro, but I did it myself and it went well. I ran a single 4 conductor cable from each door to the trunk. 1/2 of the cable (2 wires) ran the signal from the head unit to the amp and the other two the signal from the amp to the door and I simply spliced the existing wire effectively adding the amp inline.


You can also tie into the input from the head unit into your sub-woofer amp's high level in to drive your subwoofer.


I will say I really disliked the harsh high end with the Infinity tweeters for the doors. I replaced them with Alpine tweeters that are silky smooth and phenomenal. I still used the Infinity cross overs and it's a HUGE improvement. Amazon has them for about $59US. Alpine SPS-110TW They also fit the existing housing without any drama.


My 2¢!

TheRulesLawyer

I like to mount my cross overs next to my amp. That way if I ever want to change to active cross overs I already have the wiring. Plus it easy to fix polarity if you make a mistake.