NickCats

Bill,

I have been thinking about upgrading the speakers in my c350 and I would appreciate some assistance regarding what you think would be the best solution. I looked through some of your prior posts and it looks like you recommend the Infinity Kappa speakers for the front and Infinity Reference speakers for the rear. Searching on Crutchfield I see some different options :

For the front

Infinity Kappa 60.9cs for $199.99

Or

Infinity Kappa 62.9i for $103.99

I assume should order the 60.9’s ?

For the rear

Infinity Reference 6032cf for $79.99

Or

Infinity Reference 6032si for $79.99

I assume the 6032si since they are shallow mount ?

Anything else that I need to complete the install ?

Is there anything I need to tell the installer ( I am clueless when it come to working on cars ) ?

Any other input or suggestions you can think of ?

( I assume the front are component and the rear are coaxial ? )

Does $85 for install of the front and $55 for install of the rear sound fair ?

Thanks in advance for your input, I do appreciate it…

Nick

Acapulco Bill

@NickCats for the Front: the front door window frames have a triangular grill where the stock OEM tweeter sits. In order to fit the Kappa 60.9 tweeters, the hole will have to be enlarged. The woofer is 6 1/2 inch and fits easily. The Infinity 62.9i is a COAXIAL speaker and will place the tweeter at your ankles, not the ideal position. Strongly recommend is taking the time to place the front tweeters where they will directly reach the ear, bass is less directional and at low frequencies, non-directional (the wavelength is longer than the car or most listening rooms).
Rear: Only the 6032si will fit, the deeper magnet of the 6032cf will not fit in the current depth of the rear door.
There are some excellent speakers by many manufacturers, however the Infinitys are the most efficient and also low impedence (93-95 dB and 2 ohms), so with the 40 or more watts that the Audio 20 can produce into this load, each speaker location (woofer-tweeter) can produce up to 110 dB peaks, which is enough for normal driving, unless driving with windows and sunroof open at high speed, on a noisy road surface. With windows closed and on a smooth highway, that is around 116 dB peaks or 106 dB continuous, although I would have to go get the SPL meter, get a pink noice track recorded, and lab check it before you could quote me (the math is correct).
Remember to leave the xover on 0 dB (NOT -6 dB). Let the speakers break in for a week before passing judgement, all new speakers tend to lack dynamic range when brand new. Try not to use the tone controls, but DO use quality music input, original CDs or Apple lossless on a decent iPod like the iPod Classic.
If more bass is desired after the speakers are broken in, and boosting the bass with the tone controls (not the best solution as it is a "hinge" not a "shelf" control), get a subwoofer with an integrated amplifier (like the 8" Boss600), as road noise can mask bass.

Acapulco Bill

Install costs: The local MB dealer did the whole thing for $100 dls, but this was in Mexico. Not sure about costs in Chicago, but the rears are a no brainer. And yes the rears are coaxial, although MB counts each one as "2 speakers".

jctevere

The install isn't bad at all, you could probably even do it yourself with the great DIY that is posted on these forums. Just as a side note, if you wanted to save some money, Amazon has these speakers for a bit cheaper:

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Refer...1186666&sr=1-1

$56 with free shipping for the rear 6032si Infinity Reference

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-609CS...1186894&sr=1-1

$127 with free shipping for the front 60.9cs Kappa.

NickCats

Thanks guys, I do appreciate it !

Nick