When I got my W205 I couldn’t have been happier. It felt as if I had a trophy. Comfy and zippy while being relatively economical - that’s the best of both worlds!

The only issue was the sound system, it did not sound good at all. No matter though, I figured, what can’t be fixed with a simple subwoofer install? Over the course of a few weekends I ended up getting my sub installed and while it definitely was an improvement I felt like something was missing.

As I continued research I found out a lot more about car audio, mids highs and lows. One thing that struck me is how in almost every article or video they kept mentioning 6.5” speakers. Then it clicked, clearly this is what I am missing. But wait, how could I possibly install that in the doors where they are supposed to go?

Well you can’t. The folks at Mercedes had this brilliant idea of using only 3.5” speakers on the doors and in most cases these are coaxial with a tweeter on it (the upper door has a spot but it is empty). Looking at the W204, they have 6.5’s in the door. Why would you downgrade that in newer models? Because they thought that people really needed additional cupholders in the doors…

You read that right, not only do they provide you with the crappiest sounding equipment but they give you no chance to upgrade. Now I understand it’s all about cost savings on their end but why force me to be limited in options? The only hope someone like me has is to replace every single speaker, install new tweeters, install woofers in the footwells, install a sub in the trunk and run a DSP with aftermarket amps if I want it to sound halfway decent.

But of course even that is hard to do (at least in America). See the only ones who make speakers for this car are the ultra high end brands like focal that charge an arm and a leg for their products. Of course they bump that price up too for Mercedes specific speakers. Anything cheaper is only found in Europe so include shipping and import tax which puts us just marginally cheaper. If you don’t believe me just check it out for yourself. You may be shocked.

This isn’t to say I don’t like this car. I really do enjoy it regardless of how basic it is compared to higher trims. But for the love of god what were they thinking with this setup. Again I totally understand it’s all about the bottom line. But that could totally be achieved with the same speaker setup they had in the W204! It’s almost like a big F you to those of us that cherish quality audio. It’s not enough that they use the cheapest speakers they could find, they had to make sure we couldn’t upgrade it without spending thousands for a decent set up. The burmester system is no better from what I’ve heard.

With a so called luxury car it should have the audio system to match. There is no such thing as premium stock audio for W205. Whoever designed it this way should be ashamed. I’ve definitely learned my lesson, this is the first and last Mercedes I will ever own. Thank you for your time.

 

The burmester system is amazing. I’ve had both. Should’ve done the research before hand. I have my gripes with the brand but being an audiophile, getting the base 5 speaker system instead of the upgrade and then not liking it is really not MB’s fault. People will always complain, but the majority love the burmester system.

 

Well I didn’t buy the car new but I agree to an extent that I should’ve done more on my part to avoid it but I’m no audio expert. You can’t tell me it’s a well thought out design from an audio perspective. It might look good but boy is Mercedes overrated especially in the price range I got mine for.

 

To each their own. Sure it’s not thought out but then again it’s the base system, MB doesn’t design their cars for the aftermarket so they can expect customers to upgrade for features they desire. That’s why you have to option out German cars. You can get a similar base speaker set up in a 100k Porsche. They’ll continue to do it as long as there’s demand, it is what it is.

 

What type of sub did you install, out of curiosity?

The W205 was my wife's first Mercedes - she fell in love at first sight. Cranberry/black ash/selenite gray, sport package, night package. It is a mean looking little sedan.

I warned her it had some lower spec options: halogen(seriously?) headlamps, basic cruise, no parking assist, etc., but that awful, tinny, gutless sounding audio system takes the cake. It's a joke. I'm in rental cars just about every week for work and they ALL sound better than this. I didn't think much of it when we picked it up, I figured it would be like the base systems I've had or heard in older models, which were not great but sufficient. Not even remotely close.

It didn't bother her at the time, but now she's noticing. And she sees the full LED headlamps drive by and says "ooohhh I like those lights!" So now I'm showing her what we'd have to do to upgrade. I have focal studio monitors so the price on those wasn't a shock, but the utter lack of choice in aftermarket systems is frustrating.

Her takeaway is that we should buy new next time. I told her we should just be more patient. So we reached a compromise, and will be buying new next time.

 

I installed a Kicker 10 inch loaded enclosure running at 300 watts on 4 ohms. Another big mistake lol that sub is garbage too. Also doesn’t help that the trunk is so insulated, so getting bass to come through to the cabin is tough. Seems like their greatest strength is holding me back. New cars might have somewhat better systems but I’d look for a car that at least has normal speaker placements and isn’t so specialized. I know I sound like a hater but I’m thoroughly disappointed with this car. As far as sound systems are concerned I’d stay far away from a Benz.