dariusf

We should start an audiophile thread, but not sure how to add a Mercedes twist to it so it fits the forum

Kevwood

It would go something like this, "if you drive a Benz, you appreciate the details, now let's talk home audio/video..." Noing to it

dariusf

When I have the time I might start one

dariusf

Update - the project is moving forward. All the parts are now ordered, speakers, amp cables, dynamat. There seems to be a delay with the speakers shipping but they are now on the way. I will post some details on the cabling, hardware selections and the plan soon. A bit swamped at the moment with work and side projects.

bheng

you will need a lot of dynomat....

...
lol i used like probably 75+ sqft

dynomite05

I wonder how much weight that added to the car.

dariusf

wow thats quite a bit, did you do the whole car? I was just going to do the doors for now and maybe the trunk later once I figure out what to do with the subwoofer.

dariusf

I have just traced the opening with the tracing paper and cut out the shape. Placing it on the Dynavin unit that I got looks like a perfect fit.

Kevwood

The last competative audio car I had, I did everything. The entire interior was stripped out and matted the doors, pillars, panels, roof, floor, entire trunk & deck lid, you name it. Easily added a few hundred pounds to the car. The end result was great, the car was silent and scored very well.

If you are going to do the floor, use the matting with the foam underlay rather than just the regular style, it isolates road noise far better and it great to cut channels into for wire routing

JafarSheikh

Hi There guys, apparently I do not have a Bose amp, however Im not sure If i even have an amp at all. I want to install Dynavin and I wanted to ask if it will be easy "plug and play" because I dont have a fiber optic amp, do you guys think I dont have a amp based on the pictures,or should I check other areas of teh car for an amp? Any help would be great guys, Thanks

M-bENZ

Lets make a thread for home stereo...I've been waiting for you guys to speak up

dariusf

I used to be in to home speaker setup but then wife came along then kids and speakers are no longer realistic. For one I would need a dedicated room for a proper setup to take full advantage of the gear. Then the only time I have any time to listen is late at night and the kids are sleeping so no go there. Thats why I shifted in to headphone setups years back. There is a very high level of gear available, much more now then lets say 7 years ago. It's far less expansive to archive the similar fidelity as speakers. For example a $3k headphone setup easely matches a $5-6k speaker rig. Its compact and you can listed about any time you want with out disturbing others and no need for a proper room. Well most of the better headphones are open type so the sound does leak out but its nothing like speakers.

We should start a new thread in the Lifestyle forum https://mbworld.org/forums/audio-video-129/

I have to get going now to leave for a few day trip, but will be happy to post in it and chat about home audio when I get back.

dariusf

Hi, like I wrote in our private emails, you have the cables there in the pic going to where I have the Bose amp. Not sure where they terminate in the front by the head unit. If you have no amp then the HU is powering the speakers so you have to trace your wire setup. Maybe the trunk plug is hanging loose by the HU and HU is connected to some other set of plugs?

If thats the case and you want to skip buying the amp, then you can use the Dynavin HU to power the speakers as it has 4x45w build in amp. Sure the sound will suffer in terms of fidelity but its your choice. So in theory you should be able to remove the existing HU, basically plug and play the Dynavin in to the same plugs and it should work. One other question is what speakers you have. As you mentioned it does not say Bose on the subwoofer located on the rear shelf and as you only have option 254 RADIO MB AUDIO 30 - USA per your VIN, you do not have Bose. Hopefully these will be normal 4ohm speakers and Dynavin HU will then power them fine. I think only Bose uses the 2ohm speakers as their amp is basically not build to be able to power anything bigger but I do not want to get in to Bose debate here

So confirm yo do not have an amp and the Audio 30 HU is powering the speakers and confirm these are 4ohm. Then you should be plug and play and no need to run wires, replace speakers and add amps. Now if you are after good sound then you will want to replace the speakers anyway and add a good amp. That will also require running power / audio signal cables to the amp and some rewiring for the tweeters and crossovers etc.

dariusf

The rest of the gear is finally here!

Originally I was looking at the Focal Access 165 A1 and CA1 speakers and Alpine PDX-5 amplifier.

After a bunch of research I settled on Polk Audio DB6501 and DB651 speakers and the Kenwood Excelon XR-5S Class-D amp. The speakers have very good review everywhere I looked and cost quite a bit less then the Focal's. The Kenwood is a 5 channel amp, is the same size and about same specs as the Alpine PDX-5, had good reviews and was less then the Alpine. I also got a bunch of RCA cables, power cable/fuse, etc. and a roll of Dynamat for now just for the doors. I'm still missing the subwoofer but have not decided on one and its an easy add on later.

It was $890 for Focal's + Alpine
verses $515 for Polk's + Kenwood

As I'm replacing Bose, its a car and not sure how long I will own it, I decided to go with the lower cost. After all even the lower cost setup should blow the Bose away

dariusf

Kevwood

Love the amp! Those new digital amps from Kenwood are fantastic, lots of power and absolute tiny frame.

dariusf

Yes, it looks great both physical and on paper. Will see how it sounds. The footprint is awesome for a 5 channel amp at 9-1/4" x 7-9/16" x 2-3/16"

The Class-D amps used to have issues with the lower frequencies but that was maybe 8 years ago when I looked at them for a speaker setup. I think the best ones were from Meridian at that time and my Proton Class-A solid state mono blocks were far superior. I'm 100% in Class-A Tube amps for my headphone rigs.

For the car this should be great and more then sufficient. I'm after sound quality and not quantity.

Kevwood

It was actually the opposite for the car amps, they (D class) struggled with the high frequencies, that's why they have only been offered (for the most part) for sub amp up until recently. When I started with Kenwood back in '99 they were working on the D class amps for front stage (as was Alpine and Pioneer), now finally 12 years later we're seeing them in fairly good quantities. They still haven't caught up to A/B class amps in terms of distortion rates though, I believe they are still quite a bit higher but it's not an issue unless you are competing professionally and getting RTA'ed.

dariusf

All I want is to get more technology as in more modern HU in the car then this 10 year old unit in there now. I know the sound will be better once I get it all done and adjusted as far as crossovers etc. but I'm not after HIFI type setup. Its a car after all If I want HiFi, I got that at home

bonson

Hi Darius,

Congratz on your purchase of Dynavin HU.
How is the peformance so far?
I had installed a unit to my 2006 W211 but facing poor radio reception..and same problem also happens on my other W203
Do you face the same problem...?
There is one thing which I dont really understand that the stock unit has two fakra connection on unit where 1 is black (RF radio antenna) and yellow (ZF). As shown as per below 1st picture..
but Dynavin unit has only one input for FM antenna as shown in 2nd picture.. this really puzzle me as i only connected the black cable to the adapter and to the dvn-mbe antenna connection, and left the yellow one (zf) disconnected.
I am wondering, leaving the yellow one (zf) disconnected would it be the possible cause of the poor reception..
How bout you? Did you left the yellow one (zf) disconnected as well?
Would like to hear your experience...thanks

dariusf

I'm not sure as you can see from my pics the rear of the HU is deferent

Also I still have not installed it, short on free time, but starting to run the wires so if all goes well I'm hoping to have the install done by next week.

UPDATE: sorry misunderstood, the first pic is your stock HU

dariusf

here is the back of my OEM HU, as you can see there is only one one antenna jack

bonson

Yes. The first pic is my stock unit. As you can see there are 2 fakra connectors i.e Black(FM/AM) and Yellow(ZF) but Dynavin unit only come with one input.
As I am aware, I am not the only one facing this problem.
Quite a lot (not 100%) of Dynavin purchasers for Benz range from C class , E to ML class having the same problem

Good luck and all the best mate .

dariusf

What is the Yellow ZF connection? I only have the regular FM/AM single connection on my OEM HU.

bheng

sorry it took so long to reply to this one guys

i think i added about 100lbs+

i did the doors, ALL of the trunk. basically stripped the drunk and did everything around it. trunk lid included and license plate to eliminate the rattle lol