When i turn the bass up all the way on the my 300E, it seems to make a rattling sound. Its not the speakers that make this sound, but the 2 on the sides of the door that play bass only (are these considered subs??). The passenger one is the worst, but when i press the speaker/sub in it sounds a little bit better.

Is the rattling sound mainly from loose parts scattered around the car?
Or is there a problem with the stereo?

I mean the stereo is great (IMO), it has pretty good bass, good sound quality. But when i start playing it a little louder the bass doesnt sound as good. When i play it not too loud, but a little loud, it sounds great. The Bass is nice and deep sounding, but then that one click up and it doesnt sound good anymore.
So, is there something wrong with the stereo, is it loose parts in the car, or are all older Mercedes like that?

 

The OE speakers by now are probably toast. Pull off the covers and check them out. The age just dries up the paper cones. For minimal cost, you can go down to a local pepboys/walmart and buy some cheap Kenwood or equivalent speakers. You will have to fabricate a quick wooden bracket as they don't fit in the OE brackets, but I did it and it is workable. Just saw up a thin piece of mdf and mount it. Doesn't look 'pretty' but who cares you can't see it anyway.

I doubt there is anything wrong with your stereo.

Alternatively read this thread as it may give the cheapest 'drop in' option.
http://www.benzworld.org/forums/w124...ent-cheap.html

If something is rattling, only you can find out where. Are you sure you are not confusing rattling for speaker distortion?

 

Ok thank you. Is there anyway to just buy new speakers that were the original ones on the W124? Like if i went to MB dealership do you think they still make the original speakers from the W124?

Because to be honest i would rather keep the ones i have now instead of trying to buy a cheaper set of speakers. They arn't horrible, i just didn't know if maybe something inside the door was loose, like screws or bolts or something like that.

I mean it could be speaker distortion, i was just really hopping that it is just a loose part.

And also, i ran across another problem today. I took my car in to keep an aftermarket alpine stereo headunit installed, and for most cars installation is $40. For my 300E they are charging $85, is it really that much of a hasstle to install it?

But anyways, they called me a bit afterwards, and said that when they take the wood off it can possibly crack. And i did some research on zebrano wood and it is extremely expensive. But then i wasn't sure if all models came with zebrano wood or not.

What kind of wood comes in most of the w124 models?

Thanks

 

Don't bother...a 'cheap' aftermarket solution will be 10x better than 20 year old technology and won't cost you as much. Trust me. The speakers in the link I gave would be a perfect, no hassle swap.

They could be charging you more due to the fader. If you do some searching you can quite easily install it yourself. I personally made a DIY if you check my sticky @ the top.

Yes it can crack, just be careful or do it yourself.

 

Alright. Thank you very much. I mean i know technology is better now days, but Mercedes are made of quality parts and hopefully always will be.

Technology gives us more features, but doesn't always give us the best quality and reliability. Our cars for example, are much more reliable than many that are built today. I would prefer spend $500 on a stereo system that will last 10 years, instead of $150 for something that will last 4 or 5 years.

One of the reasons our cars are so reliable is because they are quite simple cars. We lack some of the electronic things, but hey, thats less things that can break in the car.
Basically my point is, mercedes uses quality parts.
Believe me, if i owned a cheap honda or something, i wouldn't even question that a cheap stereo system is better than the stock one. But in a Mercedes, even though its older, i kind of want to keep the reliability and quality. If that makes sense

Im not saying that its dumb to put in cheap stereo systems if they sound better.
I am just questioning the fact that even though they are newer, are the speakers really that much better?
Is it worth the money, the time, and the loss of quality? I know i can research that, i just want an opinion from someone who has owned both the stock speakers and cheap aftermarket ones.

Thank you though =)

 

You may want to take it easy on the bass, for future reference. just because the bass goes up to 20 doesn't mean you have to play it on 20! Extended play like that is bound to blow out any speaker whether its high quality or low quality.

 

I'm SOO pissed off right now.
I had the new stereo headunit installed at bestbuy (huge mistake) and it is disasterous.
Ok so i was originally told installation would be $40-$50. The next day when i went back they said it would be about $85 because the installation would be hard.
I decided thats not too bad, but i got the final bill and it was 160 ****ing dollars!!!

And also some problems i have after they installed it:

1) Lights get a little dimmer when i play with the radio, then they go back to the normal once i stop messing with the radio.

2) My 2 front automatic window buttons get stuck in when i put the windows up.

3) The trunk springs make horrible squeeky noises now.

4) The radio stations are all slighty fuzzy now, way fuzzier than it used to be!!

The new stereo headunit has more features and all, but in NO WAY improved the sound at all.
The main feature i bought it for is b/c it is ipod ready. The thing you plug the ipod into doesn't even charge it. And i already have one of the things that just plugs into the ciggarette lighter for my ipod.

I was told that the new headunit would be WAY better than the old one, and its not even comparable. I don't car that the unit is 17 years older; in no way does it compare with my 17 year old headunit.

I have learned several lessons from this damned experience.

1) Don't EVER have anything installed by bestbuy.
2) You can't buy anything better than the stock MB parts, unless you spend hundreds of extra dollars.
The headunit was on sale for $170 and had an MSRP of $300, so i figured it would be better..WRONG!

Mercedes quality is TOO GOOD! =)

 

Sorry, but you made the mistake expecting the sound quality would be better. You can make it sound better only due to finer tuning of bass and treble settings. Like I said, your sound quality will be drastically different if you go buy a modern speaker.

And yes the technology IS 20x better than the stock MB head unit. You cannot mention comparable quality when it comes to speakers. Hardcore audiophiles will disagree, but for the average user, a nice set of Pioneer/Kenwood speakers will sound amazing compared to the dried out paper cone crap you have now. If installed with some common sense, the new speakers should outlast the car.

If you want a good quality system, upgrade the dash speakers like I said, then get an amp+sub. This is mine in the trunk. I only run 150w RMS on that sub and it does more than what meets my needs. If you sat in my car you would be blown away by the difference...



And yes don't let BB install this. Learn yourself. It's not difficult I promise you.

 

Screw that. The cilia in your cochlea will get blown out. You'll be hard pressed to enjoy any music after that :\

 

I installed new rear speakers in my 300D, hoping it would take care of the distortion above a level of 13 (that's barely audible at road speed). With the fader all the way to the rear, it does the same thing as before. It's an after market radio (not a Roadmaster!), so it isn't old technology, which is nonsense anyway.

More than likely, a new radio will fix mine and your problems.

 

I find that with my Rockford Fosgates in, I don't get too much distortion at high levels but there will always be some on composite speakers. You'd need to get a nice component set or a headunit that allows you to separate out the bass channel to a dedicated sub to keep the other smaller drivers clean. I don't have this setup though :\

I am using the Becker CD4602 though.

 

Well, actually i listened to the stereo a little longer in my car, and i have kind of decided that i like the new one better, despite the problems that have occurred from it.

Well i mean ofcourse the new speakers would be better than the 17 year old ones. I just think that a new set of stock w124 speakers will kill the cheap pioneer/kenwood ones. I agree that you can get great quality and sound from kenwood/pioneer/alpine etc, but i just don't think the cheapest ones will be too much better.

All i'm saying is that if i'm going to buy a new part it needs to have good quality. And i don't doubt that some of these new aftermarket ones are better.
But $100 towards speakers isn't going to buy you much.
You get what you pay for. Thats a lesson i have learned from personal experience since i was much younger.

If im going to buy new speakers, im going to do it the right way. Which means im looking to spend $400+ on quality speakers. And without an income i'm not ready to do that yet.
I'm not trying to disagree or anything, im just a strong believer in the saying "you get what you pay for".

 

I got all four of my Rockford Fosgate Power drivers new in box for 130$ US. Be patient and be watchful.

 

I have told you already, they will not be better than a modern speaker. Period. You don't need to spend $400 on speakers. Why must you insist on arguing with every single comment when the person who is helping you has already done what you are looking to do and is telling you from experience???

Why do I bother? I'm out.

 

So, nobody has my back anymore?

Looks like just you and me now kiddo. Don't push me too much, I've had a **** week.

 

I've found that the stock speakers, if, and only if, in good condition and are not the version with the 100uf capacitor on the side of the speaker are way better than people give them credit for.

The problem is that the stock deck, and many aftermarket decks and amps, especially the new disposable garbage sold at worstbuy etc. are sending the speakers a terrible signal and the speakers let you know it. Crap in, crap out.

These speakers are a very light, high sensitivity, point source driver with no crossover distortion because there is no crossover. These are the same features sought after and paid a lot for by high-end audiomaniacs in Asia.

You can't bump them so that all your neighborhood can hear you coming, but they ARE capable of singing in your car.

Feed them an excellent signal and you will be stunned, although that is not cheap to do....

 

Mine is a Pioneer, so I guess that rules out modern technology as a fix.

Maybe I need to think about a "Blue Dot" (Blaupunkt) instead?

 

Why does anyone respond to his threads anymore, he obviously knows more than everyone on here. Ridiculous.

 

I am using the Becker CD4602 though.
[/QUOTE]

That looks just like an old Becker "Trafficpro" I had- ran 6 of them at once, loved jumping in 1 car after another, all with exact same headunit.

The trafficpro speaks gps acceptably. Eyes stay on the road, rarely look to the unit for visual cues. The safest gps. So they stopped making it.

I still have one with US disks from about 2004, I used to run an a/b switch for ipod and sirius into the single rca input. I've got a working unit that I won't use again, want it for a back up?

 

Actually, could I get that from you? The CD drive on this is getting wonky again. It will cut out when I make left hand turns or decelerate. I normally have to take it out and tear it down and rebuild. Buys me about 3 months before it starts up again :\

 

Yours. pm for details.

BTW, I think Becker will still fix your unit better than that but it'll cost ya.