Audio upgrade
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2007 S550 2004 w211 wagon
Audio upgrade
Hi people!
I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I am a little overwhelmed with the info.
Here you go, 1993 Mercedes-Benz 300e with 2.8l engine. Need the cheapest/quality sound upgrade. Doesn't have to be high end. Just pleasant sound with some mid-bass. I was thinking of replacing head unit with some Pioneer CD player, and maybe upgrade dash speakers and rear speakers and leaving mid-bass speakers in the doors. Question. Is the stock amplifier any good with aftermarket speakers? Also, what speakers are in the dash? 4", 4 1/2"? rears?
Thank you for help in advance!
Hoping to keep wiring as stock as possible. Wiring harness from Crutchfield is on its way.
I know this topic has been beaten to death, but I am a little overwhelmed with the info.
Here you go, 1993 Mercedes-Benz 300e with 2.8l engine. Need the cheapest/quality sound upgrade. Doesn't have to be high end. Just pleasant sound with some mid-bass. I was thinking of replacing head unit with some Pioneer CD player, and maybe upgrade dash speakers and rear speakers and leaving mid-bass speakers in the doors. Question. Is the stock amplifier any good with aftermarket speakers? Also, what speakers are in the dash? 4", 4 1/2"? rears?
Thank you for help in advance!
Hoping to keep wiring as stock as possible. Wiring harness from Crutchfield is on its way.
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Joined: Dec 2003
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"Pleasant sound" is very vague and even more subjective. Cheap and quality is an oxymoron.
A lot depends on your budget.
A headunit by itself won't quite cut it in terms of making a significant improvement, but it depends on your music tastes, depends on your ears.
Speakers will definitely sound better. The fronts and rears are 4.5 inches, a somewhat odd size, the doors are 5.75 I think. There's plenty of information on the actual sizing. Do your research.
The location of the door speakers, firing at the seat cushion, means they are pretty much a lost cause for anything but low frequency sound. But the door is size limited so really we are talking about mid bass more than deep bass.
My recommendation.
1. Look up the wiki at peach parts dot com on stereo removal.
2. Buy yourself the head unit with the features you want. Bluetooth, cd changer controller, satellite radio, whatever.
3. Buy two way speakers for the front and rear. Buy 6 inch speakers for the doors. The front speakers can pretty easily be made to fit simply by removing the mounting ring the O.E speakers come in and mounting your new speakers on that. A virtual OEM fit.
Two way speakers (ones with a tweeter in the middle) will improve the soundstage by bringing it forward and give you better highs. Installing two way speakers in the rear won't necessarily improve the sound since they are behind you, but I liked mine with two way speakers front and rear.
4. Install the rear speakers.
5. Install the 6 inch speakers in the door.
Done. Thats $600 at the most. And you can install everything yourself. Your low end won't improve much if any.
You want an improvement on that, buy an amplifier. Generally more power (within limits) sounds better. You gotta decide where to mount it and how to wire it. Most amps are 2 or 4 channel. Which speakers get wired to the amp?
Not enough bass, buy a subwoofer. But remember that the trunk is separated from the interior by the gas tank. You'll need a big amp. Or a tiny subwoofer in the interior. There are some small powered ones if you look on Crutchfield and Amazon.
Or Jennhert door panels. Those are expensive. And as common as hens teeth.
You can cut the hatshelf where the first aid kit is and leave that as a port for a trunk mounted sub. Or install a free air woofer there. You'll be size limited to 8 inches or so, although you can squeeze a 10 in there if you really try. Then there's the matter of sealing it.
If you use a trunk mounted sub, you're going to introduce a lot of road noise into the cabin from the trunk so you'll have to insulate the hell out of the trunk.
[b]I[/i] would buy a head unit, component speakers with a 6 inch woofer, matching speakers for the front and rear, an 8 inch free air woofer, an amp and wiring. Mount the woofer of the component set in the door and the tweeters at the bottom of the A pillar by the mirror. I'd connect the stereo to the front and rear speakers and connect the amp to the woofer and door speakers. I'd install the woofer in the hatshelf. You have to cut it of course.
Or buy two amps and connect one to the speakers and one to the door and woofer.
Or get crossovers and capacitors and all sorts of other stuff.
Or do what you want.
Head unit. $200 or so. You can buy more expensive ones but I stream most of music from my MP3 player. I just need bluetooth and an aux in for the most part.
2 sets of two way speakers; ~ $200. I haven't looked at pricing but they used to be $60- 80 a pair.
6 inch component speakers. ~$150 or so.
Amp. $300. You want a 4 way to be able to bridge two channels for the sub.
An 8 inch free air, low profile sub. $150 at most.
Thats $1000. And you can install the speakers and head unit yourself.
A lot depends on your budget.
A headunit by itself won't quite cut it in terms of making a significant improvement, but it depends on your music tastes, depends on your ears.
Speakers will definitely sound better. The fronts and rears are 4.5 inches, a somewhat odd size, the doors are 5.75 I think. There's plenty of information on the actual sizing. Do your research.
The location of the door speakers, firing at the seat cushion, means they are pretty much a lost cause for anything but low frequency sound. But the door is size limited so really we are talking about mid bass more than deep bass.
My recommendation.
1. Look up the wiki at peach parts dot com on stereo removal.
2. Buy yourself the head unit with the features you want. Bluetooth, cd changer controller, satellite radio, whatever.
3. Buy two way speakers for the front and rear. Buy 6 inch speakers for the doors. The front speakers can pretty easily be made to fit simply by removing the mounting ring the O.E speakers come in and mounting your new speakers on that. A virtual OEM fit.
Two way speakers (ones with a tweeter in the middle) will improve the soundstage by bringing it forward and give you better highs. Installing two way speakers in the rear won't necessarily improve the sound since they are behind you, but I liked mine with two way speakers front and rear.
4. Install the rear speakers.
5. Install the 6 inch speakers in the door.
Done. Thats $600 at the most. And you can install everything yourself. Your low end won't improve much if any.
You want an improvement on that, buy an amplifier. Generally more power (within limits) sounds better. You gotta decide where to mount it and how to wire it. Most amps are 2 or 4 channel. Which speakers get wired to the amp?
Not enough bass, buy a subwoofer. But remember that the trunk is separated from the interior by the gas tank. You'll need a big amp. Or a tiny subwoofer in the interior. There are some small powered ones if you look on Crutchfield and Amazon.
Or Jennhert door panels. Those are expensive. And as common as hens teeth.
You can cut the hatshelf where the first aid kit is and leave that as a port for a trunk mounted sub. Or install a free air woofer there. You'll be size limited to 8 inches or so, although you can squeeze a 10 in there if you really try. Then there's the matter of sealing it.
If you use a trunk mounted sub, you're going to introduce a lot of road noise into the cabin from the trunk so you'll have to insulate the hell out of the trunk.
[b]I[/i] would buy a head unit, component speakers with a 6 inch woofer, matching speakers for the front and rear, an 8 inch free air woofer, an amp and wiring. Mount the woofer of the component set in the door and the tweeters at the bottom of the A pillar by the mirror. I'd connect the stereo to the front and rear speakers and connect the amp to the woofer and door speakers. I'd install the woofer in the hatshelf. You have to cut it of course.
Or buy two amps and connect one to the speakers and one to the door and woofer.
Or get crossovers and capacitors and all sorts of other stuff.
Or do what you want.
Head unit. $200 or so. You can buy more expensive ones but I stream most of music from my MP3 player. I just need bluetooth and an aux in for the most part.
2 sets of two way speakers; ~ $200. I haven't looked at pricing but they used to be $60- 80 a pair.
6 inch component speakers. ~$150 or so.
Amp. $300. You want a 4 way to be able to bridge two channels for the sub.
An 8 inch free air, low profile sub. $150 at most.
Thats $1000. And you can install the speakers and head unit yourself.
Member
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 112
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SL55 AMG
If you do the labor yourself, think about your future with the car before buying a head unit. Get one that gives you the most amount of connectivity, such as bluetooth, USB, AUX, etc.
Infinity and Polk Audio are some great choices for audio. Infinity will cost more and I recommend you amp them, but once you amp them, they sound amazing. Polk Audio tends to have warm, rich sound with good bass too. You don't have to amp the Polk Audio speakers, unless you like to turn it up, it'll be too much of a load on your head unit's built in amp.
Infinity and Polk Audio are some great choices for audio. Infinity will cost more and I recommend you amp them, but once you amp them, they sound amazing. Polk Audio tends to have warm, rich sound with good bass too. You don't have to amp the Polk Audio speakers, unless you like to turn it up, it'll be too much of a load on your head unit's built in amp.
