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W213 Burmester Surround System Upgrade. Heaven for audiophiles
There are only two ways of listening to music in a Mercedes: there’s the wrong way, and there’s Burmester. Well, sort of.
So this upgrade is more for purists, people who like to make sure they have the best quality sound in their car, for Spotify music lovers, etc. If you just wanna tune in to the news and an occasional tune, then it’s not probably gonna be worth it.
Alright so this package comes with a lot of small parts, so be sure to make an inventory to lay everything out everything before any installation is gonna take place. We’re talking 13 high-power speakers, of which 1 front midrange, 2 front subwoofers, 4 tweeters, 4 other midrange and 2 dedicated to surround effects, but also the power amplifier, optical fiber, wirings and other small parts.
I’ll drop you a youtube link right here, so you can check some cool effects you can choose once it’s installed. Don’t mind the Chinese language in the menu though.
I consider myself to be a life-long audiophile, having built a owned a lot of top-end equipment, but I've never worried too much about the sound quality of my car's stereo. I simply don't see the point when there's so much noise from the engine, A/C, tires, wind, traffic, etc. etc. For me, the Burmiester Surround Sons system that came with my 2018 E400 is about as good as I can reasonably expect in a car given these limiting factors, especially as I listen only while driving. YMMV.
I consider myself to be a life-long audiophile, having built a owned a lot of top-end equipment, but I've never worried too much about the sound quality of my car's stereo. I simply don't see the point when there's so much noise from the engine, A/C, tires, wind, traffic, etc. etc. For me, the Burmiester Surround Sons system that came with my 2018 E400 is about as good as I can reasonably expect in a car given these limiting factors, especially as I listen only while driving. YMMV.
I have what I think is second-from-top grade Burmester package in my E450, but wow the surround sound option, or whatever it's called, is a revelation. Listening to music with that turned off, well there's no comparison whatsoever. I'm just glad it came with the car and I didn't have to retrofit.
And even so, I presume that the higher wattage sound systems we see in cars these days are there to mask all the creaks, rattles and groans!
And even so, I presume that the higher wattage sound systems we see in cars these days are there to mask all the creaks, rattles and groans!
Well, yeah, but there is the issue of listening to music that's played too loudly.. People who tend to crank it up too high inevitably and irrevocably damage their hearing.
The Burmester 3d system was an option on my '18 E300. I also have the Acoustic Comfort package that eliminates most exterior noise except for the ****** 4 clyinder engine.
Per the Mercedes website, the Burmester Surround sound option only has 590w of power though. You can have as many speakers and cables as you want, if you don't have enough power going to them - you're not going to be getting a true audiophile experience. Audi and Volvo have Benz beat right now when it comes to audio, pretty easily actually. I hope the 24 E Class comes with the "High End" Burmester Surround option which has over 1400 watts of power, if so I will probably be placing an order for one.
the standard sound system is not very good. not very "Mercedes worthy" IMO
the "entry level" burmeister is pretty good I find, or at least good enough for a car
don't see the need for the "high end" burmeister .
first there's the noise around you interfering so you'l never have a clean sound and second;
if you crank the system up the speakers start to vibrate within the door frame. this is unavoidable
noted that you like the surround sound @murman ,
personally i find it horrible when listening to music (for movies it's a different story )
I laugh when someone says this as it is absolute nonesense.
"Only" 590w of power (RMS and not clipped) assuming they are not using anything fancy except passive crossovers and assuming some horribly inefficient speakers with a 86db/w/m rating equates to;
113+ish db at 3 feet from the source.
You are talking
Do what you want with your hearing but remember this... just like time, once your hearing starts to go, there is no turning back.
Ask Paul Gilbert of Racer X, Mr. Big about that
Let's go back to the 1960s or possibly the '50s and find the marketing guy who started this wildly nonsensical "Wattage" cow patty. .. It's rather silly ya? .. System wattage has ZERO relationship, did I mention ZERO relationship to audio fidelity or intelligibility..
Let's go back to the 1960s or possibly the '50s and find the marketing guy who started this wildly nonsensical "Wattage" cow patty. .. It's rather silly ya? .. System wattage has ZERO relationship, did I mention ZERO relationship to audio fidelity or intelligibility..Jumping down from this soapbox. .. Pardon.
Well, that's not exactly accurate, at least not at the extremes. A 10-watt amplifier has to be turned up to close to maximum output to power good speakers to a level generally desired by audiophiles (i.e., LOUD), whereas a 500-watt amp need be turned up only a fraction of its potential. Generally any amplifier will have less distortion at lower levels of output, more at higher levels. That's a fact, although probably insignificant in the real world, and especially in a car zooming down the road at 70 MPH.
Let's go back to the 1960s or possibly the '50s and find the marketing guy who started this wildly nonsensical "Wattage" cow patty. .. It's rather silly ya? .. System wattage has ZERO relationship, did I mention ZERO relationship to audio fidelity or intelligibility..
Jumping down from this soapbox. .. Pardon.
Wattage has a direct relationship to fidelity. An underpowered amp attempting to feed a speaker will cause distortion and other undesireable effects. I once hooked up a 10 watt amp to a PA speaker and the only thing it produced was a quiet buzzzz. Speakers have a minimum amount of power required to produce acceptable sound.
Per the Mercedes website, the Burmester Surround sound option only has 590w of power though. You can have as many speakers and cables as you want, if you don't have enough power going to them - you're not going to be getting a true audiophile experience. Audi and Volvo have Benz beat right now when it comes to audio, pretty easily actually. I hope the 24 E Class comes with the "High End" Burmester Surround option which has over 1400 watts of power, if so I will probably be placing an order for one.
My home listening system is a Marantz 2025 with 25 watts, two marantz symphony speakers (12 6 2 inch speakers) and a Dual 1229q turntable with an empire mm cartridge and I dare anyone to say it’s not an audiophile system. Old yes, but still a wonderful sounding system. To me wattage is not as important as the distortion level.
My home listening system is a Marantz 2025 with 25 watts, two marantz symphony speakers (12 6 2 inch speakers) and a Dual 1229q turntable with an empire mm cartridge and I dare anyone to say it’s not an audiophile system. Old yes, but still a wonderful sounding system. To me wattage is not as important as the distortion level.
it is all about clipping vs none clipping. a 25 watt musical signal that is not clipped and the system's THD is below audible levels will be an experience when listening to it especially at 25 watts.
So unlike what M.Schnieder posted, the fidelity of a system is directly related to the signal. Clipped vs unclipped, high thd vs low thd. High signal to noise ratio vs low signal to noise ratio etc.
the standard sound system is not very good. not very "Mercedes worthy" IMO
the "entry level" burmeister is pretty good I find, or at least good enough for a car
don't see the need for the "high end" burmeister .
first there's the noise around you interfering so you'l never have a clean sound and second;
if you crank the system up the speakers start to vibrate within the door frame. this is unavoidable
noted that you like the surround sound @murman ,
personally i find it horrible when listening to music (for movies it's a different story )
The entry level system - black speaker covers is extremely bad........ that is the only thing I do complain on daily.....
When I had an A class (standard), as a courtesy car, it had more bass than my E class
I have the 810 code Burmester in my car with acoustic package, love the way it sounds — but some songs at certain volumes cause the bass to cut-out and wish the highs were a little brighter and there was a proper subwoofer.
Any idea what a retrofit upgrade from 810 to 811 would be? How does the 811 high-end Burmester sound compared to entry-level Burmester?
My home listening system is a Marantz 2025 with 25 watts, two marantz symphony speakers (12 6 2 inch speakers) and a Dual 1229q turntable with an empire mm cartridge and I dare anyone to say it’s not an audiophile system. Old yes, but still a wonderful sounding system. To me wattage is not as important as the distortion level.
I have a MY2017 with the Premium Burmester system. I added a Musway M12, 12- channel Class D Amplifier with 16- Channel DSP and the OEM overhead roof tweeters. It does not sound like the same system anymore in a much better way. I have a post on the forum titled " Premium Burmester with added DSP amplifier". The included speakers are way more capable then the stock Burmester amplifier is able to to tune them. I have done a lot of software upgrades and other thing, this is the most gratifying one I have done. I just added a quick video recorded via my dash cam in 720 due to size limitation. Take a listen https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...amplifier.html.
Last edited by kingscorpian27; Dec 7, 2023 at 11:19 PM.
There are only two ways of listening to music in a Mercedes: there’s the wrong way, and there’s Burmester. Well, sort of.
So this upgrade is more for purists, people who like to make sure they have the best quality sound in their car, for Spotify music lovers, etc. If you just wanna tune in to the news and an occasional tune, then it’s not probably gonna be worth it.
Alright so this package comes with a lot of small parts, so be sure to make an inventory to lay everything out everything before any installation is gonna take place. We’re talking 13 high-power speakers, of which 1 front midrange, 2 front subwoofers, 4 tweeters, 4 other midrange and 2 dedicated to surround effects, but also the power amplifier, optical fiber, wirings and other small parts.
I’ll drop you a youtube link right here, so you can check some cool effects you can choose once it’s installed. Don’t mind the Chinese language in the menu though. Link Here
The upgrade was done on the last version of facelifted W213.
These are all the speakers
Burmester's Power Amplifier
TBH, the entire process was not easy, so I would suggest you leave it to the professionals.
There's also a lot of cable management to be done.
On top of all that, it also requires some coding.
The speakers were customized for each car model, so no matter what model you get it for, it's gonna feel tailored.
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