'11 GL450 Audio Upgrade
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Joined: Aug 2011
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MB GL450, BMW 335i
'11 GL450 Audio Upgrade
Hi All,
First post and first MB... I just picked up a 2011 GL450 last night after shopping through all of the extensive SUV options. Purposely didn't opt for the premium sound as most reviews are dismal and the expense doesn't justify the little step up in quality.
I have done major and minor audio installation in many of my vehicles over the years, but would prefer to only do modest upgrades to the GL, hopefully staying away from adding amplifiers and dealing with line convertors etc...
I have read many threads, but haven't necessarily found the information I am looking for. I believe I would like to start with upgrading the standard speakers and see where there at gets me. Has anyone upgraded their door speakers and continued to use the factory amplifier in the HU? If so where you satisified that there was a measurable improvement?
One last question... What size are the tweeters in the upper front door sail panels? Has anyone found a fairly drop in replacement while still utilizing the factory crossovers?
Sorry for all of the questions, but thanks in advance. This is my first adventure in doing an audio upgrade in a MB.
First post and first MB... I just picked up a 2011 GL450 last night after shopping through all of the extensive SUV options. Purposely didn't opt for the premium sound as most reviews are dismal and the expense doesn't justify the little step up in quality.
I have done major and minor audio installation in many of my vehicles over the years, but would prefer to only do modest upgrades to the GL, hopefully staying away from adding amplifiers and dealing with line convertors etc...
I have read many threads, but haven't necessarily found the information I am looking for. I believe I would like to start with upgrading the standard speakers and see where there at gets me. Has anyone upgraded their door speakers and continued to use the factory amplifier in the HU? If so where you satisified that there was a measurable improvement?
One last question... What size are the tweeters in the upper front door sail panels? Has anyone found a fairly drop in replacement while still utilizing the factory crossovers?
Sorry for all of the questions, but thanks in advance. This is my first adventure in doing an audio upgrade in a MB.
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Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 59
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2011 GL350 Bluetech, 2000 Porsche 911 C2, 2005 Honda S2000
Hi lstoker,
I can't answer all of your questions but it sounds like you're interested in doing something similar to what I did on my GL. I also didn't want to spend the extra $$ on amplifiers, line converters, etc. Fortunately, I was able to find a good solution by replacing all the speakers including mids and tweeters with something that could still drive off the stock head unit's power. I went with Hertz. They use soft dome tweeters which I prefer. I'm a fan of Dynaudio but it would've cost a lot more plus I doubt the stock amp would be able to drive them. The sound is much better than stock. The highs are a lot clearer / crisper. The lows are ok although that strange loose / thumpy base is still present but better than before. I have a feeling it's due to the built in eq settings or poor crossover of the stock unit. I remember the shop saying that the stock system has built in crossovers so I didn't use the crossovers provided by the Hertz speakers. I have no regrets. You can check out the separates offered on the Hertz website. By the way, I listened to the Harmon Kardon system in another car and I the sound was only marginally better than stock.
I saw the stock tweeters when they were removed. I didn't even measure them... the size was small small. Maybe 1/2 inch? Looked like cheap plastic. The mids were made of cheap paper with a very thin magnet. How sad.
I had a shop do the work for me so I don't have any tips for removing the door panels. They did need to make custom spacers for the mids, however.
Good luck!
Ben
I can't answer all of your questions but it sounds like you're interested in doing something similar to what I did on my GL. I also didn't want to spend the extra $$ on amplifiers, line converters, etc. Fortunately, I was able to find a good solution by replacing all the speakers including mids and tweeters with something that could still drive off the stock head unit's power. I went with Hertz. They use soft dome tweeters which I prefer. I'm a fan of Dynaudio but it would've cost a lot more plus I doubt the stock amp would be able to drive them. The sound is much better than stock. The highs are a lot clearer / crisper. The lows are ok although that strange loose / thumpy base is still present but better than before. I have a feeling it's due to the built in eq settings or poor crossover of the stock unit. I remember the shop saying that the stock system has built in crossovers so I didn't use the crossovers provided by the Hertz speakers. I have no regrets. You can check out the separates offered on the Hertz website. By the way, I listened to the Harmon Kardon system in another car and I the sound was only marginally better than stock.
I saw the stock tweeters when they were removed. I didn't even measure them... the size was small small. Maybe 1/2 inch? Looked like cheap plastic. The mids were made of cheap paper with a very thin magnet. How sad.
I had a shop do the work for me so I don't have any tips for removing the door panels. They did need to make custom spacers for the mids, however.
Good luck!
Ben
Last edited by blee911; Aug 8, 2011 at 01:45 PM.
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Joined: Jun 2010
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2022 SL 55 AMG, 2020 AMG GT 53, 2015 GL 550
I had all the speakers in my CLS replaced with Focals. People would get in the car and be like damn you got a sub in here?
Nope. In fact I didn't even have speakers in the rear deck. Just in the doors. Later I ended up adding a sub and amp.
When I traded the CLS, I got a GL and took my sub and amp from the CLS and had it installed in the GL with a line converter. Factory headunit, aftermarket Alpine sub, and Fosgate slim box 10" I think. I'm not big on thumping the neighborhood, I just needed some extra umph. This actually ends up being more than enough umph. Just ask my 4 year old. lol
Nope. In fact I didn't even have speakers in the rear deck. Just in the doors. Later I ended up adding a sub and amp.
When I traded the CLS, I got a GL and took my sub and amp from the CLS and had it installed in the GL with a line converter. Factory headunit, aftermarket Alpine sub, and Fosgate slim box 10" I think. I'm not big on thumping the neighborhood, I just needed some extra umph. This actually ends up being more than enough umph. Just ask my 4 year old. lol
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 59
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2011 GL350 Bluetech, 2000 Porsche 911 C2, 2005 Honda S2000
I had all the speakers in my CLS replaced with Focals. People would get in the car and be like damn you got a sub in here?
Nope. In fact I didn't even have speakers in the rear deck. Just in the doors. Later I ended up adding a sub and amp.
When I traded the CLS, I got a GL and took my sub and amp from the CLS and had it installed in the GL with a line converter. Factory headunit, aftermarket Alpine sub, and Fosgate slim box 10" I think. I'm not big on thumping the neighborhood, I just needed some extra umph. This actually ends up being more than enough umph. Just ask my 4 year old. lol
Nope. In fact I didn't even have speakers in the rear deck. Just in the doors. Later I ended up adding a sub and amp.
When I traded the CLS, I got a GL and took my sub and amp from the CLS and had it installed in the GL with a line converter. Factory headunit, aftermarket Alpine sub, and Fosgate slim box 10" I think. I'm not big on thumping the neighborhood, I just needed some extra umph. This actually ends up being more than enough umph. Just ask my 4 year old. lol
Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 469
Likes: 121
2022 SL 55 AMG, 2020 AMG GT 53, 2015 GL 550
Honestly I wouldn't know a line converter if it bit me in the azz. I just didn't feel like dumping a bunch of money into the GL audio system. I asked them how I could add my sub and amp to the GL without replacing the factory headunit (even though at some point I might consider doing that too). I hate that navigation! They stated I needed a line converter.
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Senior Member
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 469
Likes: 121
2022 SL 55 AMG, 2020 AMG GT 53, 2015 GL 550
lstoker:
You may be right. In the CLS I had an aftermarket headunit. No amp or sub with Focals in the doors. I should have made that clear. Later I added a sub and amp. But I thought the amp was just for the sub? Like I said I'm no expert but I can attest to the fact that those Focals rocked out.
You may be right. In the CLS I had an aftermarket headunit. No amp or sub with Focals in the doors. I should have made that clear. Later I added a sub and amp. But I thought the amp was just for the sub? Like I said I'm no expert but I can attest to the fact that those Focals rocked out.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 24
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MB GL450, BMW 335i
Forgot to double back and update this... Got a new set of Boston Acoustic components installed last weekend, ordered a set of 6.5" two ways for the rear door, but haven't gotten around to that yet.
Powering the BA's off of the stock amp has worked out very well. Made sure I was ordering speakers with a high efficiency and these did the trick. The improvement is absolutely night and day. The tweeters were nearly plug and play in the factory location, I did a few modifications to the BA mounting ring and it worked out well.
The only odd thing which I still haven't figured out is the wiring of these speakers from the factory... There is supposedly a built in crossover to send the correct frequencies to either the tweeter or the mid, but I can tell you that is not the case. The wiring for the tweeter is actually tied in parallel to the wiring on the factory 6.5 so there is now HPF filtering occurring. I found this odd and used an oscilloscope to verify this. Sure enough, popped in a test disc with a 100Hz test tone and the same tone was being sent to both the factory mid and tweeter. No wonder they sound horrible.
Also couldn't figure out what the third set of wires coming to the factory mid was, each mid has a four pin connector with the main +/- coming from the head unit, then a set over to the tweeter from the mid, and finally a third set of wires in parallel with the tweeters going back to the door. I suspect that this third set is somehow tied to the center dash channel for some reason as I have noticed that it no longer works after I didn't tie the third set of wires into the BA crossover.
Powering the BA's off of the stock amp has worked out very well. Made sure I was ordering speakers with a high efficiency and these did the trick. The improvement is absolutely night and day. The tweeters were nearly plug and play in the factory location, I did a few modifications to the BA mounting ring and it worked out well.
The only odd thing which I still haven't figured out is the wiring of these speakers from the factory... There is supposedly a built in crossover to send the correct frequencies to either the tweeter or the mid, but I can tell you that is not the case. The wiring for the tweeter is actually tied in parallel to the wiring on the factory 6.5 so there is now HPF filtering occurring. I found this odd and used an oscilloscope to verify this. Sure enough, popped in a test disc with a 100Hz test tone and the same tone was being sent to both the factory mid and tweeter. No wonder they sound horrible.
Also couldn't figure out what the third set of wires coming to the factory mid was, each mid has a four pin connector with the main +/- coming from the head unit, then a set over to the tweeter from the mid, and finally a third set of wires in parallel with the tweeters going back to the door. I suspect that this third set is somehow tied to the center dash channel for some reason as I have noticed that it no longer works after I didn't tie the third set of wires into the BA crossover.
