SW20S

Haha, thats true. That would be the best AND nothing lol

Thats scary about the fuel in the oil...

2012 merc amg

Ya, thanks, I just figured out what was going on today when I popped off the engine cover and starting investigating things as the gasoline smell in the garage after every time I drove the car was really starting to bother me. I never suspected anything like this as I actually have an invoice from one dealer stating that the oil was changed around 16K miles and then when the car was certified a few hundred miles later it Says LOF on the certification and that it was just done a month before. I thought great two oil changes, ya, the best or nothing I guess. I got nothing. According to the paperwork a Coil had gone out a year and 4000 miles before all this oil change talk, so looks like the car has been driven at least 6000 miles with oil that has a very high gasoline content. Thats assuming an oil change was even done at the 10K service. Probably was as the oil does not look bad enough to have gone 18K miles. I'm gonna insist the car go into the express lube bays with the windows in the waiting room and watch as the oil is changed tomorrow, I don't care if I have to come back but I'm really gonna need to watch them doing the oil change, I've seen way too much of this kind of thing. They did it on my wagon at the 10K service and the oil had to be changed again. It was even more easy to identify on that car as its a E450 V6 and has a dipstick.

Wolfman

Exclusive Nappa has never been rare, AMG package or not. I suppose that the remaining stock just has been picked over which makes any selection difficult.
I personally don't find the that there is a limitation with the base system and wouldn't frame the conversation this way. You are unhappy with it and either couldn't find a car with 3D or it was too costly. Superpop's suggestion of a customization appears to be the way to go...

MBNUT1

Not sure why a failed coil would not have thrown a CEL and the engine run rough. When my car detects a misfire it shuts off the injector and throws a CEL.

I suspect an injector problem.

SW20S

Yeah a lot of it has to do with the fact that production had stopped on the car before I ever started looking. Of the few cars with exclusive nappa I found, they had MSRPs of around $129k too, or they were RWD around $126k and I really didnt want to get to those price points. Of the exclusive nappa, the only thing I really would want is the alcantara headlining. The quality of the napa leather in mine is excellent, far better than what I had in the Lexus with its interior upgrade. I wouldnt have been happy with the base leather in the S450. The MBTex on the dash and doors doesnt bother me, console is real leather as are the door armrests.

As for the audio, I think if you look at the many posts in here on the subject its fair to say the system has a significant limitation. People who buy a $120,000 car shouldn't have to add subwoofers and replace amps to get decent sound. Its not just the lack of bass either, the system gets distorted at higher volumes to the point where there are some songs I just can't listen to. Thats inexcusable in a car at this price point IMO. The base system should be excellent and the upgrade unbelievable. If you drive all the competitors the base audio in every one of them is better than this Burmester system, and those cars are $10,000+ cheaper similarly equipped.

Its just not right IMO that the by far most expensive car I have ever owned is the first car I have owned that I feel the need to pay an audio shop to upgrade the audio system. I never felt that way with base audio in a Lexus ES, or the GS or the LS all of which I have owned with the base audio. IMO, the audio in my Pacifica minivan is at least as good sounding, if not better sounding. Thats just not right.

Don't get me wrong I love the car, and I'm happy I chose it. I don't subscribe to the idea that we shouldn't call out negatives we find though. Hopefully in the W223 the basic audio is better.

2012 merc amg

Oil is changed. I watched it being drained. I mainly blame MB for all this. They shoulda never done away with the dip sticks. The tech who certified the car assumed the oil had just been changed so didn’t do it. Had the car had a dipstick they probably would have known the oil was loaded with gas. Oh well all set now. Back on topic. The loaner I have c class just has the base audio no premium. The 3D is gonna sound even better when I get back in my car. I guess it's all relative when it comes to Audio systems. Probably anyone who has the non 3D a good car audio place could make it sound better than the 3D for half the price I'm sure. JL audio makes a unit that feeds off the stock head unit and then separate amps can be connected to that.

SW20S

Yeah the whole no dipstick thing I am not a fan of...

2012 merc amg

This is the device I was talking about.....https://www.jlaudio.com/products/fix...m-tuning-98103

SW20S

That looks ideal, and not terribly expensive

Wolfman

100% agree with calling out the things you don't like. But you may also have to respect that not everyone will agree with you and this is not a majority opinion as sound is generally a subjective issue.
We have had quite a few posts over the years where people complained about their sound system just to discover that the listen to Sirius XM which invalidates any opinion due to the garbage audio source. Or the use of Bluetooth (which can be quite good but is device-specific).

Point in case is that we all have driven different model cars at different price points and even there, opinions differ as to which one sounds better or not. As for price, I suppose it depends on the kind of car but several $300k+ cars have horrible sound systems, although the exhaust is considered the "real" sound system

SW20S

I listen to lossless audio streamed over Tidal and AmazonMusic HD, the best source there is. Hooked up over USB.

I stand by what I said. Just because one person may not recognize the limitations or care doesn't mean the limitations aren't there. They are definitely, quantifiably there. An individual may or may not care and thats fine. For a car of this caliber, especially one that excels in so many other areas the poor audio surprises me. There is way more discussion about these additions to the audio system here than you find on any of the other forums too, so I think there are more people who have an issue than you think. There are multiple active threads on this subject on the first page of the forum right now, you don't see that on the Lexus forum, BMW forum, Audi forum, etc.

No audio system should have crackling distortions to music at 2/3rds volume, let alone one in a $120,000 Mercedes. Its not my car either, I have driven at least 7 S560s and they all were the same way.

Wolfman

Your response surprises me. Of course you stand by what you said and so do I. Our opinions just differ in this case. Simple as that. My question is just the purpose of this ongoing complaint. Do you just want to vent or seek validation? If this was a deal breaker why did you purchase the car? It's not that you are without choices.

My background is simply one of having owned S-Class models over 20 years so that is my reference. Also owned BMW's and driven countless Audi A8's (well equipped rentals). So I can compare them beyond test drives. My only caveat is that our old S-Class was a pre-facelift so I can't speak to the latest model being different.

SW20S

Theres no purpose, someone responded to this thread from before when I was looking and I replied. You continue to reply to me, in a thread started by me 3 months ago before I bought the car and I respond to your comments about my opinion. I am actively looking to discuss with others who have improved the system how they did that so I can do the same. Why do you feel the need to continually challenge my opinion? Your opinion differs which is fine and be done with it and you don't even own this car any longer. What you keep telling me is that the issue is with ME and its not, its not the source of my audio, its not my unreasonable expectations. The audio system has a lot of limitations, and I'm far from the only person who feels that way. Many people being satisfied with it doesn't change the fact that its not very good.

As I said, I love the car and I'm glad I chose it but this was a significant issue for me and it did almost keep me from choosing this car vs keeping my LS or a getting a BMW 7. I don't think at this level those of us who like good sound should have to spend $6,000 for an upgraded stereo from the factory or $3,000 to an aftermarket audio shop to tear apart a brand new car to get a system that sounds good and has no distortion. I've never needed to do that in any other car I have ever owned but this one, including cars far, far cheaper and yeah that's frustrating. I am not going to say "oh well I guess the problem is me" because its not.

Wolfman

That's a fair statement (looking back at the origin of the thread). I actually didn't look that far back and your comments make sense here. A clear oversight of mine...
I was not challenging you either on your opinion; I simply differ with you on it and that this is also part of an open forum.

That said I certainly wish you many happy miles with your car and hope you enjoy it to the fullest!

SW20S

No worries, I'll get it where I want it and I have no doubt it'll be fine.

superpop

That JL Fix-86 box is not what you want. It takes 4 channels plus a sub signal and converts them to RCA so you can use aftermarket amps. Standard Burmester is 9 channels and if you do not remove the amp from the equation you are simply making matters worse by trying to fix an already tuned signal coming out of the factory amp. You have to grab a clean signal from the head unit before all of the burmester EQ crap is applied, you do that by removing the amp and converting the optical signal from the head unit to either TOSLINK or RCA signals. That is what the NAVTV unit does. Once you do that you can add amps and even speakers if you want. The factory speakers are not all that bad, they just need a clean signal with more power and a good tune. I added one 10" JL sub to my system and with my set up is goes louder than you can stand with clear fidelity and zero distortion, and the soundstage is right there on the dash. Total cost is around 6.5K but it is far better than even the 3D setup.

SW20S

I really don't want to spend $6,500 lol. Let me be more specific, if I spent $6,500 my wife would throw me out of the house LOL

I just emailed a local well respected shop thats a signature JL Audio dealer, I'll post what he comes back with.

I know you had just the sub and amp originally superpop, and then went for the amp replacement. What would you say was the bigger improvement, the stock to the sub, or adding the NAVTV and replacing the Burmester amp from the stock with the sub?

superpop

Car upgrade costs are like fight club, and you know the first rule of fight club. Now that we have that settled, I can tell you that the Sub and Amp make a big difference. I went from stock to adding one JL Audio W7 AE 10" sub in a sealed box that was driven by a single JL Audio VXi 1000/1, single channel 1000 watt amp. Signal was grabbed off one of the subwoofer speaker leads and converted to RCA via an Audio Control LCi line converter. This made a dramatic difference but the system still had a brassy sound when you turned it up too much. Next I removed the factory amp and inserted the NAVTV box to grab the optical audio output of the in car stereo and convert this signal to Toslink and 9 channels of RCA. These 9 channels now feed the two amps with full control over all settings via my Ipad. I chose the VXi 800/8 because it is an awesome 8 channel amp and it matches the VXi 1000/1 and the two can be stacked on top of each other. The addition of the NAVTV and 2nd amp is nice and the sound is better but from a bang for the buck perspective the simple amp and sub will get you 90% of what you are looking for. Both solutions retained full bluetooth phone and navigation audio capabilities as well and I still have the factory audio settings like fader and EQ if needed.

2012 merc amg

Probably the most economical way and most bang for the buck is to get a jl audio sub amp and 10 inch jl sub and put those in the trunk off to the side. Tune the sub amp while someone is in the car listening so it is preset and be done with it. Total cost under 1000. I did that with my pickup truck and it made a huge difference. Question is where to catch the signal for the sub with the wiring but I’m sure a good car installer could figure that out. Plus where to get power for the amp. Probably just a small enclosure box is fine. I think JL sells a box with the speaker for under 400. You don’t need anything real fancy.

2012 merc amg

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-kjdCOC...oaAv5pEALw_wcB

SW20S

I had a good convo with the guy at the audio shop. I'm going to go in sometime next week and talk over the options.

2012 merc amg

The other thing to try is the rune in internet radio. You probably have a trial for that with tune in. I pay a little extra for internet access in the car as I use the hot spot to. I think on good tune in stations it actually sounds a little bit better than streaming from your phone. Listening to HD radio the Blues right now on tune in. The 320 kps stations sound really good. A little bit of a warmer and less harsh sound than streaming off the phone I find. Even streaming off Amazon hd or tidal.

SW20S

I turned the Surround off today and I think it does sound better. The surround sounds "fuller" but it muddies the sound considerably. I think overall the better setting is off for surround.

2012 merc amg

Definitely off on surround and sound focus front you get more bass that way and treble higher than you’d think like 4 or 5. With my 3D sounds better if eq is mostly flat. Mid in about the middle and bass around 8.