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I removed the previous upgraded head unit ( by previous owner) and dismantled everything to learn the system.
I’m about to drop in a new Sony XAV-AV7000 car play unit this weekend. So, will be hard to single out the rear improvement. But will come back and give impressions of the overall upgrade.
Good find, I’m curious on the improvement! Even the mounting holes lined up?
Your stock rear speaker is different than mine, and the other 03-08 r230 rear speakers with Bose system I’ve seen for sale. The cone looks similar, but the rear magnet looks to be shielded and much smaller. Perhaps neodymium and shielded? Also lacking the Bose sticker and the part number is earlier. I’ve only seen this speaker In the belt retractor assembly on non-Bose equipped European SLs (ie an SL350) Odd, were they both like that one?
a stock 03-08 r230 w/ Bose “rearfill” speaker for example;
I’ve only seen this speaker In the belt retractor assembly on non-Bose equipped European SLs (ie an SL350)
I’ve got a bit of a unicorn. 2004, obviously manufactured in Germany. But for Japan. It was imported to Canada. There appears to be some differences. The big one. Is that this 2004 has the P030 package. Which is a year earlier than N.A. models I believe.
As for the speakers. The 2.75” replacements fit perfectly. It would have been nice to go larger. But it’s pretty much impossible.
I took my time and learned a lot. The previous upgrade was poorly done. And I did a lot of simplification and tidied it up.
I did a quick connect to make sure everything worked yesterday. VERY happy with the results. I still consider the rears filler speaker. But at least I can notice them now. I’ll post more photos once I have it buttoned up this weekend.
Stereo upgrade finished. I’m really happy with the final result. The head unit is a Sony xav-ax7000, which has a nice built in amp. FYI, previous owner had a switch installed where I ended up mounting the mic. So I just repurposed a hole that was already there.
Nice work, looks great man! Did you re-use the previously installed amp or swap that out as well?
Wow that is a rare car indeed. You are probably aware the Japanese-spec 03-04s came with an early DVD-based nav system (different from the DVD COMAND that came out in 05), but with no way to change the radio tuning frequencies or locations to North American market the previous owner was forced to swap.
Loving the berry red interior btw
Did you re-use the previously installed amp or swap that out as well?
As mentioned, the previous owner has already replaced the original head unit. They had a Pioneer Carrozzeria AVIC-ZH09CS, which is a Japanese only unit. Language and freqs. The Pioneer unit had 4 antenna leads (apparently common for the Japanese radio freqs) coming off the head unit, and up the A-pillars and even one out to the vent at the top of the hood. As I knew this car was different, I dismantled behind the seats, looking for an amp. There was no external amp, or cd changer. Perhaps there was originally (although I didn't see any obvious mounts), but with that Pioneer setup, the power came from the head unit. The car end of my tidy new wire harness plugs direct into the car wiring receptacle behind the head unit. And the factory wires run direct to speakers. So, I'm guessing the OEM unit had a built in amp... but who knows. I also removed the door panels, and the door speakers had already been upgraded to a Boston Acoustics sx60 component set (6.5" woofer, 3/4" tweeter. 65w rms). The wiring and mount job was good, so I left them as is.
The Sony XAV-AX7000 is 45 watts rms per channel built in. A real nice equalizer, and Dynamic Stage Organizer (DSO), that help compensate for the low speaker position in the doors. I faded the power towards the front as the new rears are still only 30w rms (the most I could find that actually fit)
01-15-2020, 06:02 PM
