Factory Stereo Upgrade for a 93

[maw1124]

FWIW, I went with this for the fronts, and qualified car audio folks found them fairly straightforward on the install. I chose them for fit first, sound second, as there would be no hacking up the 500E.

JL Audio TR525-CXi 5 1/4" for the doors
JL Audio TR400-CXi 4" for the dash

More fidelity but still no bass, so I also went with a sub. I took gsxr's oft-repeated advice and left the rears stock. My Alpine head was compatible with Alpine's 4x45 slim fit power pack amp, which slid in right behind the head unit. More than sufficient for the cabin, when you do the math and find out all those museum audio amps that came stock were good for like, the equivalent power of what today's head units produce on their own. The sub is on its own amp. Again, hope this helps...

Good luck,

maw

 

[garnachavino]

Still keep hoping that one day Harman/Becker NJ will offer us a kit to resolve this issue, and allow for a standard HU via some sort of module/crossover box with plug in wiring to work with the amps and stock speakers.

I still play cd's occasionally and in time when the Becker changer fails, it would be great to be able to install a Harman HU with CD player.

 

[baviking1]

That is correct. All USA-spec 034/036 have identical sound systems, for a given year (changed as of 1994 model year to 1492).

I'm assuming it's the 300CE that sounds different... the 034 and 036 should sound the same, unless one of them has components that aren't working right...

Yeah Dave, the 300CE sounds REALLY different (especially since it didn't have a head unit, speakers, or amp when I bought it ).

Seriously, its the e420 that has a better sound system with identical components (even with a sometimes intermittent driver's door sub). NO idea why; only difference is that I swapped in MB Quart speakers into the dash (had a bad OEM when I got it)......

 

[baviking1]

The factory never offered subs in the rear deck of the 124, but it was a popular aftermarket upgrade back in the day. A pair of 8's was most common, I believe. 10's would be a tight fit.

What would I do w/o your everlasting font of MB knowledge? 8's it is....

 

[baviking1]

Bav, if you don't mind, shoot me your VIN on that E420 just so I can educate myself and 500Eboard on a possible deviant configuration. This conflicts with our "common knowledge" as I / we(?) thought all USA version .034 and .036 had the full twin separate amp sound system. Even if it had only the "Active Bass" enhancement instead of the full "Sound System", it would at least have front door woofers...

"Deviant configuration": I resemble that remark....

Sorry for the earlier red herring; six speakers it is.

 

[Allgonquin]

Just heard back from "Dan" at Becker. The fault they found in my 1432 system was in the receiver. I thought they were talking about the head unit, but no, the receiver is apparently the trunk unit. So be it. Repair of that plus adding the aux input will set me back $250 plus shipping.

 

[DerFuror]

Re: Becker repair for a 93

Repair of that plus adding the aux input will set me back $250 plus shipping.

Nice. That will put you where you need to be. Original functional system with inexpensive modern discrete integrated upgrade.

 

[Hollybrook]

Just heard back from "Dan" at Becker. The fault they found in my 1432 system was in the receiver. I thought they were talking about the head unit, but no, the receiver is apparently the trunk unit. So be it. Repair of that plus adding the aux input will set me back $250 plus shipping.

So about $150 for the repair and $100 for the jack? That sounds pretty reasonable considering they checked out the whole system.

As far as I can tell, mine is working correctly, but it would be nice to have them check it all out at the same time they add the auxiliary input. I wonder if they would charge for the checkout if nothing is found. I'll have to give them a call.

 

[gsxr]

Am I correct in saying the 1993 500E's had the two full-range amps?

Thanks,
neil

The lower-end systems ("active loudspeaker") had the single black amp... pretty sure this was standard on diesels, wagons, and possibly base model sedans.

The higher-end systems ("sound system") had the dual silver amps, this was standard equipment on all 034/036 models in the USA.

Also, although the 91-93 and 94-95 "sound systems" have visually identical dual silver amplifiers, the part numbers are NOT the same... I don't know the difference, nor if the early/late are interchangeable, sorry.

 

[Klink]

The lower-end systems ("active loudspeaker") had the single black amp... pretty sure this was standard on diesels, wagons, and possibly base model sedans.

The higher-end systems ("sound system") had the dual silver amps, this was standard equipment on all 034/036 models in the USA.

Also, although the 91-93 and 94-95 "sound systems" have visually identical dual silver amplifiers, the part numbers are NOT the same... I don't know the difference, nor if the early/late are interchangeable, sorry.

RE, the "sound system" silver dual amps: I'm saying "Not Interchangeable".
The early ('93 and prior), and late ('94-'95) have different audio input sections.

The early version are fed "line level" audio, front and rear (after the separate external fader knob).

The late version amps are fed from what would otherwise be the speaker output terminals of the later simplified one piece front radio chassis. Obviously, those amps would have a really extreme input resistance, so that the radio's output amplifier section isn't loaded in the heavy manner that speakers would load it. I'm guessing that the late amps would also have some different tone equalization relative to the early amps, because the radio loudspeaker amps effectively "idling" into such a high resistance would likely have a different frequency response than they would when actually driving speakers, and the input sections of the "silver amps" would be a likely place to correct for that.

 

[gerryvz]

RE, the "sound system" silver dual amps: I'm saying "Not Interchangeable".
The early ('93 and prior), and late ('94-'95) have different audio input sections.

The early version are fed "line level" audio, front and rear (after the separate external fader knob).

The late version amps are fed from what would otherwise be the speaker output terminals of the later simplified one piece front radio chassis. Obviously, those amps would have a really extreme input resistance, so that the radio's output amplifier section isn't loaded in the heavy manner that speakers would load it. I'm guessing that the late amps would also have some different tone equalization relative to the early amps, because the radio loudspeaker amps effectively "idling" into such a high resistance would likely have a different frequency response than they would when actually driving speakers, and the input sections of the "silver amps" would be a likely place to correct for that.

That is some day-um good Klinkage, there.

 

[Allgonquin]

I did a trial install of my returned 1432 unit to make sure everything worked. I was about to be peeved because I put it all in and zip, nada, no sound. The head unit lit up, I entered the code, it was changing stations, etc. But no sound. Ugh. So I looked at all connections about 23 times, wiggled them, reseated them etc. Nothing. Then "bing!" a light went off in my head. The center console section with the fader switch was not installed.... So I plugged that section of the console in, and Voila, we have sound! Yay!

On the aux input, the only cassette I could dig up was one my kids had to run their iPods through a cassette deck on another car, the dummy cassette which provides a poor-man's aux input. The only trouble with that one was that when I put it in, it keeps changing tracks or directions back and forth because there is no tape. It worked enough to prove that the Becker aux input works. The levels are dramatically different, however, and I about deafened myself when I ejected that cassette after listening to my iPod, the radio sound level was maxed out in the car. Scared the crap out of me! Have to get used to turning the volume WAY down when switching back to radio.

Rgds,
Chris

 

[Klink]

I did a trial install of my returned 1432 unit to make sure everything worked. I was about to be peeved because I put it all in and zip, nada, no sound. The head unit lit up, I entered the code, it was changing stations, etc. But no sound. Ugh. So I looked at all connections about 23 times, wiggled them, reseated them etc. Nothing. Then "bing!" a light went off in my head. The center console section with the fader switch was not installed.... So I plugged that section of the console in, and Voila, we have sound! Yay!

On the aux input, the only cassette I could dig up was one my kids had to run their iPods through a cassette deck on another car, the dummy cassette which provides a poor-man's aux input. The only trouble with that one was that when I put it in, it keeps changing tracks or directions back and forth because there is no tape. It worked enough to prove that the Becker aux input works. The levels are dramatically different, however, and I about deafened myself when I ejected that cassette after listening to my iPod, the radio sound level was maxed out in the car. Scared the crap out of me! Have to get used to turning the volume WAY down when switching back to radio.

Rgds,
Chris

LOL! That has also tripped up countless professionals! It's just common sense to test it before one puts everything else back together, and as you remembered the fader is almost always stuck in the trim panel. Good Times!

 

[Hollybrook]

Has anyone replaced the fader on the console with good luck? Mine is very noisy and needs to be rolled back and forth every time I use the stereo to clean up the sound. Are the new faders recently built or NOS that would not be much better than what I have?

 

[Klink]

Has anyone replaced the fader on the console with good luck? Mine is very noisy and needs to be rolled back and forth every time I use the stereo to clean up the sound. Are the new faders recently built or NOS that would not be much better than what I have?

Just replaced one a couple of weeks ago, and it was relatively new production. It worked perfectly.

 

[gerryvz]

Indeed the trunk-mounted amplifiers are different between pre- and post-facelift US models, depending on the Becker (or Becker-Alpine) head unit used in the vehicle. If you are at a wrecking yard, it is a GREAT idea to pick up a spare pair of the amps for your year vehicle/head unit model ... dunno if you've looked at the prices of amps from MB, but they are spendy buggers. Same if you own a US-model C/W126 ... GET THOSE AMPS !!! They are usually cheap, $5-10 apiece and most of the time they work just fine.

Cheers,
Gerry

 

[baviking1]

OK, I finally completed installing an aftermarket stereo in my 1990 300CE today (nothing in the car when I bought it). Sony MEXN500BT head unit, Blaupunkt EMA455 4ch amp (60 watts/ch RMS), MB Quart Onyx 4" dash speakers, and Infinity Reference 5x7"s in the rear deck. It sounds pretty decent, and will probably be better than the factory system once I add a Blaupunkt or Infinity sub in the rear (already ran the RCA's). I think the speakers will loosen up a bit after they break-in too........