Factory fitted w124 front speakers?

[gotaw124]

Are these factory fitted w124 speakers? I got this car used so i have absolutely no idea what the previous owners did to the car. I read that the original speakers are 120 mm in size but the speaker that's currently in the dash is 110mm. I'm looking at changing the speakers in my dash and i'm interested to know the options available. If i were to place a 100mm speaker in the dash, would i need some sort of bracket? Is it possible to fit 5.25" inch speakers with some cutting?

 

[teddycatkin]

yep they look original to me?
Fitting 10cm or bigger 15cm door size you will need to modify the holes ect and make sure the trim grills still fit----bigger ones cut off the original corners and some makes do fit -smaller need new holes drilling to fasten in but the best advice is to connect and try them 1st as the sounds are very different -I ended up sticking with the originals for thest sound.

 

[lwbnick]

Are these factory fitted w124 speakers?

Back in the day Mercedes just came with holes for the speakers and a hole where the radio should be, and you had to make the hole for the aerial.

Everything was dealer fit, so depending on the dealer.

Unless there is anything wrong with the speakers, I'd leave them alone.

 

[gotaw124]

Oh i see. From what i know the first headunit that came with the car is by blaupunkt before it was swapped out for a pioneer headunit by the second owner. So there could be a possibility that these speakers are approximately 18 years old. Perhaps the second owner just wanted a cd player in front of him and did not bother about how nasty the sound was. My main reason for wanting to replace them is because it's extremely unpleasant to listen to the sound that comes out from them. I'm planning to fit 4" rockfords in there but i'm hoping i can put something slightly bigger.

 

[Bolide]

Those aren't original but they probably came from an MB dealer

Smaller speakers will fit but you'll lose a bit of bass. Bigger speakers are doable but it's hard work and depends on finding a speaker with a shallow mounting depth

Rainbow make a drop-in replacement but it's no great step forward. W124s suffer from having no bass and replacing a 12 cm speaker with another 12 cm speaker won't solve that

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[Juddian]

It's not to everyone's taste but i ran a set of sub woofer leads through to the boot and stuck an active sub in there.

Not to go headbanging round the town but if you balance the levels correctly then the bass from the boot will compliment the rest of the system...well as good as a 124 is ever going to be.

 

[snoopy20]

They are not original, the original is 120mm and the rear, if saloon, is 130mm. Both were one-way drivers.

The best drop in for the front is these. I run them and they are superb.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/CarPower-CR...DXE6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294005407&sr=8-2

The 130mm's require a bit more work to fit and probably not worth the effort. If you want the original's it's your lucky day as I'm selling some in the classifieds section!

I'm also about to put a bass in the car but initial testing shows bass is too heavy in the rear and lighter at the front. It's not going to be balanced.

 

[gotaw124]

Those aren't original but they probably came from an MB dealer

Smaller speakers will fit but you'll lose a bit of bass. Bigger speakers are doable but it's hard work and depends on finding a speaker with a shallow mounting depth

Rainbow make a drop-in replacement but it's no great step forward. W124s suffer from having no bass and replacing a 12 cm speaker with another 12 cm speaker won't solve that

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

You're right. I opened the rear speaker grill and found that the front and rear are using the same speakers. Well i've heard Rockford's 4" Punch and i must say the sound is much better than current speakers.

 

[gotaw124]

Hey guys i just got my hands on 2 pairs of R152 rockford fosgate speakers for the front and the rear. There is a possibility of fitting 5.25" speakers in front. However some of the plastic bits underneath the front grill have to be removed.

 

[grober]

I would be wary of changing the front speakers by modifying the dash as its going to be difficult to achieve a factory quality finish on the dash. Besides which the location of the speakers firing upwards and the lack of a decent resonant cavity behind them is always going to limit the sound quality. Your best bet for front speakers would be to custom mount them in the front doors imho.

You might take a look at posts concerning speakers in the R129 [SL] which uses door mount speakers.

and this thread shows what can be done in the rear. http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/83742-w126-speaker-sizes.html

this is also a good thread on the subject:-
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/60987-w124-speakers.html

 

[gotaw124]

I would be wary of changing the front speakers by modifying the dash as its going to be difficult to achieve a factory quality finish on the dash. Besides which the location of the speakers firing upwards and the lack of a decent resonant cavity behind them is always going to limit the sound quality. Your best bet for front speakers would be to custom mount them in the front doors imho.

You might take a look at posts concerning speakers in the R129 [SL] which uses door mount speakers.

and this thread shows what can be done in the rear. http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/83742-w126-speaker-sizes.html

this is also a good thread on the subject:-
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/electronics/60987-w124-speakers.html

Well i'm not cutting the dash or making the current speaker hole any bigger. I'm merely cutting of the plastic bits of the front speaker grill so that the tweeter will not be squashed. The reason why i do not wish to mount them on the doors is simple..I want to keep the factory look.

 

[grober]

Fair enough its your car mate. Was just a suggestion that's all .

 

[gotaw124]

These are the speakers that will be installed in the front dash and on the rear shelf. Will post more pictures once i get to work on installing them. Did a test fit before i purchased them and they fitted perfectly in the hole of the front dash. Of course i'd have to cut away a few plastic bits underneath the grill to accomodate the height increase but that should not be an issue. For the rear I plan to use the original adaptor piece and cut off the mounting points of the speakers.

 

[gotaw124]

Update: I will have to slice off all the mounting points of all the 4 speakers. As you can see in the picture below, the speaker fits very nicely in the dash but the mounting points seem to be getting in the way of the holes meant for the grill cover hence the need to get rid of them.

 

[gotaw124]

i finally finished installing the new speakers. the speakers fit the dash but the front grill kinda protrudes a little. well you can't really tell unless you look closely. will upload the pic tomorrow.

 

[Chilsta]

Hello gotaw124,

I'm looking to replace the stock dash speakers in my W124.

Any chance you could add a photo or 2 to show what the grilles look like when fitted?
How much grief were they to fit? Any tips that'd make my life easier (other than cutting a tab off each speaker).

I'm weighing up whether to go for the Rockfords as you did, or to take the easier route and get the 120mm drivers that Snoopy20 linked to.

Cheers