SL55 R230 Rear Speakers

[SL63 Mark]

A couple of questions if I may from puzzled from AMG-Land.

The rear speakers on my SL are really small, and virtually inaudible from the front of the car. There is no front/rear fader control in comand. Is this right ? It's a Bose system.

Are there no bass bins in the back ? If not, why not ? What purpose do the rear speakers serve ? Are they mid/range tweeters only ? There are big bass bins in the front doors, and tweeters too.

Sorry, so many questions, but it's an odd set up, and I would like to know if I have anything missing or not working.

Thanks for any replies.

 

[drmw]

I had the same car & vintage - I think mine was bose too.

Pretty sure there was the ability to adjust settings but it's been gone a few months now so I'm struggling - there were few options I know but it could be worth trying to drill down via comand - I had it set for something like "driver" which skewed the balance nicely, but don't remember front / back TBH

 

[Smacsor]

My 2005 SL500 is the same. No front/rear balance and the rears are inaudible (almost).

I had the car for a month before I even realised they were there.

Appallingly bad sound system for an £80k car? Both my £20k Golfs have better audio systems by far.

 

[SL63 Mark]

My 2005 SL500 is the same. No front/rear balance and the rears are inaudible (almost).

I had the car for a month before I even realised they were there.

Appallingly bad sound system for an £80k car? Both my £20k Golfs have better audio systems by far.

Same here, except mine was £102k

The sound quality is pretty good, I am just puzzled by the tiny rears, which don't seem to do much. Thank you for your replies, at least it looks like I am not alone.

 

[television]

They are tweeters if you have the BOSE or HK (latercars) the sub base is under the passengers feet, sadly with the SL if you bend down and forward you will find the best of the sound down there much lower than your head

 

[Monday]

My SL350 is the same. Selecting "balance" on Comand produces cross hairs but they will only move L/R, not front/back. Car has option 810 Harmon Kardon "surround" sound (my inverted commas!).

 

[SL63 Mark]

Thanks all. There is certainly good bass on the system, modern music particularly shakes the car nicely.

I'll have a listen under the seats as Malcolm suggests to see if I can hear the sub woofers working there.

 

[television]

There is no front to rear adjustment as there are no main speakers in the rear, high frequencies only go in a straight line, ,so the rear ones pointing upwards are not effective at all, you do with the surround option, and this is where the center speaker in the dash comes into play

 

[SL63 Mark]

the center speaker in the dash comes into play

Ah, I didn't know that was a speaker ! I wondered what that was.

I had better go and have a listen.

The point about high frequencies is interesting too.

I think some of this sophistication may be lost on me, as I am a bit deaf in one ear, but I love to try to hear music properly.

 

[television]

I have been in the top end Hi Fi business all my life, although as you get older the high frequencies can often no longer be heard, but is stead we do hear the harmonics of those missing frequencies and if they are not audible then most of us know that the sound is not good.

The funny thing is the ears can be kept good with training before they start to fail in the top end..

I remember years ago I had the boss of Yamaha in my work shop and there was a pair of headphones plugged in to an amp under test with an ear piecing 10khz ringing out,,, he picked them up and put them on and and never said a word, we were all killing ourselves as you could hear it all round the workshop, but he never heard a thing and he was only in his 50s

 

[SL63 Mark]

as you get older the high frequencies can often no longer be heard,

That's the truth, my dad can no longer hear the birds sing and I am going the same way with the HF.

He was "blasted" with sound through headphones in the 1950s and lost his hearing then. That was while working for the govt. I can say no more.

 

[television]

So easily done, all those kids in night clubs with music so loud you cannot talk or think

 

[Ted Schrecker]

Hmmm. Having posted a query on this topic before running across this thread, I am glad others have encountered similar issues - and have similar comments about the audio quality!

I also have an annoying buzz in the passenger door speaker on bass-heavy music; I'm putting off finding out what the dealership will want to correct that.

 

[00slk]

We have two SL's and both with Bose.
They are totally chalk 'n' cheese when it comes to sound quality. One sounds so much better than the other (one has the surround sound option) but you can't really crank up the volume as it seems to lose a little quality. The other you can crank the volume up until it hurts your ears, it sounds like you are at a concert. Very strange that, as both are r230's