Speaker Upgrade - Help.

[Dale Minton]

Can somebody help me with this one - I have a 1998 SL320 (R129) I have just removed an after market Pioneer head unit and installed an Audio 10 and CD Changer. Although I'm not one to have the volume up high as often as poss I do like crisp reproduction when it is cranked up a bit (not full). I find that the woofers in the doors don't handle the bass frequencies to good (even when the bass is only up around the midway point). When it's wound up a bit it the bass reproduction just gets somewhat wooly and distorted. I don't know if you have any real experience in this field or not, but can anyone reading this post advise on what would be a good pair of aftermarket speakers to buy to give me better reproduction and handle higher volumes better than the standard units I have now.
Thanks
Dale.

 

[Dale Minton]

------------- what is std speaker diam in the SL129, ohms and power output (watts), I do not want to be 'adapting' new speakers to fit into the doors, I want a simple no aggro replacement, ta again

Dale

 

[Quickbrit]

Any JL, Alpine or Pioneer replacement will be better that stock (and have direct replacements for stock size).

I think the secret is to add Dynomat to the speaker area to stop the innards flexing and distorting the sound.

MikeE

------------- what is std speaker diam in the SL129, ohms and power output (watts), I do not want to be 'adapting' new speakers to fit into the doors, I want a simple no aggro replacement, ta again

Dale

 

[Dale Minton]

Thanks Mike, I assume you meant JBL.
What's 'Dynomat', is that some sort of vibration/sound suppression material that you pack in around the speaker cavity area within the door, where can one buy it ? I note the comment re Rossi, are you a motorcyle/MotoGP fan, I am - love it, better than F1. I've got a Fireblade.

Regards

Dale.

 

[television]

When a loudspeaker cone moves forward to produce a sound, it has to get back to where it started , and we do not want to hear this sound, so a dense wadding in mat or other form is used to to deaden this sound, it also takes away any boxy sound of the enclosure, and thats its main function.

The other thing with a loudspeaker is that the frame must be held as rigid as possible, this is why a baffle board of a good thickness is often used,if the front baffle is too thin the frame of a loudspeaker will move rather than the cone, and this is sound lost

 

[Dale Minton]

I assume Mercedes mount their speakers on something satisfactorily within the doors, and we can just leave that bit as is, or is their a simple improvement that is known to be made.

Dale.

 

[television]

This is hardly enough room for much sound damping as a certain amount of free air is needed, a slight improvement can be made with a thin damping

 

[Dale Minton]

.............. so you don't pack the stuff in then.

aAle

 

[Dale Minton]

Poor Audio 10 Sound Reproduction in SL320

Hi Malcolm, when in the wrong thread I took your advice and posted the new question you see below to the section that covers electrics, now I can't find my bl***y posting to see if there was a response so I'm doing it again here in the hope that you can help on this as well.

My query is about my Audio 10: I'm no 'expert' on sound reproduction concerning in car entertainment but I've been in many a car in my time and listened to a lot (the Bose system on my newer SL500 spoiled me somewhat) but I feel the distortion levels I'm getting with my system is manifesting itself at too low a volume and it starts to sound a little rough at what I'd consider to be moderate levels of volume. If I do crank the volume right up it sounds reeeaal crap and then it has the habit of cutting out. In those circumstances I've switched it off, when I switch on again it works. Does the Audio 10 have some sort of protection on the output side of the system regarding over-driving or do you think that the poor repro is linked to a fault where something is amiss or damaged with the unit or its amp

Dale

 

[Alex M Grieve]

now I can't find my bl***y posting to see if there was a response so I'm doing it again here in the hope that you can help on this as well.

Hi Dale,

As you have not too many posts the easy way is to click on your identity, which will take you to your page. Then choose to view all your posts. They are presented in reverse chronological order, so you should be able to scroll down to the one you want quite quickly.

 

[Bolide]

If you want more bass from a new speaker of the same size I think you will be disappointed. The amount of bass you can produce from a given size of speaker is dictated by cone area and cone excursion. Unless you increase one of the other (or both) dramatically you won't get more bass or volume

If you want more bass and/or volume you need to look at a decent subwoofer and amplifier. If you then use a high-pass filter to remove the low end sent to the front speakers they will sound a lot cleaner & go louder without distortion. You may well need to replace them anyway - they may have been damaged by excess bass boost & volume much as you're trying to do

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[Dale Minton]

Thanks Nick, what's your view on the cutting out of the unit when the volume is cranked up a bit on the high side - should it do that - is it designed to do that ?

Dale.

 

[Dale Minton]

Hi Dale,

As you have not too many posts the easy way is to click on your identity, which will take you to your page. Then choose to view all your posts. They are presented in reverse chronological order, so you should be able to scroll down to the one you want quite quickly.

Thanks a lot Alex, seems like I've sussed it now. By the way the SL in the pic looks nice, same colour as the first SL I had back in 2003, is yours a 500 ?

Dale.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Thanks a lot Alex, seems like I've sussed it now. By the way the SL in the pic looks nice, same colour as the first SL I had back in 2003, is yours a 500 ?

Dale.

Hi Dale,

Yes it is. 1994 vintage and now with 54,000 or so.

 

[Dale Minton]

You don't use it much then, it must be very clean, under the bonnet too. If that V8 has only done 54K it's hardly run in. Previous to my SL I had owned 2 500E's (1993 models) fantastic cars. The first was in Bornite with Black Leather (bought from a Merc dealer in Stuttgart). The second was bought in Zurich from "Foitek" (well known in those parts for specialising in exotic high performormance sports cars), it had only done 68K and was in Metallic Black with Grey Leather. The Zurich car was mint and under the bonnet looked brand new, so yours must be pretty decent at that mileage.

Dale.

 

[television]

Hello Dale.
There are several things here.

If the Audio 10 is cutting out, then the output chips could be faulty, and they can be replaced.

A small amp will damage speakers much easier than a high powered one, this is due to the DC that is present once the volume control is turned beyond much over ½ way.

Once a loudspeaker has been over loaded, the suspension is shot, and it will always rattle and grate.

The best way to see if the speakers have been overloaded is to listen on speech, and a mans voice and any vibrates from where the cone touches the magnet can be heard.

I had the same set up in my 129 its 9 in the link

http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/showthread.php?t=9892

 

[Dale Minton]

Your a mine of info Malcolm,

Bearing in mind your comments:

(a) how does one get the output chips tested - and who mends such
components

(b) if they were faulty would they have an effect on the sound quality or
would it be that they were just responsible for the cutting out.

(c) does the Audio 10 have a small amp or a high powered one.

Dale.

 

[television]

If the output amp are tripping (dc) maybe the heatsink compound has dried out. good ICE shop should have an in house engineer.

The output chip devices can affect the sound by distorting the sound.

Loudspeakers can be over driven, and this can buckle the speech coil, this means the the coil is rubbing on the magnet, it eventually wears through the winding and go temporally open cicuit.

Your best way is to remove a door speaker, and try another speaker, then leave it running and see if the sound cuts or is distorted

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GA=722.624&CT=F&cat=44F&SID=82&SGR=305&SGN=11

http://www.detali.ru/cat/oem_mb2.as...GA=722.624&CT=F&cat=44F&SID=72&SGR=200&SGN=07

 

[Bolide]

Thanks Nick, what's your view on the cutting out of the unit when the volume is cranked up a bit on the high side - should it do that - is it designed to do that ?

I would think it's designed to do that. Manufacturers will go a long way to avoid warranty claims. If they build a system powerful enough to blow speakers then they get claims. If they protect the system they won't

Getting car hifi to sound good is not easy. Getting it to sound superb is incredibly difficult and ctime consuming. The saying is "10% equipment, 90% installation". In other words, sound deadening, proper solid mounting of speakers, careful speaker placement & aiming, amplifier headroom and crossover & amp setup are all vital. Probably more vital than the speaker brand, size or cost

Nick Froome
www.w124.co.uk

 

[Dale Minton]

Thanks again for that info, as I said in my previous post 27 I think I've been spoilt by the Bose system I had in my newer SL500 + what I have in my Alpina is what BMW term as their professional sytem so maybe I'm expecting a little to much refinement.

####################

Hi Malcolm, can I just bring you back in here. With regard to your comments about 'speech' performance through the system, I listened to a male commentary this morning and adjusted the volume from a moderate setting through to a pretty high setting and I must confess the reproduction was pretty good, so strangely enough it would appear that it's just music that produces the distortion from about midway up the volume scale and I just feel at that level of output that such a system shouldn't start to sound all wooly - based on that info what's your view now, or am I simply expecting too much. I do acknowledge that it's all a bit subjective 'cause you might sit in the car and consider it to be no less or no more than it should be but your comments re the above would be appreciated. Ta

Dale.