W202 Upgrade speakers

[dbanbery]

i have heard before that there was an upgrade over the standard speakers for a "Harmon Kardon" setup or similar. are these difficult to get hold of second hand? and is it worth doing over finding replacement speakers that fit? my rear door speakers are on their way out and i was thinking of alternatives. i'm not wanting to put massive 12 inch door pods in with twin subs and lots of other rubbish, just after replacing the standard equipment with something that will fit behind the covers, and that will refresh my stereo system.

 

[vijilants]

The rear door speakers really do very little so personally I wouldn't bother with them.

Replace the front door and rear parcel shelf speakers with 6.5in replacements such as Pioneer, JBL etc two way speakers if you want a massive improvement straight away.

The speakers that MB put into these cars were rubbish.

Note that you will need the adapters to fit the aftermarket speakers.....the front door adapter is SAK2001 and costs about £8 , I can't remember what the rear ones are, but are readily available on ebay and car audio suppliers. but using these, the aftermarket speakers bolt straight in without any hacking etc.

 

[dbanbery]

cheers for the reply,

ideally i want the physical appearance to remain the same. i take it these mounting brackets go behind the grilles in the doors, so they look identical.

is it not possible to obtain quality replacements in the correct size without the adapter?

 

[Daeths]

I have a factory fit Harmonn Kardon in mine and compared to the standard Merc sound system it is poles apart and IMO sounds fantastic. Solid bass at low volume, high volume no distortion.

 

[dbanbery]

are they harder to find than hens teeth second hand?

 

[Daeths]

I would imagine they would be as the quality difference is significant and when they are available everyone will want them. I was fortunate as they were part of the build on my car.

 

[dbanbery]

Hmm.

well i suppose i'll have to see if i can get lucky.

otherwise, i'll look into the adapter method

 

[Daeths]

I would imagine they would be as the quality difference is significant and when they are available everyone will want them. I was fortunate as they were part of the build on my car.

 

[Griz]

Blaupunkt Car Speaker configurator

Hi people
You might wish to try this web site from Blaupunkt, it tells you which replacements are best and which fitting kits you need.

Griz:lol:

http://carconf.blaupunkt.com/default.asp?lang=en

 

[bigasotonuk]

I don,t believe a Harmon Kardon system was offered as an option on the 202, on the 202 it was the BOSE system.
The best way to go IMO would be with Alpine custom fits, or 6.5's with adapter rings, but do ensure the the centre cone on whatever speaker you decide on is flush or only slightly raised or you could have some clearance issues with the cover.

 

[vijilants]

cheers for the reply,

ideally i want the physical appearance to remain the same. i take it these mounting brackets go behind the grilles in the doors, so they look identical.

is it not possible to obtain quality replacements in the correct size without the adapter?

If you are fitting aftermarket speakers you do need the adapters, and yes they interface between the speaker and the original mounting points.

I use a set of JBLs in the front doors and Clarions in the rear, and they bolted straight in with no issues. The only thing you have to do is either cut the cables to the mercedes speaker and put in a set of crimp connectors for the new speakers or the more expensive route of getting the ready built adapters to adapt the mercedes connector to crimp connections.

 

[dbanbery]

I'm going to take a few bits apart at the weekend to see what sizes i need. i want to avoid using the adapters if possible. not too fussed about the cables. how different are they?

 

[markg14]

I opted for the Bose sound system in my W202 - they were a great improvement on the standard system. But just like "normal" hifi, you have to look at the weakest link in the chain to improve the sound! You can't polish a t*rd.

 

[dbanbery]

haha! point!

generally i was happy with the sound although it distorts when i turn it up loud. it has a decent stereo that has replaced the standard tape deck some time ago. aside from the speaker cable i would be happy to change a few speakers if i see fit - but i'm not ripping my entire interior out to fit speaker cable that wont fit behind the trims properly.

 

[bigasotonuk]

Hi,
You can use the standard speaker cabling no problem, though if you were to later add an amp I would run new cables, the link below is the front door speaker adapter plates required to fit the speakers,
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SAK-2001-Merc...6:4|39:1|72:1689|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:200
The link below is an example of the speakers which could be used with the above adapters,
http://www.dvbcaraudio.co.uk/alpine-sxe1750s-shallow-component-speakers-p-2546.html