2002 C class coupe (W203) Door speaker upgrade

[xp2500]

Hi!

I have the above car and would like to change the door speakers, as my after market headunit has a lot more to give.

I would like to order them ideally to save on costs.

I was wondering if anyone knows how much mounting depth clearance there is so I can choose something appropriate without having to take it apart twice.

 

[xp2500]

Well I ended up just buying a pair of 6.5" rockford fosgates to fit for the front left and right.

I opened the door cards up and removed the front speaker pods.

Unfortunately Mercedes don't make it easy to upgrade their speakers.

The pods are plastic and the speakers are built in.

I had to literally pry off the front grill, then pull the speaker cone of the plastic and then cut the speaker out of the pod so that I could fit the aftermarket speakers.

After cutting out the original speakers from the pods. I drilled some holes to mount the aftermarket speakers and soldered them into the speaker connector so that it could use the existing speaker connectors...

...

Overall I found a nice improvement of sound clarity ... But it was a bit of a faf...

I don't think I will bother with the rears, as there are some space constraints and the amount of effort involved.

 

[Robaart]

I am just about to do the same and have just ordered a pair of JVC CS-V627E for the front. Hope they make a diffrence to the stock speakers. As you say, it's a bit of a pain to get the old ones hacked off but hopefully will be worth it in the end.

 

[gIzzE]

The OEM speakers are pretty good when driven properly, always upgrade the head unit first, or add an amp if you want to keep it oem looking.

The oem head unit has around 8wpc, so will never get the speakers going.

 

[xp2500]

The OEM speakers are pretty good when driven properly, always upgrade the head unit first, or add an amp if you want to keep it oem looking.

The oem head unit has around 8wpc, so will never get the speakers going.

I have already changed the audio 10 for a Alpine 133bt (4x50w peak ) I had last year.


At the same time I hooked up a class D amp and two alpine r12 subs running at 1 ohm

But since the bass was improved I found the cabin speakers lacked clarity on mids an treble.

As for further amplification a simple, readily available option is a alpine powerpack which is a inline amp that just connects to the iso connectors at the back of the headunit ... obviously not as good as a normal amp but certainly a quick and easy solution.

I am just about to do the same and have just ordered a pair of JVC CS-V627E for the front. Hope they make a diffrence to the stock speakers. As you say, it's a bit of a pain to get the old ones hacked off but hopefully will be worth it in the end.

Good luck dude. Remember to be gentle with that door card ( I practised when I had to change my door lock )

But modding the pod is pretty straight forward after you remove it from the door.

The grill covering the speaker cone is stuck on with glue so you have to pry it off with a screwdriver working your way around the edge...

The speaker cone itself has to be ripped off and then you can use a hacksaw blade or cutting tool like a dremel and cut the plastic magnet supports out...

Once your done you can cut the speaker wire away and then your ready to install your aftermarket speakers...

Make the drill holes, screw the speaker in and then solder the cable to the existing terminals to keep things simple

 

[gIzzE]

Sorry, that was aimed at Robaart, think it is best to change the head unit rather than speakers first.

I also have an 8 band EQ on my head unit and I have had to increase the gains at 8khz by 3db and 15khz by 5db, which shows that the oem speakers are definitely lacking in the top end. However, this is good for the oem set up as it allows it to sound warm and weighty.



Also, you can buy some speaker mounts for around £10, if you wrap these inside and out with some sound deadening they work quite well, plus for £2 you can get adapters so you can use the oem connector, just means you don't have to cut any factory wires or your factory speakers up, in case you want to go back to stock when selling.