Iyse
Active Member
I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get up, go to my laptop and type a little story. It has a moral too. 
Ages and ages ago, after I had installed my sub, amp and new head unit, times were good, untill I turned the volume up past the point where the factory speakers could take it. The time had come to replace the speakers. I had gone with Sony Xplod all the way up untill then, so I decided to continue the trend and go with some of Sony's new 2004 range speakers. I decided I didn't want 2-ways or components (nightmare to install), but some nice 3-way coaxials. So I took the grills off the front doors, measured the speakers, went to Halfords (I wanted them there and then) and purchased a pair of 13cm speakers. Getting behind the grill and tediously snipping the wires that had been wrapped around the speaker magnet, I had two empty speaker recesses and two wires each side to connect them up to.
I used the plastic ring that was supposed to go on the outside of the speakers to hold the Sony grill in place as a mount, therefore placing it behind the speaker, to give enough depth for it to be screwed into the existing door attachment. After a nightmare job of drilling holes (badly) and positioning, the speakers were on and the grills went back in place. Sorted. I thought I had beaten the companies that make the speaker attachments, and seeing as they weirdly didn't stock any 13cm speaker attachments for Mercedes cars, I thought it best to forget about it.
Then came my birthday, and a pair of 10cm speakers, still Sony Xplod 3-way coaxials, from my brother. Upon trying to fit them, I found it more difficult to force the speakers into the already small recess on the door attachment, so I removed the door card, only to find that the speaker was much too deep for the recess, even with it's respectable plastic grill attachment fitted behind it. I came up with a genius plan. Cut away the back of the door attachment. That will allow ample space! Much to my dismay, after fitting the speakers, I found out from this forum that there was a reason those clever Germans had put that plastic there... To stop the speaker, and ultimately the rest of the inside of the door, from getting wet.
It didn't make sense... How come my 13cm speakers could fit in the front, but the 10cms couldn't squeeze in the back without dumbass modifications? Well... Closer inspection of the removed front speakers displayed that they were in fact 16.5cms, not 13cms, and therefore ofcourse needed speaker adapters. I had many goals to achieve by the end of that week to ensure I didn't feel like more of a goon than I already did.
1) Order new rear door/speaker attachments from Mercedes to replace the ones I had so cleverly cut up.
2) Order speaker attachments. 16.5cm for the front, 10cm for the back... These were available, unlike imaginary 13cm ones.
3) Take out the 13cm speakers in the front and re-package them the best I could to hopefully fool Halfords into thinking I hadn't used them. Then replace them for 16.5cm speakers of the same spec.
4) Install all of this before the Friday, when I was due to make 2 hour trip down to London.
It was Monday evening. Halfords took my old speakers back and charged me no extra for the 16.5cms. That was nice of them. But they didn't have them in stock. They said they'd order them in the next day, but they might not come untill the next week. Bummer. I ordered everything the next day, Tuesday. Mercedes said it wouldn't be a problem. I found the cheapest speaker adapters from http://www.incardiscount.co.uk/
A pair of adapters for £11! Including the leads. Fantastic. I ordered them next day delivery. They came on Thursday... Never mind. I had the parts from Mercedes. I took the door cards off the back and installed my new door attachments, then the speaker adapters, then the 10cm speakers. Perfect fit! But I was still missing my fronts, and all my frequencies (apart from bass) were coming through two lousy tweeters in the dash.
It got to Friday evening. I'd still heard nothing from Halfords. I was due to leave for London that night. I make the short journey to the retail park, walked in and asked about them. The guy took me to the Ripspeed desk and lying there was the most beautiful box I'd ever seen. 16.5cm Sony speakers, never been opened, all paid for, ready for me to take away. I rushed home as fast as I could and ripped my door cards off in the dark. I couldn't see what I was doing, but I didn't care. On they went, screwed in, perfect fit, just like the 10cms. Door cards back on and stereo on. It was like an orchestra was playing just for me... Except it was 50 Cent, and he was rapping just for me.
I was lucky that night. I went back home to London for that weekend, and had the best time doing it too. I had music, undistorted, loud... And with adapters custom fitted to my car. I wonder if I would have ever figured out I was supposed to have 16.5s in my front if I had ordered the adapters first, or if I would have sent them back, without even trying to fit them... Life is weird, dontcha think?
The moral of the story is a simple one. OEM rules.
Ages and ages ago, after I had installed my sub, amp and new head unit, times were good, untill I turned the volume up past the point where the factory speakers could take it. The time had come to replace the speakers. I had gone with Sony Xplod all the way up untill then, so I decided to continue the trend and go with some of Sony's new 2004 range speakers. I decided I didn't want 2-ways or components (nightmare to install), but some nice 3-way coaxials. So I took the grills off the front doors, measured the speakers, went to Halfords (I wanted them there and then) and purchased a pair of 13cm speakers. Getting behind the grill and tediously snipping the wires that had been wrapped around the speaker magnet, I had two empty speaker recesses and two wires each side to connect them up to.
I used the plastic ring that was supposed to go on the outside of the speakers to hold the Sony grill in place as a mount, therefore placing it behind the speaker, to give enough depth for it to be screwed into the existing door attachment. After a nightmare job of drilling holes (badly) and positioning, the speakers were on and the grills went back in place. Sorted. I thought I had beaten the companies that make the speaker attachments, and seeing as they weirdly didn't stock any 13cm speaker attachments for Mercedes cars, I thought it best to forget about it.
Then came my birthday, and a pair of 10cm speakers, still Sony Xplod 3-way coaxials, from my brother. Upon trying to fit them, I found it more difficult to force the speakers into the already small recess on the door attachment, so I removed the door card, only to find that the speaker was much too deep for the recess, even with it's respectable plastic grill attachment fitted behind it. I came up with a genius plan. Cut away the back of the door attachment. That will allow ample space! Much to my dismay, after fitting the speakers, I found out from this forum that there was a reason those clever Germans had put that plastic there... To stop the speaker, and ultimately the rest of the inside of the door, from getting wet.
It didn't make sense... How come my 13cm speakers could fit in the front, but the 10cms couldn't squeeze in the back without dumbass modifications? Well... Closer inspection of the removed front speakers displayed that they were in fact 16.5cms, not 13cms, and therefore ofcourse needed speaker adapters. I had many goals to achieve by the end of that week to ensure I didn't feel like more of a goon than I already did.
1) Order new rear door/speaker attachments from Mercedes to replace the ones I had so cleverly cut up.
2) Order speaker attachments. 16.5cm for the front, 10cm for the back... These were available, unlike imaginary 13cm ones.
3) Take out the 13cm speakers in the front and re-package them the best I could to hopefully fool Halfords into thinking I hadn't used them. Then replace them for 16.5cm speakers of the same spec.
4) Install all of this before the Friday, when I was due to make 2 hour trip down to London.
It was Monday evening. Halfords took my old speakers back and charged me no extra for the 16.5cms. That was nice of them.
But they didn't have them in stock. They said they'd order them in the next day, but they might not come untill the next week. Bummer. I ordered everything the next day, Tuesday. Mercedes said it wouldn't be a problem. I found the cheapest speaker adapters from http://www.incardiscount.co.uk/A pair of adapters for £11! Including the leads. Fantastic. I ordered them next day delivery. They came on Thursday...
Never mind. I had the parts from Mercedes. I took the door cards off the back and installed my new door attachments, then the speaker adapters, then the 10cm speakers. Perfect fit! But I was still missing my fronts, and all my frequencies (apart from bass) were coming through two lousy tweeters in the dash.It got to Friday evening. I'd still heard nothing from Halfords. I was due to leave for London that night. I make the short journey to the retail park, walked in and asked about them. The guy took me to the Ripspeed desk and lying there was the most beautiful box I'd ever seen. 16.5cm Sony speakers, never been opened, all paid for, ready for me to take away. I rushed home as fast as I could and ripped my door cards off in the dark. I couldn't see what I was doing, but I didn't care. On they went, screwed in, perfect fit, just like the 10cms. Door cards back on and stereo on. It was like an orchestra was playing just for me... Except it was 50 Cent, and he was rapping just for me.
I was lucky that night. I went back home to London for that weekend, and had the best time doing it too. I had music, undistorted, loud... And with adapters custom fitted to my car. I wonder if I would have ever figured out I was supposed to have 16.5s in my front if I had ordered the adapters first, or if I would have sent them back, without even trying to fit them... Life is weird, dontcha think?
The moral of the story is a simple one. OEM rules.
