Calling all Audiophiles and Stereophonics

[vibesg]

Need some advice please.

I have Comand in my R230. I have no Bose and have just the normal speakers. I am keen to improve the quality of music in the car but want to keep the Comand head unit. What are my options?

Not keen on spending £1500 on a Bose retrofit. Haven't got that much to play with.

1. Will I get any benefit from a slimline Active Sub in the boot?
2. Will an amp make any difference?
3. I looked at the speakers - 3 in each door enclosure. Any benefit in changing them?

Will value a steer in the right direction.

 

[horsesuitedfool]

Need some advice please.

I have Comand in my R230. I have no Bose and have just the normal speakers. I am keen to improve the quality of music in the car but want to keep the Comand head unit. What are my options?

Not keen on spending £1500 on a Bose retrofit. Haven't got that much to play with.

1. Will I get any benefit from a slimline Active Sub in the boot?
2. Will an amp make any difference?
3. I looked at the speakers - 3 in each door enclosure. Any benefit in changing them?

Will value a steer in the right direction.

I am about to do this in my C Class and did same in my CLK Convertible. Upgrade the speakers with component speakers and the largest mid you can fit with a speaker adapter, i think Focal speakers are the best imo but there are loads to choose from. Then fit an amp to run them, a decent brand one wont be that much. Then lastly fit either a sub in the boot or perhaps a small sub in the car under the seats, Alpine do a slim one for under the seats. This kind of simple set up will make the factory Bose set up sound like a clock radio.....

In mine i am fitting an amp and focal component speakers and then two free air focal 10 inch subs mounted to the rear shelf to run so i dont lose boot space. Obviously you cant do that in an SL so your problem and choice will be down to the sub problem and where to have it.....

 

[Alps]

you dont have to change the standaard head unit to get good sound, tale a look at the Alpine pxe-H650, easy to integrate with your standard head unit and add processing as well as your own amp\speakers, as with anything depends how deep your pockets are

i may just upgrade the subs by buyng a mtx re-q to get a signal to my sub amps

 

[whitenemesis]

Why bother in a car? There is so much extraneous noise. Don't mistake high volume for high fidelity.

Sonic fidelity is very much a personal thing, so this is just my opinion!!

 

[vibesg]

Why bother in a car? There is so much extraneous noise. Don't mistake high volume for high fidelity.

Sonic fidelity is very much a personal thing, so this is just my opinion!!

Good point but I'd beg to differ.
You'll note from my sign on name (Good Vibes) that I value quality music and so why not in a car I say. I tend to use it for long trips and eventually for cross continental dashes. The heavy doors and roof sealing make the interior fairly well insulated from road noise.
I'm after increased quality rather than volume. I like to separate the different guitar acoustics from the bass and enjoy the finer points as much as I can.
We've all made a conscious choice on this forum to drive the best that German Engineering has to offer so the basics are there. I wish to enhance the experience with a little more ting a ling.
I don't want a lot really hehe

 

[fuzzer]

The head units are of good quality , keep it looking OEM and just do the back end.

 

[vibesg]

The head units are of good quality , keep it looking OEM and just do the back end.

My exact intention.

 

[timskemp]

I'm not sure how it would work in the boot of an SL - but I'm not regretting fitting a proper sub to the E. Am considering 3 way components for the front but not quite sure where to fit them...

 

[vibesg]

I'm not sure how it would work in the boot of an SL - ...

I've been told the boot is too well insulated so I will probably get very little or no effect from fitting a sub in the boot. Shame because I tracked down a slimline Pioneer active sub for the boot. No space under the seats.

 

[arkamelis]

i agree with vibesg and his point about a boot area being well insulated, i once had i 15" vibe sub in the boot of my 190, unless i drove round with the boot open, it was i nighmare having such a big sub in the back. knowhere for the air to go so all it was doing was shaking the car loads. i got rid of it and fitted some big heavy duty parcel shelf speakers and all was good.

 

[arkamelis]

your be amazed what sound you can get from many small good speakers these days,rather than big ones. if you can get some amps to power them i never let a head unit do much work thats what the amps to do.