Speaker rattle with Burmeister on new 205 C Class

[Gary-W]

Hi all,

I mentioned this in passing in my other thread about lights, trims etc.

Basically, my new C-Class arrived just before Christmas and it's lovely but for a few niggles. One of them? The front right speaker in the driver door (the lovely metal finish one) rattles.

It only does so on certain kinds of music but basically the sound system and the seats are the most important selling points for me on a car. Strange but true

If you feed it dance music (which is about 2% of my listening!) then it is stunning. If you feed it heavy-ish rock it's great. Where it struggles is acoustic guitars and male voices. At a decent volume, everything else in the track is crystal clear so it's not like the whole thing is distorting. It's just that some guitar notes will make it sound like Metal Mickey farting.

You can even set it off if you have a phone call to a bloke with a loud voice. All speakers seem fine but for the one on the left which has the issue. In all cases, I've demoed it to the staff at the dealership who have said 'it shouldn't be doing that'. And it shouldn't - the tracks that upset it are familiar to me and gave no issues in my Audi with B&O / they give no issues at home.

Holding the other end of the aluminium trim where the speaker is housed seemed to reduce the issue so I thought 'sympathetic resonance'. They had the car in and stripped the door panel. Still the same. Yesterday they replaced the speaker. I'll see how it goes.

My question is 'anyone else'? I had a November build 205 as a loan car and it had Burmeister. It was worse than my car!! In it's case, it was the right hand speaker.

I'm still convinced it's resonance, not a speaker problem but would welcome your thoughts and experiences. Whilst I'm hopeful it's cured, the issues that the loan car had are making me wonder if this is common and if, a couple of months down the line, I'm going to get Metal Mickey farting in surround

 

[def90cars]

If its resonance, then a dynamic damper would fix it.

 

[automaniaman]

Hi all,
I'm going to get Metal Mickey farting in surround

"Boogie, Boogie"

 

[Gary-W]

Just a quick update on this.

The car has now been in 9 times because of 3 different speakers rattling (centre speaker, left door, right door). The dealer have never swapped the amp but have either reseated or replaced speakers several times.

Acoustic guitars set it off and if you have a mono audiobook (typical iPod audiobook from Audible for example) the centre speaker really doesn't like it. And the phone sets it off. If you're playing a busy rock track or dance music? Well it is suitably masked / doesn't do it so as you can notice it.

It's looking like I'll be swapping the car - can anyone here comment on their experience of Burmeister in the C Class? I'd appreciate positive or negative stories because I'm trying to understand if it's typical or rare. In one of the other threads here another user commented on it but other than that I've not seen much around the Internet which leads me to hope that I've been unlucky. Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

 

[mgooda]

Hi
I have the self same problem.
Vehicle has been in 4 times for the dealer to review and have various recordings made, as none of the fixes solved the problem.
It's currently been referred to MB Germany and I'm waiting on next steps - aside from this issue the Burmester is fine. It's frustrating as even when music masks the resonance, I know it's there.

 

[kjb1]

Its quite well known on the American forums. there is even a member who has created a kHz ( think its 4 don't quote me ) soundtrack on a usb to play in the car to dealer as that apparently is when the noise is most evident. Ive got this sound system in my car which is due to arrive next month. Im praying mine isn't going to suffer but have a real bad feeling it will. Im real fussy regarding rattles n squeaks so I will hear it if its there. Enough of is complain, then it will be sorted hopefully. It should be a relatively easy fix.

 

[dozypillock]

Just a quick update on this.

The car has now been in 9 times because of 3 different speakers rattling (centre speaker, left door, right door). The dealer have never swapped the amp but have either reseated or replaced speakers several times.

Acoustic guitars set it off and if you have a mono audiobook (typical iPod audiobook from Audible for example) the centre speaker really doesn't like it. And the phone sets it off. If you're playing a busy rock track or dance music? Well it is suitably masked / doesn't do it so as you can notice it.

It's looking like I'll be swapping the car - can anyone here comment on their experience of Burmeister in the C Class? I'd appreciate positive or negative stories because I'm trying to understand if it's typical or rare. In one of the other threads here another user commented on it but other than that I've not seen much around the Internet which leads me to hope that I've been unlucky. Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

Gary

I do not know your system, but I would ask, are you using MP3 recordings on your phone? Have you tried the same track, with the full music content, as MP3s strip lots out, and some only contain about 20% of the quality, so will be poor.
I have used flac decoding and transferred back to cd, and noticed a big difference on some of my favourite music.
I guess what I am saying, is that it may NOT be the speakers.
Hope this helps?

Neil

 

[mgooda]

For me it's across all formats, compressed and otherwise. Temperature has played a part though but has not led to pinpointing the problem.

I've seen some of the threads on the American sites, so it's clearly a known issue.

 

[MancMike]

Install Audio Tool, which has a tone generator. You can then narrow down which frequencies set of the resonance. It'll make it very easy to reliably reproduce the issue and locate it.

 

[kjb1]

nice

 

[KevinF]

I had a 2006 Honda Civic and from new the RDS function on the factory installed radio (actually designed and manufactured for Honda by Panasonic, I believe) never worked properly. It would fail to retune reliably when driving along and if one did a journey with radio off, then turned on the radio having traveled a distance, all you'd hear was FM hiss, the radio making no attempt to seek an alternative frequency. After over a year of me complaining and several *recodings* by the local dealership, the issue persisted. During this period Honda UK was in complete denial, even though I was one of many owners complaining about such an issue. In the end I sold the car; it wasn't the fault I minded so much as the constant fobbing off. Treat customers like they are idiots to be ignored and they won't come back for another car. And I haven't!

 

[Gary-W]

Thanks for the replies everyone - nice to know from mgooda that it's happening elsewhere in the UK and from kjb1 that it's a 'known issue' in the USA.

Especial thanks to i-CONICA for suggesting the test tone app. I've bought it and have now got some hard data on this rather than saying that 'it's voices and acoustic guitars'.

I put it on and used the frequency sweep. I discovered that at 190Hz the left hand drivers door starts buzzing like a mosquito. It continues to do so until you get to around 230Hz and then it's fine. If you apply pressure to the aluminium housing ANYWHERE or to the LED strip underneath or to the seat adjustment switches you can change or lessen the noise. So it is 100% resonance, not the speaker.

I called the chap I've been dealing with at the local MB dealership and then popped in to show him - he already believed me and has heard this on music / voice but I was actually quite excited because this was so definitive.

He got in the car, I ramped up the sweep and it worked perfectly..... No buzz at all. The only thing that had changed? He'd got in the car using that door. Several slams of the door later and it was back exactly as I'd experienced it. This has finally explained to me why some days I get in the car and it seems to be OK and other days I get in and it drives me nuts.

I then carried on the frequency sweep. The centre speaker buzzes at around 240-260Hz. Then the right door speaker starts (albeit nowhere near as bad) at around 270-280Hz. So when you are feeding it frequencies between 190 and 280Hz, you've got any one of the three firing off.

If you have a little look here, it's no wonder that male voices and acoustic guitars set it off..... The frequencies these buzz at are exactly in the middle of fundamental range for these instruments but of course any solo instrument in that range will do it.....

Frequencies, Fundamentals and Harmonics Explained - The Music Espionage - The Music Espionage

So if anyone is experiencing this, definitely download the app and sweep the frequency. And then open and shut your doors!!

 

[Gary-W]

I've had an afterthought / further question.

In my case, it's clear that the issue is the vibrating aluminium panel which the door speakers are fitted in.

So I'm wondering - do the wood panels also give problems? Common sense would say they'd be less prone to flexing / vibrating. So those who have problems - does your car have aluminium or wood? And those who don't have the problem but have read this thread out of curiosity - wood or aluminium?

Also interested if the AMG leather dash helps a little with the centre speaker rattle??? My car is the sport so has the standard dash. A longer shot I think but the tone generator test has really got me wondering.

 

[MancMike]

Glad it helped.

From the hifi world, we stop things in our rooms from resonating after isolating them by sticking clay or blu-tac to them. It'll drop it's resonance frequency from 190hz (or whatever) into the infrasonic range where it's just not a problem.

I'm not saying you'd want to start dismantling your door panels in a W205 and sticking blu-tac in there, but adding mass is a quick sure-fire way of eliminating resonance.

My W204 buzzes too with certain music but I've not bothered to tackle it yet, as it'd be DIY and IME, dismantling things to stop rattles causes other rattles as clips, etc are all loosened by opening it. I will at some point, but I will order replacement clips so I can replace them as I go to hopefully not cause any other rattles when I eliminate the ones I've got!

 

[richard]

Glad it helped.

From the hifi world, we stop things in our rooms from resonating after isolating them by sticking clay or blu-tac to them. It'll drop it's resonance frequency from 190hz (or whatever) into the infrasonic range where it's just not a problem.

What gets used in the car audio market is sticky-back bitumen mat. In fact, Merc use it inside the doors to make that nice thunk noise when you shut the doors rather that clang. Dynamat is the well known version of this in the car audio world. A small amount on the back of that aluminium will probably fix it !!

Richard

 

[fab1975]

I've had an afterthought / further question.

In my case, it's clear that the issue is the vibrating aluminium panel which the door speakers are fitted in.

So I'm wondering - do the wood panels also give problems? Common sense would say they'd be less prone to flexing / vibrating. So those who have problems - does your car have aluminium or wood? And those who don't have the problem but have read this thread out of curiosity - wood or aluminium?

Also interested if the AMG leather dash helps a little with the centre speaker rattle??? My car is the sport so has the standard dash. A longer shot I think but the tone generator test has really got me wondering.

Hi Gary, this morning for the first time since I bought the car 3 weeks ago I have noticed an annoying rattling noise coming from the front speaker on the driver's door. The weird thing is that it seems to be intermittent and I can hear it distinctively even when turning the volume completely down.
The interior trim is "black wood fine grain" or something like that (please see the attached picture).
I am going to call the dealer tomorrow and see how we can take it forward. In a way I am happy that this is a known issue as I would not like to be told that I am "hearing voices in the dark" or anything that implies signs of mental instability ;-)
Did you have to leave the car for the whole day, or did they manage to have a look on the spot?
Cheers
Fab

 

[mgooda]

At some point MB are going to have to acknowledge what the fault is. I'll be coming up to thinking about changing again at this rate !!

 

[fab1975]

Today I took my C300 Hybrid to MB Liverpool to get my speaker checked, but unfortunately "2 different technicians have tried to replicate the issue in different situations, but failed to detect it".
My only option now is to arrange a new appointment and "demonstrate" that the issue is actually occurring, which means that I need to convince another person that he is hearing the same noise that I hear.
Good luck with that :-(

 

[robparry]

I am having exactly the same issue. Certain music (mainly acoustic or instrumental) or when talking through Bluetooth or listening to Talk Sport. The vibration comes through both front door speakers and the dash speaker.

I have recently collected my car back from Mercedes Benz Warrington after they had it for over a month !! They know of the fault and currently they cannot fix it. In total my car has been back in for over 5 weeks and 5 times and still it cannot be fixed. It either stays the same or gets worse.

I am now dealing directly with Mercedes Benz UK to determine what can be done next. There is a massive issue with this system in this car. We even tested another car 'randomly' which was in for service. Same specification , same fault. Lots of vibration. We tried an S Class, E class and a C Class minus Burmeister and none of them had any issues.

If you are experiencing this issue, it drives you mental. Whilst the system is amazing when listening to certain music types, it cannot be used as an everyday system as the vibrations are just so annoying.

I'll keep you updated with what Mercedes Benz have to say

 

[mgooda]

No posts on here for a while. Are people still experiencing this.

Ambient lighting was changed on mine, an improvement but by no means perfect.