Speaker rattle with Burmeister on new 205 C Class

[B4oxx]

I have a really annoying rattle from the dash speaker, even if there is no audio playing!

Taken the car into MB Brighton and after two hours of sitting around they claimed to not find any rattle.

They told me if it comes back, (even though it has never gone away), to re-book the car in for a two day visit as they want to take the whole dash out!!!!

Don't fancy that, so I've bought some trim removal tools and I'll see if I can pop the grille out and fiddle it about and cure the rattling.

I don't know if the metal speaker grilles in the doors are rattling, as the dash speaker rattle is 'concentrating' my ear at the moment.

 

[fellezrick]

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

Hello i am having exactly the same issues and your right it drives you crazy. Have you had any luck with Mercedes? my car is due back in shortly any information would be greatly received.

thanks

 

[Lagerlout]

Which Burmester is this, the standard or the premium?

 

[fellezrick]

Which Burmester is this, the standard or the premium?

My car is a C220 bluetec AMG Line and the Burmester® surround soundsystem option was added to the car on order but it does not state premium or standard? it was not added as part of a package at the time it was selected on its own as i only added a few other options individually.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Guys, what exact speaker is this all happening with? I mean the exact specs of the speakers, if anyone knows

Human ear can pick up most frequencies in music, it can be trained over time to pick up some where you know what to do with each instrument to change the frequency (music producers mostly) Even the time of day can affect this

Also the bitrate of the track and the quality etc... youtube/soundcloud rips at 192kbps will sound different to one of 320kbps or as high as a WAV file can affect frequencies massively

That app is quite decent from a laymans POV where you can properly 'show' the techs at MB where the problem lies. This is definitely a speaker issue though, I have made some songs properly that sound perfect- mixdown and mastering is perfect and then play the track in the car and (most) car audio these days will play out everything as it should from an easy listening perspective, some speakers don't and it will sound entirely different than it does through the monitors used to create it. Obviously sub-bass is a different issue and will never sound as it's made to unless it's coming from the monitors or a well-engineered rig :bannana:

Even some songs do bear in mind, are specifically made for radio play in regards of the mixdown/frequencies due to some frequencies in the original just not being picked up, but I have only mainly heard of that happening with some EDM (dubstep to be precise)

 

[fellezrick]

I will find out the specs for the speakers, but i personally dont think its the quality of the speaker it sounds more of a vibration/rattle of the housing or the metal speaker covers as holding the covers stop or minimise the problem. I had all the speakers and mounts changed in the car 4 weeks ago and for the first few weeks seemed ok but since it has just deteriorated to the same situation i was in before. It is more noticable with telephone calls and talking radio stations such as talksport but it does also occur with specific songs and not always those with alot of bass. The only answer i get when it goes into Mercedes is this problem hasnt been raised before which is obviously not true and we cant find a problem which is pretty poor!

 

[fab1975]

I will find out the specs for the speakers, but i personally dont think its the quality of the speaker it sounds more of a vibration/rattle of the housing or the metal speaker covers as holding the covers stop or minimise the problem. I had all the speakers and mounts changed in the car 4 weeks ago and for the first few weeks seemed ok but since it has just deteriorated to the same situation i was in before. It is more noticable with telephone calls and talking radio stations such as talksport but it does also occur with specific songs and not always those with alot of bass. The only answer i get when it goes into Mercedes is this problem hasnt been raised before which is obviously not true and we cant find a problem which is pretty poor!

Exactly! It is not an issue with the audio source (MP3, CD, DAB, telephone, etc.) but with a vibration coming from either the housing or the speaker itself, as it occurs even when the Comand is set on mute. It might be a small thing, but sometimes it really gets on my nerves...

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

Definitely sounds like (excuse the pun!) MB has overlooked something here

The amount we pay for these cars you'd think something as basic as sound insulation would be a simple task to produce

Are they bose/harmon kardon/high end speakers on those models?

 

[robparry]

A quick update from me. Mercedes Warrington had my car for over a month and still cannot fix it. They know at Mercedes UK that this is now an issue. It went back in this Monday and they are working on apparent fixes Mercedes Benz have provided them with. In total my car now has been in for a total of over 7 weeks , and still has no fix

Its not the soundsystem its the build and the LED mood lighting. As you all know the vibration bounces round both door speakers and the dashboard. So far ive been given 2 free services but that really isn't enough

To top it all off they scratched the rear bumper (in for respray this week also) and there is annoying screech from the front brakes on lock which sounds like a sticky caliper. Which they were supposed to have fixed as it went in for a new new steering knuckle only a couple of weeks ago. I have had nothing but issues from the day i collected this car !!

 

[robparry]

My car is still in with Mercedes, two weeks in total now. Mercedes are apparently sending the dealership 'modified' door trims for the LED lighting and electric seat adjusters. I'm not sure if this will fix it or not and from the sound of my contact at Mercedes , neither is he but something is better than nothing.

 

[Deleted member 113659]

Am I right in saying all the cases in this thread are on cars fitted with Premium Plus Packs OR Burmester sound systems.

Are the any cars effected with just the Premium Packs fitted?

In other words is it JUST cars fitted with the chrome speaker surrounds or not?

Just trying to establish a link between all cases.

Ant.

 

[JohnDaves]

Happening to me too

Just wanted to throw my two cents in that this is happening in California as well. I created a Facebook forum for the C400 just so I could document the issues people are having with their 2015 C Class rattling.

My car is undergoing another round of repairs for this and has been at the dealership in Los Angeles for 12 days. In April I took it in for 5 days and it wasn't fixed. This time I took it to the dealership I purchased from and showed them how to replicate it using the Audio Tool app.

Back in June I called MB corporate and asked if a recall had been announced for this issue and was informed that this had not been reported by any other users. I then told them that it was all over the internet, so obviously that was incorrect.

This is my first Mercedes, and when demonstrating the buzzing to the dealership rep, he said to me 'It's not that bad'. I told him that for 70k, it was that bad. My wife's Acura sounds fantastic compared to this.

Hopefully they can fix it, if not, I think we all deserve a free Carplay upgrade for the trouble this premium brand has put us through.

Here's the video I recorded demonstrating the rattle:
https://youtu.be/VjPDFnf6TOI

Feel free to join the FB forum if you'd like. I won't post a link in case that violates any forum rules, but you can search for it and find it easily.

Cheers,
J

 

[fab1975]

Am I right in saying all the cases in this thread are on cars fitted with Premium Plus Packs OR Burmester sound systems.

Are the any cars effected with just the Premium Packs fitted?

In other words is it JUST cars fitted with the chrome speaker surrounds or not?

Just trying to establish a link between all cases.

Ant.

Hi Ant, my C300h has the Burmeister fitted as part of the Premium Plus Package and apart from the annoying rattling noise I must say that it is nothing special. Definitely it does not sound as a "premium" sound system should do and personally I find it very average. Paradoxically the only thing that makes it special is the rattle!

 

[james.raban]

Hi chaps...is anyone having this issue with the standard piano black trim and brushed aluminium door cards? I note a couple of posters had the optional wood trim and wondered if it's related to that. No rattles so far on my 3 week old car with the black/aluminium trim.

 

[JohnDaves]

Black Ash wood / chrome grills / Premium Plus w. Ambient lighting

Mine is on the Premium Plus with ambient lighting, ash wood and chrome.

My car has currently been at the dealership now for 20 days with not one call or word as to the status. Mercedes is making them replace every single piece of the door to try to make it stop. All told, it's been in repairs for this issue a total of 24 days. Amazing. Mercedes should enable Carplay on our systems for the sheer annoyance of this all.

At least I have a loaner to get me by.

 

[JohnDaves]

Returned, unfixed

After following all the advice from MB engineers, my car was returned to me after 21 days at the dealership - still rattling. I'm going to bring it back in in a week or so once MB engineers come up with other ideas.

 

[fab1975]

After following all the advice from MB engineers, my car was returned to me after 21 days at the dealership - still rattling. I'm going to bring it back in in a week or so once MB engineers come up with other ideas.

I feel for you mate, I really do. In my case I had to leave my car at the main dealer just for one day, but that resulted in a complete waste of time as they could not even replicate the issue in the first place.
To be honest I lost my hopes that it will ever be fixed, but at least I put on record that as far as I am concerned the problem had been reported when the car was just 3 weeks old and has not been solved yet. Therefore we agreed that the next time I will bring my car to them for either a regular service or any extra work under warranty they will have a look at the speaker issue.
Good luck for your next check and please let us know how it goes. Hopefully at some point MB will admit that there is actually a problem and will issue an official bulletin / technical note to the dealers.

 

[robparry]

I have my car back and still no fix. Its still as bad as ever. In total my car now has been in the dealership for over 12 weeks with zero success. My local dealership have now given up.

Im now discussing rejecting the car with the supplying dealer as there appears to be no fix at all. I think their strap line of the 'the best or nothing' needs to be reviewed.

 

[mgooda]

I have my car back and still no fix. Its still as bad as ever. In total my car now has been in the dealership for over 12 weeks with zero success. My local dealership have now given up. Im now discussing rejecting the car with the supplying dealer as there appears to be no fix at all. I think their strap line of the 'the best or nothing' needs to be reviewed.

Hi, have you raised a potential rejection with the dealer-what was their response.

I have this same issue and gave up after four attempts to fix. Decided to just deal with it until I replace in September next year. They replaced the ambient lighting in mine and did some work to the speaker and door panels. It did actually improve the Hi Fi, but the resonance when on the telephone remains almost unbearable. My car is now 12 months old, would be interested if this is still an issue affecting newer builds, and if not, how come-what's different. For clarity, this is a Premium Plus, so Burmeister. Standard trim, not black ash.

 

[robparry]

The car is booked in at Mercedes Benz Stockport on Thursday for them to try and fix it. It's part of the rejection process apparently.

We have discussed a new car briefly which i rejected out right and they tell me that to get a full refund and all my money back the decision is ultimately made by Mercedes UK.

I dont honestly believe this can be fixed. My car has had new doors cards, new trims, some of which are 'bespoke' after the factory in Germany replicated my issues. None of these changes have fixed it.

I'll know more this coming Thursday once i have met with Stockport.