W202 Sound System Quality

[concordepilot19]

I've never been happy with the sound system on my July 2000 C220 CDi Estate. The Sony CD / radio that it came with would only play certain CDs and would never search properly so I replaced it with another errrr... Sony which was £100 in Halfords and came with a free Walkman. It works well enough but the door speakers distort like hell if you turn it up and the bass sounds all thuddy.

To cap it all, my wife's Ford Ka CD sounds great, little or no distortion and a really deep and clean bass, even against the road noise.

My inclination is to upgrade the merc door speakers..am I right, and if so, are there any recommendations ?

 

[R2D2]

To me it sounds as if the door speakers are faulty, either loose or damaged by being played too loud. I've got an Alpine headunit playing through the standard speakers. I never get any distortion at all. Someone will correct me but I think its Kenwood do a speaker upgrade for the C Class (?)

 

[C240Sport97]

when I asked about speakers at a car audio shop, they told me to keep the front speakers as they are good ones. the rear ones (on the parcel shelf) needed replacing but they also suggested a new amp (the Audio 10CD does not allow fader control), but it was all going to cost £500, which was a bit much to get fader control.

 

[Aletank]

Do a search on here, There's quite a few of us changed our speakers etc.

The front door speakers on a C-Class cost about £8 each from the dealer, So that tells you the kinda quality they are !!
If I was you I'd start by changing the front door speakers and see how it is then. If ya still not happy maybe look into a Amp then a Sub

 

[Will]

I'd check the settings on the Sony first, ie, bass/treble etc, and I think that Sony have a D-bass "booster" function, check that this is off for now.

But seriously, for very little outlay you could completely change the sound of the car with some new speakers! It depends on how much you fancy spending, but it has to be said that the standard speakers are pitiful!

They are so cheap and nasty, they have probably disintegrated by now!
I would concentrate on buying a good quality pair of speakers for the front - you will need a component set (ie, seperate tweeter and cone), as the W202 has a tweeter up in the dash on each side.

R2D2 - I think you might be thinking of the Pioneer speakers - they were a custom fit set for the W202 with a tweeter that mounted in the existing location etc. I don't think that they are available any more though

Good Luck,

Will

 

[guydewdney]

i replaced mine with theb special fit kenwood ones - and had a small stealthbox in the boot on my old T202

sounded MUCH better, and lost very little boot space (the one on the stealthbox website is my old car, and Graham230K has it now...)http://www.autoacoustics.com/sbn-mc200e.htm

 

[Cossie 2.5]

There are many different options when it comes to upgrading the sound in your car from the sublime to the ridiculous but if you want some decent sound then you have to start with the source. It has to be said that if you buy a Sony for 100quid then you can't expect decent sound without external amplification. If you aren't interested in installing amps etc (which a lot aren't) then I would recommend that you buy an Alpine or a Pioneer headunit as they have the best internal amps in them (Kenwood at a push). From what you've said is it safe to assume that before you changed from old Sony to new Sony the distoration issues weren't there?? and is it also safe to assume that since you bought it from Halfords that they installed it?? If these two things are true then I would check the wiring to the speakers! If the speakers are wired incorrectly then when you fade the sound all the way to the left or right the speaker will sound more defined... If the headunit upgrade isn't possible for the moment and it is currently wired up correctly then you'll find that Kenwood, Pioneer and other large makes will all make 'Custom Fit' speakers for the C Class.