Cannot stand the stock speakers anymore :Cry:

[Guest fuhyong]

Been putting up with the stock speakers in my '06 CLS350 for the past week and getting tired of its puny sound stage and that fact that the sound seems to come more from the back than in front of me!

Along with me wife's need for a build in GPS, I succumb and decide to replace the audio 20 with the kenwood DNX7380BT. I thought of just changing the speakers in the door panel for the time being which together with the new HU, will give me better sound.

Can I just use my limited resources to just change the component speakers in the front and leave the rear ones alone for now? I don't intend to add amplifier or subwoofer, just want a decent stereo sound.

Since Autospritze is doing the kenwood for me, I have asked them and they recommend me the German Maestro 6805 or the Rainbow ?SLX265??, _TWO_ pairs each at about the same price. I was thinking, then must as well consolidate the money and just change one higher end front speakers...

I listen to vocals, pop and classicals. :music: I am not adverse to second hand. Been to soundwerkz too but caught the chap on a busy day and did not benefit from a chance to learn more. And recommendations?

Thanks!

[Guest kepiting1sg]

IHMO,

An installer who will sit down with U, seriously taking time to listen to what U want & make recommendations to your budget, a good ICE installer to go to will be Swift Motion.

U can speak to Sam Tan of Swift Motion.

He's very professional though he's known in the market as "not cheap".

Swift Motion

9 Kaki Bukit Rd 1

#03-11 Eunos Technolink‎ 415938

Singapore

Tel: 9878 1288

Work: 6296 6330

Need any reference - tell Sam Mr Seah from Batam

[Guest kepiting1sg]

If U wanna continue with Wee Heng - AutoSpritze it's better to tell Ah Boon or Ah Wee how far U wanna go on your ICE.

Changing speakers is 1 step.

Adding amps, subwoofer, processor with Time Alignment Capability to run in active mode are some of the other further steps that U can take.

Rp 2 worth

[Guest busdriver]

Hi,

Changing your speakers alone will make it worse. The stock amps cannot drive a good pair of aftermarket speakers well. Stock speakers are mostly running 2ohms whereas the aftermarket ones run 4ohms. You will need apron double the power to drive it. I went thru that route and ended up adding amps to make it better. End of the day, you can select a cheaper alternative by either adding amp to your stock speakers first then decide if you want to change speakers later. If your car has Harman Kardon stock, I suggest just add amplifier to your front speakers first and see how. Alternatively if you don't have HK stock, you may consider adding the JBL MS-8 to your car. If you go down this route, you will probably need to install the rear effect speakers to fully reap the benefits of you MS-8. There should be an empty space for you to add these. For me, I added 2 midrange into the rear. After that, if you are still not happy, then change speakers and add amp at one go. Should be happy if the end result is tuned properly. Can PM me if you wanna see what I've done to mine. I agree, stock hifi sucks. Anyway, I have an E250cab. Collected in March and just finished setting up my ICE after 4 mths of trial and error.

Cheers!

[Guest ykh1]

Hi, Can share with me where and price of your JBL MS-8 installation?

Thank you.

busdriver wrote:

Hi,

Changing your speakers alone will make it worse. The stock amps cannot drive a good pair of aftermarket speakers well. Stock speakers are mostly running 2ohms whereas the aftermarket ones run 4ohms. You will need apron double the power to drive it. I went thru that route and ended up adding amps to make it better. End of the day, you can select a cheaper alternative by either adding amp to your stock speakers first then decide if you want to change speakers later. If your car has Harman Kardon stock, I suggest just add amplifier to your front speakers first and see how. Alternatively if you don't have HK stock, you may consider adding the JBL MS-8 to your car. If you go down this route, you will probably need to install the rear effect speakers to fully reap the benefits of you MS-8. There should be an empty space for you to add these. For me, I added 2 midrange into the rear. After that, if you are still not happy, then change speakers and add amp at one go. Should be happy if the end result is tuned properly. Can PM me if you wanna see what I've done to mine. I agree, stock hifi sucks. Anyway, I have an E250cab. Collected in March and just finished setting up my ICE after 4 mths of trial and error.

Cheers!

[Guest busdriver]

PM u the details

[Guest mvdennis]

busdriver wrote:

Hi,

Changing your speakers alone will make it worse. The stock amps cannot drive a good pair of aftermarket speakers well. Stock speakers are mostly running 2ohms whereas the aftermarket ones run 4ohms. You will need apron double the power to drive it. I went thru that route and ended up adding amps to make it better. End of the day, you can select a cheaper alternative by either adding amp to your stock speakers first then decide if you want to change speakers later. If your car has Harman Kardon stock, I suggest just add amplifier to your front speakers first and see how. Alternatively if you don't have HK stock, you may consider adding the JBL MS-8 to your car. If you go down this route, you will probably need to install the rear effect speakers to fully reap the benefits of you MS-8. There should be an empty space for you to add these. For me, I added 2 midrange into the rear. After that, if you are still not happy, then change speakers and add amp at one go. Should be happy if the end result is tuned properly. Can PM me if you wanna see what I've done to mine. I agree, stock hifi sucks. Anyway, I have an E250cab. Collected in March and just finished setting up my ICE after 4 mths of trial and error.

Cheers!

Agree with that ... i went the same route as you on my previous car .. now on this one, will wait and see how it goes. In fact, adding amps is the most effective way to improve the experience.

Try going to sgsoundsystems.com and buy a second hand amp ... there are so many out there at super cheap prices (i'm selling on the private ads here too) that will make you spoilt for choice.

[Guest kepiting1sg]

mvdennis wrote:

Agree with that ... i went the same route as you on my previous car .. now on this one, will wait and see how it goes. In fact, adding amps is the most effective way to improve the experience.

Try going to sgsoundsystems.com and buy a second hand amp ... there are so many out there at super cheap prices (i'm selling on the private ads here too) that will make you spoilt for choice.

The road to ICE nirvana has not been always smooth & "cheap" :becky:

[Guest mvdennis]

kepiting1sg wrote:

The road to ICE nirvana has not been always smooth & "cheap" :becky:

true la ... but scary thing is some people spend so much but dun really know why also :shocked::becky: i prefer the slow experimential route ... :becky::becky: (also because me not loaded la!)

[Guest kepiting1sg]

mvdennis wrote:

true la ... but scary thing is some people spend so much but dun really know why also :shocked::becky: i prefer the slow experimential route ... :becky::becky: (also because me not loaded la!)

Unker have gone thru that ICE path be it SQ or SPL for the last 30+ yrs and stop ICE about 3 yrs back!

See my old E Class - My boot has so many subs, speakers, amps, processor, batteries that left no more place for these 2 McIntosh amps left for the rear passengers to step & processor installed in the centre arm rest

[Guest jhun_4040]

kepiting1sg wrote:

Unker have gone thru that ICE path be it SQ or SPL for the last 30+ yrs and stop ICE about 3 yrs back!

See my old E Class - My boot has so many subs, speakers, amps, processor, batteries that left no more place for these 2 McIntosh amps left for the rear passengers to step & processor installed in the centre arm rest

wah unker !! power la !!!

[Guest mvdennis]

WAH!!!!

:shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

Powderful man!!!

[Guest chiaster]

Astonishing!!! I think if we opened up the boot, it would look exactly like those cars from "Pimp My Ride"!!!

[Guest busdriver]

If you put in a good subwoofer, especially those that are slim, select your amp carefully (size and sound quality), you probably will live well with almost the same boot that you had maybe without a spare tyre.... after all, how many of us will resort to changing tyres without calling for help? I have 4 amps plus a 13" sub in my e250convertible. Still got almost the same boot space. Cheers to a painful road ahead. hahaha

[Guest kepiting1sg]

busdriver wrote:

If you put in a good subwoofer, especially those that are slim, select your amp carefully (size and sound quality), you probably will live well with almost the same boot that you had maybe without a spare tyre.... after all, how many of us will resort to changing tyres without calling for help? I have 4 amps plus a 13" sub in my e250convertible. Still got almost the same boot space. Cheers to a painful road ahead. hahaha

If it's purely a Sound Quality system, there will be adequate boot space.

My earlier rides all of them ran on "swithable" 2 systems.

A Sound Quality system for competition + a Blasting System for those good old days at Yishun Dam Saturday nite outings by SG ICE enthusiasts.

Boot spaces for fellow enthusiasts were forever not enough.

With a blasting system U will be hard pressed for spaces.

Used to have 3 extra Optima batteries in my W124 boot, a 225 ampere High Output alternator external voltage regulated usually set @ 15.0V for blasting.

[Guest busdriver]

That's the ultimate you did. Cost a lot of $$$ as well. Haven't seen anyone in a Merc do that before. Will be interesting to see one done up. Maybe u will start one in time to come? :-)

[Guest kepiting1sg]

busdriver wrote:

That's the ultimate you did. Cost a lot of $$$ as well. Haven't seen anyone in a Merc do that before. Will be interesting to see one done up. Maybe u will start one in time to come? :-)

My previous W124 in many setups, HUs & amps combination.

Winning 1st place in a ICE competition in KL

Initial setups

Top of the range MBQuarts QM218.61Q components 2 sets running at 400Watts per channel. Can be heard 100m away!

Final setups for SQ only

My W203

2008 Singapore IASCA finals setup.

The Genesis CA250 amp was made specially for me by Genesis & not available to the public to this day to drive the pair of top of the end Sony XES Z50 Ribbon tweeters,

This Sony top of the range audio XES Z50 set in 1998 from Sony Singapore costing $25,000 before installation.

Looks very neat!

Set of Limited Edition ads 310px

My current Prado before de-kitting - My name for it - My Beast!

If U need any photos of my ICE - pls ask!

I will have no more stamina to build a new one for you to see.

I have gone there many rounds over the last 30 years

I've since retired after "losing" to the Thai judges in Dec 2008.....kekeke!

try beating this MY boleh Perodua Kancil to put the most number of speakers.

New Generation - Cartoon's previous MB Vito Van.

Try counting the number of Optima Yellow Batteries!:pound:

This van runs on 2 high output alternator each churning out more than 200 ampere of current.

[Guest lcohol]

OMG! That's crazy!

[Guest subaru67]

the $ spent is endless:Cry:

[Guest mvdennis]

FWAH!!!!! :shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

[Guest chiaster]

FFFWWWAAAHHH!!!

:shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked::shocked:

[Guest NOOBC200]

U r the man........

[Guest busdriver]

Awesome! U haven't modded your stock ICE?

[Guest kepiting1sg]

busdriver wrote:

Awesome! U haven't modded your stock ICE?

30+ years into ICE - I m damn tired! No more passion!:Cry:

Sold all my ICE 2 years back to buyers as far as States & Italy.

Left only an Orion 1 x 1200WRMS ClassD amp & a set of Image Dynamic

Horn speakers lying in my house in Pleasure Island.

Probably the last item donate to Cartoon New Generation display cupboard.

I only drive my ride here only on some weekends.

Hardly has time in the ride!

Not much mods for my ride though a little itchy here and there.

nvm - let it itch!

Few mths back acquired a oem Harmon Kardon Sub for my ride.

Wanted to retrofit the Harmon Kardon option for my ride.

http://mercedes.harmankardon.com/en/vehicles/m-class/

Too much work - surrendered! :becky:

Maybe drop a MS-8 in and see how it goes.:music:

[Guest PALMER19]

Wah lan eh !!