[W126 Coupe] Stereo upgrade

[Vance Rowley]

Nakamichi.com, nice stuff...


Depends on what you are going to be satisfied with. Most head units don't have powerful enough amplifiers in them to drive a good set of speakers (which of course you should also change). Ideally you will need some sort of external amplifier which of course usually fits neatly into the trunk along with a decent sub unit. 

There are some half decent head units with reasonable power, but nothing like having an external amp. Also don't fall into the "salesman trap" of quoted power output of these head units. Most of the time the power quoted will be the peak to peak value. So some salesman might tell you "this particular head unit is 200W" as an example. This could be a 4 channel system quoted at peak to peak value. So you would firstly half that to 100W then multiply by 0.7071 which gives you 70.7W. Then of course divided by 4 which would give you only 17W per channel RMS which is pretty miserable to say the least and would more than likely become quite distorted at a reasonable listening volume. Always make sure when someone is quoting the power rating, that it is in RMS (root mean square) value and nothing else. Also take note of the THD (Total Harmonic Distortion level quoted)

Saying all that though, you could get a half decent sound by using the amps in a good head unit and decent speakers providing you add a separate powered sub unit though. As sound is a very personal taste, I would advise going around a few car audio places that can demonstrate their units and see (or I should say hear) what you are satisfied with at the price.

Good luck
Vance.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rattie S" <mbcoupe126 at hotmail.com>
To: <mbcoupes at mbcoupes.com>
Sent: Monday, January 30, 2006 10:01 PM
Subject: [W126 Coupe] Stereo upgrade


> Hello,
> 
> Hope all is well. As you know the factory Becker stereo system is a piece of 
> junk. I am looking to upgrade my stereo system (head unit and the speakers). 
> I want to do it with minimal messing around with the interior of the car and 
> without having to put a big unit in the trunk. I've seen some postings 
> recommending Reus Audio. Their base package starts at $1,650. Does anyone 
> have that? Does that involve a unit in the trunk?
> 
> My mechanic has been pushing some Blaupunkt units that he has in his shop.
> 
> Any insight would be much appreciated.
> 
> Itrat
> '87 560 SEC
> 
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