[W126 Coupe] Becker Radio, iPod, and Cassette Adaptor

[Dawid Loubser]

My car has the original Becker 10-speaker sound system, and also had  
a Sony CD Changer in the
boot (with FM modulator which goes through the antenna) fitted very  
early in its lifetime.
I have always been playing CDs, but never *quite* happy with the  
sound quality - which I always
attributed to the age of the system in general. My previous car (MINI  
Cooper S) had a somewhat
better-sounding stock system.

I have a large music collection, of which a large portion is mirrored  
to my iPod
(4th gen, iPod Photo 40Gb) which I actually don't use that much these  
days, since I'm a bit of an
audiophile and though I prefer the sound of Vinyl, for digital music,  
FLAC (lossless compression)
is the way to go. Nevertheless, I have a huge MP3-based collection  
(also a lot purchased in that format
at places like www.emusic.com). Furthermore, nobody can hear the  
difference in the car anyway, so
I decided I wanted to integrate my iPod with the car, but without  
gutting anything. The iPod radio
transmitters are a no-go, they sound terrible, and they just can't  
seem to get through the thick shell
of the SEC, no matter where you put it, especially in the city with  
all the frequencies pretty much taken.

I decided to give the Cassette Adaptor a go (I had never used my  
Becker's cassette before) and I must say,
I am *SO* pleasantly surprised at the sound quality. It's a 10x  
improvement over the CD changer
(provided you play with the Becker equaliser settings, I had to move  
the bass to full neutral, and treble
+2 notches up).

Granted, I have heard better in my life, but I do think I know a  
thing or two about music, and the SEC
(mine is a 1990) has a truly fantastic sound system, provided  
everything works, and is adjusted
correctly. The thin black cable running out of the tape deck can  
easily be routed into the (unused) ashtray,
and then into e.g. the glove compartment or change tray, quite  
unobtrusively. I plan to route it into the
glove compartment soon.

Usually have terrible bass and treble (they sound muddy) but I tested  
with artists like

(Electronic)
* Felix Laband
* Juno Reactor
* Logic Bomb

(Jazz)
* Miles Davis

(Rock)
* Maroon Five (Live Recordings)

and they all sound great My advice is, if your sound system sounds  
weird, don't replace it! Rather play with
the settings, or if something is broken, fix just that component.  
Most sound systems sound best with everything
in the normal position (and most decent sound equipment have no bass/ 
treble adjustment to begin with) but you
have to play with the Becker. What I really like about it, is that it  
automatically maintains two different
settings for radio vs. cassette, surprising for something this age.

This may be a useless post, I just wanted to share that I think the  
stock sound system has some amazing
capabilities. This is the best tape deck I've heard :-)

Dawid

P.S> I know that I can run a line output from the iPod directly to,  
for example, the fader control in the centre
console. But I do not want to pull things apart, and to get this  
working smoothly may require some additional
electronics fidgeting, not to mention that you effectively bypass the  
pre-amp and rely on the iPod's volume
control - not ideal for me.