We love a challenge here at Braybrook’s and this one was definitely that. Replacing all of the speakers and installing the dedicated amplifier was a very time consuming task but nothing untoward! The challenge was in the wiring! Our options were to either replace the entire floor harness which runs the entire car, or build the specific harness for the upgraded system from scratch. We opted for the latter as the floor harness is made to order, very expensive, and a major task to install. We found that the main connections were common to other cars for which more basic harnesses are available so with one of these to hand we set about converting this harness to suit the S class. Many hours are spent with various wiring diagrams to find locations and pin numbers enabling us to configure everything into this one big plug onto the amp. That done it then had to be laid into the car. Because Mercedes place their cable trunking under the carpets this needed to be removed to enable us to position our cable into the correct places. This involved removing all of the seats and various other trims to get the carpets out but once removed things become much easier to handle. With all cables connected, speakers fitted and amp installed it was then time to get thing working. A few hours later with laptop in hand the sound can be heard – and what a sound. Crystal clear highs, rich deep lows, and a level of control that you would only ever expect from a high-end system. The Digital Time Alignment can be set to delay the sound from the closest speaker until the furthest has reached you. The effect is to ‘throw’ the bass into your chest from ………. who knows where!!! It just seems to bring the sound to life (something the customer had complained bitterly of the standard system when sitting in the back)
And one thing! As with all Mercedes, they are built so well that we can guarantee no squeaks and rattles despite this amount of work. The whole car goes back together exactly as it was originally – The beauty of German engineering.
