Table of Contents
Amp Install
Install
Headset removal
Reardeck removal
C pillars next. Then the headrests. The C pillars are secured with push clips then slide up and out of the notches in the rear deck cover. The headrests have little plastic levers that have to be pushed either up or down. The levers are located on the mechanism that swings to allow the headrest to raise and lower. You should be able to see one of them on the right side of the right seat headrest to get an idea of how it comes apart. I think the levers were black. When the levers are release you have to pull up while moving the little lever in the release position. I had to use a “L” shaped pick and a lot of patience to work the lever while pulling on the headrest. You cant really see what your doing so you have to kinda feel your way around. This was the part that took the most amount of time for me.
Speaker Sizes
I had 2 Infinity Kappa 60.7cs sets (6 1/2 inch component speakers) installed in the front and rear doors and a Pioneer Premier TS-SW1041D (10 inch shallow mount subwoofer) installed in the rear deck. The car audio shop that performed the installation made a custom low profile subwoofer box so the new Pioneer subwoofer could fit in the same location as the original subwoofer. This solution enabled me to get significantly better quality bass without giving up any trunk space. While this Pioneer Premier shallow mount subwoofer is not for people who listen to rap or music with exaggerated bass, it does play bass very solidly to complement most musical styles and it works well with the Infinity component speakers.
I selected the Infinity component speakers because they are 2 ohm speakers and have a sensitivity of 95 db on 1 watt of amplifier power. This means the speakers are very efficient and get the most power out of the stock Harman/Kardon LOGIC7 COMAND audio system. The Pioneer Premier subwoofer was selected for similar reasons. It is a 4 ohm subwoofer (which is the same impedance as the stock subwoofer), and has a sensitivity of 87 db on 1 watt of amplifier power, which means it will play deeper bass on less amplifier power. The original subwoofer was a 12 inch speaker and sounded boomy, probably because it was not in a subwoofer enclosure and there was no sound dampening material on the rear deck. The new 10 inch replacement subwoofer gives me tighter and, to my ears, more musical bass. Being a musician (I play drums and percussion) for quite a few years, musicality and overall coherence of the sound is what I listen for in car speakers. This new speaker/subwoofer combination now does pretty well in those areas, given some of the limitations of the stock COMAND audio system.
To address the sound dampening issues, I had Dynamat installed in both doors and the rear deck to help cut down on road noise and other types of spurious vibrations. For those of you who do replace your audio system and speakers, installing sound dampening material at the same time is one of the best investments you will make to ensure you get the best sound from your new speakers. http://www.benzworld.org/forums/audio-telematics-forum/1348544-2006-mercedes-cls-500-speaker-sizes.html