Your Grand Prix tape/radio was created at a time before the word "Digital" was in our vocabulary. It's radio is poor by today's standards, and nobody makes cassette tape anymore or listens to tape anymore. Merceders-Benz would be hard pressed to find a customer who would spend over $100K and who listens to music at home from cassettes. The first compact disc was introduced over 20 years ago by Sony-Billy Joel's "52nd Street". All the developed nations of the world listen to music from compact disc. There are still Mercedes owners out there who are afraid to replace the antiquated speakers and tape radio in their prized automobile. The radio can be removed in under five minutes, and the speakers within ten. All aftermarket speakers are four ohm impedance and match the speaker outputs on the cd head unit perfectly. You may shake your head and wonder why a brand new Benz comes with a cassette deck in the dash! The only answer is greed. After spending huge money for a new E-Class or S-Class, the salesman offers you the option of paying absurd money for a cd changer which should have come with the car! It is not illegal in this lifetime to replace your antiquated, poor-sounding, tape/radio and speakers with a digital cd player which produces sparkling clear music of your choice. You wouldn't replace your tires with tires from 1986 would you? P.
Don't lose sleep over your Bekker Grand Prix Radio!
Feb 09, 2005
25 Replies
well Peter, you couldn't be more wrong!
let me count the ways:
1) cassettes are WAY! more robust than a CD 2) Cassettes don't skip 3) casettes are very cheap 4) the fidelity of cassettes is more than required in a car 5) casettes are easier to insert etc 6) the impedance of a speaker (4m 6 or 8 ohm) has squat to do with anything 7) cassette players don't get stolen as readily 8) I've got lot's of cassettes which I'm not about to replace 9) I bet you couldn't even tell the difference between the two formats in a normal car environment.10) want more??
Some would. A scary number. I've had this 633 for 2 years now and I've noticed a few differences between bmw and mb owners:
BMW owners: could care less about oil will argue for days about wax want every part to be a BMW Motorsports part (or equiv)
MB owners could care less about wax can argue for days about oil want every part to be original
But to answer your original question: why do you think Coker tire is still around? You want state of the art 1986 Michelen XWX ? You can get 'em. Never mind that the MXV4 is the modern equivalent (according to John Olson).
True,
Also true,
Not me, I try to find a US made equivalent for everything...
Marty
If I could afford the XWX I'd get em, because they don't make the MXV4 in
205/70-14 any more and the XWX is the best tire in that size. Instead I'll have to settle on Firestone until I can afford new wheels. Richard
They don't ? Uh-oh.
I have 14, 15 and 16" wheels for my 126. The stock 14's are hopless and tires in 14" are becoming a rarity now thaty even Hondas have 16" wheels.
The 15s are nicer, but the 16's - woah! No less comfortable and my god do they make the car handle.
Also:
99% of all radio transmissions are analog. Where does the "BEFORE THE WORD DIGITAL " entered the vocabulary come in to the picture? The Becker radio/cassette player in my -99 E class DOES have a digital tuner, which by the way receives ANALOG signals. The Becker tuners are world famous for excellent reception and good noise suppression. AND they are not outdated by ANY standards. I have yet to play a cassette though :-)Steinar
At last somebody says something positive about the Merc-supplied radios. They are also supposed to be very robust, which is why Merc has been using them for decades.
They may not always have the fancy knobs, bells and whistles of other brands but for most people that's fine.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
I would have to disagree with you.
- CD's can handle Water
- CD's have much better frequency response
- CD's are much cleaner sound and sttic free
- You do not have to worry about buildup on the head like a tape
- Cd's are just as easy to insert
- Impedance DOES matter. My becker sounded much stronger when the speakers were replaced with good 4 ohm models.
- Only cheap CD players skip anymore, even those are rare.
- The difference is easy to tell, it goes back to clarity and frequence response
- Oh, yea. CD's do not wear out nor do they require rewinding for your favorite song.
- Who would steal old technology, except a Yugo owner.
The only issue I have found is replacing the screwed up size speakers in my 1989 300E. Just under 5" in front, just over 5" in back. Found the best way was to build templates to allow 3.5" or 4" in the dash and rear deck, then add a sub in the trunk, ported into the cabin via the area under the Medical kit. Less than $400.00 and you can have sound better than any standard system.
However, the original exchanges are about whether an old radio should be replaced. I can't see the very original post, though.
Nothing wrong with putting a newer Becker...
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
and I would suggest that all things being equal analog is superior to digital.
.
formatting link
If you own a tie-dye t-shirt you may recognize the author.
I do and I do.
He is giving a lecture at psytopia. That could be interesting.
. .
There is some real big time stupidity on that page...
No s*it. He's a right cranky old bugger too.
That is not nice.
Go on, then, who is he? Just now I finally managed to make the link work and get to the page.
DAS
For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling
Google Augustus Stanley Owsley III.
Much that is written about him is inaccurate however..
Including your praise of him? 8*)
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