Author Topic: What music system... (Read 10906 times)

n/a · « **on:** June 30, 2003, 12:58:06 »

I have the original Becker Europa radio with the mono speaker in the center of the dashboard.
I am a firm believer in keeping the car in absolute original condition or only factory allowed equipements.

what would be the solution to install a decent music system to which I could plug a cd player ??
How could I install something easily removable that would not damage the car's inside??
Is my only solution to buy a boombox with batteries and keep it in the car?

thank you for your suggestions.
Fabrice

Silver 1971 280 SL
New York City

Douglas · « **Reply #1 on:** June 30, 2003, 13:28:47 »

Fabrice,

The solution is to get an adaptor that plugs into the DIN plug on the backside of your Europa. Becker sells it in NJ. You would then put the end of the adaptor in your glovebox. A discman or, better yet, an MP3 player would then go into the glovebox and you'd have an almost infinite amount of music "on tap."

It's a very clean solution that doesn't alter your car in any appreciable way. O late-model SLs such as yours, there's even a hole in the upper left corner of the inside of the glovebox, so you won't even have to cut a hole for the adaptor. It just snakes around from the backside of the radio into the glovebox.

Total cost: under $50.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

n/a · « **Reply #2 on:** June 30, 2003, 13:46:45 »

Thank you, Doug, this might be the occasion to get together...
How does your schedule look in the first half of july??

Thank you also for loading my pictures on my other post.

Silver 1971 280 SL
New York City

George Davis · « **Reply #3 on:** June 30, 2003, 16:20:04 »

Douglas,

thanks for the info on the DIN plug/discman option, I might want to do that. 2 dumb questions, though: how does the radio know when a CD is being played, and does the radio still work with the DIN plug in place?

Thanks for any insight you can give!

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

Douglas · « **Reply #4 on:** June 30, 2003, 17:46:57 »

The DIN plug overrides the radio in the same way that a cassette player does. Also, yes, the radio will still work with the DIN plug adaptor in place.

Back in the early 70s, Becker made a fairly obscure glovebox tape player ("Olympia") with a DIN plug, so it's the same concept, only updated. Talk to Ed Ebel at Becker at 888-423-3537 X207 for more info.

You'll need one more piece -- a wire with a male ending on either end that bridges the Becker DIN plug adaptor and the MP3 player/Discman. You can get them at Radio Shack for a couple of dollars.

To see a photo of the adaptor, go to Rainier Koenigs site. He's a popular German radio dealer/restorer who stocks this piece as well.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

Tom · « **Reply #5 on:** June 30, 2003, 20:51:09 »

Group:

Another option would be to put in a 6 disc CD changer in the trunk with an RF adapter that allows the radio to play the CD's through the radio. This is how my car is set up. Go by any car audio shop and they can give you the details. This work was done for me so I can't tell you exactly how it is done. Completely reversible-no drilling, etc.

Best,

Tom

Richard Madison · « **Reply #6 on:** July 01, 2003, 04:06:30 »

To add to the knowledge (or confusion) here: Ed Ebel sent me a pin out diagram for the Becker DIN plug...the DIN carries 12 V DC out and will accept audio in.

I think a properly wired DIN cord could power the CD player and pass the CD audio back to the Becker. I haven't found a wire like this yet, might have to be custom made. Very little DIN stuff in the US.

The DIN wire would end in a "Y": one plug to carry the power to the CD, the other plug taking the audio back to the DIN. (Could also be done with just audio in if the CD player was powered by battery or the cigar lighter.)

All would be mono unless changes were made to the Becker set up. I am now trying to find out if 12 Volts will fry a 9 Volt CD player. Let me know if you smell burning rubber

)
Richard M

Douglas · « **Reply #7 on:** July 01, 2003, 05:07:24 »

This is Koenig's site with their mention of the cable/adaptor:

http://www.koenigs-klassik.de/_additional_equipment_/_additional_equipment_.html

And here's a photo of the cable itself:

(PS: Tell Becker, Koenigs is selling them for 22 Euros!)

Download Attachment:

cable.jpg
4.47 KB

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

George Davis · « **Reply #8 on:** July 01, 2003, 12:47:04 »

Thanks for the info and picture, Douglas!

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

n/a · « **Reply #9 on:** July 01, 2003, 14:06:22 »

The best thing is that I live so close to Dug, that he will help me install it...

Fabrice
Silver 1971 280 SL
New York City

DavidAPease · « **Reply #10 on:** July 01, 2003, 15:24:47 »

Richard,

How about posting the DIN pinout information that Ed Ebel sent you? (I think I've got it figured out from the radio schematic, but a second opinion never hurts.)

Also, does anyone know how an adapter deals with feeding a stereo music source into a monophonic radio? (E.g., "wire-or" the two channels?)

Thanks!

-David Pease
'66 French 230SL

TA250SL · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2003, 02:07:09 »

I am setting up this system as well. When I bought the cable/adaptor from Becker I had to specify the mono version. It accepts a stereo signal and sends it to the mono radio. All you need is a mini-plug to mini-plug cord to connect your player to the cable.

Tom

Richard Madison · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2003, 08:07:47 »

Here's the DIN pin out scheme for Becker radios as received from Ed Ebel:

>pin1 audio ouput from radio
>pin2 audio input into radio
>pin3 audio shield -
>pin4 12volt + output
>pin5 chassis ground -
>pin 6 open

It seems to me (a know nothing) that if a DIN plug extension was wired to carry audio from the CD Audio-Out to DIN Pin 1, and another wire went from DIN Pin 4 to the CD Power In, that the Becker radio could power the CD player and receive the audio signal. I think that a DIN extension cord ending in a Y (one for power to the CD, one for audio from the CD) should do the trick. Maybe the ground pin should also be attached to one or both of the Y ends. I'm going to let someone else do this first.
Richard M

George Davis · « **Reply #13 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:08:55 »

I called Becker yesterday to order the Walkman/Discman adapter cable, and the guy I talked to said he'd never heard of it.

It sounds like some of you guys have actually gotten this thing from Becker(?). Can someone tell a part number, or the special name I have to give for this thing?

Thanks for any help!

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

rwmastel · « **Reply #14 on:** July 03, 2003, 08:56:13 »

Point them to our web site so they can see the discussion and picture.

http://index.php?topic=479

Rodd
1966 230SL Euro
1994 E420

Douglas · « **Reply #15 on:** July 03, 2003, 10:07:06 »

George,

You have to talk to Ed Ebel. You've got to remember that a lot of those people don't know the old stuff.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

George Davis · « **Reply #16 on:** July 03, 2003, 15:06:32 »

Thanks for the help, guys! I talked to Ed, the adapter cable is on its way!

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

Peter van Es · « **Reply #17 on:** July 05, 2003, 08:01:11 »

Recently I came across an MP3 / WMA player (you know, one of these fancy gadgets with a hard disk that can store 1000's of pieces of music or 100's of CD's on them) that had the great idea of a built in short range (10 mtr) FM transmitter... i.e. tune your radio to a preset channel and enjoy the music from the player.

Best thing: absolutely no wires and no install needed. Works in the home or your other car too. I thought that this was a great idea... and I would expect many more devices to offer this function in the near future too. If you want to buy one now have a look here:
http://www.neurosaudio.com/ for the Neuros MP3 Digital Audio Computer

Peter

Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

Douglas · « **Reply #18 on:** July 06, 2003, 16:05:25 »

Peter,

I had a similar radio transmittor device a few years back that plugged into a discman or MP3 player, but found the reception was too sporadic. They may have improved these devices since then, but my experience a few years back was negative.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

Peter van Es · « **Reply #19 on:** July 07, 2003, 02:01:35 »

I've since seen some reviews on Amazon.com and those were not altogether enthusiastic. Especially wrt FM function. So perhaps we'd better put up with wires, or wait a while!

Peter

Check out http://bali.esweb.nl for photographs of classic car events and my 1970 280 SL

Douglas · « **Reply #20 on:** October 21, 2003, 07:41:51 »

Peter, this product was reviewed in MacWorld this month and they advised against it. Again, I think the DIN plug adaptor from Becker (or Koenigs in Germany) is the way to go. No radio interference, so no fluctuation in signal.

Douglas Kim
New York, NY
#018260

erickmarciano · « **Reply #21 on:** December 05, 2004, 17:49:51 »

does anyone have the pin out for the europa II < NOT MONO>
thnaks
Erick

1971 280sl
1962 VW
1954 Allstate vespa
1958 gs150 vespa
1962 gs160 vespa

jeffc280sl · « **Reply #22 on:** December 05, 2004, 19:52:03 »

I have the pin out info for the Europa II stereo. I'll look for it tomorrow and post it.

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

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Author Topic: What music system... (Read 10906 times)

n/a

Douglas

n/a

George Davis

Douglas

Douglas

George Davis

n/a

TA250SL

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Douglas

George Davis

Douglas

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jeffc280sl