Can Europa II power 4 speakers?

[toml]

Hi All.
I have a Europa II on its way and talked to Becker about it. They said that it is 7W per channel. Since I'm not very stereo savvy, I want to know if I *MUST* add an external amp (he seemed to indicate it wasn't necessary unless my definiton of 'loud' was like THUMPINGLY loud instead of 'quite' loud).

Now he sent me a fader as well, so the L & R leads coming out of the Europa2 would feed into the fader, and 4 leads would come out, L & R Front and L&R Rear. I'm used to seeing (though not paying attention to), crazy ad claims in and around electronics, stereo places of 400W speakers etc. which worries me into thinking I need to add a killer amp to power the 4 speakers (but becker tells me the amp in the head unit will do just fine).

So, what if I have:
Becker E2 stereo
going into a fader with 4 leads coming out: L&R Front, L&R Rear
Rear speakers in the range of 5W-50W 2 way woofer and mid range 6.5"
Two Kickpanel (front) speakers in the same Watt range, but with tweeters 4" or 5.25"?

?? Does this seem reasonable ??


TomL, Portland, OR
1964 230SL Euro 4-speed Silver+Black w/ Red Interior
1973 280C DOHC Metalic Blue w/ Tan interior

[George Davis]

Tom,

in my opinion, no.  I have an amp-less Europa II with two speakers, and when turned up to a volume that is hearable on the road (top down) it gets pretty distorted.  By hearable, I don't mean earth-shaking, I mean simply being able to clearly identify what I'm listening to.  I think it would need a minimum of 20 W per channel, but more would be better.

George Davis
'69 280 SL Euro manual

[jeffc280sl]

Hi Tom,

Have to agree with George.  I recently replaced a modern 20W/channel CD/radio with a Europa II Stereo.  The modern radio could not be heard well at all with the top down so I knew the Europa would not work out without an amp.  I purchased an Alpine amp with 200W/channel and mounted it in the trunk.  I also purchased a cable from Becker that allows me to input audio from an IPod or CD player into the Europa and play it through the radio/amp system.  Works nicely.  If you buy an amp make sure it will handle speaker inputs from the radio.  Some only handle preamp inputs from modern radios.  I ran the cables under the chrome sill moulding on the passenger side.  The drivers side sill moulding is already in use by wiring for the rear lights etc.

Jeff C.
1970 280SL 4-speed

[norton]

The key to this is the speakers sensitivity rating, sensitivity rating tells you how efficiently speakers converts power into sound. The higher the number, the louder the speakers will play. An efficient speaker helps you maximize your available power. If your not going to use an amp, Your looking for a speaker with a sensitivity rating of 91db or higher, also speaker placement is important, if the speakers are pointed at your feet, they are not going to seam very loud. The trick is to use a mount for the speaker that points it up and back toward your ears.