Installing Becker Europa 460 in 78 350SL

Thanks for your replies. The radio actually has a speaker output (its mono). This is a picture I got in the web which is identical to my radio. As you can see it has a 2 pin DIN jack.
Is then the conclusion that there is no need for a separate AMP?

I got a reply outside this forum that there is a need for a "fader". Any comments on this?

Thnaks again.

Honestly, I've rebuilt/repaired a few of these Becker's over the last few years. That radio is worth a lot of money to you if you can find the right person to buy it. Someone restoring a 60s Benz, some Porsches, etc... would pay dearly to had that correct radio to complete their restoration.

It would work as-is to drive one speaker. You'd need the correct speaker connector. If it's turning on, then it should work if it's actually new old stock.

If your car has four speakers this radio is not useful to you even with a fader control. By the time you get the speakers wired up in such a way that it won't harm the radio's internal amplifier, you'd have to park it in a library to hear it.

The radio's output is rated typically at 3 ohms on Becker's. One that old may be 8. Either way, it should be stamped on the chassis of the radio. Those were designed to power one very efficient speaker, or two if a fader is used. Any aftermarket speakers are going to have reduced sensitivity to the old alnico speakers used in the 60s, and using them could damage the radio.

I'd suggest you sell it and find a later self amplified Europa or Mexico if you want to keep the look. Make sure that any other one you look into has the speaker outputs, as mentioned earlier in the thread, many of them have external amplifiers which are a little bit more work to install. They're also only 1 watt more powerful and there's more to go wrong. On a happy note, if you do find one, they hook nicely to external amps. I'm running one in my SL and it sounds very nice, and looks original (because it is).

I hope this helps some.

Thanks. Actully the radio doesn't seem to be from the 60s, rather from the late 70s or early 80s. Here is a picture. With this in mind I guess this radio should be able to handle at least 2 speakers?

isthisdave said:

The plot thickens.....

Click to expand...

You're not shittin!

That is an early 80s radio. I did not even know they still built a mono radio. The back of it is from the 60s.. lol I'm especially surprised it is a 4 band radio and is mono. Notice your diagram in the first thread is for a mono M/U. That makes more sense. Yours is an LMKU.

But back to your question, it still will only drive one speaker, two with a fader, very quietly.

All of the electrical info in my previous thread still stands. It's probably all 1960s electronics underneath the more modern faceplate. I'd be comfortable to wager a guess that the circuit inside it matches a mid-late 1960s schematic exactly.

If you MUST power multiple speakers with that radio, if you can get sound out of it to one speaker, you'd be faced with installing an external amplifier and letting that deal with the load of the speakers. Anything can be done.

It's not really practical, in my opinion. A stereo model would work and sound much better for your multiple speaker application.

It's kind of a bummer, I'd love to find a stereo version of that radio for a good price with the 4 bands. I like the look.

I have the same one, but AM/FM stereo only that came in my 300D. I think the previous owner either replaced it with new/refurbished or it was an extremely clean find. A very nice radio. With some little 'tweaks,' they're surprisingly good.