My driver side speaker in my 87 560SL has started "crackling" constantly. This occurs even if the volume is turned completely down. Any idea if it is the radio or the speaker itself? Are either difficult to remove and repair?
This is the original radio.

 

questions.
1) is the speaker still working, i mean do u still hear the music thru the crackly one ?
2) does the crackling also get louder when u turn up the volume?
3) i believe there are 2 speakers each side on left and right, turn the volume down low and see if u can hear the crackling in both driver side woofer and tweeter..

glen

 

Answer to your questions
1. Yes, other than the crackling noise the music can be clearly heard thru both speakers. The crackling only comes thru the driver side speaker though
2. No, the crackling stays the same as the radio volume is increased. This crackling noise occurs regardless of whether the engine is running or not when the radio is on.
3. There are only two speakers. One on the driver side on the dash just left of the steering column and the other on the dash on the passenger side just right of the glove box. When I turn the volume low I can clearly hear the crackling - this happens even if I adjust the bass or treble levels to zero or to their highest level.

Appreciate any help. Thanks

 

this sounds like noise generated from the left channel of the amplifier itself, im not sure if there is a separate amplifier module or not, some mb's do have them..(someone else may want to comment here)
in my opinion it is not the speaker itself because usually a noisy speaker comes from the voice coil rubbing the magnet (a very mild short), and it generally gets louder with more volume and goes away when no audio, when the volume is fully down., most likely a defective capacitor in the amplifier itself..

if you can get to the speaker leads a it would be simple to disconnect that offending speaker and temporarily connect another to see if the noise is still present, just to be 100% sure its not the speaker..