FIX 86

sanomechanic

Well-known member
Had installed a 5 channel amp . ft door speakers and tweeter, rear 3 way 6x9s and a 10 inch sub. All JL Audio. Used a high to low signal interface. Huge improvement over stock but had some hiss noise and the sound quality was hit and miss. Removed the high to low interface . Installed a JL Audio FIX 86 today to clean up the signal coming from the 10 inch screen audio system. WOW what a difference. Incredibly clear sound!!!! If anyone has stepped up their audio. This fix 86 will work for any sound systems. Highly recommend it. or if you only need 2 channels a FIX 82 will do. The frequency curve of the factory MBUX is crappy and needs cleaned up. It was designed to drive the garbage speakers the van came with and does not give a proper signal to an amplifier. the FIX corrects it

 
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ay0der

New member
Had installed a 5 channel amp . ft door speakers and tweeter, rear 3 way 6x9s and a 10 inch sub. All JL Audio. Used a high to low signal interface. Huge improvement over stock but had some hiss noise and the sound quality was hit and miss. Removed the high to low interface . Installed a JL Audio FIX 86 today to clean up the signal coming from the 10 inch screen audio system. WOW what a difference. Incredibly clear sound!!!! If anyone has stepped up their audio. This fix 86 will work for any sound systems. Highly recommend it. or if you only need 2 channels a FIX 82 will do. The frequency curve of the factory MBUX is crappy and needs cleaned up. It was designed to drive the garbage speakers the van came with and does not give a proper signal to an amplifier. the FIX corrects it

I am installing JL Audio component front door speakers along with a kicker 8" combo/sub amp and keeping the factory head unit. I am not super smart with this stuff, should I install the Fix-82 or 86? I am assuming 86?
 

ay0der

New member
im not adding rear speakers per se, but i was thinking of hooking the sub/amp combo up to the pre installed rear speaker harness if that makes sense
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
The 82 only has two outputs. So it won’t separate out a sub signal for you. If you are going to all the trouble why not add rears? It’s easy and relatively cheap.
 

ay0der

New member
well the rear part I am doing a conversion on so I am not really sure where I would put them. they don't really vibe with my behind the seat aesthetics lol. but you got me thinking!
 

brianzoh

Active member
This is the list of what I had cone to mine with prof install. Leaving prices for reference. Super happy with the outcome.

JL Audio C2-650, Component System with 6.5" woofer and 0.75" silk dome tweeter 269.99
JL Audio XD500/3v2, 3-channel Class D System Amplifier, 100 Watts x 2 @ 2 ohm + 300W x 1 @ 2 ohm 1 519.99
Kenwood Excelon shallow 10" woofer with enclosure, down firing and wrapped in black carpet 1 299.99
Amp install kit. Power, ground, fuse holder & remote turn on. 1 149.99
JL Audio XD-CLRAIC2-SW, RCA to Speaker Wire Adaptor 1 12.99
RCA 2 Channel interconnect 1 25.99
JL Audio HD-RLC, Level Control for HD, XD 1 39.95
Second Skin Damplifier Pro, 2mm Butyl Vibration Sheets (12" X 20") 80 Sqft 79.99
Second Skin Luxury Liner Pro, automotive noise barrier
 

Park City Mike

Active member
Had installed a 5 channel amp . ft door speakers and tweeter, rear 3 way 6x9s and a 10 inch sub. All JL Audio. Used a high to low signal interface. Huge improvement over stock but had some hiss noise and the sound quality was hit and miss. Removed the high to low interface . Installed a JL Audio FIX 86 today to clean up the signal coming from the 10 inch screen audio system. WOW what a difference. Incredibly clear sound!!!! If anyone has stepped up their audio. This fix 86 will work for any sound systems. Highly recommend it. or if you only need 2 channels a FIX 82 will do. The frequency curve of the factory MBUX is crappy and needs cleaned up. It was designed to drive the garbage speakers the van came with and does not give a proper signal to an amplifier. the FIX corrects it


I plan to instal a similar system to yours incld the Fix86 with a 6 speaker component system up front, 2 coaxials in the rear, and a sub. I have a 2019 cargo van without any rear speakers. Do you know anything about "dealer activation of rear speakers?" I've heard ppl talk about this online, and even the local mercedes recommended audio installer has heard about this, but my dealership doesnt know anything about it.
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
The MBUX has connections for rears. I believe it can be enabled for passenger vans. Those vans have a wiring harness installed with the rear leads. But if you don’t have the speakers it makes no sense for the fader functionality in the MBUX. AFAIK the dealer can enable the fader in software which would light up these speakers.

But if you don’t have access to the correct pins on the MBUX (and I don’t think anyone has a harness for it) then enabling the fader won’t really do anything.
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
I plan to instal a similar system to yours incld the Fix86 with a 6 speaker component system up front, 2 coaxials in the rear, and a sub. I have a 2019 cargo van without any rear speakers. Do you know anything about "dealer activation of rear speakers?" I've heard ppl talk about this online, and even the local mercedes recommended audio installer has heard about this, but my dealership doesnt know anything about it.
I’m actually going to sell my fix 86. Don’t get we wrong it works well, but I’m going a different direction.
 

sanomechanic

Well-known member
Thanks for your replies. Now that you have a functioning and great sounding audio system, I'm curious why you would sell the Fix and start over? What different direction are you going?
I have heard several different audio set ups in Sprinters using original head units. Nothing has near the sound quality as the ones using a Fix processor. Not even the Fosgate processor cleans up the signal as well .
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
Thanks for your replies. Now that you have a functioning and great sounding audio system, I'm curious why you would sell the Fix and start over? What different direction are you going?
Nothing wrong with it but there ate two very specific things:
  1. Physical size
  2. Streaming directly off the amp
The FIX is pretty small, but the Fix + an amp + a separate sub amp + BT streamer + wiring is just a bit bigger than the space I have for it. I want to also BT stream directly from the amp rather than the HU when I'm parked. It's fairly easy to run the FIX & Amp off the house battery. But if you do that it's difficult to add a BT streamer as well. It's expensive but you can get amps that do all these things:
  • DSP with time correction
  • 6 way (4 + 2 channels bridged to drive the Sub)
  • BT streaming built in
So again it has nothing to do with the quality of the FIX, but I just like the idea of 1 box instead of 4.
 

sanomechanic

Well-known member
Nothing wrong with it but there ate two very specific things:
  1. Physical size
  2. Streaming directly off the amp
The FIX is pretty small, but the Fix + an amp + a separate sub amp + BT streamer + wiring is just a bit bigger than the space I have for it. I want to also BT stream directly from the amp rather than the HU when I'm parked. It's fairly easy to run the FIX & Amp off the house battery. But if you do that it's difficult to add a BT streamer as well. It's expensive but you can get amps that do all these things:
  • DSP with time correction
  • 6 way (4 + 2 channels bridged to drive the Sub)
  • BT streaming built in
So again it has nothing to do with the quality of the FIX, but I just like the idea of 1 box instead of 4.
Remember BT is not digital. The USB c socket in your dash is. Makes a difference. Plus you can use the touch screen for you android or apple like your actually navigating your smart device. Read about that in your owners manual
 

Park City Mike

Active member
Nothing wrong with it but there ate two very specific things:
  1. Physical size
  2. Streaming directly off the amp
The FIX is pretty small, but the Fix + an amp + a separate sub amp + BT streamer + wiring is just a bit bigger than the space I have for it. I want to also BT stream directly from the amp rather than the HU when I'm parked. It's fairly easy to run the FIX & Amp off the house battery. But if you do that it's difficult to add a BT streamer as well. It's expensive but you can get amps that do all these things:
  • DSP with time correction
  • 6 way (4 + 2 channels bridged to drive the Sub)
  • BT streaming built in
So again it has nothing to do with the quality of the FIX, but I just like the idea of 1 box instead of 4.
Ever thought about just adding a second head unit? I'm connecting all power for Fix and Amp to my house batteries, and I'm connecting the JL Audio MM50 (marine head unit) to the Amp which will run the system when the Van is turned off. It doesnt solve your space problem, and it adds yet another box.
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
Ever thought about just adding a second head unit? I'm connecting all power for Fix and Amp to my house batteries, and I'm connecting the JL Audio MM50 (marine head unit) to the Amp which will run the system when the Van is turned off. It doesnt solve your space problem, and it adds yet another box.
I have, I do t really think I need it since the amp I’m getting does all those things. Yes it’s expensive but it solves all the problems.
 

erik.wahlstrom

Well-known member
Remember BT is not digital. The USB c socket in your dash is. Makes a difference. Plus you can use the touch screen for you android or apple like your actually navigating your smart device. Read about that in your owners manual
BT is digital. Actually the aptx-hd codec is a much higher bitrate that CD. 24bit at 48khz sampling so the signal is great. But I will use the HU when driving, but it will be fully off when camped which is nice.
 

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