W123 loudspeaker wiring uses red for left, green for right, striped wires for positive (plus) connections, solid color for negative (minus) connections. Earlier versions use solid red and green colors, later versions use solid black color. All loudspeaker wires connect to the front-rear fader in console. To retrofit a newer style stereo which has its own built-in front-rear fader (the vast majority of newer stereos are designed this way), requires disconnecting all four loudspeaker connections at the fader. Plug which connects to stock front-rear fader has a black tubing sheath containing the loudspeaker wiring. It can be slit open, cut back or removed completely, depending on your needs. Cutting the cabling at fader is simplest approach. Alternately one can separate grounds in the fader harness, leaving remaining wiring intact. This will yield four two-wire cables, each with a solid color connection and a striped connection, eight separate wires total. These may need to be extended to reach the stereo, unless unit comes with long enough wiring harness. If you need to identify which loudspeaker is connected to a specific pair of wires, briefly touch a battery (D-size flashlight type or similar) to a pair of wires. The active speaker will be identified by a scratching or thumping noise when battery is connected. It is advised not to use an aftermarket stereo with stock front-rear fader as the original Mercedes part is rated for very low power (less than five watts) and can be damaged by higher powered stereos.
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