Beatbox Blackbird Upgrades

Out of the box, the Beatbox Blackbird uses audio from the Mercedes stereo and is powered by the chassis battery. The Blackbird also has the infrastructure in place to add more functionality, which you can add during or after installation.

If you or your installer plan to add a bluetooth receiver, power the stereo from the van’s house batteries and/or add additional speakers, please read our guidance below first.

Considering using the auxiliary speaker outputs for rear speakers? Rear speakers have zero to minimal effect on audio for folks sitting in the driver/passenger seats. Not only are they many feet behind the cab, but many vans (like Revels) have walls between the rear doors and the cab. If you have a van without walls and want people sitting behind the driver/passenger to hear audio, then rear speakers can be helpful.

Additionally, it can be difficult to install wiring for rear speakers in a finished van. Installing and wiring rear speakers will likely take many times longer than just installing the standard Beatbox.

We cannot tell you whether or not you NEED rear speakers, but we hope the tips here help you to make an informed decision that weighs the limited advantages of rear speakers vs. the difficulty of adding them.

The auxiliary speaker outputs are fantastic for adding additional speakers outside the van, if you are also adding a bluetooth receiver and power when the engine is off.

The Beatbox Blackbird amp needs 3 things to work:

12V power
To be turned on
An audio source

12V Power

12V power can come from any 12V source. As shipped, the Beatbox is meant to be connected to the 12V high power distribution bus bar under the driver’s seat in a Sprinter, which will power it from the chassis battery. You can use any 12V source you like (or multiple sources like chassis and house batteries). If you use multiple sources, it is up to you or your installer to decide how you will switch between the power sources via a relay or high power switch.

You MUST ensure that the SOURCE side (E.G the battery, bus bar or power source) that you are connecting to is fused properly for the size of wire used. The Beatbox will need an 80A source of power, HOWEVER it will use far less than that in normal operation.
You MUST ensure that all grounds are “bonded” (I.E. at the same potential) if multiple power sources are used and that the ground potential is the same for all items connected to the Beatbox. If you do NOT do this, the system may not work and you can damage the amplifier.
Remember, if you are powering the stereo from the house batteries then you will need to add an additional audio input source to the Beatbox Blackbird (such as a Bluetooth receiver). Otherwise, the engine will need to be keyed on in order for audio inputs to work via the Mercedes interface.

Turning on Via a Trigger

The Beatbox ships with a yellow wire that has a 3 position Wago connector on it. This is intended to be wired into the 12V power port on the side of the driver’s seat base, which is turned on at the first key press of the van. When 12V is applied to this yellow wire with the Wago, the amplifier will turn on.

There is also a shorter yellow wire with an open butt splice connector on it close to the amplifier. This wire can also trigger the amplifier to turn on when 12V is applied to it. This is intended for use with a switch or trigger output from something like an accessory Bluetooth receiver if you intend for a non-Mercedes audio source to be used with the Beatbox and want to turn the amplifier on independent of the status of Mercedes systems.

NOTE: both of these yellow wires are isolated from each other such that if you power one, it will not back power the other. E.G. You do not need to worry that applying 12V to the accessory trigger will back power the 12V socket on the driver seat base.

Audio Sources

This is where things become (even) more complex! In standard use, the Beatbox will take audio from the Mercedes door speaker connectors, process that, amplify it, and then send it back out to the new speakers and subwoofer. However, it also has the ability to use a different audio source connected to the RCA plugs on the harness.

We’d expect these to be used with a Bluetooth receiver. We have tested this with the JL Audio MBT-CRXv2 and that works very well. The amplifier is tuned for a 2V input range when the RCA inputs are used. If you use a source with GREATER than a 2V range, it may damage the speakers and sound poor.

If you plug a BT receiver in, turn the BT receiver on, and turn the amplifier on via one of the yellow trigger wires, the amplifier will not produce any sound output as it does not know that you are intending for it to “listen” to the RCA inputs. For the RCA inputs to work, you must trigger the amplifier to change to one of its auxiliary profiles. More on that below, under auxiliary profiles.

Extra Speakers

You can wire two extra channels of output to the Beatbox. A small shrink wrapped circuit board is connected via a 4 pin connector to the Beatbox harness. This 4 pin connector is output for additional channels. It is tuned for Arc Audio 602 coaxial speakers (available as a kit here, which includes a harness). Using anything different may result in amplifier damage or bad audio quality. Some people install speakers in the rear doors, and many have portable exterior speakers that they can use around a campfire when socializing with friends. The extra speaker channels are VERY flexible.

If you want multiple options for the auxiliary speakers (E.G. one set in the rear doors and one set outside), you can have any one pair connected at a time, and will need some way to switch between them manually with a set of relays or with a set of manual connectors/plugs like Deutsch connectors.

The extra speaker channels have no fade adjustment and are only a L/R set of outputs.

resistorpack

The circuit board installed on the harness is a terminating resistor pack at 38 ohms (pictured above). It is important to have this installed when there are no speakers attached to these wires or amplifier damage may occur if the outputs are turned on with no electrical load.

We are working on a pass-through version of this that can be left permanently installed in the system so that you do not have to worry about accidentally damaging the amplifier if you disconnect accessory speakers (like an outside speaker set) when the auxiliary channels are enabled.

The default amplifier configuration DOES NOT enable the auxiliary speaker channels, and you must trigger the amplifier to change to one of its auxiliary profiles. More on that below, under auxiliary profiles.

Configurations and Triggers

The first to know are definitions:

5 channel: subwoofer, door speakers, and tweeters are on with the auxiliary outputs turned off
7 channel: subwoofer, door speakers, tweeters AND the auxiliary outputs are all turned on
Mercedes input: audio input is coming from the Mercedes stereo
RCA input: audio input is coming from the RCA connectors with a maximum 2V range

The amplifier has 4 configurations that can be remotely controlled and switched on the fly. To change the amplifier out of the default configuration, 12V can be applied to the white w/ black strip and/or blue wires that have open butt splices and are near the amplifier on the main harness. Here a description of the configurations and what wires do what when 12V power is applied:

The default configuration is 5 channel with Mercedes input. The amplifier is in default configuration when neither wire has 12V applied to it.
Configuration 2 is 7 channel with Mercedes input. Applying 12V power to the white w/ black stripe wire will switch the amplifier to configuration 2 and enable the auxiliary speaker outputs.
Configuration 3 is 5 channel with RCA input. Applying 12V power to the blue wire will switch the amplifier to configuration 3 and enable the RCA inputs without the auxiliary outputs turned on.
Configuration 4 is 7 channel with RCA input. Applying 12V power to both the white w/ black stripe and blue wires will switch the amplifier to configuration 4 and enable the RCA inputs with the auxiliary outputs turned on.

Examples of Use

You have speakers you use outside, and want to listen to music outside while camping.

You would want to power the Beatbox from a 12V source that is not the chassis battery.
Have an auxiliary audio source connected to the RCA plugs.
Turn the amplifier by applying 12V to the yellow trigger wire.
Switch to configuration 4 by applying 12V to both the white w/ black stripe and blue wires.

You are inside your van, camping, and only want the front speakers playing (maybe you have outdoor speakers connected and do not want them on while you are inside or do not have any auxiliary speakers at all).

You would want to power the Beatbox from a 12V source that is not the chassis battery.
Have an auxiliary audio source connected to the RCA plugs.
Turn the amplifier by applying 12V to the yellow trigger wire.
Switch to configuration 3 by applying 12V to the blue wire.

You have rear speakers installed and want them to be on while you are driving the van.

You could power the Beatbox from any 12V source
The wire with the Wago connected to the power port on the driver’s seat base would turn the amp on when the Mercedes systems are on, so you do not need to use the other yellow trigger wire
Switch to configuration 2 by applying 12V to the white w/ black stripe wire so the auxiliary/rear speakers are on. You could wire the white w/ black stripe to the Wago so that when the stereo is triggered on, it will go straight to configuration 2.

Upgrading an 8" or 10" Beatbox to the Beatbox Blackbird

If you're interested in upgrading an earlier Beatbox, let us know! We're actively working on kits for this purpose and we'll add you to our list of folks to be notified when the upgrade kits are ready.