Floobydust

I've been wallowing in indecision on what to do for audio in the Cabriolet. On one hand I'm an audiophile and would like to have something very high end, but on the other, I'm a bit of purist and would like to preserve a more factory look for the Cabrio.

I started with the former intention and ordered the Jehnert speaker panels from Germany (many thanks again, Rich). The audio improvement from these alone is huge. From here, I intended to go down the amp + head unit with DSP route and did a lot of evaluation as to what to use. It is important for me to have iPod compatibility as I keep all of my music (over 5,000 CD's) in Apple Lossless Encoding format (ALE) and transfer to generation 4 iPod (these were built before Apple got cheap with their analog circuitry) as necessary; shuffling discs is just not an option.

I went so far as to source the head unit and amp, but then the "purist" urge hit me. Most modern head units look kind of techno-disco and so somewhat tacky in a Benz (even high end ones). The more aesthetically pleasing units like the Yamaha or MacIntosh (or even an old Dennon I have) don't support the iPod functionality.

So what to do . . .

I am a big fan of the Dension series of fiber optic (MOST or D2B) iPod adapters. I have a MOST Gateway 500 unit in my ML550 (the MB adapter is 100% pure kludgey crap) and a D2B Gateway 500 unit in my SL500. The D2B version of the Gateway 500 is out of production now (although the 100 is still available), I have a couple of these which I bought "prophylactically" since I knew that someday I would have either a W124 or a W208 (or both) Cabriolet. The gateway 500s still show up on ebay occasionally as well.

It occurred to me to buy a head unit from a W208 or W210 and use the Dension with it. I looked at the Jehnerts, and for the Cabrio version, they can be wired so as to be compatible with the stock head unit and the active bass amplifier.

So I bought a head unit for $37 on ebay and tried it out. And I have to say the results are shockingly good. Not just good, but shockingly good. No one is going to win a sound off contest with it nor does it reach the performance level of a total solution. BUT, the sound stage and imaging are superb (thanks, Jehnert), the response is smooth and well tailored to the cabrio environment, and has enough oomph to make it an excellent daily companion.

And I was able to do the whole thing without modifying the factor wiring harness in any way, although I did have to install additional wiring for the Jehnerts. And it looks very, very OEM. I can't tell you how pleased I am with how this came out. I meant to post it earlier, but I haven't had time.

I hope someone finds this useful and even tries it themselves.

- FD

RHW

I hate my alpine blue/red choices.

Really nice look but would have thought power would be shy with 8 door woofers, I wonder if those amps will hold up? Excellent sound is my goal not some ultimate unobtanium sound...which I have attained most of but at what time/cost expense.

I like the trade off, your car is ultra stealth except for the ipod.

Floobydust

I have been there, done that in car audio over the years, but I have now reached that point in life where a practical approximation of perfection is a preferable compromise over ultimate perfection.

I think the amps will hold up - everything is dissipation and thermally limited. And replacements are relatively inexpensive. The iPod lives in the sliding console, so it is somewhat stealthy. I may add the D2B fiber optic CD changer that goes with this too - the fiber is available from MB fairly inexpensively and the changers can be had cheap online.

But for now, I will just enjoy the listening experience. Thanks again for all of your help with the Jehnerts!