milt

My wife just surprised me with a CD changer for my birthday for our 2001
E430 with COMAND.

First she called the Mercedes dealer and asked them if we needed the
Mercedes changer and they told her that "any" changer would work. They
were probably referring to FM RF changers (which I don't want), but she
says they didn't mention it.

So then she went to the Good Guys and they looked up the year, make, and
model and sold her an Alpine CHA-S634 which they claimed was "the one"
that would work. I was skeptical and called the dealer myself. They say
that only the Mercedes changer is compatible and that the dealer would
have to install it so they could "do something" to the computer system to
make it work.

So who's lying/mistaken? Will the S634 work with COMAND or not?

If not, can I buy a MERC99 somewhere on the web and install it myself or
do I really need the dealer to do it?

If the dealer does need to do it, will they install a MERC99 I've bought
elsewhere or will they insist I buy one from them?

Thanks for any help.

-milt

Lynn

It won't work. MB uses the D2B communications protocol for the fiber optic loop. That unit is not D2B capable.

The only units that work on the D2B protocol are the factory MB-Alpine changer and the Becker Silverstone 2662.