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This guide is to suit the above vehicle and may differ for different years/models. Please be sure to test all power feeds on your own vehicle as there may be differences.
To remove command Remove ash tray http://i.share.pho.to/724e50d6_o.jpeg lift up front of gear lever surround then pull towards the front of the car. http://i.share.pho.to/6c423fcf_o.jpeg Unplug 2 plugs from underneath. http://i.share.pho.to/1bd016ca_o.jpeg Turn key on and move gear lever back and turn surround to the side. Lift ashtray housing up and pull out. Unplug cigarette lighter plug http://pho.to/8rXvi/nl Remove 2 x screws from under stacker and slide out, unplug wires underneath. Unscrew 2 x screws under command unit (note these do not come out, just unscrew them lots) slide out command unit and unplug remaining plugs.
Amp Press Emergency symbol in boot and pull cover out. http://i.share.pho.to/6e08dbdf_o.jpeg Remove 2 x screws at top of cover and remove. Remove seal from passengers door and rubber boot over seat latch http://pho.to/8rXvi/m Pry cover from around seat belt and remove http://pho.to/8rXvi/l2 Remove 1 more Screw from near seat belt http://pho.to/8rXvi/so Ply front panel up from the floor area and work your way towards the front, fold forward the rear seat base, lift carpet under seat to locate 1 x 10mm plastic nut and one clip that holds the panel base http://pho.to/8rXvi/yo Remove front Panel. Locate Amp and undo the 3 x 10mm nuts to remove amp cage http://pho.to/8rXvi/6f Unplug plugs from amp which are towards the front of the car http://pho.to/8rXvi/w7 unscrew 4 x 8mm nuts. Remove amp and unclip remaining clips. Remove the door seals on the 2 passenger doors, unclip foot well covers by prising up, remove B piller cover the same way http://pho.to/8rXvi/k (I found it easiest to remove the top and bottom sections as one and just leave it hanging on the seatbelt. Remove the passengers carpet from the foot well in the front and the plastic panel below the glove box http://pho.to/8rXvi/xm Routing bypass cable video
Routing cable. Start at the rear and plug in your 3 plugs where the amp was removed. http://pho.to/8rXvi/d9 Thread the cable over the rear wheel well then beside the passenger seat http://pho.to/8rXvi/cb around behind the passenger hand foot well, behind the duct pipe and into the headunit area in the gap under the yellow plug. Return to the back and cable tie the new loom to the existing and fit in under the plastic covers along the foot well http://pho.to/8rXvi/mf Do the same with your aerial cable, this plugs into the black plug that was plugged into the amp http://pho.to/8ru9e/mw then run this to the head unit. Note:Remember to plug in your CAN-TX unit into the white plug at the headunit end of the loom or your Avin unit wont go
Remove the instrument cluster trim panel http://pho.to/8ru9e/fc I did this by just pulling towards me at the bottom. Once removed, clip your microphone in the top right and run your cable down and around the instruments, you will find a hole in the bottom left where you can feed your plug and cable through to the headunit location. Refit trim panel.
With the passenger door seal still removed prise the A pillar cover away from the door, I left mine still clipped at the dash end because I didn't need to take the whole thing off. Stick the camera to the windscreen beside the rear view mirror http://pho.to/8ru9e make sure the cable is to the left of the camera not like my photos or it will be upside down Tuck the cable under the hood lining (with the A pillar cover off it is easy to get it under), continue the cable down under the A pillar cover under the dash, in behind the foot well again and through to your head unit.
Remove 1 x phillips screw from cover around door handle and slide cover up http://pho.to/8rXvi/ym Remove clips from around door panel, to do this remove centre of clip then remaining part http://pho.to/8rXvi/k4 Remove plastic trim from the bottom of the door then remove the remaining panel by sliding up towards the glass, unplug light. Remove 2 screws on the outside of the door that hold the chrome strip above number plate, there is then 2 bolts on the inside of the door http://pho.to/8ru9e/ip remove those then remove the chrome strip http://pho.to/8ru9e/3z Remove 2 screws for number plate light and then from inside the door prise the retaining clip on the number plate light holder to pop it out. Drill a hole in the number plate light holder http://pho.to/8ru9e/s8 then fit it back in place http://pho.to/8ru9e/oj Place the RCA and power cables for your camera through the chrome strip then through the number plate light holder, refit the chrome strip then screw the camera into the light holder. Wire camera transmitter to your reverse light so it turns on when you reverse. On my car + was yellow with a red stripe and – was brown. Cable tie transmitter and cables inside door. The receiver end of the transmitter just needs to be wired into a accessory power feed near your headunit. I was lucky enough to have existing power for a old toll card reader as my car is a Japanese input. Plug the yellow RCA cable into the Reversing camera input on your head unit.
With the passengers door open, where the A pillar meets the dash you will see a small square hole (with the side cover removed) http://pho.to/8ru9e/dg push the antenna into here, it's a fairly tight but it does fit, manoeuvre the antenna so it is sitting flat against the underside of the dash. Fill the remaining void with foam or wool so it doesn't move around. Run the cable under the dash, behind the foot well panel, around the vent pipe and into the head unit area.
Refitting Refitting is pretty straight forward just do the reverse procedure. Make sure your cables etc are tucked away as much as you can behind the head unit as there isn't a lot of room for bunched up cables. To refit the rear boot liner you first need to remove the upper section around the window as the boot liner has clips that need to be slid down from the top. The upper section just pops off with your hands.
Extra notes
I fitted a non powered hub behind the head unit so I could plug in my passengers foot well usb cable (see usb cables video), my gsm modem and the dash cam. The remaining usb input was run to under the arm rest pocket, where I then plugged in a micro usb cable and ran this into the upper arm rest pocket and fitted a wireless charger so I can charge my Nexus 5 http://pho.to/8ru9e/ik. NOTE: I have since changed this, the USB modem was drawing too much power at times so I moved it to under the arm rest using another USB hub so it runs of the other input. This works good.
If you wanted to run rear headrest monitors I would suggest running your RCA's and power feed cables under the gearlever and arm rest and coming out beside the seats. I'm not fitting rear monitors at this stage because I don't want to have to listen to peppa pig hours on end when my daughter is in the car. A tablet suits us better. The finished product Video
Thanks for sharing! Lots of great videos I am sure will come handy when I do my install.
I have been waiting for this to become available for a long time. Been reading a lot of their customer reviews on the BMW forums and it looks like they have a lot of happy customers there. How is their customer service and after sale support? That is really important to me.
Oh I noticed you did not have a link to the actual product but I was able to quickly find it using Google.
Cheers for the feedback. Customer service and support was fantastic, in my case I was one of the first people to install this particular unit in a W211 so there were a few unknowns. But the few questions I had were answered quickly and fully.
I have updated the post to include the product link.
Might be worth sending them a message, their service for me has been second to none.
I shot them a message and even though their website says they're on holiday they replied within 10 minutes. Overall, how long did the project take from start to finish, and how much experience do you have with this kind of thing?
I shot them a message and even though their website says they're on holiday they replied within 10 minutes. Overall, how long did the project take from start to finish, and how much experience do you have with this kind of thing?
Any rattles or squeaks post-reassembly?
Nice that is the sort of support I had from them. The whole project took me a day, but I had to work out the best place for everything. I had no guide or any idea what to do at the start, plus a few interruptions during the day.
I reckon if you followed my guide and had everything ready you could do it in half a day. I have very litter experience in this sort of thing but I'm a very practical person. If you follow my guide you can't really go wrong. Once you work out how one clip comes off they are all the same and you can't go wrong when them either just prise them off.
looks pretty, but experience tells me the same as the dynavin. Also when bypassing the amp you lose the power going to the factory subwoofer. but its cheap so most of ya's can afford to throw away the money. Save for a real nav system from Kenwood or Alpine, and if you really want to mirror your phone make sure get a HML HDMI unit. Been down this road multiple times when I used to work for a stereo shop... phone calls from the customer always followed regarding their disappointment and the famous "you told me so" always followed
looks pretty, but experience tells me the same as the dynavin. Also when bypassing the amp you lose the power going to the factory subwoofer. but its cheap so most of ya's can afford to throw away the money. Save for a real nav system from Kenwood or Alpine, and if you really want to mirror your phone make sure get a HML HDMI unit. Been down this road multiple times when I used to work for a stereo shop... phone calls from the customer always followed regarding their disappointment and the famous "you told me so" always followed
It's not the same as a dynavin trust me. I almost brought a dynavin before i heard about these as a friend has one. There sound is amazing from this way better than I expected and night and day compared to my mates dynavin.
As you said the way this is installed bypasses some of the factory speakers so wasn't expecting the sound to be outstanding. But it simply is.
Look I have been doing this for over 25 years... you can tell me all you want, it is all the same. If I want I can get online and order a few from the true manufacturer and put my name on it.
you would need to have the same vehicle as your mate to compare the sound quality. It's a cheap output amp on the radio that bypasses the factory amp and not allowing the center or sub to play.
Professionally, I would recommend an Alpine or Kenwood, and would never place my reputation on one of these units. nor steer the forum members in a direction where they would regret it later on bad advice using a gimmick
The only way i would recommend this is if the factory was stolen and you needed to fill the hole to sell the vehicle.
Look I have been doing this for over 25 years... you can tell me all you want, it is all the same. If I want I can get online and order a few from the true manufacturer and put my name on it.
you would need to have the same vehicle as your mate to compare the sound quality. It's a cheap output amp on the radio that bypasses the factory amp and not allowing the center or sub to play.
Professionally, I would recommend an Alpine or Kenwood, and would never place my reputation on one of these units. nor steer the forum members in a direction where they would regret it later on bad advice using a gimmick
The only way i would recommend this is if the factory was stolen and you needed to fill the hole to sell the vehicle.
I'm not going to argue with you about it. The fact is my unit sounds way way better than the dynavin unit I have heard in my friends car (also a E350). I have no doubt they are all made in the same place. My point is, this sounds considerably better than a dynavin and the sound quality far exceeded my expectations. People can decide for them selves and either go off my experience or your "doing this for 25 years". Totally up to them.
jbondox how much of your "over 25 years" of experience was with the actual AVIN Avant2 unit? Have you seen seen or tested the unit personally yourself? Sure it has the same shape as the factory unit and other cheaper units that we have seen here on the forums before and those we know are nightmares. It sounds like you are trying to help others and thats cool but this is a new product that is unrelated to the cheap units we have seen here before. From the positive review here from an actual owner of the Avant2 unit and the from the 100's of positive reviews of AVIN's other BMW units that you can easily find online would say this is a great unit.
Your comment reminds me of my dad back when I was in high school. My dad is a great guy but he was not always right. A new black family moved in next door the husband was a doctor and the wife was a lawyer. My dad had never met or spoken with them but did not like that they moved into the neighborhood saying stuff like they will bring the property value of the houses down, they will invite their ghetto friends over to play loud music all night, and "they are all the same". I was told not to talk to them and got yelled at for saying hi to them. For 6 months my dad would not look or speak with them. One night there was a earthquake and the power went out in the entire block. Everyone went out into the street to check damages. Our black neighbors were the only one that came over to check if we were all ok. They even offered us candles and water both of which we needed. My dad was grateful for the gesture and reluctantly accepted. To make a long story short my dad was wrong about our neighbors because of wrong assumption. They became great friends up to this day. We have since moved and sold the house the property value had gone up, our neighbors were not ghetto, and our lives are better for having great friends like them in it.
I have done my research trying to avoid those bad units you warned us about. The Avin Avant2 seems like a best solution for my Mercedes. I have chatted with Tommy from AVIN multiple times and he has always been very helpful and answered all of my questions friendly and professionally. You can message them anytime of the day or night it seems and you will get a someone LIVE to speak with or a prompt response back to emails usually within minutes. Now that is great customer service!
I plan to order the AVIN Avant-2 soon I can't wait!
jbondox how much of your "over 25 years" of experience was with the actual AVIN Avant2 unit? Have you seen seen or tested the unit personally yourself? Sure it has the same shape as the factory unit and other cheaper units that we have seen here on the forums before and those we know are nightmares. It sounds like you are trying to help others and thats cool but this is a new product that is unrelated to the cheap units we have seen here before. From the positive review here from an actual owner of the Avant2 unit and the from the 100's of positive reviews of AVIN's other BMW units that you can easily find online would say this is a great unit.
Your comment reminds me of my dad back when I was in high school. My dad is a great guy but he was not always right. A new black family moved in next door the husband was a doctor and the wife was a lawyer. My dad had never met or spoken with them but did not like that they moved into the neighborhood saying stuff like they will bring the property value of the houses down, they will invite their ghetto friends over to play loud music all night, and "they are all the same". I was told not to talk to them and got yelled at for saying hi to them. For 6 months my dad would not look or speak with them. One night there was a earthquake and the power went out in the entire block. Everyone went out into the street to check damages. Our black neighbors were the only one that came over to check if we were all ok. They even offered us candles and water both of which we needed. My dad was grateful for the gesture and reluctantly accepted. To make a long story short my dad was wrong about our neighbors because of wrong assumption. They became great friends up to this day. We have since moved and sold the house the property value had gone up, our neighbors were not ghetto, and our lives are better for having great friends like them in it.
I have done my research trying to avoid those bad units you warned us about. The Avin Avant2 seems like a best solution for my Mercedes. I have chatted with Tommy from AVIN multiple times and he has always been very helpful and answered all of my questions friendly and professionally. You can message them anytime of the day or night it seems and you will get a someone LIVE to speak with or a prompt response back to emails usually within minutes. Now that is great customer service!
I plan to order the AVIN Avant-2 soon I can't wait!
Do you really want me to respond to your fake post?
How about I just post this for the real forum members who have to toss their money in the toilet with this unit
Do you rerally think the Avant and the Dynavin are just built to the perspective "internet" companies standards? hahha hah hah ahhhah ha hahahahahahah ah ha hah haha ha
Thanks for the laugh.
I will be at CES again in January and take a picture for everyone here to see the same exact systems that all the car audio shops stay away from...
Keep peddling the fake posts. And please try not to BS the forum members. Further explain why they are going to lose their optical amp which generates more power and better sound quality than the cheap internal chip amp that comes with the BOSS, Power Acoustik, DUAL cheap radios... Please don't waste our time
As I stated in my earlier post we all know there are a lot of junk units out there and we have seen them here on the forums too.
The link that you posted is NOT of the Avant unit but of a WinCE unit that has completely different hardware, software, and even the design layout of the unit is different. The only thing similar is the black color and shape of the unit.
Why didn't you also post a link of the factory OEM Mercedes head unit? That too is black has the same shape, has completely different hardware, different software, and also is NOT the Avant unit.
Using your logic if something is black and the same shape then "they are all the same"?
So you will be at CES again in January? Congrats! We look forward to seeing you taking a photo of another random unit that is NOT the Avant unit that has completely different hardware and software so you can prove your point that if it is Black and the same shape then they must be "all the same".
The only person that can truly comment on the quality of the Avant unit is the OP of this thread. He actually has it installed in his Mercedes and he likes it. You have ZERO experience with the actual Avant unit and I do not have any either.
That being said I like all the features the AVIN Avant-2 unit offers. The Avant unit does not support the optical amp if it did that would be awesome! That is not a deal breaker for me but it sounds like it might be for you. The factory Mercedes head unit has a fiber optic connection which is nice, but its old and does not have a lot of modern day features that I would like. Maybe you do not care about having modern tech thats fine. My dad still has a tape deck in his SUV and he does not plan to change that ever.
You asked why would someone be willing to give up the factory head unit with fiber optic connection?
The Avant supports Google Maps Navigation, Waze, HERE, Sygic, TomTom, iGo, and many more online and offline gps software. You do not need to be connected to the internet to use GPS but that is an option if you prefer it. You can easily update the GPS map data for free without the need to buy new expensive Map DVD from Mercedes.
- Supports online radio like Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, SiriusXM app and many more
- Support Bluetooth OBD2 so you can check your cars performance and diagnostic
- Support ValentineOne Radar detector
- MirrorLink with your mobile phone
- Supports both 3G and 4G internet connection for online radio and video
- Supports up to 256GB of music and video on sdcards that you can have in the unit at all time (that's over 20,000 mp3, flac, flv, mp4 or whatever format you like)
- Supports almost all video formats that you can download from the internet and play directly on the unit
- Supports for Live Traffic update to avoid traffic jams
- Supports Google Voice Commands
- and a lot more.
These are a few reason that I would be OK with not having the factory head unit with fiber optic connection.
You recommended Alpine and Kenwood. Both of those would require a dash trim kit that would not look very good in our dashboard, separate steering wheel interface, new amp, cable harness kit, all adding to the price of the install and still not offer the options im looking for above.
I like Coca Cola you might prefer Pepsi and there is nothing wrong with that.
I love my Avant 2 in my 06 Mercedes e350 it has the same or better sound than the factory amp. I have the cobra iradar, rear cam and obd2 module installed and all I can say is awesome.......that is my 5cent worth.
I love my Avant 2 in my 06 Mercedes e350 it has the same or better sound than the factory amp. I have the cobra iradar, rear cam and obd2 module installed and all I can say is awesome.......that is my 5cent worth.
Another BS post... how can it sound better without the subwoofer? You think we are all stupid here? Don't make me take some funds out of my slush fund, then grab an E class off one of my dear friends and remove his Alpine unit to put this in, then bust out the RTA and Oscope, which never lies...
As I stated in my earlier post we all know there are a lot of junk units out there and we have seen them here on the forums too.
The link that you posted is NOT of the Avant unit but of a WinCE unit that has completely different hardware, software, and even the design layout of the unit is different. The only thing similar is the black color and shape of the unit.
Why didn't you also post a link of the factory OEM Mercedes head unit? That too is black has the same shape, has completely different hardware, different software, and also is NOT the Avant unit.
Using your logic if something is black and the same shape then "they are all the same"?
So you will be at CES again in January? Congrats! We look forward to seeing you taking a photo of another random unit that is NOT the Avant unit that has completely different hardware and software so you can prove your point that if it is Black and the same shape then they must be "all the same".
The only person that can truly comment on the quality of the Avant unit is the OP of this thread. He actually has it installed in his Mercedes and he likes it. You have ZERO experience with the actual Avant unit and I do not have any either.
That being said I like all the features the AVIN Avant-2 unit offers. The Avant unit does not support the optical amp if it did that would be awesome! That is not a deal breaker for me but it sounds like it might be for you. The factory Mercedes head unit has a fiber optic connection which is nice, but its old and does not have a lot of modern day features that I would like. Maybe you do not care about having modern tech thats fine. My dad still has a tape deck in his SUV and he does not plan to change that ever.
You asked why would someone be willing to give up the factory head unit with fiber optic connection?
The Avant supports Google Maps Navigation, Waze, HERE, Sygic, TomTom, iGo, and many more online and offline gps software. You do not need to be connected to the internet to use GPS but that is an option if you prefer it. You can easily update the GPS map data for free without the need to buy new expensive Map DVD from Mercedes.
- Supports online radio like Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud, SiriusXM app and many more
- Support Bluetooth OBD2 so you can check your cars performance and diagnostic
- Support ValentineOne Radar detector
- MirrorLink with your mobile phone
- Supports both 3G and 4G internet connection for online radio and video
- Supports up to 256GB of music and video on sdcards that you can have in the unit at all time (that's over 20,000 mp3, flac, flv, mp4 or whatever format you like)
- Supports almost all video formats that you can download from the internet and play directly on the unit
- Supports for Live Traffic update to avoid traffic jams
- Supports Google Voice Commands
- and a lot more.
These are a few reason that I would be OK with not having the factory head unit with fiber optic connection.
You recommended Alpine and Kenwood. Both of those would require a dash trim kit that would not look very good in our dashboard, separate steering wheel interface, new amp, cable harness kit, all adding to the price of the install and still not offer the options im looking for above.
I like Coca Cola you might prefer Pepsi and there is nothing wrong with that.
Have a great day.
You sacrifice quality for half arsed features? Paleeze there are over 200 E class results for that radio and anyone of the manufacturers will change buttons, screen display, etc
anyone of the members here can go to aliexpress.com and type in mercedes w211 radio and have over 200 results, some with graphics that are better than yours and the contact info of the manufacturer that will gladly change buttons around to accommodate ones needs if they commit to buying multiple units.
That way, any forum member can start their own business and ship out of their home with a pretty website to the unsuspecting forum member.
big deal they need steering wheel controls or a dash kit, take the 8" alpine x008u which will run rings around your unit, you kill me with your nonsense
ok billy you can add another post count to your name. preference? paleeze, unsuspecting is the correct word to use. you promise a gold bar but deliver lead...
02-18-2015, 02:59 PM
Avin Avant-2 Andriod Head Unit Install Guide W211
Tuck the cable under the hood lining (with the A pillar cover off it is easy to get it under), continue the cable down under the A pillar cover under the dash, in behind the foot well again and through to your head unit. 
