I took my wagon to two very, very cool car audio places around here (at both places, the guys who ran them said that i had their "dream car"-appropriate; it's mine, too) and told them that i want the HK gone. (i got quotes for over 6.5k if they supplied the stuff!) i did a bunch of searching and testing and stuff and decided what i wanted. and then decided what i could actually afford.
here's what i am going to put in it:
HEAD UNIT. Pioneer AVH 4100 NEX

FRONT SPEAKERS/CROSSOVERS. MB Quart QM 215.61Q/QM 218.61Q 6.5”

PASSENGER SPEAKERS/CROSSOVERS. Polk Audio DB6501 6.5”

SUBWOOFER. JL Audio 8W3V3 8” fits right into the place where the HK sub is

i am going to take out EVERYTHING of the stock system except the wiring.
AMPLIFIER. Alpine PDR-V75

i am very sure that all of this stuff together will sound very good to me. i don't need some loud, thumping vehicle that can shake of snow for me (that would be neat, though) i just want precise, non-distorted and undisturbed music when i am in my car-driving or at a light.

anyway, the point of this post is that i don't know where to get wiring diagrams (there's no "bentley" (the VW or Audi manual) for these cars of which i am aware) and any time i find a thread that i think is going to be helpful, it is for something that this guy that seems to know all about merc's stereo that is from cleveland but there're no pointers about where to get diagrams. (there are lots of comments about bad choices in connectors, though and such!)

i also don't know any tips/tricks that you may have. like integrating with the CAN bus (steering wheel integration and back up camera.) or are there places where the doors need sound damping? i don't know. where's the best place for the microphone? you guys know. i don't. heck, i don't even know how to take off the door panel yet. i haven't even found out if the stupid HK system has real cross overs or just some caps stuck somewhere. help???

it would be really kind if someone would steer me in the proper direction(s). please and thanks.

 

I just watched a post on the Lexus forum that sounds very familiar to yours. in the end he screwed up several panels and it sounds like crap. And the so called simple installation that he thought was so simple.... well 40 hours later he has a crappy sounding system. Also Pioneer is having issues with their NEX junk.

 

well, it was your advice, sir, was that for which I was looking. it just wasn't that!


anyway, I assure you that I am quite competent at doing this type of work it just that I need the right documents. so, where do I find a wiring diagram for the 2007 AMG E63 wagon? well, at least the CAN and the sound system?


about the pioneer. why is it junk? the reviews have been good so far (at least those that I've seen). thanks

 

well, regardless of the lexus owner, i am going ahead. i installed the MB Quarts and the Polks today. the eight hours that both shops quoted for doing the job were pretty much dead-on. in the front, you cannot tell, visually, that anything is different. i used the original locations (and mountings) of the HK stuff. in the passenger area, the only visual perceptible difference is the appearance of the tweeters by the ash trays. the stock location was down at the ankles of the passengers. (oh, i dropped my pencil...whoa, it sounds way better down here!)

as i suspected, the HK (which is supposedly so great and super duper high end for car audio had a joke of cross over (a single capacitor!!!). it's not as if the MBQ has a 7th order butterworth or something, either...anyway. however; it does have a very good cross over for music. the sound is SO MUCH CLEANER. leaps and bounds. and, it's not as if the HK wasn't good, it was--in fact, when i bought my e500 with the HK, i said to my ex "this is the first car i've sat in the stock stereo is fine with me." yeah, fine but not great.

so, tomorrow, the head unit? what's wrong with the NEX????

 

So what wiring diagram do need exactly?

 

hey man!

the install is going well. as i've told you over the PM stuff, i am not going super quickly and taking my time. right now, i am doing the sub woofer. it turns out that the JL is slightly larger than listed (about 2mm) and needs to be trimmed to fit into the opening of the HK. i'll post a pic when i am finished with that. but as far as wiring, there are four wires into the HK sub. i could trace them, i suppose but it would be cool to see a diagram. what i would like to do is return a diagram to you that is modified showing the entire layout that i've done.

 

things have been going along just fine so far. i've lots of pics and i'll share them when i am done.
i learned that the antenna on the car is actually three antennae. ok. which is which? as soon as they get near the audio gateway/amplifier they split. one of them actually ends up behind the passenger seats with a flat plane filter/splitter (i've seen it labeled as an antenna amplifier; but, with three coax cables it really looks just like a splitter with filter...there's no power into it unless it is inductive which i find rather difficult to believe in such situation) another (goes to keyless go module) on the back of the audio gateway there are two coax connections. no labels. there seems to be no specific diagram that shows locations and colors. which is sirius, which is AM/FM and which is GPS. it looks like later on there's a converter to drop frequency (i assume that this is sattelite) so i can get rid of that.

i intend on figuring out all of this with your help. i would also like to have sound NOW and my kids are *****ing about "no radio" so i need to figure out which coax is which.

and, also, is it worth taking out the entire factory ipod integration kit? does anyone want that??

 

i am using an axxess aswc1. i've wired as it shows for e class mercedes 2003-2009. it doesn't recognize that it's connected to any wires. do i need to have the amp/gateway installed and powered to just run the steering wheel buttons? or, is their illustration incorrect? the wires they show as pin1 and pin2 are brown/red and brown in my car. which is odd as brown is almost always ground.

here's their page on it.
http://contentdocs.installernet.com/...icle/12534.pdf

 

i just talked to Paul at Metra. those pins/colors are, indeed, the right ones. the brown/red is CAN high and brown is CAN low. i guess then, that that should be pretty easy to find another place to access those wires that maybe are connected to something. i'll give it a try.