TPL230

1. How much difference does the C7 make with the automatic? Most of the talk I hear on this board centers around the shorter throw with the manual. Also, I live in a hilly, curvy area on a rather poorly-maintained county road. Is C7 still worth getting, or would it be more of a drawback in these conditions?

2. The only tolerable factory stereo I have had is the Harmon-Kardon in my 2000 BMW 3. I had a '97 Audi A4 with BOSE and it was absolutely awful. After surfing this board, it appears the quality has not improved. I am planning on buying an '03 C230k off the lot, which means it may not be that easy to get it without the C5 package (seems like this is the one they are always pushing). Is it worth waiting for a coupe with C2 and leather? It sounds like a lot of work to improve on the BOSE.

How difficult is it to aftermarket the stock unit? Not planning on anything outrageous, but is it reasonable to plan on swapping out speakers? I have done this with MB Quarts in other cars. BTW, I am planning on getting it with factory changer.

Thanks!

Buellwinkle

You can improve the sound of the factory radio immensely by getting the MB Audio 10 CD as used in Europe. It's compatible with the Bose setup and you keep the dash display and steering wheel controls and CD changer compatibility.

The factory cassette radio, Bose or not will sound pretty bad unless you like a flat sound with minimal bass/treble. It's a very good radio for listening to talk shows or the news.

The C7 auto is an appearance choice, you get the color keyed door handles, no resonator, 17" wheels, different steering wheel and metal pedals. 17" wheels with the lower profile tires will ride rougher but everyone has their own tolarances as to what is comfortable. Also the C7 tires seem to last a lot less than the regular ones. For what the C7 costs you can probably trade the 17" for someones 16" and get some money in the process.

taylor192

Where can you get the MB Audio 10 CD HU? I am stuck buying a C230K already on order without the factor changer. I don't feel like paying $800 (CND... no price difference between '02 and '03 like in the US) for the changer, I'd rather have an indash CD, even if its only a single.

peet

I had a 1998 M3 with the H&K upgrade. 1) it sucked - so I replaced it with about 11k of stuff 2) the bose option on my 2003 c230 sounds like the H&K upgrade - crap.

But -- if you think the H&K was good, then you'll think this is good too. The sound is decent quality, but it has no volume. Furthermore, I think that if the volume were somehow found, you'd be listening to high distortion!

If my car was at the dealer with everything I wanted but no bose, I'd have bought that and put in my own stuff. But it had it so I will live with it for now. I too am shopping for an audio 10.

P

yacoub

I have heard a lot of people complain about the Bose system on the coupe/sedan, but I just bought a sedan that came with a Bose system and the cd player and radio sound great. A lot of midrange, and you get a thump of bass in your back when loud. I think the system sounds great. Also, I have a $5,000 system in my honda civic and it is not worth the money and damage to replicate on my Mercedes. But then again, it depends on what you expect, I am not expecting unbelievable sound quality out of my factory car stereo, and after listening to my brother's lexus H/K on a 70,000+ truck, I am happy with the Bose! I am surprised not too many peope agree with me on this post,
Yac

TPL230

Peet, I definitely know the difference between H&K and the sound of a Bose system -- Bose definitely sucks! H&K sound quality is fine, as is volume, but I drive mostly with windows up. Definitely not into an 11k upgrade for a 30k car.

Buellwinkle

Surprisingly, the Audio 10 CD in my coupe with 6 speakers sounded better, fuller, more bass than the factory cassette radio in a C320 with Bose and 10 speakers. The Bose on the C320 does sound better than the Bose on the C230 with 7 speakers. The nice thing about the bass on the audio 10 is that it comes on pretty good without having to turn the volume up.

You can get the Audio 10 from 1 of 3 places that I know of.

1. Any non-North American dealer, a good choice may be one that speaks english like Holland, Australia or the UK. I believe the list price is 489 euros. Make sure they know it's for export so you may be able to get a VAT credit.

2. From Gaston at Autoclass.net, pricey at $649 but it's available in the U.S.

3. Bid for a used one on Ebay.de. Requires a bit of work but if you are lucky, you can get it for around 200 euros, figure after exchange rate, international wire transfer fees and shipping it will cost you about $250. Most of the forum members that have the Audio 10 used this method, some like me got burned and got a bad one.

schwarz c230

I put in the Alpine 7995 in dash cd, also plays mp3's, I love the differance, do not miss the steering wheel controls at all. link of other installs https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...&threadid=8574