KevinH2000

You should have an amp in the trunk. Remove the trunk lining on the inside of the passenger side fender and you should see it. It has a fiber optic cable running to it and a multitude of speaker wires coming out of it.

I'll look for a picture tonight. If I find one, I will post it.

B-5

Looking to replace mine soon with a Apple Carplay unit. I noticed on Crutchfield's site that many of the units require a line that taps into the parking brake. Is this accurate and what is the purpose for that connection?

uwbadgers5

I have tried searching for that but cannot find it... I searched under mercedes radio harness adapter. Would I be best off buying this and returning the Metra Axxess so I don't have to worry about buying an amp?

uwbadgers5

The above is $120, this one is $80, is there a difference or am I barking up the wrong tree?

https://www.spiralaudio.com/index.ph...hoCBJQQAvD_BwE

jkowtko

This one says non-amplified system ... if the OP has the amplified system with fiber optic cabling then he will have to either find a fiber friendly interface or replace the amp in the trunk and rewire most of his system.

Fyi, I had the base system, but I ended up replacing all the wiring between head unit, amp, speakers, battery just to make sure I had solid sound. Getting the (14ga) wiring to the front door speakers was a bit of a pain but IMHO was worth it in the long run.

Fyi the wiring harness adapter I bought was: https://www.scosche.com/02-up-vw-audi-harness ...

uwbadgers5

I have two fiber optic cables in my HU so I'm presuming that I have the amplified system. I'll check my trunk for the amp. If so, I'll get the interface. Thank you for your help! I'm thinking I'm going to return the things I bought and pay more for an adapter.

jkowtko

This one looks like it is supposed to work with the fiber systems:

https://www.scosche.com/lpmz25

It ain't cheap, but if you don't want to do any amp or speaker rewiring this looks like it should do the trick. Any there may be others out there, this is just the first one I found.

** Update ** sorry, this one looks like it starts with model year 2006 ... I didn't know there was a difference in the electronics between 2005 and 2006 ...

tw2

Check out the link in my signature for my E55. That also had Harmon kardon. It isn't worth messing around with fiber adapters either. Just replace the amp, run RCA's and be done with it for good.

KevinH2000

Even if it worked with the 2005 electronics, the description on the Crutchfield web site says: "retains the amplifier in your Fiber Optic amplified audio system (fader control is lost)" That seems like a significant impairment.

KevinH2000

I agree. You might find this thread useful: Adding Aftermarket Amplifier It shows a couple of different ways to install amplifiers in the trunk and use them to power the speakers. The biggest challenge will be sorting through the wiring harness on the OEM Harmon Kardon amp to determine which wire runs to each speaker.

David Muñoz

Hello, just wanted to know how did you attached the stereo is it wont move inside the gap?

cant see any bracket on your kit.

cheers.

KevinH2000

Take a look at these options.

I used the double DIN mounting kit, but it looks like there is a single DIN kit available if that is your preference.

bavarianfanatic

For starters, kudos to @tw2 for taking the time to put this together. Super helpful!

I'm most of the way through replacing the COMAND in my son's W215 (2000 CL500) with Bose. My last hurdle is the antenna trigger. Does anyone following along have any tips? I used the Metra harness adapter and connected the trigger from the HU to the new amp AND the blue lead on the adapter. While I actually do have a signal, it's extremely weak with static. AM is slightly better than FM. I'm guessing the blue lead in the original harness isn't all that's needed to power the antenna. Ideas?