hanknum

I've done my research, but am still getting conflicting info.

I've got an '02 C320 wagon with the Bose system and no nav. I've been told that to replace the headunit that I'd have to rewire all the speakers because of the fiber optics. Others have said that I just need a wiring harness adapter. I pulled the radio and it looks like there is a fiber optic connection, but only to communicate with the CD changer. It also has a typical 10-12 wire wiring harness.

Can I just get a passive headunit with RCA preamp outputs for the speakers and get an adapter to connect to the existing amp? Then someone else said that this would not work because the existing amp is looking for digital inputs and would not work with normal RCA outputs.

Thanks in advance.

Henry

Moviela

If your car has the Bose Amplifier in the right rear cubby hole you have a few things working against changing the headunit. The audio signal is carried from the headunit to the amp on optical cables. It is a loop that daisy chains from input to output of the cd changer, the Bose amp, the tele-aid, the telephone, and the satellite receiver. If you don't have any of those items, the fiber optics simply bypass them. The loop still needs to be completed or there will be no sound from any of them.

The Bose equipment uses an older optical protocol called D2B and I doubt you will find any aftermarket device that will work with that standard. Face lift cars 2005 on use MOST and it is not compatible or adaptable to D2B systems.

Some have said you can rewire the car to use a headunit with an internal amp, or buy an amp with RCA inputs. That is nonsense on two fronts. The impedance of the Bose speakers are not standard and will not electrically match any other amp. The speakers have a unique response that would not sound good even if you built an amp with flat response to drive them. The Bose amp has compensation that matches the speakers to produce an acceptable sound field. If you rewire the car, you will need speakers too. Bose also makes the mounting difficult to match in the aftermarket.

hanknum

Thanks Moviela...that's just the kind of info I was looking for.

So, I guess it's change everything or leave it alone.

One last thought...is there any later model Bose that came in newer cars that might work? I'd like to get bluetooth and maybe DVD or nav.

Thanks for your input.

Drummajorc

Not necessarily, Back when I bought my car the sound didn't work due to a broken amp, and I was in the same boat looking for an aftermarket solution. I ended up going with a blaupunkt toronto 410 bt to keep the german aesthetic and because you didn't need an antenna adapter on the head unit. The rewiring of the speakers isn't as bad as it is made out to be, you just run all the wires from the head unit to the trunk and connect them there to the speaker wires.

The amp in the head unit does indeed power the stock bose speakers, although it does not sound as good as stock due to reasons moviela mentioned, I think it is certainly acceptable for my needs and by no means sounds terrible.

Or you can do like this guy:

https://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w...tallation.html

jkowtko

If you're going to go through the trouble of tearing your dash apart to replace the head unit, and running RCA cables to the back, and replacing the amp (although finding an amp that squeezes in that mounting plate area might be a chore), you might as well replace the speakers also. The incremental amount of work will be minimal. All that you will be left with is your stock speaker wiring from the trunk to the doors ... even that you can replace in 4-5 hours DIY (I just did).

LILBENZ230

Hank.. Bose was ditched for HK7 by 2005 in the C, even earlier in the E. I'm pretty sure there's no newer Bose system you can use.

Eau_Rouge

Look at the Alpine PDX-5, it's very small and will run 4 channels plus a sub. I've got the same problem as you...bose system that isn't compatible with anything.

I'll likely be swapping everything out...headunit/amp/speakers/cd changer.

Javvy

hanknum....go to http://www.commandonline.co.uk/ and speak to Mark, he can help you and sell you the stuff that you need to do this mod....very very knoweledgable guy and his website has all kinds of adapters to do this retor mod....

goodluck

javvy

hanknum

Thanks for all the input guys...