theLeland

Does anyone know where I can buy an In-Dash CD directly? I so need one!

Buellwinkle

You can buy an indash CD player just about anywhere like Walmart, Circuit City, Best Buy. The tough part about an after market CD player is getting a good faceplate adapter.


Or do you want the MB unit sold outside the US. The Audio 10 is available at any UK dealership for less than 300 pounds. The MB Dealer in Stuttgard speaks english and will ship to you.

For used ones check E-Bay, there's always a bunch for sale there. Not the US E-Bay. Try http://www.ebay.de/ and search for Audio 10. They seem to go for about 150 euros.

theLeland

Thanks - that's exactly what I was looking for. And these Audio 10's fit in the C-class? Also - why are they so cheap? I mean...under $200! Is something wrong with them?

columbus

Not at all. People just want to lose them so they can pop in the fancy in-dash cassette unit we lucky ba$tards get with our stock Benzes The flip-away display is just sooo cool; although I haven't played a single tape yet since I got the car, I keep playing with and showing off that awesome feature. :p

Buellwinkle

If you think it's cool on the C class, watch the cassette door open on the ML. 10 times bigger than the C class and more fun to watch.

theLeland, be careful, not all Audio 10's have CD players. Use babelfish to translate the German to English. Most have pictures so you can weed out the cassettes. BTW, 200 Euros is about 176 and shipping from Germany is comperable to UPS within the US.

WebGuyNJ

This may be a silly question, but since the Audio 10 is a european radio, are there any issues / problems with it working on US FM & AM frequencies?

Buellwinkle

The radio works fine except every station plays polka and oom pa pa music.

A CD is a CD so that's not a problem. FM stations in Europe are even decimal (ie. 101.2) and ours are odd (ie. 101.1) but it still works fine. AM can be tuned to a specific frequency but the scanning is close but not perfect and their AM frequency range only goes to about 1600Khz instead of about 1700Khz in the US. Also the Audio 10 displays the station name on the display and on the dash display for radio stations that support it. This is a cool feature on the Audi radios. It will work with the CD changer but not the integrated phone.

If you check around other posts there's one person that has it and he says it sounds better than the Audio 30 we have and is very happy with it.

I would get one but it's too late for me as I already got the changer.

theLeland

thanks for your help...I'll be doing that shortly and I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Also - what's the unit for the E-class called? I want to get one of those too...

theLeland

One of the postings on Ebay mentioned that the unit is not suitable for the new c coupe, only for the old c class. Does anyone know anything definitive about this? Your advice is very much appreciated!

Buellwinkle

The shape of the radio is different is one major difference. The old radio is a rectangle, the new one is bigger on top than the bottom. Make sure it's from a W203 MB C-Klasse. Also make sure you get the radio code. Mit means with and nicht is not, I use that as my guide although I don't speak German. If it says mit cassette that's not good or nicht CD. Neue C-Klasse means new c-class and that's good. I don't know anything about E-class cars.

Here's a correct one.

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?...tem=1714295662

Happy shopping!

raymond

I am the the person that got the Becker BE6021, not the Audio 10. The BE6021 is designed to fit the W203, judging from pictures of the Audio 10 the shape is different, as is the mounting. The W203 has 2 "wings" at the front that stick out at 90 degrees. See pics I posted in the thread "The elusive in-dash CD player". There may also be a security system issue with the Audio 10, as it is in some way keyed to the car.

If I were you, I would try and get the BE6021. I know it works, I know it is plug and play, and that it works with the steering wheel controls and the MFD. The FM works fine because it tunes in steps of 0.1MHz (so it seeks and displays RDS station names), and the AM is OK for the stations to which I listen. It also looks great in the car, as the front panel is designed to match the climate control panel below it. It also has LW and SW, but I'm not sure what you'll receive on these.

It has speed sensitive volume and an external phone mute input. It also has the ASC feature which quickly scans the FM band and temporarily stores the strongest stations in the presets. Selecting ASC again restores your original presets.

I am still hoping that a European reader of this message board will be able to post the sections of the owner's manual that pertain to this unit, as I'm sure there are additional features that I have not uncovered.

Buellwinkle

No sure what you mean by wings but this is the Audio 10 for the W203 that is standard in some countries and a no charge option in others and not available in the USA.

If this radio came out of a 2002 C230 coupe why would it not fit one in the US? Are the radio openings different in Germany?

raymond

Buellwinkle

It seems that there are different models of the Audio 10. Some of them look totally different.

The model number I've quoted was read directly from the unit's sticker, but the picture you've attached is identical to the BE6021 I installed, right down to the box!

If this is an audio 10, then my apologies. Trust MB to call different things the same name.

By "wings" I mean the two lugs that are mounted on the sides of the unit, just behind the front panel. THe audio 10s I saw on Ebay didn't have these - probably for the old model.

So I guess if it looks like the one in your picture it should be OK.

Sorry for the misinformation.

BTW, have you installed one yet?

Cheers
Raymond

theLeland

Is it necessary to get the radio code for installation?

raymond

If your unit is the same as the one in Buellwinkle's picture, it is the same as the one I installed in my C230K. I didn't have to make any changes to the car's electronics at all - the steering wheel controls and MFD all worked, and the cables all just plugged in, including the fiber optic cable.

Buellwinkle

They must make different ones for different body styles. The square one looks like what they put in the SLK. Make sure it says it's for the W203 C Class. I don't have one because by the time I found out about it I already ordered the changer. Back in August the changers were cheaper also, I only paid 375. I was going to buy from a UK dealer and he want about 425 US for the Audio 10. I would have done it if he got back to me sooner than a month.

DtS

Didn't your unit come with a users manual???
Anyway, I am a european reader, and have this unit factory-mounted in my car. Mine came with a manual, so feel free to ask me questions!

One feature I don't think was mentioned here is that there is built-in support for traffic-info. When a selected station (with RDS-broadcasts) sends a traffic-related message these messages will interrupt the original radio-playback (and even interrupt CD-playback). There is a separete volume setting for those intterupting messages (I think it is +3 +6 and +9 dB).

vadim

RDS is a nice thing, but pretty useless in the US... Just over a year ago I had a loaner from my Volvo dealer - a brand new Discovery II with an RDS-enabled radio. Could only find 5 stations that do support RDS in the whole DC metro area... On the other hand, FM sucks in DC, anyway... 10 song-playlists not updated for years... Worse than supermarket muzak.

raymond

Hi DtS

No, for some reason my radio came all nicely boxed and packaged, but without a manual. I thought this may be because it would be in the owner's manual like the cars in the US.

Thanks for the assistance. I have the following questions:

1. What is the button that looks like a speaker with a line through it? I thought it was a mute button, but when I press it it says "No TP". Is this maybe the Traffic Program?

2. Are there any hidden menus for adjusting any of the radio parameters, for example the AM MW step and speed sensitive volume?

3. Does the CD player have anti-skip read ahead memory?

4. Is the manual part of the car's owner's manual or separate?

5. Does it support the CD changer? If so, how, and, which makes?

6. Are there any other additional options for this radio, like external amplifiers and sub woofers?

As the previous poster stated, RDS is huge in Europe and even in South Africa, but pretty unused here. Probably because most of the US is as flat as a pancake and one transmitter will service an area as big as Texas.

Many thanks.

Raymond

DtS

Hi Raymond!


1. What is the button that looks like a speaker with a line through it? I thought it was a mute button, but when I press it it says "No TP". Is this maybe the Traffic Program?

This is a mute-button, but it will only mute in radio-mode, and not in CD-mode. In CD-mode this button works as an on/off-switch for the Traffic Program feature.


2. Are there any hidden menus for adjusting any of the radio parameters, for example the AM MW step and speed sensitive volume?

No, unfortunately not. I think the speed sensitiveness can be adjusted by your dealer though. This is not mentioned in my manual.


3. Does the CD player have anti-skip read ahead memory?

No. You can't scan a track (if that's what you meant). Personally, I think this sucks!


4. Is the manual part of the car's owner's manual or separate?

It's a separate one.


5. Does it support the CD changer? If so, how, and, which makes?

Yes, it supports the CD changer. Guess it will ONLY support the mercedes original changer though.
I don't have the changer myself, but I think I've read in anoter post, that you select CD with the up/down-arrows, and track with the left/right. Or maybe it was the other way around... Will have to look it up.


6. Are there any other additional options for this radio, like external amplifiers and sub woofers?

I think (not 100% sure, I will have to scan my manual which I don't have access to right now) there is built in support for the BOSE-system.

raymond

Thanks for the help and the quick response. I'm sure many others on this site will be happy for the additional information to help them decide whether to take the plunge or not.

BTW, your English is excellent, probably a lot better than my Swedish! Are you originally from somewhere other than Sweden? Why a MB, not a SAAB or Volvo?

Cheers and thanks again

Raymond

DtS

Aha, thats what you ment with skip-ahead memory. Sorry! Well this too, is not mentioned in the manual, but speaking from own experiences (there are LOTS of lousy roads in Sweden...) there must be something built into it to prevent "jumping", 'cause I have never got it to jump!

Since this audio-system is available as "factory-option" in both England and Australia, there should be a manual in English. Mine however is in Swedish, so I guess a part# for my manual won't help you alot...

Cheers!