SuPERSaK

I have search EVERYWHERE for a wiring harness for the w204.

I bought an Alpine iDA-X305S unit and don't want to splices the factory wires.

Anybody know where I can get/order one ?

I know I also need an antenna adapter and Probably gonna loose the control function on the steering wheels but I'm going to swap it out for a racing steering wheel anyways. (Nardi)

Imageboi

i'm a noob when it comes to mb but when i used to work at cartoys every customer with a mb we pretty much had to turn down cause it's a serious pain to put anything aftermarket in it..

SuPERSaK

CarToyz turn me down already lol.....



Why does Mercedes have to be sooo damn difficult

Im heading to Custom Sound here in Texas. Let's see if they can come up with something.

I will report back tomorrow night with pics

Imageboi

where in TX you at?? i'm in the dallas area..

SuPERSaK

San Anyonio.

I got everythin hook up and running. I will make a new thread with pic

Imageboi

ahhh so you actually found someone to do it?? or found the harness??

SuPERSaK

Found a harness and figure out how to wire it. Cuzz with just the harness it still didn't power up.

Of course I loose function from the 5" screen which was just to display the radio station and cd info.

Imageboi

hmmm yea i have to see how this looks

SuPERSaK

I'll make a new thread with pics

Acapulco Bill

@Supersak - why replace the Audio20 with the Alpine? The model you suggest has few watts than the factory unit, and no parametric equalizer as far as their specs show. Remember its the SPEAKERS that make the sound, not a blue display. Also, how will you use Bluetooth for your cell phone (a law in may states) with the speakers disconnected from the Audio20? There is a lot to consider before blaming the head unit for the inferior sound of the W204.

SuPERSaK

Well it's personal preference really. I didn't like how the stock head unit look and I didn't want to keep burning CDs. The stock AUX sound quality was lame and an iPod kit wasn't something I wanted.

With this Alpine I can just hook up a USB (8GB stick) and just remove and add songs as I please and it's a lot faster then burning CDs. I also like the Pandora feature on this unit.

The Alpine iDA-x305s has 2-band parametric equalizer and a built in amp. Sound quality is a lot better than the original stock unit.

I was already aware that I was going to loose some function like loosing is the display (which I can care less), bluetooth (the Alpine unit also have with an adapter so not loosing that), and the audio control from the steering wheel ( which was a pain ) also control from the knob by the cup holder.

Not really blaming the original head unit for anything. There is a lot more feature on the Alpine iDA-X305S has to offer.

Acapulco Bill

Glad you think it the Alpine "sounds" better, although frankly after considering many Audio20 replacement alternatives, just changing the cheap (read horrible) OEM speakers with quality, high efficiency drivers & crossovers (Infinity Kappa 60.9 front and 6032 rear), some say this system now is cleaner and more accurate than the HK system, and goes to 116 dB peaks. There is nothing wrong with the Audio20 amp itself.
Too bad Mercedes was so lame on giving a USB input. MB claims high-tech but is 10 years behind VW, Audi and Ford in the audio department, in terms of simple digital input capability.
As I opted for the iPod integration, (and even THAT was a real struggle as the original inline iPod amplifier was a Chinese-sourced unit with about 20% THD, until exchanged with a proper German-made one), USB memories, whatever the capacity, holds few lossless encoded tunes. In your case, USB was a priority. Next step logically is to replace those awful stock speakers!!!

SuPERSaK

Yeah my next step are replacing the speakers and adding subs

Imageboi

is there a reason everyone is just using that model infinity speakers?? theres a ton of better components out there or is it cause of the 2 ohm impedance?? or fitting?? the depth?? cause i much rather have some image dynamics on the doors before the infinity speakers..

Acapulco Bill

First, you can use Crutchfield as a reference, as they show which speakers will fit into the W204. The Infinity´s do fit, (Kappa 60.9front, 6032si shallow mount coaxial in the rear) but the MAIN reason is because of the far superior SOUND. If quality sound is important, there is no better improvement for one´s driving pleasure (IMO) than good listening. I began a process of returning the C300 just because the sound was so horrible, and trade it on a 3 series or an A4. Why drive thousands of hours listening to distortion and bad response?

kcanard

Acapulco Bill,

Thanks as always for sharing your knowledge and providing much needed feedback to the forum.

After many weeks of research and surfing the posts here on mbworld.org I took your advice and purchased the Infinity Kappas 60.9cs (front) and 62.9i (rear). Also going with Infinity Basslink self-powered 200W sub in the trunk to round out the lows. They're currently sitting in my basement waiting to go to work!

I only live about 60 miles north of Cruthfield in Charlottesville, VA and I spoke with them to schedule an appointment for installation next week. During my discussion with one of the techs he tried to push me for a small 4 channel amp to power my components/coaxials in the doors.

Obviously part of their job is to "up-sell" their customers and get more money out of them, but he insisted that he had done very similar installs on W204's in the recent past and stated "it didn't sound very good" due to distortion.

I reminded him that I'm not expecting competition level sound and that these Kappas paired with the factory head unit should be able to produce plenty of power at 2 ohms. I'm just curious what you all think...

Will an external amp be needed to get the most out of the aforementioned Kappas? I recall reading the specs on the factory head unit paired with the Kappas (wattage wise) however I wasn't able to easily find the post again.

Any opinions or feedback would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks,

KC

kcanard

Bill,

Of course as soon as I make a post about not finding a previous thread I find it!

http://m.www.mbworld.org/forums/show...age=4&t=358865

From the old thread I see that at 2 ohms the Audio 20 head unit can produce outputs of 40 watts RMS to each channel for the Kappas for a total of 160 watts.

So, if I decide to go with an external 4 channel amp at 50, 75, or even 100 watts per speaker, will that really make a significant difference with respect to the Kappas I previously mentioned?

The Kappa 60.9cs specs state the following:

Power range: 2-90 watts RMS (270 watts peak power)

The Kappa 62.9i specs are:

Power range: 2-75 watts RMS (225 watts peak power)

As I mentioned previously, I am not looking for a competition grade system. However, I have a 75 minute commute to/from work everyday and tend to listen to my music at HIGH volumes with the windows down.

I would rather have a lot more power available to the speakers than not enough to where it starts to distort. In other words I would rather have my system at half or three quarters and have it LOUD than have to push it too high to get the same high sounds levels. I truly want to maximize the performance of these Kappas to see their true potential.

As always, any opinions from personal experience or advice is more than welcome...

Thanks again,

KC

Acapulco Bill

KC: You dont want the Inifinity 62.9 in the rear but the 6032si which is a shallow mount and fit right in:

http://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Refer...3282636&sr=8-1

The "watts" is NOT the important spec, its the EFFICIENCY and impedance, which are 94 dB for 1 watt and 2 ohms. This will get a good 200 watts out of the Audio20 headunit, and 50 watts per 94 dB/watt speaker means each on produces about 110 dB on peaks, all combined is 116 dB peaks and 106 dB constant sound pressure level (SPL).

Best of luck.