kiwikid10

Hi All,

Just purchased a CL600 2002 Model (NA V12) 60K miles on the clock.
Yes the TT is the one I wanted but choice is limited here in the UAE, we only have 500's or AMG 55's which have been raped by the locals. unless you get very lucky and find an import which is rare.

Coils have been replaced and the famous oil leak done 1200 miles ago, with all gaskets, seals, belts, pullys and consumables replaced whilst the leak was fixed. So only the hydraulics are waiting to bite me.

What I am interested in is replacing the command system with an aftermarket one, including all amps and speakers, I have read that if you pull the cd and amp out that you need to keep the fiber optics together as they control other parts of the system?

If so any advice on how to do this, the guys here are pretty clueless on this sort of thing and the last thing I want to do is disable the car.

Cheers jason.

saintz

The speakers and amp are pretty decent quality sound wise, being Bose. It would be easier to keep those.

The CD player to head unit connection is fiber, but the head unit to amp and amp to speaker connections are all convention wire. This means if you change the head unit you lose the CD player (who cares). But you can change the head unit and still use the stock amp and speakers.

The biggest issue on the CL is mounting. You will need to cut the wood trim to accommodate a double DIN radio, or buy the trim from a 2002 or newer car which has the larger COMAND unit. You also need a special bracket, which can be hard to find.

kiwikid10

OK, Thanks for that, if I read it correctly if I remove the entire system then it will not affect the rest of the cars operations?

I thought I read somewhere earlier that some canbus info ran on the same system, but I have been reading a huge amount recently trying to understand what I can on these cars.

Cheers.

saintz

The fiber optics are D2B. The CANBUS is separate and runs over copper wire instead of fiber optic.

The PSE pump, phone, and other systems use the fiber optic system as well. It's also a loop, so if you remove a component, you need to close the loop, either by removing the spliced in connector or by using an adapter on the fiber cable that the component was plugged into.

kiwikid10

So saintz,

if I read this correct if I dump my entire system I need to keep the loop for the fibre optics by taking the input of say the amp and then join it to the output of the amp?
Is there any place to get these connectors? and how hard is this to achieve?

If I dump the command, cd and amp is there a quick loop fix?

Thanks so far for you help.

kiwikid10

Ohh and being stuck in Dubai does not help for Audio experts as there are none here.

saintz

You probably want to take that piece of fiber out if you remove the amp. It has splitters in it so you can take sections out. When you open the rear panel in the trunk (driver side on a Left Hand Drive car) you will see what I mean.

In the past, I was able to disconnect the head unit fiber with no ill effects. Disconnecting the stuff in the trunk is normally when you get in trouble.

kiwikid10

OK, so if I disconnect the command, but leave the amp and cd in place then I can happily install a full aftermarket system?
As the fibre loop is still connected and operational.

Sorry for all the questions but I want to get this right and my research shows people installing aftermarket amps subs etc but not what and how they removed the factory stuff.

Any schematics on the fibre loop easily available?