falls profet

Does anyone know if we can use a PRE-AMP aftermarket headunit? Since we

have a factory amp already for the stock speakers will this work?

falls profet

No one knows....

falls profet

Alright, so I found out you can't use a pre-amp HU with our factory amp.

But......

Does anyone one know if we can use the same wires from the Bose factory amp, to plug into an aftermarket amp if you clip them off from the plug in???

SoCalw11w123

yes, keep the bose system, it all runs at 2ohms and it sounds great!

Use the Metra wiring kit...but for a VW. swap 2 wires and you are in.

Searchy Searchy!!!

louieginzo

yes you can
i have bose and alpine dvd nav head unit

DCarrera

Seriously? My '99 has the Fiber optic system. I just assumed it was not really feasible to swap head units (I want an iPod compatible unit that does not suck).

I'm considering the nav units as well. I'd like to hear more about how this works. Do you maintain fader control, what had to be modified?

If this is not a exercise in totall removal of the Bose/Audio10 system then I might do it before the holidays are wrapped up. Why not start the new year off with some new tunes!?

louieginzo

yes it can be done i cant tell you how cause iam not the installer
i took my car to audio shop
but i will tell you if you gonna do it
get the newest pionner avic d3 dobule din head unit
its dvd,nav, blue tooth, ipod, rear view cam

also what you can buy is a thing called * pac *
what that is its a wire they hook up to ur wheel buttons to work on ur after market head unit thats about any where from 60-80 $ plus installing

i didnt go with pionner for 2 reason's
1 it was not out the time i got it i did not like the pionner avic d2 cause i dont play movies at all if you want to play movies u got to buy extra dvd player

2 i got a good deal on alpine head unit deal where i can say sure ahaha



but how ever i have a acura tl and i got the avic d3 for that car
i love that head unit so much i bought everything they make for the head unit
ipod,bluetooth,rear view cam

but ill show u a pix of my benz with my head unit



any local good audio shop can do it take ya car there.....
what it is called * bypass bose system * what they do is bypass it and make it work with the after market head unit


with my bose and after market head unit it sounds better then ever





here is the thing on ebay called pac
u can read about it and see a pix

they make few pac kits you just got to find the right one
http://cgi.ebay.com/PAC-SWI-X-UNIVER...QQcmdZViewItem



here is the head unit package deal
what you get is ipod wire, remote, blue tooth only thing ur missing is rear view cam the cam will run u about 100-150$
http://cgi.ebay.com/PIONEER-AVIC-D3-...QQcmdZViewItem

DCarrera

Awesome. I'll print this out and take it to the couple of high-end install shops we have here in our little town and see how can do it and how much they will drill me to get it done, LOL.

I like the idea of the DDin nav touchscreen thing. It's about the only head unit that will look OK in the Benz dash other than the factory stuff.

How is the lighting in the TL? Is the backlight on the screen adjustable? I just don't want a really bright display down there to distract me at night. At my age I have enough problems with night vision that I don't want a spotlight shining in my face from the head unit.

THX!

louieginzo

its awsome my tl comes facotry auto on/off head lights with hids
the head unit changes auto from day to night once ur head lights go on
its awsome you should deff look into that
about the colors, yes you can make it very bright or not bright very easy to change
with the night vision when it ur head lights go on its lovey i love it so much it feels facotry when it does that
i even have a rear view cam
i put the car in * r * it comes up on the screen

they got lovey package deals on ebay i dont know if u shop on ebay but
look on ebay for the head unit
avic d3
in stores the head unit goes for over 1000$
online u can pick up a package deal wich will give u blue tooth, ipod wire, remote for around 800$

falls profet

I guess it is possible then. My main reason for asking this is that I just got a new Alpine IVA-205. Now since we have factory bose amps our speakers are already powered. I want to be able to disable the internal amp from the HU and just use the power from the bose amp.

When you switch HU, which most of you know, you get a much louder, cleaner sound from the factory speakers all around. Most all HUs have some sort of internal power amp (ex: 45x4, 20x4, etc). If you turn off the internal amp from the HU you can get a MUCH cleaner signal from the HU to your amp (bose amp, sub amp, etc.) and the sound is even MORE clean than that of using the internal amp from the HU. This is the reason that everything is so much louder when you change out HU because the signal from the aftermarket unit is 10x stronger than that from the Mercedes HU. It makes the bose amp come alive even more and over time can harm the amp and the speakers because of the overload the Bose amp was not meant to take. (I think...)


Anyhow, a pre-amp (no power from the HU) is always the best way to go if you have external amps for highs, mids, subs, etc.

Ted Baldwin

..............Nice write up. Just to be clear before someone goes and shells out a lot of dough for nothing..........DO you ACTUALLY have the steering wheel control physically installed and actually working in your CLK430 as we speak? The PAC you speak of is applicable only to 2003-2004 CLK nd C-class according to the link you provided. Is this incorrect/ Have you SEEN it work in other Mercedes Models?

Ted

ApproachingZero

Thanks ted, you took the words right out of my mouth

louieginzo

yes i have pac and i got the voice command package
yes it works but you can not install it ur self its very hard the guy at the shop wanted $75 to install it

it works great how ever i dont have the m-benz phone
so i cant tell you if that works or not

DCarrera

I should have asked which year(s) this would work for. My '99 has the older fiberoptic system. Is that even a concern with this type of upgrade/replacement?


I take it, removing the stock head unit from the fiber loop does not cause problems. I've heard of some people that have had to leave a stock head unit hidden in the car to complete the fiber loop (it was not an MBZ though).

Ted Baldwin

.............he has a CLK430 so he has the same fiberoptic and D2B system your car has. This is why I asked the question the way I did. From his answer, he is says that although the website lists the PAC as only applicable to a limited number of MOST not D2B cars, that the Pac works for D2B cars including his, so long as you don't instal it yourself. The next question is......for him to provide the name and telephone number of the guy that installed it in his CLK430, so we can all go to the person. I am sure h/she will not mind as this is free business and he can even jack up his price top $100 from $75. I'm waiting for the name and number.

.........as fars as the fiberoptic loop, yes you can have a problem if the car detects an open loop. I suppose one way of solving the problem is to leave the old headunit in the car. A better was is to close the loop as is done when you install a Dension IPOD system. We just need the name and telephone number and address of one competent shop that has actually done this. I am becoming more concrete in my old age, because I've beebn steered wrong so many times. Not saying at all that this is what he is doing.

Ted

DCarrera

Back in the 80's I did custom pro audio installs in MBZ, Ferraris and Lotuses (Loti ??) and did some pretty amazing work if I do say so myself. BUT that was back in the 80's and A LOT of things have changed since then. Things I've of course not kept up with since I sent to work in IT.

So.. I probably *could* do it myself, however I'd rather have someone who knows these new cars. The rub is that I also know now may hacks were working in the indsutry in the 80's and I doubt that it's gotten and better. So I'm super paranoid about turning my car loose to someone what is not *sure* what needs to be done.

I've love to get the details from the guy that's done it. If he's local to me, I'll pay him to do it. If he's not, maybe he won't feel it to be a competitive disadvantage to pass some of that info onto me, or someone I can hire to get this done.

* I really want my iPod working my car.
* I really want it to work simply.
* I'd love to have Nav but it's not a fraction as important.
* I want it to work right
* I don't want a much of stuff chopped up (some stuff chopped I'll accept.. this is not collector's car.. but it is *MY* car)

My CD changer is dead and the tuner in my head unit does not work so well. (maybe something wrong with my antenna, and where IS the antenan on this thing. I'm assuming it's in the rear window).

I was going to pull the trigger on the DICE systems but no track info on the head unit, some fumbling track navigation I've heard about.. and the price.. so I'd held off on that hoping for a better solution. I'm really hopeful that this is it!

ApproachingZero

The price for aftermarket nav is SOOOO MUCH BETTER than a replacement
COMMAND from MB.... Seeing you have a 1999 i am not sure if you have Command already, but the unit is $$$$. I called two dealers today... I called twice because i thought the first one did not know what i was talking about....

$4200 for a referb.... $8100 for new head unit..... I still think both pulled the wrong part #.... are they Serious? I was quoted from a Audio shop a full nav, steering wheel adaptor, and labor $1100... I could talk down to $1000.

That is not a bad price: Pioneer AVIC-D3X Package

The guy also offered to take out my COMMAND and fix it... He has an electronics guy that fixes stuff all the time... $300... I am leaning towards that one.

High Technology

The '99 system is easy to swap out, since it has the basic wires that car stereos need (ignition, illumination, etc.). As long as you aren't using anything on the optical network (MB phone or CD changer), you'll be fine. As someone said above, all you need is the VW wiring harness, which is widely available. I ordered my alpine deck at Crutchfield, told them I had a 99 VW Golf and they gave me the 3 parts needed to do the installation (radio keys to remove the OEM radio, European antenna adapter and the VW harness). Only trick is that the contant power and +12v ignition wires are reversed in our cars (so when wiring the headunit, just swap the wires when connecting to the adapter):

The 12v igntion on the new radio goes to 12v constant on adapter, and
12v constant on the new radio gets hooked up to 12v ignition on the adapter.

Starting in later years (perhaps 2001) there was a switch to a wider spread use of the DB2 system, where the ignition sensor and headlight illumination are not hardwired, so those must be obtained from elsewhere in the car (annoying complication, but still doable).

I posted some things last spring when I did my unit in the Audio & Electronics forum and also answered some questions from someone in the E-Class forum. Those posts discuss most of the what's above (but in more detail), and also talk about the step-down converter that is recommended for interfacing with the BOSE amp ($20 at Crutchfield). Info is here:
https://mbworld.org/forums/audio-electronics/188396-stock-bose-speaker-system-e-430-keep-not-keep.html

I have an Alpine 9855 with XM and iPod controls, so I went from cassette only to CD+XM+iPod... Everything works wonderfully...

louieginzo

ummm did you check ur fuse ?
but yeah if you no how to to hook up things go for it man
ull save your self a lot of money
head unit radio all you go to do is match color wires togeter
ipod wire all u got to do is run it to where ever u want it
tis very simple even head unit with gps all it is colors
should take you about 30 mins to a hour to install it tops
once you install your head unit your 6 cd changer will not work
there are many head units out with nav or with out for good number price rang
they go from 300 to 3,000 it counts on what you want really
some only have dvd, radio ipod
its like u get what you pay for

louieginzo

the name of the place is called 212 motoring
http://212motoring.com/
there number is 718-743-3200
this place been on tv shows b4 and the guy did many rapper's cars b4 check out there web site

wstasw@aol.com

Guys, I did install myself, it's very simple if u done something like that before. U can make any aftermarket radio work with analog Bose, just hook speaker wires to speaker wires from the amp (will still sound like crap but better then stock radio, also if u push volume too much the sound will distort). I don't know if newer CLKs got digital BOSE, i got 2000. The Comand will cost more money in long run ( I did comand first, I did not like that ****), I got Avic-d3 now. Does anybody have streering buttons work, beside with ALPINE unit? As far as I know PAC makes adapters only for C class and some other euro models but not for CLK.

DCarrera

Alright.. I'm going to go and give this a try. VW adapter harness with swapped power wires.. and the speaker wires hook up there too I take it. I guess I need to decided which head unit I want to do.

I did both of my Porsches (both of them with multi-speaker factory systems) and it call came back to me pretty fast when I did those (2005). I guess.. if I don't chop the harness up too much reverting back to the stock head should be easy enough.

And yeah.. I checked all the fuses (there are two listed that power audio components. both are good). I should pull the changer again and check the actual wires. What is weird is that I'd SWEAR it worked when I checked the car the day I bought it...

louieginzo

well if you want take it to m-benz if its still covered
if not then buy a new radio see what happenz

louieginzo

you are from nj ?> there are 2 shops that i no of that can do it for you

island sound = in staten island = 718-370-1100

212 motoring = bk brooklyn = 718-743-3200

wstasw@aol.com

Yes, but I need no shop, I need to know which CAN BUS adapter they using, if PAC then which model? Do you have yours buttons working with aftermarket (not an ALPINE)? Thanks for tel # anyway, I'll see what the say.