erifly

Does anyone have a w211 with aftermarket stereo. A stereo with a monitor/navigation/dvd player. If you do could show us pics that would be great. I just want to see how it would look. Thx.

prodigymb

i got an aftermarket navi in my 211. at first i went with the new pioneer f90bt but that thing was the biggest piece of crap i've ever used - needless to say i sold it. now i have a 7" Alpine W505 ready to go in the car.

i used the scosche dash kit and i'll be honest it does not look that great at all....and i would not really recommend it even though it is the only option that i found. i am planning to use it a starting base for a custom piece and than wrap it in suede.

search for user AMGFan .....he has a nice setup

Untertürkheim

Why not just buy the latest COMAND that has hard drive based NAV with traffic routing, DVD, and Logic 7 sound?

AMGfan

Here you go...

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...o-surgery.html

https://mbworld.org/forums/w211-amg/...-lot-pics.html

erifly

I have the audio 50 currently. And Keep in mind I want NAV, DVD, rear view camera, and of course mp3/cd playback. And even without the rear view camera that full system with Mercedes command will cost me at least $1500+ while an aftermarket setup with everything I want(including rear view camera and even a touchscreen) would run me less than half. I would also get better crisper sound with an aftermarket system. I am actually still debating between the two, and leaning more towards aftermarket..I just don't want it to look horrible, So I wanted to see what other members have done.

erifly

REally? The f90bt is crap? That's the one I was thinking about getting. I'm going to look up the Alpine. And I am not going to use a scosche dash kit on a benz . They make good products but they don't work on luxury cars.

Can you send me a pic. What I have in mind was making a replica plastic piece out of the OEM stereo faceplate and then cutting a rectangle out of it to fit the aftermarket system. And I was thinking for my system maybe getting two systems. One a main screen for camera and navi(So basically a large screen), and then have a stereo deck above that with an automated pull out screen.

erifly

WOW . That is extremely niceeeee looking . I liked what you did...man I have many questions...let me read those two threads first..lol

prodigymb

yeah i had a pioneer p80mp, pioneer avic n2, pioneer avic d3 .....so i was a big pioneer fan. the fn90bt was the biggest piece of **** ever, it runs on windows ce 5.0 (not a joke) and it takes about 2-3 minutes to load on start up. the 5.8" screen looked stupid in the huge stock location. stay away from it. try to go for something with a 7" screen.

i didnt get a chance to take a picture, i used it for a week....ripped it out and sold it lol. i will post pics when i get my alpine installed.

erifly

Man this pic had to posted in this thread.



Now thats a great alternative to the OEM stereo. Love the shiny black plastic, looks more authentic then dull plastic. That's a bigger screen, didn't know kenwoods made some like that. Does your instrument cluster still work?...and what about the steering wheel stereo controls(I know it depends on the stereo model).


Also, I like the headlights..did you use the "oven" method?

erifly

Yeah I have heard about the extreme slow start up time on those 90bt. I actually didn't know they made non-custom mass market stereo screens bigger than 6".

prodigymb

oh yeah pioneer avic Z3, kenwood (similar to one in AMGFans car), alpine w505 are 7". and you wanna go as big as you can so the screen doesnt get "lost" in the middle there. yeah his dash kit is beautiful but there was ALOT of $$$ involved in doing the work he's done suede, stiching, speaker location, trunk etc etc.

by the way are you going to replace the stock speakers because on my car the audi was fiber optic so there was no way to make the aftermarket nav work with stock sound system.

Untertürkheim

The latest comand has everything there except the rear camera, plus navigation is tied to traffic updates for fastest routing. The latest units are also hard drive based (single unit, no external nav reader), with gracenote database, memory card reader, with 4 gig built in memory.

I personally do not like touch screens since I do not like having a dirty screen, buttons are okay for me.

Not to mention COMAND is completely plug and play.

Polar Bear

Has it been determined that the 2009 COMAND is plug and play? I was thinking some major changes had to be made to retrofit them (I think according to Steve, but perhaps this was in cars with existing COMAND units).

It seems that the NAV processor from the trunk, and possibly the SDARS, Tele-Aid, and Phone would need to be removed from the MOST loop - but I know nothing about the 2009 COMAND.

Untertürkheim

I meant for those models without NAV. In this case, the OP has an Audio 50, it should be P&P there.

Polar Bear

Do you happen to know where the antenna/speaker connection are for the new COMAND? Does it still rely on an AGW?

igolfchip

Its a great idea - would like to do this in my 06. However, no one has confirmed that one can install the 09 - '10 comand units in an 06 as easily as you suggest.

Can you provide more detail on how easy and at what cost this can be accomplished?

AMGfan

Has the NAV gotten any better for MY 2009? I know in my S430 it was crap (even with updates) and my wife's C300 the NAV is counterintuitive. I finally gave up in the S430 and bought a portable Garmin Nuvi.

PS...I have no problem with fingerprints on my touchscreen.

erifly

Yeah, I don't think I have time resources to go to the extent of his car. That's a work of art..lol. I will replace the speakers. I def. would go all out for the dash kit(probably create it myself). Only problem I could run with speakers, is the speaker depth, I know stock speakers are usually slimmer than aftermarkets with the sound I want.

erifly

Really? They are hard drive based? About time . I was annoyed at the fact that I had to buy separate drives for navigation,dvd,etc. Do you know if they have usb ports as well? Also,Do you know if they introduced a new sound displacement system(Like newer logic..I know they have gone thru logic 6,7..).I need to find out how much this new command costs. I'll look into this, thanks for the info.

I just wonder like other members, if someone has tried it and worked fine.

Untertürkheim

Yes, it is much better since it now calculates based on traffic conditions and real estimated drive time (which was the case in Europe for years, but this just appeared in 09 for the US).

Untertürkheim

I have not personally installed one, but I have second hand knowledge of it. I have only been told that it is was no problem to install the 09 system in a car that did not previously have nav.

Untertürkheim

Yes, hard drive based.
Apparently it does have a USB connection too.
Like before, this is an all-in-one system.
The sound displacement is true 7.1. This is actually a huge improvement over the previous versions because the previous US system simulated 7.1. What this means is that it could only read a stereo sound stream, which it then put through the logic processor. This newer unit can directly read/decode the 7.1 signal and play it through. The reason is that this newer system can read DVDs and is therefore designed to recieve the 7.1 signal directly.

moondragon

The AGW is integrated into the BD-0880, so are the speaker-outs - pretty much like the Audio20-CDC.

moondragon

Don't think it is USB but takes an SD-card - so close enough.
The HU is able to process Dolby DTS signals from what I've seen, in addition to the in-dash 6-DVD changer which is new.

Untertürkheim

I did not think it had USB either, but I saw that there is a "USB media interface cable" available, which makes me believe there must be USB.