Dericious

I was unfortunate enough to purchase a E500 w/o nav and hence don't seem to have an auxillary jack.

has anyone had any luck installing an AUX jack with some aftermaket solution?

MB4Fun

Look in the glove box for the aux input. There is another thread somewhere on this exact issue.

hoffyvortex

Mercedes just announced the availability of an iPod integration kit, and i do not think you need Nav to make it work. I saw it demonstrated at MacWorld last week in a CLS and it was pretty slick. The kit will retail for $299. They said it would be easily retrofitable to all 2005 E class. Of course, if you are trying to hook up something other than an iPod this solution wont work. For an iPod, it is great as it gives you control from the steering wheel and song information on the instrument cluster.

Dericious

thanks hoffy.

i'll keep my eye out for the kit. i can live with an ipod as long as it is a hardwire connection to the car audio.

My current solution is a rf modulator with my phatbox. works ok, but a bit of sounds quality is lost.

i looked all over my glove compartment, there is no aux jack there. (no aux option on my radio either). I read somwhere that no nav in 2003 means no aux jack.

MB4Fun

My car is an 04 without Nav and it is there...hard to see because it is a mini jack but in the center of glove box...easy to miss.

MB4Fun

Here is the link with all the info...

https://mbworld.org/forums/showthrea...ight=aux+input

Dericious

thanks guys. i've been through those and believe me i've looked through and through. just fuzzy covering where it should be.

by car was built in late '02. seeme ridiculous to be that they would change something like that.

anyway, doesn't seem like anyone is going to develop a solution since mercedes did it in later years.

DWP

I didn't know that any 2003s, nav or not, had an AUX jack. Mine sure doesn't, although it's non-nav. I thought that the AUX jack was a tradeoff for deletion of the cassette player in 2004 models, since the one use of the cassette player on my car is making a hardware audio connection - not a great connection, but better than an FM modulator. If a 2003 with nav has neither a cassette player nor an AUX jack, that's a really hard place so far as playing portable audio equipment is concerned.

scorchie

The correct answer until proven untrue:

2003 W211 with COMAND from the factory (and sometimes retrofitted) have auxiliary input. On the W211, the auxiliary input has nothing to do with navigation, it has to do with the head unit. For other years up until 2005, any W211 with COMAND has auxiliary input.

For the USA:

2003: standard head unit = Audio 50. head unit with navigation = COMAND
2004: standard head unit = COMAND. head unit with navigation = COMAND
2005: standard head unit = COMAND. head unit with navigation = COMAND

Please disregard any old threads with anything that deviates from this, because they are incorrect!

And to answer the OP, the quickest easiest way to obtain auxiliary input is to upgrade to COMAND. Maybe not the cheapest, but just about any other solution will be tedious and difficult. A cassette adapter will work and sound better than an FM modulator, but is not really an auxiliary input. As for other aftermarket solutions, I do not believe any other solution with a "real" auxiliary input is shipping at this time.

-s-

p.s. when selecting a COMAND upgrade for a 2003 car, beware of integrated phone systems as some COMANDs are not fully compatible with the 2003 system.

Mirage

Ok guys , so let me get this straight... I can hook up my iPod to my HK sound system through the COMMAND setup via an AUX connector in the glove box without any software updates or tweaking from MB techs or any hardware additions??? Please tell me this is so cuz if it is I'll have thousands of songs at my fingertips , sheesh , I'LL NEVER GET OUT OF MY E500

scorchie

YES. Please do a search here for "comand ipod" and you should have all the answers you need. Thanks.

-s-

hoffyvortex

Mirage,

Yes, this is true. Plug and play. The only thing you need is a male to male mini jack. Obviously, this setup does not give you control of your iPod.

If you want full integration and control check out this:
http://www.mbusa.com/main/container....iPod/index.jsp

weinschela

Yes, it works just fine. But if you have an 05 you can also play MP3's off off a DVD in the COMAND unit and control everything from the car rather than groping for the iPod controls. Since I have only an iPod mini, everything on the iPod will fit on one DVD. Obviously, if you have a 20 or 30G iPod with lots of music, a DVD couldn't hold it all. I just periodically burn a DVD and for me its as good as having an iPod integration kit -- for my '05. For 04's and 03's this will not work, and I don't know if the coming iPod integration kit can be fitted. I hope so -- for my 04 wagon.

Mirage

yes, it works.... sound is excellent! Of course no control from steering wheel except sound.Interestingly enough,went to dealer and they had NO idea about the use of an iPOD in my car or the newer models...hmmm ... said they were waiting for MB to come out with a service bulletin sometime during summer or fall.But I beat them to the punch cuz of this BB.Thanks guys.