pinoymoomoo

hi,
im planning on changing my head unit and i was wondering if you guys knew if the 99 ml430 has the amplified system. if it does have a amplified system do the amplifiers have any kind of filter to remove low frequencies to stop from distorting?

thanks

autogunner

If you dont have a subwoofer under the front left seat then you dont have a amp; or if your head unit is not a Bose in a 99 model then you dont have a amp. Autogunner.

pinoymoomoo

yea i have a subwoofer so i guess i have an amp thanks

pinoymoomoo

will changing the head unit change the quality of the bose speakers?

jtaleric

Does your Aftermarket HU have a built in equalizer? I put in a Alpine 9813 in my ML and it sounds just as good or even better at times. Just matters what you get.

If you get a low end JVC or a Sony you will be wasting your time, if you do that you should just keep the Bose deck in there. You are going to have to put a inline converter. Without the inline converter all you will hear is static.

And to make your life easier you should buy a wiring harness.. I have heard of too many people trying to wire their ML straight, spend the 20.00$ and buy a wiring harness..
Good luck

pinoymoomoo

yea i was planning on doing the in line converter and just add a sub and amp but im thinking since the cd changer is so close to where im gonna mount my sub its gonna start skipping. and i have a panasonic head unit right now and i had problems with the speakers recieving bass at high levels causing the speakers to distort. and i have an eclipse head unit that does not have an internal amp. would i be able to use the bose amps instead?

pinoymoomoo

yea i was planning on doing the in line converter and just add a sub and amp but im thinking since the cd changer is so close to where im gonna mount my sub its gonna start skipping. and i have a panasonic head unit right now and i had problems with the speakers recieving bass at high levels causing the speakers to distort. and i have an eclipse head unit that does not have an internal amp. would i be able to use the bose amps instead?

jtaleric

From what im reading, it sounds like you better take your car to someone who knows what they are doing, or read up on some car audio.

Once you remove your Bose headunit, you will not be able to use the MB Cd Changer, so no need to worry about that (unless you are going to install a aftermarket CD changer).

Other then that, the eclipse unit should work.

I would suggest you first go buy the keys to remove the headunit, if you still dare to do this yourself. Im not saying it isnt possible to do it, i did it myself and mine works great. Do these things in steps...

1.)Get the MB Keys to remove the Bose unit. 7$
2.)Get the VW wiring harness 20$
3.)Get the In-Line Converter 20$

First soder or butt-connect the two harnesses together, the Aftermarket one to the Eclipse or Panosonic. Just the Constant +12, Switch +12, Illum. and so on. Then put the speaker wires accordenly in the Inline converter from each end. if the inline converter needs to be grounded, (which mine did) ground it to the factory ground.

After all that, pop in the unit, give it a test run, find the one you want, Panosonic or Eclipse (either of them should work). And good luck to you.

If you dare to try to install a amp/sub let me know, i know good areas to run the 8/4ga wire without having to pop a new hole in your firewall.

Good luck!!!!

pinoymoomoo

i had a audio store install a line out converter in the past but never really got it done because they didnt have the right tools to remove the head unit and tired yanking it out (waste of 110 dollars). i have installed systems in other cars, ive just never installed with a bose system and with all the non amplified amplified system stuff got alittle confused. do you by any chance know the size of the speakers inside the door panels?

thanks again
andrew

pinoymoomoo

also if i choose to go with the eclipse head unit how would i got about wiring it to the speakers since it does not have an amp inside the head unit? would i be able to use the amplifiers that bose provides for its speakers?

jtaleric

I do not know the size of the speakers in the the doors. Never needed to change them out.

Wow... you went to a store and they jiped you 110$, i would be pissed. Considering they could of just went to the local MB dealer and bought the removal keys for like 7$.

The Eclipse unit, does it have rca outs? because you can get another adapter that changes the RCA to speaker wire. Front and rear adapters. At least that is how my alpine unit is. If i was you i would first go with the Panosonic unit.

Again, good luck. If you need help, shoot me a email, ill send you some pics of mine.

joe.talerico at gmail.com

pinoymoomoo

yea i was pretty mad they told me to go to my mb dealer and have them remove the headunit and for me to drive back there with it hanging out but the dealer wouldnt do it. so i came back and all they said was sorry theres nothing i can do and i didnt get anything back. they said they would give me some kind of discount the next time i came, the next couple days i came back looking to buy a new head unit and i asked if they were gonna charge me for install and thats where i started doing diy. kinda sucked cause they told me that they were a install shop that dealt with a lot of mb vehicles and then i watch them try to remove the head unit with the wrong tools. looked like some long piece of sheet metal slid under the head unit. now one side of the head unit never locks in.

pinoymoomoo

yea the eclipse has rca outs 3 pairs. front rear and non fader out. do you have a site where i can look at the adapter. do the bose amps have rca type looking adapters? i found these that say they are for the amplified systems http://www.autotoys.com/x/catalog/ME...SS_p_1468.html

jtaleric

are you near the NC area? i could help you out.

pinoymoomoo

i love in san diego california

jtaleric

hmmmmm.... Kind of far away from here. I suggest you find someone that knows what they are doing. Im sure there are people on the forum that live in that area that can suggest people to you.

The install itself is easy. If you have installed in cars before, it should be a breeze. Try to find a MB dealer that will hook you up with it (the keys) or just go on ebay, and buy them yourself.

Good luck, just follow my instuctions and you should be set.

55fanatic

Hey guys... ML's are pretty easy to work with as far as audio equipment goes. The front Speakers are 6.5 and the rear speakers in my ML55 were 5.25. If you are using a non amplified deck, your going to need a Hi-Low converter that also uses RCAs. PSI2(can be purchased at Best Buy) bose amp interface should work for you.

My pick as an installer... Change the speakers get a descent 4 channel or 5 channel amp and run RCAs directly from your Head unit to the aftermarket amp, and the tag into the wires at the bose amp because its not fun running wire into these doors through the molex plug.

If you notice I still have the original radio in there running all aftermarket stuff for a stealth look. I am going to be getting rid of the factory unit w/navi for a pioneer Avic N1... You wanna buy my factory unit with Navi, haha joke.

let me know if you need door dissasembly directions for speakers

55fanatic

OOPs, I forgot...Oh by purchasing a 5channel amp I meant you could add a sub to your set up with out having to purchase another amp for the sub. Something not too power hungry would work and depending on the type of music you listen to wouldnt have to be too big.

jtaleric

Nice ML you shoud post how to remove the door panels !
Im going to post a howto on installing a aftermaret amp, as soon as i get my server back up in college .

55fanatic

Thanks a lot, im pretty lucky to have her
Again im an idiot I meant to post a link to my sound domain site so you could get some ideas but here it is......http://www.sounddomain.com/memberpage/490508...

jtaleric

You own your own shop? Hook a brother up! Im a JL lover.. I currently have a w3v2 its alright. Pounds enough for me.. Did you make that enclosure? Looks good.

55fanatic

Do I own my own shop?... No, but I do have some accounts with vendors and stuff so I try to have a side business. Im actually a full time student in boston and Im just a big car guy... My stepdad owns a garage and I work for a big retail chain as an installer...Wont name names but its theme is yellow and blue and it is the largest electronics retailer in the country. As for the enclosure, I would like to say its my work but its not. A lot of money was shelled out for that thing... I have been practicing fiberglassing for just about a year now, i have quite a large project going on with my supra for an enclosure and amp rack... I removed my rear seats in the car because all they do is take up space that no one fits in, lol. Small japanese sports cars are not condusive to having rear seats that people can fit in. :p But as far as any questions on stereo work in the car, im your man, I have done a lot of installs and a descent amount of custom installs as far as amp racks go and custom boxes and things.

s4play

55fanatic: You sound like you really know your ML's....so mind helping me out?

I have a ML320 and I think it has the BOSE setup.

Want to install one of the new Eclipse AVN5495 double din decks. The unit has internal deck power and I just want to integrate this deck with the BOSE setup.

No aftermarket amps or subs, components at this time.

So do I just need a basic harness? I heard these cars have fiberoptics?

any help you can provide would be appreciated!


thanks
rick

themadhatter

so is this pretty much all that is needed to drop in an aftermarket head unit into a bose equipped '99 ml430?

my cd changer crapped out and I don't feel like buying another one to have the same problem down the road again.

55fanatic

Ill shoot you an IM on how to do it...