All- After years of admiration, I just purchased a 2002 E55 with 70K. The car was well maintained and is in excellent shape. I do have questions and I have searched the board for answers regarding the Bose system, but I have been unable to find the answer. I have read that the Bose system is not a good sounding radio.... but mine is absolutely horrible, it has no bass what so ever. The previous owner removed the CD changer so it is not hooked up and I thought that maybe that effected the bass? Does the system have a subwoofer, if so what is the location? Does it have an amp, if so where is the location? Thinking it maybe a fuse issue, I check the fuse box and there is a fuse in port 16 for the sound system.... but in the radio port 5... there is not a fuse. Thank you for any info, I look forward to posting in the future and joining the conversation forum

BE

 

The E55 stereo really is bad. My CLK had much better sound, despite being a "lower" class of car (and less expensive when new).

The lack of CD changer will not affect the sound. There are two "subwoofers" located on the rear shelf. They're basically just good sized speakers. There are also four "midrange" woofers (in each door). The amp is a Bose amp, located in the trunk, driver's side (on a USA car), behind the trunk panel.

Do you have the COMAND/Nav package, or just the standard radio? You have some options, depending on your priorities and current setup.

 

what is a good single din headunit to replace the stock becker. Something that matches the interior, etc.

 

I would think Blaupunkt. That's what I have in mine.

 

Thanks. I do not have the command / nav package, just the bose radio. Basically my priorities is not to dismantle the current setup and aftermarketize, I am just interested what I could do to get better sound... replace amp, replace speakers, add a minor subwoofer etc to get decent sound with at least some bass. Back in the day I had a Bose System in my 1992 Acura Legend, and it was really good. So that is my expectation of the Bose system in the E55, maybe out of reach?. Thanks in advance.

 

I think in order of bad to good, it's probably the head unit, speakers, then amp. I would change the head unit first.

Blaupunkt head units are easy to integrate, but really almost anything will fit. You can wire it directly to the head unit speaker outputs, or to the head unit pre-outs (if it has them). If you use the pre-outs, you'll want to find a head unit with at least 4v preouts (Kenwood, Pioneer, and some other brands offer this).

Next issue is steering wheel integration, if this is a factor for you. You can find kits such as the Pioneer CA.R.PI and the PAC Audio kits.

Another alternative, which I recently tried and am pretty happy with, is an iPod kit such as the Dension Gateway 500 D2B. This seems to give better sound than the built in CD player.

Finally, you might check the door speakers and rear shelf speakers to see if any are blown.

 

All I did was add a subwoofer and change the speakers in the doors and it souds a whole lot better. Might want to try that first.

 

Thanks to all. The ipod kit sounds good from Denison. I am looking to do as little as possible... What brand of subwoofer and speakers did you add? If this a fairly easy addition? As I am not a radio installation expert is this something that a novice / beginner could do? Is there an online step by step procedure... or shall this be done at a professional installation shop? I have heard that MB are not easy to work on when it comes to radios / electronics and I dont want to mess it up.

 

I added a 12" Sub and an amp to power it, and its night and day, the system is just missing BASS, also I have the Comand so it might be better then the stock single din stereo?

 

The Dension is expensive but fairly simple. There is an iPod unit from DICE, but I had very bad luck with it.

Radio install is pretty easy. Speaker install will require removing the door panels as well. You'll need to be comfortable with a crimping tool and basic electronics like wiring.

 

guys i'm surprised to hear that you don't like your systems. I love mine but changed the deck for my ipod, went with a high end Alpine. only thing i miss is the changer in the rear but oh well.

 

so it is possible to get the steering wheel into the game again? where do I go to get that stuff,and with my alpine is it possible to not only that but get my changer hooked up to?

 

You read in the forum that the BOSE sound system is not a good sound? wow.. are you sure your car have the bose package? mine sounds pretty pretty cool,(obviusly not a competition sound) but my car have the 99" bose sounds system (installed by me, not factory) & the sound is pretty clean & good, trebble - mid range -bass.. i read sometimes the bose factory have exelent sound (with the factory amp only) if you use the factory bose speakers with an aftermarket amp the sound is extremly bad!

Chack if your car really have the bose system & the factory amp in the trunk (driver side panel)

Maybe you have some problems with your amp.. the BOSE factory sounds pretty cool in our cars

Fabio Daniel

 

Thanks all. I appreciate the help and direction. Fabio, I have had Bose systems in other cars and they have been great, but this one really is bad. No bass and sound definition! My 1987 Mazda truck 2o years ago sounded better I have not checked for the amp, but I understand that it is on the passenger side not the driver side for USA cars. Maybe the fuse is gone on the amp? I assume the amp has a fuse and does anyone know if this is a potential problem? My radio plays today, but if the amp is out or not functioning will the radio play?

 

Welcome aboard

 

If the amp is out, you would likely have no sound. The Bose speakers and amp are probably ok quality. I really think the head unit is a lot of the issue. The 1 DIN unit is pretty bad. The COMAND is mediocre, but also suffers from a defective CD laser. If you're getting a lot of pops and crackles, it's not the amp, it's the CD player laser. Going iPod or aftermarket head unit will solve this.

For steering wheel integration, I've found 3 options. For Pioneer headunits, you can use the CA.R.PI (I think the model 131 might work). You can find them on eBay from Worldwide Sounds. Note that they are rated for the C class, so they may or may not work on the E. They are supposed to be plug and play.

Another option is the PAC Audio brand. You will need a SWI-CAN2 (to plug into the car) and a SWI-JACK or SWI-PS (depending on the model of headunit, to plug the SWI-CAN2 into the head unit). These come with vague directions and will involve testing, wiring, and programming of the unit.

The final option appears to be a stalk adapter. Worldwide Sounds has these on eBay as well. It appears you can plug it right in, then plug in an adapter for your headunit, and it will work. This is the route I would probably try, although I haven't found anyone else running one of these.

 

On mine, if I swing the balance from left to right, it sounds very different. I appear to get a completely different sound from the passenger speakers than the driver speakers. I don't know if this means one or more of mine are shot.

Has anyone else experienced this?

 

The AMP in the W210 left hand steering are located in the driver side rear quarter panel trunk, you can remove the 3 black plugs & remove the driver side cover & you can see the black amp.. you are 100% sure your car have BOSE Amp & all speakers bose?? (some W210 not have factory installed the BOSE sound & the stereo sounds like a S...T without BOSE) mate, in my car the sound is spectacular with the bose sound system & all cars with bose comming to our workshop sounds pretty clean & good for bass.. please check your own system & if is possible change the amp with other car (only for prove), the blown fuse in the amp cut all sound in the car.. im 100% sure your problem are is not the fuse..

The factory 1 DIN stereo are not the bes i know.. But, the sound quality with the factory bose amp are very very good

Fabio Daniel

 

I did change the front door speakers from the stock Bose to Alpine... little change. I pulled the front door panels and the panels in trunk, so I am learing about the E55 It was mentioned for an aftermarket head unit will just require a simple change and can be wired in directly at the head unit itself? I assume the aftermarket headunit will utilize the bose amp? Is there anything I should be concered about if I change the head unit?
Will I notice an improved sound level?
Thanks!

 

Yes, generally a decent new head unit will deliver better sound. You can find some articles here about using a Metra wiring harness (orginally designed for a VW, we use the same plug/wiring).

Now that I'm playing an iPod through a Dension unit through the COMAND, my sound has gotten better. The stock CD player seems to go bad and gives poor sound (skips, pops, etc.).

 

Saintz- Thanks now who knows the stock output of the factory bose amp. 15A? Alpine has a new amp that fits on the back of an Alpine HU. Alpine KTP-445 power pack which will upgrade an alpine reciver to 45watts. Now if I did use the right harnesses would anyone anticipate a problem when leaving the Bose amp alone and running in conjunction with the Alpine HU and the KT-445? Does the factory Bose amp connect to the HU? Sorry for all the questions that may have been answered before... I am a newbie Thanks!

 

If I'm understanding right, you're looking to basically drive the head unit through an Alpine amp and then also through the Bose amp. That would not be good. First, you would have clipping/gain issues (because you're sending a high power signal to the Bose amp which expects low power input) and you would have sound quality issues (because you're amplifying twice, and each time adds noise/distortion).

You can go two routes. First (easiest and the route that I've gone before and would generally recommend) is to add a head unit and feed it directly into the Bose amp. The Bose amp, generally, has more than enough power for the average user and is pretty good quality.

Second route is to swap the head unit and wire a new amp in place of the Bose amp. You can reuse the existing wiring, so you don't have to rip up your carpet. If you do this, you will most likely also need to replace the door speakers. The door speakers are 2 ohm (it appears), and a lot of aftermarket amps are not designed to handle these speakers well (4 ohm speakers and amps are more common). One reason the Bose amp does a decent job is that it takes roughly half the power to drive a 2 ohm speaker vs 4 ohm, so the Bose system can deliver the same amount of sound with only half the power of a conventional aftermarket amp (twice as efficient means you need only half the power). If you want to do a total overhaul (headunit, speakers, amp) this is the way to go. If you just want cleaner sound or MP3 capability for under a few hundred bucks or so, this is not the way to go.

This is one other option, somewhere in between. If you swap headunits and like the sound, but think it's lacking bass, you can add a subwoofer. You can use a subwoofer preout on the headunit, run a cable to the trunk, and install a new subwoofer amp (a mono channel amp instead of a stereo amp like for the door speakers) and subwoofer. This would give you clean bass, but it would require a lot of work to route a wire under your carpet through the whole car. The other, easier option would be to take the current Bose amp output that goes to the existing "subwoofers" (the two speakers in the rear shelf) and pipe that into a subwoofer amp connected to a subwoofer. This would be fairly easy and would give you a lot more bass.

Personally, I think the door speakers and rear shelf speakers generate sufficient bass, certainly enough to rattle the interior of the car (which is what I consider too much bass) without any help from an aftermarket subwoofer. I would swap headunits first and then consider if you need anything more.

 

Saintz- awesome. I will replace the head unit and ditch the idea of the HU amp. I am not looking to rattle the world, I just want to have cleaner and more crisp sound so I bet the HU replacement will more than satisfy. I appreciate the help

 

i have the 2000 facelift E55 with comand and Bose sound system. I am very impressed with it and so is everyone who has been in the car.

even with full volume the bass is awesome with no distortion and yet you can clearly seperate the mid and high ranges with no muddling.

maybe your speakers are damaged?

 

I have the Bose sound system in my E430 and I think the sound is teriffic.

Just a question - have you tried adjusting the base and treble levels and speaker balance? Maybe somebody messed with them at one time...

Also, the head unit is a Becker unit, not Bose.

Fred