Installing two-din unit into W163

[epaway]

Hi, looking for some advice for my new (2002) ml270 CDI (facelift).

It's got the standard single din merc stereo at the moment, which has satnav, but only gives you voice commands and an arrow. There is also a bose sound system, and above the rear view mirror, in the reading light bit, there appears to be a microphone built in although no other signs of phone kit installation.

I want to put in a double din unit (not fussed for Comand). Probably get one of the chinese ones - satnav, bluetooth, dvd, etc. Couple of questions though, for any who can help:

* Given there is a Bose system installed, will there be a separate amp somewhere that might give me problems?
* Will that microphone work i.e. can it go straight into a generic mic in socket?
* Most importantly, the car has reverse parking sensors. If i remove the factory stereo, will this affect my parking sensors - does the sound come through the current setup?
* Any other thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Paul

 

[dokalj]

Speak to Alfie or Richard from Comand Online

 

[richard]

* Given there is a Bose system installed, will there be a separate amp somewhere that might give me problems?

Yes - as you have a facelift ML, the BOSE is digital - i.e the speakers connect to the amp with normal wires, and the amp connects to the Audio-10 with fibre optics, so incompatible with everything except COMAND, Audio 30, Audio-30-APS that you have and Audio-10

So, lots of speaker wiring to replace/move and possibly speakers as-well as I suspect the BOSE speakers have no crossovers in them. Subwoofer under left hand seat.

* Will that microphone work i.e. can it go straight into a generic mic in socket?
Having the mic (if its round) sounds like factory fit mic - it is a different impendance to most microphones sadly - wiring goes to under right hand seat where the phone controller would fit

* Most importantly, the car has reverse parking sensors. If i remove the factory stereo, will this affect my parking sensors - does the sound come through the current setup?
If its factory fit, i.e front and rear, and a button to turn them off with a P on it, then its completely different to the stereo. If it is aftermarket, most likely not to use the cars speakers (I have never seen aftermarket ones that do, but that doesnt mean there are not)

As ML has no steering wheel controls, is double din, and has no cluster display, I'd put a nice Alpine double din unit in (with inbuilt bluetooth and iPod), and some nice speakers in. I'd use a bit of Dynamat to seal the speakers in properly and stop the door skin flexing and taking all your nice sound away...

PM 'Alfie', or go see him in Lightwater

R

 

[epaway]

So, finally got round to taking the audio30 out to see what's lying behind. I'm now not 100% sure that the car does have an amp as I cant see one anywhere. Is this possible? I've taken pictures of the connections I can see. I'm kind of hoping that there isn't an amp, because from what i've read, that would make the installation of an aftermarket unit much easier. Any thoughts on the pics?

Paul

Renfrewshire-20110703-00368 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Renfrewshire-20110703-00369 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Renfrewshire-20110703-00370 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[richard]

Sorry but your car does have an external BOSE amplifier (its up behind above the steering column I seem to recall)

If you look at the larger of the connectors in photo 00369 you will see there is one half of the connector that is empty. That would have the speaker wires in that half if the amp in the Audio-30 was being used, but as your car has BOSE the speaker wiring goes to the amplifier instead.

The amp is actually on the fibre optic bus (alongside a Cd changer if you have it, and a phone system which you do not have since the first photo shows the phone handset connections). The fbre optic connections are the orange ones are in your 3rd photo - and *very* strangely you have an extra fibre connection - I say strangely because European cars don't normally get any extra wiring in them.

Richard

 

[epaway]

So is there no way to connect the fibre optic to an aftermarket, and utilise the amp?

 

[richard]

Unless there is a head unit out there that supports the 'D2B' protocol, which there is no current unit as the D2B chipsets are no longer made, the answer is no.

Richard

 

[epaway]

would this help in any way? Mercedes M Class Bose Amplified Active System Adapter £49.95 Discount Car Audio UK: DVB Car Audio UK Online Entertainment Store

 

[richard]

I think that is for the older analogue BOSE system

Richard