Old vs. New: Audio 30 in a w123?

[phidauex]

Hi folks,

I just took delivery of my '82 300TD (yay!), and have some questions about the sound system...

The stock becker is long gone (good riddance), and the deck in the car currently is an older Sony CD player (falling apart, but functional). No extra amplifiers, and the rear speakers have been removed, and the wiring sent to a pair of Infinity 6x9s (that just hang out in an enclosure in the back). Front speakers are stock.

The guy I bought the car from works at a large MB dealership as a technician, and gave me a lot of 'windfall' items along with the car, including two AGM batteries, stock wheels from a CLK (very nice), and a ton of spares. For the purpose of this question though, know that he gave me a nice condition Audio 30 headunit, probably out of a '99 somethingorother. It is the radio/cassette unit with fiber optic connection for CD changer, and the keypad (for telephone). Its model number is CM2299, and the other number on it is A 208 820 05 86. Serial number: AL 2299 W 12 58214 B.

Will this little baby work in the 300TD? I'd love to get a CD changer that goes with this unit and use them as a pair, but even just getting the head unit working would be a nice treat. I've heard lots of talk about codes and whatnot, and I have no codes for this radio. However, is there a way to give it a code, or have it not require one? Obviously my 300TD has no computer system to provide that info.

If there is no way to get it working, I'll sell the poor thing on ebay, but it matches the car much better than the falling-apart sony, and would be a nice touch.

Thanks for any input you can provide!

Peace,
Sam

[sura]

That radio will fit & work. You will need the proper wiring adaptor; the fact that the car now has a Sony in it may complicate things since the wiring may have already been cut.

Regarding the code for the radio, since the seller works at a MB dealership, he sould be able to get the code for you. If not, I can decode the radio if you send it to me. Here's info on decoding:
Radio Decoding

To make it work with a changer, you'll need a fiber optic style changer and also the fiber optic & power cables. These are spendy. Ask the seller about these also.

Good luck. Ray