I'm the new owner of a 94 e420. it has a stock Becker? Mercedes' logoed radio/cassette head unit (anyone tell me for sure if this is a Becker? and which one?)..but no cd changer, though it looks pre wired. (I am just figuring out all the new things on this car, and haven't crawled in the trunk yet.)
so here's my "situation": I am a musician, and I listen to mp3's a lot, as well as cd's..I gave up on cassettes years ago. i would ideally like to put in one of the new single cd players that also can play cd's encoded with mp3's..Aiwa has one, so does Kenwood (though the kenwood is an overpriced dog) However..the AIWA looks like a video game..and while it would go great in a Tiburon..well, not in my new car. So--I am going to put a changer in the trunk. a six cd changer that will hook into the 420's prewiring. keep it stock (for now)

1) Which one? Alpine/sony/pioneer? ARRGHH! any difference here? I want to spend about $250 tops. (with mp3's, a changer is an out of date piece of gear that i don't want to spend a lot of $$ on)
2) Is the adapter cable really $90? that is a lot for something that doesn't do too much. I have massive cables for my home studio that don't cost anywhere near that..any ideas on the real price for one or an alternative?
thanks from a new owner
JohnP

JohnP: COnsider a hard drive based unit instead, they can be had for less than $250, if you supply your own HDD. Check out mt last post on the NEO 35, it's a better alternative than a cd player/changer.

MP3 Player for 91 300E

hope this helps a little.

Cheers for now.

Ahhh, wow, just checked ssiamerica.com and it looks like they just released thier new model... sweet

EADG:
After a lot of research, none of which was aided by retailers, who provided a lot of anti-help..I have decided to wait on the mp3 player..this year there will be over 100 different models to choose from. Kenwood alone has 10. So I went the 6 year old technology route and bought an instantly obsolete Alpine 620 changer for the trunk, hard wired to the dreadful $$$$ Becker in the dash. (at least it says "mercedes benz") Later this year..maybe next..I will re do the audio, meantime, it's a burner to cd-r's for my dub and Miles collection. Hopefully, there will always be people looking for a used Alpine/PEI cable for their car.

Anyone else notice how bad the factory system sounds? The eq has a pronounced mid scoop that I find very annoying. However, after driving a Mazda 626 "LXi" for the last 15 years..I don't really care all that much. Sportline suspension, here I come. Or is it the e 500 parts? sorry, wrong forum.
jp
(btw, I play bass for a "living".. from your username, I assume you are a fellow low ender too?)

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John Pazdan
94 E420

I am with Johnp I was out last weekend ready to buy and came to the same conclusion. Aiwa has one for $300 but it take awile for the mp3 to load. If you have to buy now the Kenwood Z919 is said to be the best. but in a month or two that will change if not already.

and look at the press releases for their new stuff. this is the tip of the iceberg.

Update: the alpine is installed, James Brown Startime loaded in the magazine (plus Lee Perry and MMW)and for one little moment, all's right with the whirl.

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John Pazdan
94 E420

yes indeed now is definately not the time to get an mp3 player. Soon all the manufacturers will have at least one model that plays mp3s off cds.

What I really really want to do is a very cool idea, but I am not sure about how exactly I want to tackle the project if at all but here is the breakdown of it.

6 or 7 inch touchscreen LCD in the dash

DVD player mounted in the dash as well (Laptop DVD player if possible)

The touchscreen will be wired up to a pc built into the trunk. The pc will have an intelligent powersupply to initiate the shutdown sequence on the computer when the ignition is turned off. When turned on the power supply again will tell the ignition is on and power the system up.

The PC can be pretty much any pc, based on seperate components, so for all intensive purposes, lets just say a Pentium 3 600 mhz with 256 megs of ram, an SBLive! Soundcard, a very high end Graphics card (I.E. 3dfx voodoo5/geforce2/matrox/ati cards) and a nice 40 gig hard drive or two.

The computer will be designed and built into a custom casing that is moulded to the trunk and hidden. The case is also vented and has cooling fans to keep the system cool.

USB ports and firewire ports will be mounted in the dash as well for hook up of various devices, including usb keyboard, mouse, webcams, video camera's, zip drives, etc etc.

The soundcard's line in port and a headphone jack will also extended and run into the dash for input of other audio devices and of course headphones.

The Microphone will be routed to the best place int he car for the voice commands.

A Video input plug will also be in the dash utilizing S Video and RCA input for hook in of game console systems.

a GPS nav system that is voice activated.

Wireless Internet Access

Web cam in the car or multiple web cams

One thing I love the ability of would also be voice over ip wirelessly which if the wireless internet connection works should work out ok.

Finally, An install of the Operating system, completely streamlined internet and mp3 use.

Would be hell of sweet to be able to apply the sblive! Environmental effects, and be able to run cool 3d music shows with winamp and plugins.

Thats my dream stereo system.

Speakers and Amps, well they would have to sound great to me.

Alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon

Ahhh ashman...I almost got choked up reading your post! Two benzes and two years ago I had a 300E that was SO dear to my heart! check out...

http://stormworks.max3d.com/mega300/

which is a smattering of pics from my first generation install of a computer/monitor/game setup. I did the install mostly myself, which is why it's kinda amateurish (digital artist by trade, handyman NOT)...the second iteration of the install is at:

http://stormworks.max3d.com/300e_amg

which are the pics I used to advertise it before I sold it. The second install was minimal compared to the first because...the first install got RAPED when my car got broken into. The money loss hurt but was covered by insurance...but nothing can replace the time I spent in that beloved car! **** happens...if you get that setup going, I wanna see! I'm gonna drop a PC in my S500 coupe at some point, I just installed an Alpine CVA 1005 and I'm dropping in a combo DVD/MP3/VCD single disc player in the neat little hidden compartment behind the rear armrest. I'll put up pics as soon as I'm done!

Anyway I've rambled enough. Happy motoring!

umm, chris and ashman?? I am almost afraid to ask..but what does your living room look like
btw chris, that is a beautiful 500.
j "less is mo' " p

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John Pazdan
94 E420

I have to agree - holding off on the purchase of a MP3 player is prudent. But you will still have to make a choice between the 2 formats; CD or HDD. Myself, I've chossen the HDD route simply because it offers much greater storage capacity than a 650Mb CD. I recently purshased 3 81Gb HDD's, so I'll use one in a HDD MP3 player and compare the 2. Consider the numbers for a moment;

CD: 650Mb @ 128KB/s 44100 Hz = ~10 hours music per CD,(I'm being conservative on the compression ratio and file sizes)
HDD 81Gb @ 128Kb/s 44100Hz = 1246 hours music - that's the equvalant of 124 MP3 CDs
Again using some really rough numbers... 81Gb would be able to hold 12,000 songs :O

Regaurdless of which player you get make sure it supports ID3 tags and play lists.

My $0.02


johnp352, yes I "play" bass too, althought not good enough to quit my day job.

flipSyde: those comp mods are total overkill - but I like it.

Cheers for now.
91 300E
158K Km

An easy and cheap route would be to buy a portable MP3/CD player which you connect to the AUX IN on your car stereo. Of course you only have 10 hours/CD but for a price ~100 USD I think it's a bargain. Genica MP-Trip CD/MP3 cost $87 , check out this page for more info:

http://www.mp3car.com/hardware.asp

/Patrik

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Patrik Sjoblom....1993 MB 320 CE......Bought Jan 2001. Only 16.8 mpg
Stockholm.........Silvermetallic....DEFA immobilizer/alarm + Original larm
SWEDEN............17x7.5 ET35 wheels with 215/45-17 Kumho 712 ECSTA .

patrik: a portable mp3/CD player is a great alternative to a car system, besides, you can always take it with you after the car is parked, I like that idea. However, if your as unfortunate as I am then you car deck does not have an Aux input and would have to resort to a cassete adapter - Uggg. I, personally don't want to go that route, although I have considered it on a number of occasions.

Ashman: Looks like you can buy your dream system off the link patrik gave us;

http://www.mp3car.com/hardwarecats.asp?Type=C&Cat=S G-Net Gravity AutoPC


Cheers for now
91 300E

chris, looks like ti was a helluva project.

I do have a connection to actually buy a premade Vehicle PC that i saw when at the comdex computer show in november, but being a computer tech, I just love to make the stuff myself without buying a premade unit.

I've been toying with this plan for about 3 years, but since I have other mods to make the car better, I'm waiting on the sounds until last.

I love your s500, a gorgeous car. A couple of years ago when I was working for this other person, when up in vegas for comdex, we were out cruising in his 1995 s500 coupe, and some punk threw a brick at the benz and it smashed the windshield and put a big dent in the hood.

We went on a high speed chase to chase down the punk with the police on the cell phone. We were reaching speeds of over 110mph through Vegas streets. The punk was driving an early 90's ford probe, and he tried his best to shake us, but he couldn't get away from us at all. we were stuck to him like glue.

The chase went on for about 10-15 minutes before the police finally caught up to us and the punk pulled over when he saw the 4 cop cars that joined up.

The whole time we were int he chase ont he phone with 911 telling them what streets we wereon, speeds, etc etc. The cops told us to slow down and we refused saying that when they showed up we would back off. hehe

We didn't get ticketed or anything, in fact afterwards we went out for coffee with the police and chatted with them about the whole situation.

The punk was trying to plead not guilty, but when the vegas DA tld him that they had two witnesses that would testify, he instantly changed his tune to the plea of guilty.

but to sum up that long story, the punk got arrested and got a bill for $5000 to repair the car. New hood, new windshield, and he got charged for the rental car and all.

just a word to the wise, if something like this happens to you, make sure you call the police, give them a description, a license plate number, and tell them the area, and I wouldn't recommend chasing the person down.

alon

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'92 300CE - Sold
2004 C240 - 744 - C7 Wheels - Android Radio
2002 C320 - 816 - Sport Wagon