My car came with a Becker Silverstone CD changer. It skips when the wind blows and only plays disks 1, 2, 9 and 10. I want to replace it with a Sony RF changer (I'm not an audiophile). After removing the Silverstone, the Becker head unit won't turn on.

Is there a jumper or switch I can address so the head unit will work without the changer hooked up?

On that subject, can I drop in an after market head unit without having to rewire the speakers?

Thanks,
Sixto
91 300SE

Hi sixto:

so here's ur post.. i guess i'm also faced with the same situation as yourself. in fact, i've already purchased a rf changer unit myself. from what i learned so far (thanks mostly to the wonderful and informative posts on this great site), the rf changer is the easiest way of getting cd music to your factory becker unit. coz, you "DO" need to do lots of wiring and moving and taking seats and panels apart if you want to put in an aftermarket cd head unit. (my 560sel has 6 different locations that i need to get to for rewiring of the speakers) not to mention the "bypassing" of the center console fader that i still haven't master yet!

however, i do not recommend the "rf" method, as most mb owners i talked to advised against it. The best source of music is definitely with an adequately amplified cd head unit directly driving the speakers, factory or aftermarket.

of course, if you have opened up the backseats, you probably already know that you can just unplug the factory amps and use those 10 wires to hook up your new head unit. if that's the route you want to take, then your task will be much simplified. just find the most convenient route from the rear amp location to the back of your new cd unit in front.

there are lots of people you can talk to here who has excellent knowledge about this topic. try looking up MBDOC, Scott Longston, or Kuan's posts. i got a lot of help from them. (thanks guys!)

good luck!!

theo

I just wanted to pass this experience along in case it may help someone. I have a 92 300E and wanted to put a Becker 980 Silverstone CD changer in it. I found one on Ebay and when I plugged it into the tuner in the trunk the Becker head unit recognized the changer but the loading mechanism on the changer was not working. I called Becker several times and finally got a response that they may not be able to repair these anymore because they were having problems getting a power relay for them. Even if they could repair them the cost is $250.00 including shipping for a 10 year old worn out player. I checked into the Alpine 620 changer but the Becker head unit in the 92 300e requires about $300 worth of conversion cables and data converter boxes. This was 3 times the price of the Alpine CD changer I had located. I finally went with a CD changer with an FM modulated tuner. The output plugs directly into the antenna tuner in the trunk and it works like a charm. It has a digital to analog converter so the sound is not supposed to be quite as crisp but I honestly cannot tell the difference. High quality CDs sound absolutely clean to me. The best part is the late model CD changers will play all home recorded CD-R and CD-RW and the old Becker Silverstone will not. JVC, Pioneer, Sony among others make the FM modulated CD changer. Hope this helps someone avoid all the wasted time I spent researching the Becker system.