'89 300E Becker Gran Prix

[Crosbo]

Purchased used 300E on Friday, did some maintenance on Saturday. Now only -- -- -- -- from the stereo. Mercedes dealer wants $$'s to reprogram, can anyone help?

[jpenix]

Try another dealer if there's one in your area. They don't all necessarily charge to unlock the stereo.

If you want to keep the Becker stereo, you can send it out to be decoded as well, so you never have the problem again.

Or use this as an opportunity to upgrade the whole system.

[Michael]

That's jusr ridiculous...does that dealer EVER want a penny from you? Try another dealer....based on your VIN he should be able to tell you the code to enter to restore your radio.

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Best regards, Michael
'92 500E
'88 300TE

[Crosbo]

Thanx Zeus, I am doing just that. 15 minutes after paying $10 (not as bad as the $70 I read elsewhere)plus the other parts I picked up, I stopped to have lunch. When I returned to the vehicle I received the message: -- -- -- --
All the while the system never could pickup a radio station even when it was working. I had verified the antenna hookup the nite before.
The service tech told me there was not a code I could punch in should I service the vehicle and unhook the battery once again. When asked if I would be forced to return and pay again. He responded in his best texican: yup!
My bottom ached!!
I called the boss (wife) and told her enough was enough. Now looking at the Kenwood KRC-807 or the Blaupunkt Tokyo. Any suggestions?

[AV]

Crosbo, I would suggest you look into an alpine unit which i think is a far superior make than both Kenwood and Blaupunkt.
While doing this you should also upgrade your speakers.
By the way Becker makes a good door stopper!
Goodluck

Anil velji
88/300E

Throw your Becker head unit to the bin.

Go for a Pioneer, Clarion, Rockford Fosgate or Alpine head unit.

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http://connect.to/windowsce
A.S.C. 2000
- Mercedes Benz 560SEC 1986 28.000km BRABUS
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[bdrought]

Japanese ;-)

Bri

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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

[JCE]

Any thoughts on sound quality and durability of Alpine vs Nakamichi? Thanks.

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JCE
87 300E, 60k miles
Smoke Silver

[bdrought]

Durability:

Alpine; Probably 15-20 yrs no problem.

Nakamichi; Should outlive the car, yourself, your kids, your grandkids, and their grandkids.


Sound:

Both are excellent, Nakamichi sounding slightly richer than Alpine. I use the top end Alpine myself as I felt it had more punch than the Nak.

Both are good makes!

Bri




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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

[Crosbo]

I agree, I am not a power listener, therefore I am looking for a unit to fit (look) nicely in auto. I thought the Blaupunkt Tokyo probably would look the most at home in the 300E. Nice trim, nice graphics.

I really need both cassette and cd but do not want to mount a cd changer. I was considering the Kenwood KRC-807 cassette player (has the hidden opening and face hides itself when powered down) and the KDCD-300 graphic display with cd player. I am hoping the cd/graphic (7 1/16" wide, 1 15/16" tall) unit will fit where the ashtray is located. Anyone have experience?

[bdrought]

Well, the Blaupunkts would definitely fit in fine and look fine. They are almost considered OEM on Mercedes as so many people swap their Beckers for them.

Good build, good sound. Their Keycard security feature is neat too.

Bri



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Brian Drought
1991 300CE
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drought/
ICQ: 2180069

[yal]

Hey Crosbo go to this link and scroll down to see what somebody did with the ashtray in their 190e.
http://installer.com/instpics.html

Pretty neat but I have no idea who they are.

Hello,

I just wanted to give a little background to the problem discussed here. Becker has three different types of coded radios. The model 754 ('86-'87) displays the four dashes when in code mode and has an internal battery to back up the code. They can only be reset by a Dealership, and if the internal battery is dead (about 5 year life), will need reseting any time the cars battery is disconnected. The model 780 ('88-'89) uses an EPROM to store the code. It does not need the internal or car's battery to remember the code. It also has dashes to indicate an in code mode, and also needs to be reset via a Dealer. However, if the radio is reset and the alarm system does not trigger the code, the radio will not need to be recoded when the battery is disconnected. After 1990, Becker finally was able to talk Mercedes out of the tool reset models and were allowed to produce a user codeable radio. The will show CODE in the display when in code mode. It is true that Mercedes Beckers are not a very good radio, but to be fair to Becker, this was Mercedes fault. Becker makes a very good aftermarker radio that stands up to the best radios on the market. However, Mercedes did not want to spend much money on an item they did not feel was very important to the vehicle. So they mandated design limits that Becker had to implement if they wanted the contract.

Since we sell Blaupunkt and Becker audio equipment, you could say that I am biased toward them. However, I do have a large clientele from around the world that have backed up my faith in these brands. I have also heard that Alpine and the other brands mentions in the other posts, are quite good as well. I agree with the person who said that it comes down to personal taste.

If I can be any help, please e-mail me or call.

Sincerely,

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Scott Brotherton
Continental Imports
1219 S. Main St.
Gainesville, FL 32601
(352) 377-6604

[Crosbo]

I want to thank all for their input and info. Special thanx to MercedesShop for hosting such an informative and important source for MB lovers.

FYI follow-up: went with the Blau Tokyo after spending many hours on the internet then traveling to specialty stores to check out the available models. I am amazed at the number of ugly units that are being sold today. Many systems were no more aestetically pleasing than those of the early 80's.

The Tokyo... lovely unit. It looks so at home in my 300E plus has plenty of power to drive the existing speakers, sans additional amplification, and oh the features. The dealer added the Thumber III remote which fit nicely on the direction control device (steering wheel), making driving in congestive traffic and adjusting the stereo possible at the same time. My employees love the new stereo almost as much as they love the car.

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'89 300E 3.0
'82 350SD

[Crosbo]

The Tokyo's face is multi-colored. The channel numbers (1,2,3,4...) are a light orange/yellow color, while the feature/disc-in lights are a dark orange. The station/cd-name and vu-meter is a green. Sounds like it wouldn't match the dash, but, the all of the buttons are backlit and they match the car's instrument switches perfectly. The angle of the graphic display is adjustable, meaning the LED changes view angles while the physical display itself remains static. The intensity of the display is also adjustable for daytime viewing and night dimming.
The unit also has an adjustable parametric equalizer and adjustable hi-cut and low-cut. Travel seek as well as format seeking (news, road, sports, rock, jazz...) for those areas where the radio station encodes the signal with that info. The radio time can also be set automatically from the same radio signals (12h/24h).
Last thing, the rotary switch is easy to operate for volume without taking eyes off the road, although I highly recommend the Thummer III remote, where I installed the IF eye next to the ignition switch; works great. In the center of the rotary dial is the infamous blue dot, power switch which shines when powered on or blinks as a security light (if desired) when the unit is off with the keycard removed. Tons easier to pull a keycard out to disable the system than to lug around a faceplate. You can view the unit on Crutchfield's site as it is not listed on Blau's site as of yet. I suggest locating a dealer and seeing it in person. I don't mean to sound like an advertisement for Blau and I don't work for them so I'll stop here.

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'89 300E 3.0
'82 350SD