OK, I've been through Alex's pages on installing a Blaupunkt replacement into a 124. I'm looking seriously at a '92 300E, and it needs a replacement for the radio. I'm looking at a Blaupunkt Toronto (made in Germany, believe it or not). What do I give up, if anything, vs. the Becker that came with it? I don't have the car to look at, so what's involved (I'm a medium-heavy DIY on my 190SL). I've heard that you have to use the Becker's fader - can someone tell me why or for what purpose? Does that "disable" the fader on the new system? Anyone have any other thoughts?

Thanks,
Bill Streep

The Toronto has 4 amps (4x23w) so you can bypass the factory fader and utilize 1 amp per speaker (assuming you have 4 speakers). This is probably the optimum way of hooking up the HU, but will require a bit more work in that you will need to run wires to each speaker (or figure out how to separate the factory wiring from the fader - not as easy as you might think). If you wish to use the factory fader, you then will only use 2 of the 4 amps but will require much less wiring hassles as you just use all the stock wiring. I just installed a Blau Tokyo + CD changer + new Speakers + Sub woofer in my '90 300E. I used all new wiring, so did a lot of trim and back seat removal/replacement to do the wire routing, etc. It was a lot of work (about 3+ days worth) but the results were worth it.

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Steve
1979 240D
1990 300E

OK, so now I think I understand most of the project. As I noted, I don't have the car yet...so: If I use the existing fader, how do I adjust it?

Thanks,
Bill Streep

Hmmm...I'm not sure I understand your question. The factory fader is a "wheel" knob on the shifter console (near the window switches on my '90 300E). You "spin" it forward to bias the fwd speakers and spin it aft to bias the aft speakers. Is that what you wished to know?

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Steve
1979 240D
1990 300E

Cool! That's EXACTLY what I wanted to know! So, really, a Blaupunkt replacement is just a few wires...

Bill Streep

Bill,
I just replaced the Becker in my 1988 300E with a Blaupunkt. I chose to run new wire after reading numerous past postings. Some of these postings discuss how to bypass the wheel fader and I would agree with the majority opinion that it is a good idea. The Head Unit fader will be flawless. With some patient examination and testing of the speaker wiring you can determine the wires you need to connect directly to the front and rear speakers and cut the wheel fader out of the picture.

Good luck, hope you get the car.

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SPD
1988 300E

I am looking to replace the factory head unit with a new cd player/ipod plug in. We all know how much of a pain this car is with it's two factory amps and fader. My question is how do I bypass the amps, hook up the antenna(the old one seems to be connected to the amps and not directly to the head unit) and wire the new unit to the existing four speakers? Please give detail here as I am not an accomplished tech head.

Not it's not, it's as he explained it.

Your original radio is 2 channel, ANY new replacement is 4 channel.

To use the original fader, you must give up use of two channels of your new radio, which you shouldn't want to do. Doing this you'll start with half the power of your new radio and then divide even that in half as you feed two (front/rear) speakers with each.

The new 4-channel radio already has a built in front-rear fader.

Your dealer has a nice plastic plug to fill the space vacated by removing your original fader. BTW, the wiring to the rear speakers is part of the OE fader, so you'll be cutting the rear wires off it. You'll need, then, short lengths of wire to connect these wires forward to your new radio.

__________________
Kent Christensen
Albuquerque
'07 GL320CDI, '10 CL550. '01 Porsche Boxster
Two BMW motorcycles