Speaker replacement(1999 ML430)
Good Morning Listers:
I am new to the board, and I had a question related to an audio upgrade on my 1999 ML 430. The car was not equipped with an amplifier, or descent sounding speakers. The system is far less than the system that I had In my W140. I was in need of some literature on how to remove the interior door panels to access
the speakers. I also would like to know of the standard radio can have an amplifier added to the current set-up?

Happy Holidays,

you could try the search feature in this site, but there is an other equally good site where I have seen this topic recently. Go to www.mbnz.org I have seen some recent posting of people upgrading their systems with MB quarts units ($500 for 4 speakers), but I think you need an amp to take full advantange of those speakers.

To take the side panels off you should firts get some of the clips that hold the panels to the door (they will most likely brake). Somehow I managed not to brake any.

I have only taken the front ones off and for that I just took a small flat head screwdriver to lift the simulated plastic covers from the door handles (not the door latch). Inside you will find 1 or 2 phillips screws which you will have to take out. Then remove the triangular plastic trim from the door, the one that is close to the windshield pillars (it will come out by pulling on the sides). With that piece out of the way you can slide your hand between the door panel and the door ( on the side not the top), and slowly pop one clip at a time. You may want to use thick leather gloves if it hurts to do this. Onece all the clips are gone, lift the panel up and slightly pull apart from door; you will need to hold it in this position while you disconnect the latch mechanism from the door (hard to explain but easy). I imagen the rear doors can be done in a similar way.

hope this helps...

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'02 C240
'00 LR Discovery
'72 280SE
'67 280SL

---past---

'79 280E sold (RIP)
'86 300E sold
'87 300SDL sold
'90 Laforza sold
'95 320SE sold
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You also need to pull the oval shaped "SRS" badges off and remove the screw under there to remove the panels.
If I understand correctly, it is actually a 7 speaker set-up. On the BOSE system, the ones in the drivers door are dual speakers, a tweeter and a mid-range. The ones in the rear doors may be the same. The BOSE system also has the active-bass speaker under the drivers seat. The wiring may all be there to convert it to BOSE, not sure. The radio head itself was different for a BOSE, but I'm thinking the plug-in on the back of the radio may be the same. The BOSE amp is in a very awkward position behind the instrument cluster, again the wiring may or may not be there. To get to the wiring for the active-bass speaker may require removing the center console and drivers seat to install the wiring and speaker. Wish I could give more positive answers, never tried this conversion, but I have had most of this truck disassembled at one time or another. At this point it may be smarter to concentrate on the radio, amp and active bass speaker concerns, rather than figuring out how to remove the door panels, that will be the easy part. Unless you just want to upgrade the present speakers and that's all.
Gilly

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Thank you Gilly for the info as to what I was dealing with. My Bose head and 6 disk rear changer could be a CM2294 but it actually says Matsu****a (Panasonic) CQ-LP2610Z, A003 820 74 86. Easy access was had by prying out the plastic storage bin under the radio to reveal a second DIN compartment for the Best/Insignia HD radio/single CD addition.

I split the existing antenna with good fidelity but no signal on HD-AM which I didn't want anyway. You can screw a short whip (6mm socket) into the telemergency/cell socket on the back roof for a good (it works), if conspicuous 2nd antenna (the coax is factory installed) or experiment with better splitters.

Facing the lower plug, bottom row connections are ground, illumination, battery,antenna(this powers up a rf amplier in the hatchback grabbing signals out of the defroster wiring). Lower plug top row connections are: ignition and, I'm guessing, power amp.
Middle plug is high level pre-amp out to power amp with bottom row all grounds and upper row:back, front, front, back.
Upper plug is CD changer and the signals are not useful, being in digital or Japanese or something.

I once faced the high cost of replacing the changer before I cleaned it with industrial alcohol and Q-tips. Instead, I believe you could replace the head and still use the power amp by using speaker outputs attenuated by an adjustable device intended for that purpose sold by Schucks. The amp probably draws some current and you might consider a power relay rather than direct connection to the antenna out of the new head.

I tried direct connection of the middle plug rears to my preamp outs but my level was too low and the amp compensated by amplifying engine noise.

Having spent too much time on the project and wanting 2 working heads I opted for a Audiovox RF modulator which gave me a good result.