All, I have an original radio cassete in my 450SEL. It does not appear to be connected to the speakers though as you turn it on, it lights up but we have no sound. Anyway, has anyone installed an MP3 player or afternarket radio in a location that is hidden and kept the original radio in place. Any suggestions on how this should be best done?

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With best regards

Al

i think the cleanest way would be to get an fm modulator for an ipod, those go between the antenna and the stock radio, the only thing you would see is the plug for the ipod and you could put those somewhere you never see it (glovebox?)

plan b is to wire up a modern headunit radio and put it say in the glovebox (under the ac?), where its out of sight.

plan c is just to put the new radio where the old one was, thats what was done to mine, it doesnt seem that odd

Although what I've done is hardly what you probably have in mind, my setup was free It has an 8GB HD.

What I did was actually put an old PC in the trunk (The trunk is huge, you'll never even need that space!). I connected the PC to my radio which has an aux input on it. I have a small keypad up front I control it with as well as an LCD display screen; although you probably dont want the screen from the sound of it. I don't know if the original radio has any aux input but you theoretically could take it apart if it's a casette one, and hide the wire behind it instead of having it come out the front. But the radio-in-the-glovebox sounds like your best bet since the original sounds like its shot. It'll be a pain in the ass to change the volume or stations though.

http://tomguy24.tripod.com/mp3/

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Current:
2021 Charger Scat Pack Widebody "Sinabee"
2018 Durango R/T

Previous:
1972 280SE 4.5
2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited "Hefe", 1992 Jeep Cherokee Laredo "Jeepy", 2006 Charger R/T "Hemi"
1999 Chrysler 300M - RIP @ 221k

Here's how I put a 'Secret Sound System' in my '60 Fintail
I installed a compact 100 watt 'Urban-Audio' amp behind my driver's dash, with a lighted toggle switch underneath to turn it on. It's connected by adapter cable to the headphone jack of a Panasonic CD player that usually sits in my center tray, but the CD can go in my glovebox or be removed from the car for safekeeping. The amp can just as easily be connected to any portable audio player that has a headphone jack - Walkman, I-Pod, Satellite radio, MP-3 etc. The volume control on the player controls the sound.
I kept the vintage Becker radio in the dash, connected to it's own separate speaker in the passenger footwell.

Since my Fintail had no factory speaker cut-outs and I didn't want to chop holes in my interior, my amp powers a pair of 50 watt two-way cube speakers that sit on my rear floor, under the seats. If your original speakers are OK or you can fit decent ones to the original locations, that would be the way to go.

My local Pep-Boys sells a compact 120 watt amp but it's not as small as mine. If you can't find an amp small enough to fit behind your dash, you can put it under a seat or in the trunk. Radio Shack has aluminum-cased compact RCA cube speakers rated at 100 watts.

Happy Motoring, Mark

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DrDKW

Many thanks for your responses, I think I may go the modulator route or connect everything to an amp and have switch that switches the amp from the radio to the MP3 player. I have not figured out exactly how im going to do but do not expect it to be hard. I am thinking that the smaller flash memory MP3 players are very compact and can be mounted quite easily and descretely on the carpet near area under the dash (below the ignition key) with some sticky back velcro.

__________________
With best regards

Al

This is dead simple and requires NO modifications.
You get a personal MP3 player and plug a FM modulator into the head phone plug.
The Modulators usually allow you to select a frequency not used on your fm radio. It broadcasts the signal for about 30 or 50 feet.
You could also install a power adapter for both units, or just use the AA or AAA batteries that they require.

Doug
74 280C