A friend (a VERY talented and experienced installer)and myself did the install. These Benzes are built extremely well, and have some very good engineering, something your realize when taking them apart and putting together.

I use 1" soft domes in the factory tweeter "triangles", with a slight change in mounting angle.
They run off of their own amp (each speaker does, as this is the design of the XES system)
I have removed the factory HU, and do not have any wheel controls. IF I did have the wheel controls, I may have modified them to run the aftermarket controls.
There are "speaker division points" in the doors, which splits the signal to mids, tweeters and rear door locations.
I used new wire for everything. Too much power for stock wiring to handle. Also, factory wiring probably does not have a great spec (non OFC etc)
Your odd impedance readings are likely due to that fact your are measuring several speakers through passive crossover networks.

I would not recommend going with cheap aftermarket components (that goes double for the install). Do the car justice (it is a Mercedes afterall) and go for quality. In the long run, you will be glad you did.

These can be a great sounding car if done properly. Good luck.



[This message has been edited by trent (edited 10-20-2000).]