You said the criminal really must have known what they were doing.

Don't you think they would have simply unplugged the connectors if that were true?
Cutting them may have taken more time actually.

I think the shop quoted you that ungodly amount of money is because their techs did not want to mess with it and probably could not figure it out since like another guy mentioned, they make alot of quick connectors for stereo shops for easy installation.

What kind of car did the radio get swiped from????????

A good ,reputable install shop such as Sound Sensations here in Atlanta could wire you up in a spiffy without breaking your bank account.

You sometimes have to call around to see what shops are familiar with mercedes.
A good shop will have easy wiring reference books on Mercedes sound systems.

Please, never take your Mercedes to best buy or Hi Fi Buys for radio work as I can tell you some horror stories from those places.

It's a shame your wires got cut, as most Blaupunkt radios will plug right into alot of Mercedes without modifying the wires and you can have in dash cd/mp3 player right up front.

I hope you catch the punk who did it and break their legs with a heavy, blunt object of your choice.