98 E320 non Bose - amp or no amp?
 

The '98 sedan has no Bose markings on the speaker covers. Does the base stereo have an amp or crossovers? Can I connect an aftermarket stereo to speaker connections for the original stereo?

Some adapter kits have RCA jacks. Are these only for amplified systems?

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon

The answer is yes. You can connect speakers to the radio it self. The same type of speaker active part is on the amp as in the radio. The rear-deck speakers may have discrete(Transistor Amp versus a Integrated Power Amp) component amp.

The RCA adapters terminate the signal to audio transformer(the good ones). Then take the step-down secondary coils(for each channel) to a resistor network to RCA connectors. The Cheapy RCA converters just use resistors to step down the signal.

Martin