What hifi setup for new E230?

[Guest kepiting1sg]

Just came back from SM, saw the adapter kit for the W211. Quite finishing is quite good. Oh well looks like the stock HU is going out of the car...Use alpine and u can retain the steering controls...

I think the only problem is finding a quality HU that is as classy as the Merc HU...

Find all the jap HU a bit beng, only the double din ones comes close... sigh.. so much for gd SQ HU...

Am having the black ash finishing

Any recommendations ?

Pioneer ODR looks beng meh? ;D ;D ;D

Did U go to NG for a recce & listening?

[Guest jenvid]

Nope din get a chance... came back from kid's fren birthday party. Made a quick stop to get a look at the adapter.. My kids were sleeping in the car's fold down seat as bed so got only like 15mins to look look see see...

Pioneer ODR... not going that range lor cuz car is driven by wife... in fact she's only keen on the IVA-W200E.... oh well...

[Guest kepiting1sg]

Nope din get a chance... came back from kid's fren birthday party. Made a quick stop to get a look at the adapter.. My kids were sleeping in the car's fold down seat as bed so got only like 15mins to look look see see...

Pioneer ODR... not going that range lor cuz car is driven by wife... in fact she's only keen on the IVA-W200E.... oh well...

Last Sat, I went to my kid fren's bird day party.

So coincident this week your turn... ;D ;D

MOHA- Min. of Home Affair very important person.

U better accede to whatever she wants.....hahahahah! ;D

U toking abt. the 2-Din Touch Screen Alpine?

Swee leh!!!! Can connect to iPod & watch movies lagi!

Mai Ko Tan liao lah!.... ;D ;D ;D

[Guest jenvid]

yeah yeah that's the one. Just deliberating this one over the Pioneer 6850.

MHA has very high std on asthetics... She wants the darn thing to flush with the adapter kit...

The Pioneer HU has more I/O than the Alpine, but the latter can interface with Steering Wheel. So far no HU with iPod interface can play iPod Video...

My intention if going this way wld be convert car to full multimedia station.

Can surf net, play console games, watch TV, watch movie, GPS navigation... etc etc... From specs seems like Pioneer only way to go leh which has no Steering wheel interface.

The only thing both HU not possible is output 2 diff set of audio to both Front & rear speakers concurrently... so that my kids can listen to their music/watch movie, I listen to mine....

BTW with this type of HU what wld u recommend for remaining ICE stuff ?

For alpine, guess 701 is only natural. If going 5.1 then siao liao...

For Pioneer ?

[Guest kepiting1sg]

yeah yeah that's the one. Just deliberating this one over the Pioneer 6850.

MHA has very high std on asthetics... She wants the darn thing to flush with the adapter kit...

The Pioneer HU has more I/O than the Alpine, but the latter can interface with Steering Wheel. So far no HU with iPod interface can play iPod Video...

My intention if going this way wld be convert car to full multimedia station.

Can surf net, play console games, watch TV, watch movie, GPS navigation... etc etc... From specs seems like Pioneer only way to go leh which has no Steering wheel interface.

The only thing both HU not possible is output 2 diff set of audio to both Front & rear speakers concurrently... so that my kids can listen to their music/watch movie, I listen to mine....

BTW with this type of HU what wld u recommend for remaining ICE stuff ?

For alpine, guess 701 is only natural. If going 5.1 then siao liao...

For Pioneer ?

Well! You know your stuff! U know what they can give U and what they cannot give.

If going 5.1 arh!!!! bian sial liao! come out more money nia. ;D ;D ;D

I dun think you would wan to splash money on a Alpine F#1 H990 processor, it doesn't make money sense!

But! But!....heheheh....maybe U can hunt down a used 1st gen. Alpine PXA-H900 F#1 Multimedia Manager - Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS Processor.

I believe there are also other Pioneer Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS Processors out there.

U wan posion, I give U poison.....wakakakakka! ;D ;D ;D

[Guest angela]

Wow...this sounds very interesting. For me, good stereo setup I'm already a happy camper.

BTW, how much is the interface kit for the W211? How does it work? Do you have to remove the HU? My W211 comes with 1 front disc loading, and 6-disc changer with a motorized face plate. The face plate also come with the hazard light and central locking. So cannot remove.

[Guest jenvid]

Yeah yeah... no alpine F1 for me. Gen 1 Alpine MM... hmm... but I also thinking DVB-T leh...Have in my laptop... deh shiok leh.

My resistance to poison very good one... but then the Sea Lotus seems to be heading for my E93 lor....sigh more $$$

Saltydog,

The adapter kit is only a mounting bracket. U remove the whole Audio20 HU less the 6 disc changer & face plate. And put in your favourite HU. Sorry din take a pic.

I will probly swap out the changer & replace it by the MB stowage compartment too.

Choices, more choices & even more choices... arrghhh...

[Guest mekenics]

Wow...this sounds very interesting. For me, good stereo setup I'm already a happy camper.

BTW, how much is the interface kit for the W211? How does it work? Do you have to remove the HU? My W211 comes with 1 front disc loading, and 6-disc changer with a motorized face plate. The face plate also come with the hazard light and central locking. So cannot remove.

the hazzard light plate is known as the "james bond" panel to me. always play with it when i am in me old-man's ride. :laugh: that can hide a good SQ hu and u retain ur oe single cd-radio front. re-locate the changer into glove compt lor.

seen that done at me usual shop.

[Guest jenvid]

Went down to NG & talk to Cartoon. Looks like the Alpine is still a better choice though u cant dial HP from the HU.

Now I understand why unker Batam says relationship with Installer impt. My zilch knowledge on eqpt makes it hard to express what I want. He _seems_ like the type of installer for those who knows exactly what they want.

Oh well will pop down to his place again tmr with my W211.

Oh btw on closer look on the adapter kit, looks a bit rough even with Pioneer ODR installed. Yeah hopped down to Pioneer Pro Showrm to catch a glimpse.

Guess gotta catch Lincoln's SLK & look see look see...

[Guest angela]

Went down to NG & talk to Cartoon. Looks like the Alpine is still a better choice though u cant dial HP from the HU.

Now I understand why unker Batam says relationship with Installer impt. My zilch knowledge on eqpt makes it hard to express what I want. He _seems_ like the type of installer for those who knows exactly what they want.

Oh well will pop down to his place again tmr with my W211.

Oh btw on closer look on the adapter kit, looks a bit rough even with Pioneer ODR installed. Yeah hopped down to Pioneer Pro Showrm to catch a glimpse.

Guess gotta catch Lincoln's SLK & look see look see...

Jenvid,

Are you going to upgrade your stock system on your W211? What did Cartoon recommend and how much was it? Did he show you the cable interface kit that does not require cutting of wire? How much is the interface kit?

Does your W211 come with the motorized face plate? Are you going to install the HU behind the face plate?

My experience with Cartoon is also the same. He knows exactly what he wants to do, and you have to follow his advise.

[Guest jenvid]

Yes I am going to upgrade my stock W211.

He recommended the Alpine IVA200 with 701 for SQ consideration as I am going for double din & asthetics requirements for my brief session with him. Kinda similar to what I want.

The adapter kit is from Scorcher, costs abt 60 Euro I think from the net.

Alpine actually has an adapter kit for its double din heads. Single din you need to look at Scorcher. I think Alpine OEM from Scorcher. P/N Alpine KTE-1190-05.

If u want to look at the pic, do a google and pick the russian site.

If you go for Pioneer, the cable interface kit is the same as Lincoln. No other choice. But for Alpine, everything is there. Pls d/l the Alpine catalog from www.alpine-europe.com.

My motorised face plate will still be there only the Audio 20 is removed. I need to buy the stowage bracket to replace the CD player as it would be useless after the install.

I am still exploring my add-on options like Bluetooth, gps, second monitor at center console, PS2, iMac, DVB-T kekeke...

Go look at the CLS stocked with F1 Status @ Alpine Europe. :'(

No budget yet but I think it shld be closer to 10k with the addons and most likely not doing it at NG. Will go for my second visit still.

I will be most likely carrying over my speakers from my W203 and may be upgrade them along the way.

BTW Cartoon recommended Scan Speak speakers, Trutech or DLS amps. 701 processor.

[Guest angela]

Sorry for the late reply. Busy with my big boss coming to town.

When you remove the audio 20, do you also remove the two rows of buttons on the left and right side? It will be interesting to see how is the result after the conversion. When do you plan to do it? I may also stop by to take a look.

BTW, heard from my merc salesman that there is a promotion on the E200 compressor that comes with the command APS. To upgrade my E230 to the command APS will set me back for another 6888. That's too much to pay for a DVD player with GPS navigation system.

[Guest jenvid]

Yes, the entire Audio 20 is removed less the changer.

Follow this link & u will understand what i am talking abt.

http://www.techhome.ru/catalog/auto/C6C01A22_2.htm

Darn the Russians are good.. literally everything abt Merc can located there.

The Command APS is only valid for new car. There's only 50 pcs & it is for gatecrashing the PML 5 launch. Doubt u can get it done for your car unless u got connections ;D Anyway it is not worth the $ too. I rather spend it on the avantgarde option.

I am suppose to do my install next wk but realised that the local Alpine distributor is %&@# . The HU is going to be obsolete, the Merc steering control is not avail yet in SG, the BT dialing kit is priced ridiculously high, the things they stk are so dated... >

More imptly the IVA-W200 is going to be obsolete real soon, superseded by IVA-W202 which is BT ready.

Well if I dun get it done next week then it will be a couple of mths down the road. Let's see how it goes.

[Guest angela]

Thanks bro for the reply. Pardon me for my ignorance.... what is PML 5 launch?

[Guest angela]

Thanks bro for the reply. Pardon me for my ignorance.... what is PML 5 launch?

Performance Motor launching the 5 series Lifecycle Impulse (face lifted).

[Guest jenvid]

Ok... after a much long long wait.... here's my E's hifi reloaded.

[Guest angela]

Wow....looks really good. When can we have a listen to your car? Is there going to be a gathering soon?

BTW, do you have a close up picture on your headunit? I would like to see how is your mounting kit look like. How do you interface into the steering wheel control?

[Guest kepiting1sg]

Ok... after a much long long wait.... here's my E's hifi reloaded.

After all the verbal masturbations - Changi - Julong - Changi....heheheh..... ;D ;D ;D.....Finally U have ICEd up your E!!!!

Congratulations!

[Guest jenvid]

Wow....looks really good. When can we have a listen to your car? Is there going to be a gathering soon?

BTW, do you have a close up picture on your headunit? I would like to see how is your mounting kit look like. How do you interface into the steering wheel control?

Knew that was coming....

Steering Wheel interface from Alpine is a Eu product. Alpine SG Distributor dont carry so got to buy from Europe... %&*&^(**& Yet to find the part number so that I can order.

Attachment size limit leh...

U sure u want to listen ? Poison runs long & deep. In DTS 5.1, it is an instant killer

Sigh... now got to re-rip my 100+ 320Kbps AAC albums to apple lossless. Waiting for the alpine S690 changer arrive & my rear display to arrive also.. :'(

BTW here's what thrown in there.

Micro Precision System 7.16i (wish I cld afford the Z series) front

Rainbow CS265 Extreme - rear

Diamond Audio D612/D4 Sub

2xTruTech 475 with BB board

IVA-W200E

PXA-H701

[Guest jenvid]

kepiting1sg ]

Ok... after a much long long wait.... here' wrote:

After all the verbal masturbations - Changi - Julong - Changi....heheheh..... ;D ;D ;D.....Finally U have ICEd up your E!!!!

Congratulations!

hehe...but still got to wait for the speakers/amps/interconnect/cables to run in leh....60hrs very long leh....

[Guest kepiting1sg]

hehe...but still got to wait for the speakers/amps/interconnect/cables to run in leh....60hrs very long leh....

Just pass your ride to me & I will put in the 60 hrs for U in less than a week.... ;D ;D ;D

[Guest angela]

Bro Jenvid,

I notice that your steering wheel is part leather and part walnut. Does that come standard with your car? Or is it retrofitted? Mine only came with the leather.

[Guest jenvid]

Bro Jenvid,

I notice that your steering wheel is part leather and part walnut. Does that come standard with your car? Or is it retrofitted? Mine only came with the leather.

Aftermkt org MB part lor... MBM offer a cheaper OEM version(must trade in steering wheel). Price diff abt $250~300

My pedals also aftermkt lor.

[Guest angela]

Bro Jenvid,

I notice that your steering wheel is part leather and part walnut. Does that come standard with your car? Or is it retrofitted? Mine only came with the leather.

I feel the original steering wheel of W211 (new generation) is wrapped with synthetic and not genuine leather...??

The feel and grip is terrible as far as i am concern....

[Guest jenvid]

It is real leather but a bit too spongy for my liking... that's why I change it...loved the wood...