A few head unit questions

[GarethRamsay]

Hi - I've only had my MY2005 R230 for two weeks so am still trying to learn all about it! I have a couple of head unit questions, if anyone can help...

1. I have NTG1 Command, I believe (widescreen unit which goes right to edge of centre console). How do I tell if I have BOSE or HK sound?

2. Is the reception on the radio always bad? I live in London and frequently have poor reception on major stations - crackling, distortion, etc. Going out of London is worse. I cannot even pick up Absolute Radio in Horsham, for instance, and my previous car - a 20 year old MX5 - had no problem at all. My other car is fine too!

3. The sound quality on the stereo is great (aside form above) but only when the sound is quite loud. When quieter, there seems little bass and it sounds quite weak. Is this tuneable?

4. What's the cheapest option for replacing the CD Changer with a USB drive which can read the folders and song names through the stereo? The ones I have seen are all hundreds of pounds!

5. What are the options for replacing with an NTG2.5 unit from a recent model? I understand it's a perfect fit but that the compatibility may be another story. If I got a second hand head unit, what's required afterwards?

Thanks for any and all help!

Gareth

 

[L John]

4. What's the cheapest option for replacing the CD Changer with a USB drive which can read the folders and song names through the stereo? The ones I have seen are all hundreds of pounds!

Dunno if this works on NTG1 but I burned a data DVD (4.7 gig of MP3's) and my command plays from that.

 

[television]

If you had Bose the badge would be on the loudspeaker grill and you would not be saying that you have little bass.

Is Absolute broadcast on the FM band ??

I had no problem with the tuner on my 230 SL500, its possible that you have an amp down and a STAR check would show this up.

A few have upgraded but expensive to do, I have a hunch that it is not possible to add an card reader to this version.

 

[GarethRamsay]

Thanks for the replies!

I've seen no BOSE badge so I guess that means just vanilla - do you know what the vanilla system is? The bass just seems to come in when it gets louder - I have a sub-woofer at home on my home cinema that kicks in when the volume is raised and it sounds just like this.

Star - is this an MB service?

Absolute is FM, although I struggle to get perfect reception on Radio 2, XFM and more. The reception is far worse than my other car and my last car to this. I shall get this checked out.

I thought about the DVD route but as I have around 30Gb of music, it's a little more than DVD would allow! I guess I'm just a bit of a perfectionist. I love having all my music on my iPhone wherever I go and would love to replicate this in the car. I may look at going down the Denison (and others) route next year. I'm in the car a lot so it's worth it in the end, just shocked at how expensive the entry level price was for this kind of add-on!

Thanks,

Gareth

 

[SL63 Mark]

Hi - I've only had my MY2005 R230 for two weeks so am still trying to learn all about it! I have a couple of head unit questions, if anyone can help...

1. I have NTG1 Command, I believe (widescreen unit which goes right to edge of centre console). How do I tell if I have BOSE or HK sound?

2. Is the reception on the radio always bad? I live in London and frequently have poor reception on major stations - crackling, distortion, etc. Going out of London is worse. I cannot even pick up Absolute Radio in Horsham, for instance, and my previous car - a 20 year old MX5 - had no problem at all. My other car is fine too!

3. The sound quality on the stereo is great (aside form above) but only when the sound is quite loud. When quieter, there seems little bass and it sounds quite weak. Is this tuneable?

4. What's the cheapest option for replacing the CD Changer with a USB drive which can read the folders and song names through the stereo? The ones I have seen are all hundreds of pounds!

5. What are the options for replacing with an NTG2.5 unit from a recent model? I understand it's a perfect fit but that the compatibility may be another story. If I got a second hand head unit, what's required afterwards?

Thanks for any and all help!

Gareth

My '04 230 has a BOSE label on the speakers, as Malcolm says above. The Bass sub woofer is in the passenger footwell and is very powerful. Bass is almost too much on some tracks, even when set to "normal" eq setting.

Radio reception is among the best of any car I have driven. The radio antenna is in the windscreen, I believe, so there may be a fault there, or with the aerial amplifier.

I just enjoy the CD changer - we have bought some more CDs for long trips - and still have cupboards full of old CDs at home we can use. I can plug the iPhone in through the aux conector in the glovebox.

 

[television]

In the 230 there are 2 amplifiers for the front screen, I wonder if the car has had a new screen and they are not connected correctly.

 

[GarethRamsay]

Hmm, my car definitely sounds as though there is little bass until it gets loud, feels quite flat when quiet. It sounds great with the sound up and the stereo (when not crackling) sounds amazing when loud, it really does (then I am used to a cloth top!).

There is no record in the documentation on the screen being replaced. That said, it could easily have been done and not filed. I guess to check for this would be something a dealer would have to do?

Also, I don't appear to have an AUX in the glove box. Is this common?

Another related question, I understand there is a rear speaker at the back but the stereo doesn't allow me to alter balance between front and rear (it's an option but doesn't move in the head unit). Is this normal?

Thanks, and sorry for all the questions!

Gareth

 

[DennisTheMenace]

Are you sure it doesn't have some sort of aftermarket OE look headunit? i.e Dynavin etc? Factory fit sound systems are tailored to each model of car for acoustic purposes.

 

[television]

You only have 2 small speakers in the rear, The amps for the antenna's are behind the dash, it could be worth getting the car on STAR to see what the problem is.

The aux in the glove box was not available for a couple of years after the face lift wide screen comand

 

[GarethRamsay]

Hi,

Definitely OEM unit. No question there!

I'll look at getting the car checking in the new year. It's due for a service in March and I can live with it until then! Interesting about the AUX - I'll stop looking now

Thanks ,

Gareth

 

[Droptop]

Newby Help Please?

Hi All, After many years as a voyuer I finally took the plunge and bought a 2003 500SL. She's beautiful and I'm smitten already. One Item I'd like to bring up to date and that appears a little out of sync with the car and today's technology is the in car entertainment/Satnav/comma etc. I've seen various replacement systems on the net. Anyone have any realtime experience with any of these good or bad before I shell out? I have the original Merc/Bose system at present. Thanks, Mike

 

[Craiglxviii]

Hi All, After many years as a voyuer I finally took the plunge and bought a 2003 500SL. She's beautiful and I'm smitten already. One Item I'd like to bring up to date and that appears a little out of sync with the car and today's technology is the in car entertainment/Satnav/comma etc. I've seen various replacement systems on the net. Anyone have any realtime experience with any of these good or bad before I shell out? I have the original Merc/Bose system at present. Thanks, Mike

OK. A 2003 R230 SL500 will have COMAND 2.0 fitted. Absolutely fine and cracking with the Bose speaker setup. This provides integrated phone, for which you can buy a Visseeo MBU-3000 that will give full smartphone integration (even Siri).

Now, if you search for "My CL500 project" on here you will find a long thread by ex-member Haylands, he took the dash off his 215 CL500 out, stripped out the COMAND head unit and refitted an Android satnav and ICE system. He lost steering wheel functionality as a result but had a pretty neat setup. That required the total rebuild of his dash trim to get it to fit.

The best thing I could advise you to do is speak to the guys at comandonline, they are forum supporters- Alfie was online earlier I believe- who are the UK authority on MB's COMAND and ICE systems> They will advise you what is possible or not and what the costs are likely to be.

To give you an idea, an updated 2014 TeleAtlas DVD for my COMAND2.5 (older version than yours) cost me £124.