I recently purchased a beautiful 1992 300E. The only thing that I am not super happy about is the bad Becker head unit. It works but the volume will not go up, only down. I talked to my Mercedes mechanic about it and he suggested I just get a new head unit,+- $125. I first figured that for that kind of money why not just replace the head with a new Pioneer, Alpine or similar. Maybe get one that my iPod could plug into. That was before I read the forum posts. It seems that replacing the original head with any other than an old Becker will be a pain in the butt, requiring me to change out the amps, wiring and speakers. This is more than I want to get into.. Replacing speakers seems easy but the re-wiring seems complex and prone to problems.

Is there any new head unit that I can buy that simply plugs into the old slot and wiring. Furthermore, can I get one that has a CD player and aux. audio input? Or, am I destine to live with an old Becker or rewire the car.

Help..

I believe your vehicle is not equipped with a seperate amplifier. That is the hurdle that makes these installations so difficult in most cases. I would check crutchfield or a similar source to see if a wiring harness adapter is available and pursue that route.

I looked in the trunk and it appears that my car has amps. I see a 4x5 metal box that is mounted near the speakers. I guess this is an amp.. What are my options if I have an amp?

You need to run your own wiring from the head unit to the speakers or get another Becker.

It seems like my options are limited.

Thanks for the advice.

If you are planning on spending a bit of more money then you can get a starter amp, speakers, and HU. It will make a world of diffrence in sound, any aftermarket speaker, even the $20 ones will be better and a step up from what you have.