[fju2112]

I'm looking at a nice off-lease 2001 E320 and had a couple of questions about the audio. I'm coming from a late-model vehicle with integrated XM.

1 - this Benz has an XM antenna, which tells me there must already be an XM tuner in the vehicle. Where is it located if installed from the factory?

2 - if i wanted to change the headunit, would I need to part with a piece of wood trim in the dash, or is it possible to pop in a new headunit and have it look ok? This has a trunk-mounted CD changer and the Bose audio package, so I'd likely keep the amp, use a compatible alpine mp3-capable changer, and new head unit w/ cd in-dash. is this possible without disrupting the integrity of the dash? i'm guessing the xm-tuner might complicate things in terms of narrowing my choices, can anyone offer feedback on how to ensure all of these pieces work well together if changing the headunit is an option?

Thanks!

 

[OBX884]

Unfortunately, there is no XM radio capability on the 2001 E320. The antenna you're probably thinking of is for either nav or the teleaid. If you want to keep the stock look and leave the old radio in even, you can put an aftermarket headuint in the compartment below the radio. You could just put an XM antenna on the trunk and then get an XM ready headunit.

I have no idea about the wiring in of an aftermarket headunit, but I'm sure someone on here will know.

 

[fju2112]

thanks for the quick response!

I would probably change the factory head unit then, and get a trunk-mounted (if possible) XM or Sirius tuner that can talk to it. Then where would I put the antenna, is my only question?

I looked on crutchfield but they only had two satellite radio TUNERS included w/ the head unit itself, that fit the benz, but i'm sure i could find more that have XM/Sirius controls where I'd buy the tuner separately. any recommendations on what might be the best aftermarket solution? If I can't use the existing wiring infrastructure for the cd changer to also feed out a wire for an XM/Sirius tuner, is it easy to mount the tuner under the glove box or elsehwere in the vehicle where it won't be as noticeable?

the only changer i saw was $599 by US-SPEC, but I know there's an alpine unit that also works w/ this model, so i'm hoping i can find one on ebay or something. does the alpine unit have mp3 capability?

 

[fju2112]

2001 E320 w/ nav

Now I'm looking at an E320 from 2001 but with the NAV system installed. I'd probably rip that out - is it any good compared to today's NAV systems? - and replace it with the Alpine CD player on Crutchfield that's compatible with this vehicle & iPod.

How do things change when there's a NAV vs. the stock radio/tape player in the dash? Is it just a different harness/casing needed around the alpine unit, and would the extra space just be a small, narrow storage compartment when I replace the NAV system? Does anything change in terms of wiring capability?

 

[zam2000]

Here's how I mounted my Sirius. I am not a big fan of having antenna on top of the trunk.

 

[fju2112]

pictures aren't showing up...can you provide links?