[R129 SL] R129 Radios [was: Dual Exhaust?]

[Rob Vonderhaar]

Frank,
They meant to say "Becker" or "Alpine".  As Peter noted, the 'original'
radio varies by country and option selected. At least in the U.S., all
of our R129's had Becker radios through 1994; after that MB went to
Alpine (branded with the Mercedes logo).  Thus, I was amazed when I
walked into the MB dealership in Darmstadt (near Frankfurt) to see the
choice of different radios available as options in Germany. 
 
Unrelated: I was also surprised at the parts and accessories available
in Germany that we never saw in the U.S.  Little things - for example,
the battery covers on the RF remote keys in Germany had loops to put
them on a keychain; here they didn't (doesn't sound like a big deal, but
try to avoid losing your key without it!).  An even more exciting find
was that the floor mats sold in Germany for the R129 were designed with
a carpet flap that nicely covers the left footrest (the spot that always
gets the dirtiest) as well as snaps that mate with the built-in snaps in
the carpet so the mats won't slide around.  I never understood why U.S.
dealers didn't offer either of these goodies, but needless to say my
luggage contained two sets of mats and several battery covers when I
came home!  (One dealer here said that our keys didn't have the loops
because Americans carry too many keys, and our heavy keychains were
breaking ignition locks.  So rather than fix the design of the lock, MB
just eliminated the keychain loop!)
 
Back to the topic: Most 1995+ models here were equipped with the Bose
system, which used an Alpine radio/cassette head unit feeding Bose
speakers: two in each door plus two small mid/high-range speakers on the
sides just above the rear package shelf, since we don't get the rear
seats on this side of the pond.  Bose also takes over the storage bin
just behind the driver's seat, which is stuffed with a separate Bose amp
and what's supposed to pass for a subwoofer (they call it a 'bass
module' because 'sub' is really pushing it).  A trunk-mounted 6-disk
Alpine CD changer was optional, as was a now-outmoded integrated analog
phone (my '95 SL500 has both).
 
Victor, re your problem with the intermittent error message: Mine does
the same thing - I think the message just says something like "NO CD
E-01".  I've found that this always means that something in the trunk
has slightly banged into the sliding cover over the CD cartridge.
Simply sliding the cover open and then firmly shut again usually clears
the problem, but occasionally I have to eject and reinsert the CD
cartridge to clear the error.  (Kind of a dumb design, because the cover
is right where anything in the trunk will hit it when stuff shifts
around back there.)
 
    Rob

________________________________

From: r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com
[mailto:r129list-bounces at mbcoupes.com] On Behalf Of Frank GLASCOTT
Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 3:23 AM
To: SL Mailing List
Subject: Re: [R129 SL] Dual Exhaust?



Hi Eva. I'm also trying to locate an original radio for my 1992 300SL24
which is otherwise unchanged (and immaculate). I suspect it was a
radio/cassette as the console has the tape storage facility. On a recent
UK visit the helpful people at the new Mercedes World at Brooklands told
me it would most likely have been either a Vecker or an Alpen unit.
Neither means anything to me so if anyone can shed more light I'd be
grateful. Good luck with your search.

Frank Glascott    France

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