Need help choosing a headunit

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W211Mike

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Hey People who click on this, consider me a newbie to car audio but I’ve done some research for awhile before landing on these forums.

I own a 2003 W211 Mercedes Eclass with the stock bose speaker, I’ve been using cds for awhile since I appreciate the higher quality they output then using a tape to aux. But it’s time for an upgrade. The speakers in the car consists of a component setup in the front (tweeter+woofer) with a speaker in the center of the dash providing a center channel. As well and another component setup in the the rear. The sub in the trunk is an 8” sub that decently performs (yes I understand this is still bose we’re talking about but I want to upgrade the head unit first). The trunk sub design utilizes the provided airspace in the trunk as a way to “maximize bass” as it is facing down from the roof of the trunk. Ontop of a headunit, I’ll be an amplifier to replace the existing one since this is a mosfet system and I’ll be updating it to “modern standards”. 

I hope to enjoy the best audio experience in my car whilst also keeping with the theme of it. So a double din would be the way I want to go, I’ve read on another forum that people criticize toys>sound reproduction so i felt this would be a great place to ask for assistance.

headunit requirements:

bluetooth isnt required as I’ll be using (a possibly) provided usb out on the headunit to connct my phone to it to get the best possible sound from a phone, as well as play flac off a usb drive.

apple carplay would be nice but anything you guys recommend will probably work great with or without it.

amplifier requirements

Im new to amplifiers so any help about it, as if I should run some speakers off the headunit or the amplifier. 

Any Help is appreciated and respected.

Additional Information I felt might be needed: 

the music I listen is all to say the least: from David Bowie, to Gojira, to prog rockers like Yes and Dream Theater, as well as hip hop and electronic.

Cd is also not a requirement

 
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From the "with enough money, anything is possible" files, I found you'll need this $350 harness adaptor to maintain factory amp communication. Yikes!

https://www.installer.com/item/display_item.php?it=ctsmc013-2

For that price, I'd just rewire the entire system and bypass the factory amps. Aftermarket radios are plenty loud without an amp for most people (with subs being the exception, it does need to be powered).

You can find what you want in pretty much any name brand head unit. I'm partial to Pioneer and JVC for sound quality, but I prefer Pioneer's user interface a bit better. Take a look at www.Crutchfeild.com and enter your vehicle info. They will show you radio options that will fit (with the correct mounting kit) and you can narrow down by feature set. It's hard to say which specific one to buy because a lot will be based on personal tastes. I wouldn't worry much about sound quality vs "toys" as you put it. Unless you're looking to go with a competition level sound quality system, any of the big name brand units will sound great when properly tuned. 

As for the sub amp question, I wouldn't try upgrading it. Premium sound systems are designed to work as an all in one unit. Even if you could swap the amp, you'd have to figure out the sub's power and impedance specs to match an amp properly to it. I doubt it's rated to handle much power, so would be easy to overdrive it with conventional aftermarket sub amps.

 
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W211Mike

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