Ordered 36Gb - Blue w/ additional green
Received Aug 18th

Initial thoughts:
Slick looking unit, cant wait to get it running.
But wait, there are problems, I had issues synching tunes and with flashing any image.
Diagnosis of problem: Hugo wanted the text capture of the hardware test, so off I sent it and well, bad memory.
So back it goes to the UK (From Canada), Empeg Ltd paid for shipping of the unit back to them, and return to me. Sent back Sept 8th or 9th (Been reeealy busy, so I am unsure of the exact dates).

Result:
Customer service was top notch, couldn't have been any better, all in all, I was without my new baby for about a week, Empeg Ltd kept my unit for about two and a half days, Hugo replaced the memory chips by hand, and then spent about a full day testing the unit.

Received the unit back on Sept 20th(ish):
Ripped open the plastic wrap, put the unit back on my little shrine on my desk, slapping on the RCA, serial, and Ethernet connections, plugged in the power, and viola, we had liftoff!
Proceeded to dump in 23Gb of tunes, and that took about 3 days, via Ethernet, but my network is a little funky so here is a brief explanation:
Mp3’s sit in Win2K box, emplode runs on WinNT box, in-between sits a nice 10/100 switch and all sorts of other TCP/IP traffic generating 'puters. Empeg unit plugs into switch; so tunes must come from Win2K box, to WinNT box, back to Empeg.
Then spent a good afternoon organizing playlists.

Now, the Empeg sits rather heavy with 20+Gb of tunes, here is my review of my unit in full "production":

Boot times are quite impressive, even though it has to load the database, just under 8 seconds.
The visualizations are a very nice touch, but a tad distracting driving at night, as the DIN slot in my '93 Toyota Corolla wagon is just below shoulder height, so the unit sits nicely in peripheral vision.

Current connection is:
Previous Head unit with cd changer -> Empeg -> 4-channel amp -> speakers (subs coming later, need more ca$h).

Install was a breeze, didn’t have any issue with wire lengths coming out of docking chassis of unit, nor any problems with loud thump when unit is turned off, no alternator whine either. I must assume that we had no grounding issues. Myself did the install and a friend, took about 6 hours to complete, but we put all necessary power distribution in place for future subs/amps, and for moving the previous head unit.

Sound quality is fantastic, the product is fantastic, the service was exceptional (Way to go Rob and Hugo!!), installation was long, but well worth the effort (Not to mention the beers fed to my buddy!).
I am currently compiling all the pictures taken, and reworking my website, I will post that link when the site is ready. But I will be taking my car to a well known installer in the area (SoundsAround - Calgary, Alberta, Canada), as a salesman was itching to see what I was going to be hooking the amp I purchased from him to.

Any comments or questions are welcome!

Oh, and everyone who gets on my car is curious, and simply amazed that is has a capacity of 36Gb!! (Not to mention my current collection of 23Gb!!)

WELL worth the price!!

L

The visualizations are a very nice touch, but a tad distracting driving at night, as the DIN slot in my '93 Toyota Corolla wagon is just below shoulder height, so the unit sits nicely in peripheral vision.

Personally, I've found that the starfield visual is the least distracting at night, and that's what I usually switch it to. I've got a Mk1 which doesn't benefit from a dimmer, so this is actually vital for me during night driving. Are you using the headlight-dimmer feature?

___________
Tony Fabris

tfabris - Are you using the headlight-dimmer feature?

Yes I am, but I have wired in a toggle switch, so if my headlights are on, and I dont want the display dimmed I simply break the circuit, it works, though sometime I keep forgetting to leave the toggel open.

ooo ooo ooo! i wanna do this. Thanks for the idea! I was just sitting here contemplating how to rig it so that sometimes i could have it dim and when i wanted people to wonder what the party of lights was in my car as i drove by, i could turn the dimmer off. heheh. This is probably a silly question as i would guess all toggle switches are pretty much equal, but what type did you use?


|| loren.cox
|| 080000446

I cant remember offhand what model, but I cut open the headlight sensor wire, dropped in a toggle switch, any spst (single pull, single throw) should do, I guess you could get fancy and put a lighted one in there, but I didnt bother measuring the voltage on that line, but I assume there is probably enough voltage for a lighted LED toggle, so when the sensor is "on" via the switch the light in the toggle is on. But you could wire it up any darn way you wanted to.

Perhaps this following little addition could go into the wish list, but I am unsure of the display properties of the unit, perhaps you could wire the dimmer into the dash illumination potentiometer and select the brightness of the unit, along with the dash lights?

But I agree, at night a nice little light show is cool to show off, and with my windows being tinted, the display has to be pretty bright at night for others to oooo and ahhh.

36Gb wont be enough soon!!
Smoke