Hi,

A while ago I hooked up my laptop's line-out to the AUX-IN of my empeg. Everything sounded okay, so I knew it worked. I even experienced some known software bugs when switching between AUX and Player modes...

Today, I hooked up my laptop's line-out to empeg's AUX-IN again, but the sound is very, very distorted and at a low volume. I exchanged cables, nothing changed. I attached different equipment, from AF/FM portable radio to discman on batteries and AC, nothing changed. The sound coming from the right channel is much worse (no bass) than from the left channel. The beeps (keypress) still sound OK! I really don't know how to check what's at fault. Suggestions anyone?

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

Make sure your master and line-out volumes on your laptop are OK.

Till

My diskman only works in combination with a grounding lead (al la Mk1)

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)

If the source is not powered from the car (ie, shares a ground with the rest of the car) then you will get noise. Was the laptop powered from the cigarette lighter first time and not the second time?

Hugo

Hugo,

The laptop is still powered from the cigarette lighter, yes. Today I took the sled out and checked all the cables, nothing is wrong there. I even measured the connections on the docking connector of the sled and the one on the player. Even from the outside to the inside of the player... Everything OK. Also, apart from connecting my laptop, I've tried 3 AM/FM portable (battery operated) radios, 1 ghettoblaster on batteries and a Creative DAP Jukebox. All tried at low volume out of line-outs and headphone out. Every time the same result; distortion on the left channel, much worse on the right (no bass). I could try to record what I'm hearing. Would that help you in solving my problem? Can I do some sort of a software test to determine what's at fault? The boot log is ok. I also tried to install v1.02, but that didn't help. The funny thing is, it has worked fine before...

Gr,
Edwin (very depressed now)

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

Yep, that would be why I need the MK1 grounding cable with my diskman - it is running on batteries

(list 6284, Mk1 S/N 00299 4GB blue [for sale]. Mk2 S/N 080000094 6GB blue)

I understand correctly, I've had problems with getting the serial connection in the car to work. Putting a cigarette adapter in for the laptop solved that problem. I actually had a seperate grounding wire before that. Every device I've tried was powered on the cigarette adapter and I tried batteries-only as well. Still the same depressing result... I hope nothing is broken...

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

Maybe I forgot to mention the tweaks (quit, 115k-in-car, timecodes and notify) I've made to the config.ini... I've zipped it together with a boot log and attached it to this post, hope it helps a little more. It's just the config.ini that is different from the standard mk2 v1.03 developer image.

Question #1: should I (also) contact support to solve my problem?

Question #2: why is there an "Aux" option when the player is out of the car? I can't imagine a way to put some audio in while it's not in the car???

Remark: ampersant isn't working on this bbs?

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

AAAH, I can't help it, I'm getting very anxious now, I'm contacting support in a minute now.... Plz don't hesitate to post to this thread. Any help is greatly appreciated!!

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

Try connecting a wire to car ground (eg, empeg case) and the aux in shield (ie, outside of the RCA connector). That should get rid of the noise.

As to why AUX in is selectable at home, it really shouldn't be. Good point.

Hugo

I've had problems with getting the serial connection in the car to work. Putting a cigarette adapter in for the laptop solved that problem.

Hmm, I missed that. I've tried a few times to get into my empeg in the car with no luck, and was about to suspect pulled wires. My problem is that I can recieve text most of the time (the speed change sometimes throws the terminal and a close and open is needed for that), but I can never send back to the empeg. It's the same cable I used with the Mark 1, but a different laptop, (and empeg). I'll have to try this later today, as my serial cable and laptop power are always in the car. (Signs of a geek, I know. The other cable seen from time to time is a USB cable manually plugged in to sync a newly bought album.)

Support contacted me and suggested to go ahead and try your recommendation. I'll do that tomorrow, since the car isn't here right now. I actually don't expect things to get better, because it's not exactly noise, but distortion.... Oh well, we'll see tomorrow. Thank you all for helping me out this far!

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

Yes, distortion is what you get without the correct ground. The signal is refrerenced to a point outside the range of the floating-ground ADC and so you just get mush which is only slightly related to the input!

Hugo

Tried to solve the problem with a grounding wire from the aux-in shield to empeg sled (Creative DAP Jukebox on batteries).. It does something, you can hear it, but the distortion is still there... I think I have to send the unit in for letting support take a look at it.

Edwin de Vaan
mk2 rev.7 # 080000263 (queue 1232) 6+20Gb blue/red

First of all, my excuses for this late update... Quick summary:

I mailed several times with support discussing what to try. Then Walter van Loon offered his assistance (not to forget Henno ) to try his player in my car. That pointed out the problem to reside in my player. It was repaired very quickly. I was without it for 3 (working days). All is working fine again, thanks guys!

­­______________
Edwin de Vaan