Aaaargggh, easy turns difficult.

[Jodi]

Why oh why does the easy part of the ICE install turn out to be the hardest?

I've routed the power cable through the bulkhead, a pain but I did it.

Found the ignition power on the Audi cabling after it wasn't where the concert wiring diagram said it should be /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif. Modified the wiring on my side of the head unit to accomodate. Found a nice earth in the glove box for the amp.

Checked this all out with my empeg MP3 player before slotting it all in the centre console and bingo it all works /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif.

Now all I have to do is slot in the head unit cage and I'm all done.

So in she slides, nice and easy, uh..... get in you bit*h. What the ?@!!

Would you credit it? The cage for my head unit won't go all the way in! It gets jammed with about half an inch still protruding from the front of the centre console /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/burningmad.gif. This cage fitted fine in my old MG. I've chiselled and filed bits that seem to be protruding inside the DIN slot, but to no avail, the effin thing still won't slide all the way in.

I've checked that none of the cables is jamming things up behind the cage by looking behind with the glove box removed.

Has anyone else had this problem during an install? If so did you solve it? If yes what's theh secret?

I have an X plate S3 with single DIN slot if that helps anyone solve my problem.

It's always the bit that should be easy, grumble, grumble......... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[AndyMac]

Never had that particular problem with a head unit, lots of others though. Is the cage oversized? They're normally about 3-4 inches deep.

 

[richy]

to be fair the cage is usually shorter than your headunit so if your having trouble with the cage u should be having even more trouble with the headunit itself..

 

[Jodi]

This cage isn't like the usual type that envelopes the top, bottom and sides of the HU, it actually encases the back aswell. The HU has a connector that slots into a plug in the back of the cage. The cage is the same width and depth as the standard Concert HU however my cage does seem to be about 1mm higher than the Concert unit which could well be the root of the problem. However, the fact that I can get the cage most of the way in seems to indicate that the inside of the DIN slot is tapered towards the back. I think it's going to be a case of chipping away at the DIN slot until it fits or get out the persuader /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif. This would probably mean that I would never get the cage out in the future though!

 

[AndyMac]

God I remember those, how old is this HU?
I've only seen those cages on the very first removable HU, where you removed the whole head unit and the cage had a multi-connector at the back to make all the connections.
The Concert is slightly shallower than an old 80's style unit so I would imagine the obstruction is at the back.

 

[Jodi]

The Empeg isn't that old actually. It was one of the first if not the first in car MP3 player. I think it was released in 1999. Built by a company in Cambridge I think, who were then bought out by Rio or Sonicblue, I get confused. There is a lot on the web about the empeg player, it has quite a following. I think the reason it has this old style cage is that it is quite versatile and has phono outputs on the back of the head unit so you can use it with your home hi fi. It also doesn't have much space inside the HU as you can fit two laptop hard drives in it! I think that is the main reason why it needs the cage to have all the connectors hanging off it. That's one of the things that makes it so good as it is pretty future proof in terms of memory size. The mind boggles at how much music I could get on it if I fitted two of the largest sized laptop hard drives in it.

It's got a lot of functionality and you can change the front screen to match the interior lighting of your car. I have four options, Red, Amber, Green and Blue.

See this link for someone who's fitted it to their TT.

web page

Maybe I should try and get in touch with them and see if they had same trouble that I'm having.

 

[Jodi]

Just found this pic of an A6 install.

empeg A6 install

Judging by his comment he had the same problem as me. It does seem like I am going to have to persevere with the chisel and file. Doh.

 

[Jodi]

Here's a piccy of another TT install. This is just one of the many, many different graphical displays that the empeg has. The lit up buttons aren't standard though. Another mod for me to do some time. So many things, so little time....

Another empeg TT install

 

[AndyMac]

Wow, that's certainly "different" looking. Looks like it should have been in Clockwork Orange. It looks better lit up. I presume you can change the display to show all manner of instrumentation?

 

[Jodi]

There are loads of different displays, meters of different types, scrolling messages (song titles etc) animations or just standard track info. They were very expensive initially. There is one going on ebay at the moment.

empeg on ebay

Not cheap and it doesn't have a hard drive in!

 

[richy]

hmm..

 

[Leddy]

Wow indeed, I actually really like that /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif Post pics when you've bludgeoned it into position!

 

[Jodi]

Will do. Will be after Christmas now as I'll be on my travels around the various family members. At least I will have my whole CD collection along with me to keep me company. I also need to get a new power supply for my digi camera. Can't find the original and camera battery is totally flat /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif