Phatbox power problem?

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Davidb67

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I'm getting a problem with some tracks on my phatbox when played really loud - on one particular track I get about 1-and-a-half minutes through and then it will halt, and either skip to the next track on the same album, or stop altogether, switch to radio and then I get "No Magazine" displayed on the head-unit - Concert II.
As the p/b is wholly powered from the h/u, is the high volume level sucking more juice through the h/u, causing a momentary blip in the supply to the phatbox?
I've re-ripped the same track several times in case it wasn't "clean" enough, and tried different bit-rates, but still get the same issue. At lower volumes, it's fine......

Anyone shed any light on this?

David
 
Hi ScoTTy, I defrag the disk (on DMS) regularly - I used to have mega problems earlier in the year with PMM crashing as soon as I inserted the DMS into cradle - in the end I gave up and totally wiped the thing, and started from scratch, not even shunting music off the PC, I decided to re-rip everything as an IT guy at work recommended not doing ANYTHING with the PC (not even clicking/moving the mouse!) whilst ripping, save getting spurious errors in the file.
Starting from scratch cured the DMS / PMM issue, so I reckon I had some file corruption on there.
Then I used to get odd file jumping - my PB is mounted vertically but WAS orientated so as the DMS went in horizontally - again IT guy suggested I might be getting track jumping due to orientation of the drive heads inside DMS: now rotated brackets so the DMS goes in vertically and it's fine.
So this jumping/halting I am getting now is different, and seems to be at high volumes only!

BTW, my sub's knackered, so it's got to go in to get that replaced, but p/b was private import from clairparts...

I'm stumped!!
 
I fairly new to the PB. Had it about 3 months and had a 80Gb drive in about 3 weeks,

I guess it depends on your PC as I did stuff whilst burning without a prob. (3Ghz P4, 512Mb RAM).

My PB is horizontal and it gets played LOUD. Mine is the Concert II. From what you explain it could be power. My car seems to have a large battery as on some S4's they're loaded with options.

Sorry I can't help. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
 
Cheers Scotty,
i'll wait and see what happens after the (OEM) sub is replaced under warranty next week.
 
I guess it could be related to the sub issue. i.e. if it's not earthing properly or something.

Good luck.
 
Well, back from dealer today and originally-suspected faulty sub is fine - problem-bass noises were DMS' "release button" rattling & vibrating, along with the DMS resonating:
my P/B was mounted on the boot side-trim - other side of the trim is the sub!!
So, given that the sub kicks out low frequency vibes, not really ideal to have a hard-drive just a few cm's away from it! Reckon that's what caused my "random track-skipping" too....
P/B relocated onto back of rear seats.
 
all joking aside, this has to be a fundamental flaw with mounting the phatbox in it's primary mounting location in the rear cd changer cage.

I can see future problems with phatboxes mounted in the rear trim due to these vibrations and magnetic field from the speaker(s). The hard disk caddies for the PB have a crude shock mounting and zero magnetic sheiding. I dont think theres any hardisk out there that could withstand a daily pounding from a sub, let alone a notebook drive. Most notebook drives do have extra protection for high G impacts, but these are strictly in non-operating conditions.
 
Yep, ironically the p/b lived on my boot floor for the first few months after I got it prevented from sliding merely by s/a velcro, til I got round to ordering the brackets for it. In all that time I never had ANY skipping/jumping issues. Should have put 2 & 2 together, but no, I have to go looking for the most complex/rediculous answer, when it's something simple all along!!

audi5e - yep, the heads couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 cms from the sub!
 
All you do is secure the PB to the sub using layers of double sided foam tape which provides cushioning from any vibrations from the sub. The last thing you want to do is bolt anything sensitive directly to the chassis of the car.
 
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