Nils,

It's really not so simple as "Just a Knob/Coating". Empeg are making a serious attempt to sort this out; there is a fix for both underway (and may even be ready at this point - Rob was hoping that they would be ready for the User's meet this weekend, unforch not ). All products need a manufacturing lead time - think back to the point when the problems were first recognised (June? July? In any case sometime around 8-12 weeks ago) and then consider that the period of elapsed time may just be the lead time for finding a solution to the problem (not something you can sort out in 20 minutes), and then manufacture of the solution. Recent examples I can think of in the automotive world have been the trim problems BMW had with the recent revision of the Series 3, the electrical problems Alfa has had with the early examples of the 156, and various others. All newly introduced products have periods of time where the bugs are worked out of the manufacturing process, not the design itself. Given the fact that the Mk2 is virtually all new design, using a completely different manufacturing process, the number of problems have turned out to be relatively small, and are being actively chased down. Empeg themselves do not shirk the problem, and have gone considerably further in sorting out problems to early product than many others have - have you tried to get BMW to replace the peeling, separating seat trims on your brand new $48,000 BMW 3 changed recently? Owners have been removing seats and dumping them on the doorsteps of dealers to get them to listen to their complaints. I think empeg Ltd. are doing pretty well on that score.

You have already been promised a fix, they are in the works, and empeg are pushing their suppliers daily to deliver as early as possible; they have invested in the fix at high cost and are going to take a large hit replacing just the knobs. Why are you complaining?


I am not sure why you would describe it as "Lousy" - do none of the other features of the player merit a rather less than harsh description in a moderately aggressive posting? Perhaps you can source suppliers who can do AR coatings and mould up new knobs from scratch in less than 12 weeks? If so, then maybe you should be getting in touch with Rob & Hugo immediately, I am certain they will be extremely grateful....

PS Can I suggest that if this is a really big issue for you, that you fall back to good old-fashioned self-help - ie., think about the problem and try to resolve it with a temporary solution.

- you could wipe the display lens with a really thin layer of vaseline. This should be sufficiently dispersive to reduce reflection (photographers have been using this since time began to do exactly this). Alternatively (if you don't like this admittedly less than attractive method), go to your local camera shop and buy yourself a bottle of diffuser coating, normally applied to the exposer plate of a photo-enlarger to improve diffusion of the light source. This is expensive, however.

- go to your local auto supply. Buy yourself a tube of Loctite thread lock compound. Be sure to check that it is not cyano-acrylate based, as this type will attack plastic. Apply one drop to the shaft of the rotary, ensuring it is clean and free of grease first (likewise the inside of the knob, which you could clean with alcohol first), then push the knob home. Let it set according to instructions before using it. This compound works anerobically, and will give you some 70N/m torque resistance, which should be more than adequate to stop the knob rotating on the shaft. Since it is an automotive product and is designed for harsh environments, it is unlikely to be affected by the piffling amount of heat generated by the empeg player itself.

One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015