Newsletter 15

Newsletter 15 is now up on the web site. It will go out to the mailing list tonight.

There's some interesting news about the Mark 2 player - check it out!

Rob

Excellent stuff!!

I'll be back from holidays when they start shipping - I was worried I might miss the date!

One question about the upgrade discount (you knew there'd be at least one) - any idea of the cost of the Mk2 units yet? Will they be similarly priced to the Mk1?

I just need to get warn the bank manager to brace himself for the summer

Geoff
---- -------
Reg No. 554, s/n 00064 - It's mine I tell you.... all mine :)

All I can say for sure is that the 6Gb player will be the base system (because we can't get 4Gb disks any more), at US$1199. The range is being completely restructured above that to accommodate 18Gb and 25Gb drives, and the 10Gb MAY be replaced with a 12Gb.

More info when we have it!

Rob

I like the looks of the new face! Very sleek.

Do you loose any pixels due to masking from the new face?

Stan

Do you loose any pixels due to masking from the new face?

Very good question. I wondered about this, too.

I'll bet that they designed that curve to carefully skim the corners of the display without encroaching upon it. The positioning of the controls and the display were probably the parameters around which JB Design was told to work. So I wouldn't worry about it.

This new design puts those chicken-scratch concept drawings I did to shame. I really like it. I especially like how the IR window is integrated with the overall shape and incorporates the knob. I also like how the "notch" for your fingers to pull out the handle is off-center.

In my coversations with Rob, he says that they still plan to offer this face as an add-on upgrade to the Mark 1 units (although it will require sending the unit back to Empeg for them to do the work). Nothing is finalized, though, so no promises, he says. Still, I'm looking forward to getting mine upgraded to look like that.


Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

Do you think that the moulded plastic face will be painted black?

Term

Do you think that the moulded plastic face will be painted black?

I had some conversations with Rob about this a little while ago, and my first question was: "Will the moulded plastic face be available in alternate colors?" and the answer was no, it will only come in one color. I don't clearly remember which color he said it would come in, but I think he did say that it would be black.

Too bad, I thought that the brushed-silver appearance of the CAD rendering was kind of cool.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

The screen fits within the window - it's a little close with the prototype, such that if the player is mounted low down a few pixels at the top left of the screen are masked by the "overhang". We've asked for this to be fixed with the production verison.

Rob

We haven't settled on the final finish - this will be decided in the next few weeks. There are actually four finishes for us to decide upon - the transparant rear part (which will be tinted like the current version), the opaque front part, the buttons and knob, and the aluminium handle.

Obviously clients will have a choice of the transparant tint, so we need to come up with an overall scheme that looks good with all the options.

The handle is likely to be sand cast (in one piece), with a very high quality textured finish. Current thinking is that we may not anodise it, as the finish is so good already. The company that are doing the sandcasting usually cast fittings for very high end luggage, so maybe that gives you an idea of what we're working towards.

Once we've decided on some basic ideas we'll get the SLA prototype painted up to give a better idea of the final product. The guy that will do the painting is a genius with an airbrush - he can even model the textures that we want for the production mouldings.

We were nervous when we chose such a non-conventional design, but I'm certain it's going to look great!

Rob

well I'm sure you'll choose something that looks good with the displays, but what about our cars?

The whole point of it is to look good in a car - this is primarily an in-dash product! We'll do our best to find a scheme that compliments the widest range of dashboards.

Rob

I was refering to the opaque front part. I have to agree that the design looks great though. Did you get to see the SLA prototype made? If you did, didnt you think that machine was cool?

The whole point of it is to look good in a car . . .

Don't under-estimate your product. It also has potential for the home.
I believe you should also consider a look (with a proper home docking bay) that get you into the stereo home market .



Henno
# 00120 (6GB+18)

Now THERE'S an idea!

I didn't see our prototype being made, but I saw one of the machines when I was at university, and they are very clever.

The prototyping process for the handle is also interesting - they make a wax model using something very much like an inkjet printer and a lowering platform, building the model up in layers. From the wax model they make a one shot mould and from that an aluminium prototype.

Rob

Yes, there is a huge market for home players :)

Rob

And once you have more Empegs out there, hopefully you'll have a huge market for home docking bays. (I still haven't done much toward mine ... no time. =[ )

-- Bleys

"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca

Just remember that when the unit is in a docking bay, it thinks it's in a car, so all the car-related stuff will come up. For instance:

- Volume will be whatever it was set to in the car. Not a problem when moving the unit from Car->Home because you just turn it up to 0db. But when you move the unit from Home->Car, it'll then be whatever it was set to at home (usually 0db). Ouch! Better remember to turn it down first.

- You won't have the convenience of different home/car EQ settings (one of the most awesome features).

- 4v outputs on the docking sleeve.

- The vis-protection thing.


Tony Fabris
Empeg #144

- Volume will be whatever it was set to in the car...

Not an issue; I set to 0db and rely on an external head unit for volume anyway. Same for EQ. I suspect most people who implement both in-car and at home will take this approach. I do lose the visuals from my tuner and CD-player -- but I never use them anyway. =]


- The vis-protection thing.
One more reason to support an Emplode-based toggle (complete with disclaimer and multiple acknowledgements required by the consumer).

-- Bleys



"If you would judge, understand." -- Seneca