Hi empeg fans !
For me it feels like something bad happened, the empeg board wasn't updated since more then 1 month, and all questions in this board directing to ->
WHO ALREADY GOT IT or WHEN SHALL WE EXPECT THEM never got any positive answer, and now even this board is totally silenced.
This leads to the conclusion that:

-a- the empeg folks are not good in their information policy
-b- empeg is dead
-c- everybody is silent, because y'all got your units already :)

( i hope for c or at least a, but b seems most plausible to me )

So if you know anythimg, let me/us know about it ...

AND while waiting, how about autopc, this crappy thing is also able to play mp3 CD's by now, am i right ??
And talking about an open System, i got the development Kit for Windows CE, so it shouldn't be a big problem to develop your own things for it ...
( Windows CE is a GOOD OS, even if it starts with the word Windows, but GET INTO IT and you'll see that it has many realtime/stability features that Win98 at WinNT lack, its something new, not a little Windows ... )
I would prefer empeg, but we should check all possibilities.

Nils

We're so close it hurts :)

The situation is that we've been doing compatibility testing with various car installs and have found we need to supply some in-line grounding leads (the empeg has floating ground outputs: most amplifiers have floating ground inputs. You need to ground the amplifier inputs to amplifier supply ground, hence the leads) which we're sorting out the manufacture of at the moment.

Yes, the website doesn't get updated every day - we don't have in-house web people - but we're most definitely not dead. If you hadn't noticed, myself, Rob and Mike (mac) have been answering questions and queries on this web board every time they appear, and we're still responsive to email :)

The autopc will play MP3's. Just. Depending on who you talk to, it can either only do them half-rate (22khz) or can just manage full rate with most of windows CE turned off as the CPU in the unit is not powerful enough to do real-time MP3 decoding. AutoPC 2 will play MP3s - this was demo'ed at the MP3 summit - but it's a whole PC, and doesn't fit in the dash. The prototype they showed was about 4-5x the size of an empeg and was just bare boards, not a production thing.


Hugo

Ahhhhhh !

Good to hear :)
I was really pessimistic about empeg, it should be easy to just drop a little note on your webboard from day to day, just 1 little sentence, it would be so much better :)
Because other friends of mine dont' even ask anymore or read this bbd, they simply assume that empeg is dead, because no update was coming, just try to see it from our side and keep us updated, then the situation ( waitin our *sses off ) is MUCH easier to bear.

Thanks about the update about the autopc, i didnT know that their CPU is sooo slow ...

Nils

Geeze.... Do you know how long that will take? I'm driving around with nothing but an FM radio for 3 months now! Can i just say that the radio really SUX butt!!! (do i hear an Amen?)

Hugo, about these new ground line additions, ae we talking days, or weeks, or months?


Hugo, here's a quick Question that i just thought of.... Will the empeg CAR support MS Audio 4.0? That new audio standard from MS. Will it be easy to upgrade to that? or any other codec for that matter? I have not "heard" the new codec, but pepole have told me that it's "really good." I know it was mentinoed that empeg CAR can upgrade to MP4 when it comes out because of it's CPU being so fast, but what about the Propitiatory codecs that other companies develop? do they have to be "open source" or something?

thanks.
chip



-CHiP

I'm glad things are still moving forward, but still a long way to go
towards some peoples numbers.

Any news on the second production run? As I've now got the new car
I'm keen for a decent stereo but don't know if its worth putting in
a CD player in the mean time.

Can we please have a "Now Shipping Number: " on the web page please!

Also I notice that you have the new production model pics up on the web
site - not that you would notice from the main page as it hasn't been
updated to reflect this!

Cheers

Paul

The ground line stuff is more a question of sourcing the bits and getting the leads made - I don't fancy making them all up myself ;) We're trying to get some made quickly to get shipping going, with larger volumes following when they're made on normal production schedules.

The systems seem ok in our tester cars (BMW/Longhill/OEM speakers & CRX/JVC/Infinity Kappas, and hopefully an MR2 shortly), and our Mercedes A-Class demo car is being fitted up next week (Kicker amps, Infinity Kappas (front), reference (rear) & Kappa 10" sub). I'm dying to hear what this system sounds like...

MS Audio 4 support basically depends on licensing and demand. If it takes off, and is licensable, then we'd like to support it. However, MS may well want to keep it to MS platforms (ie, windows) in order to drive WinCE into more places, so I wouldn't hold your breath. An open standard is worth nothing to them - it doesn't help them drive windows into new places. It doesn't have to be open source, it just has to be able to be licenced for use on a linux system - at a reasonable cost!

Hugo
empeg

MR2? How many hairdressers are going to want to buy empegs? Okay Hugo
I'll do the decent thing and offer you a chance to install it in my Imprezza.

I can't say fairer than that :-)

FREE INSTALLATION OPTION (For hugo and the empeg team)

1993 Honda del Sol
Small 2-seater, where else would you rather have an EMPEG... I'll tell you what... as I do a lot of driving in my Sol I'll let you send me a unit to have it tested in the rigors of our Newfoundland climate with temperature extremes from -35 to +35 degrees celsius... testing for effectiveness in every way while giving me the chance to convert my entire music colleciton to mp3 and have it all available to me at the push of a button...

Think about it... ;)