Hello,

I am looking for a docking connector which connects to the Empeg MK2/RioCar, the socket is mounted on the riocar, but I want to buy the plug. I need to find out the part number and manufacturer, I hope you can help me! It must be for the Riocar/MK2 Do you know the manufacturer or the partnumber?

I know it is “CSA certified” and on top of the connector on the device it reads “9K18M”.

Thanks in advance,

Frank H

i think they are a real pain in the butt to come by i do however have a spare plug as my harness came adrift on the back of my unit and the empeg guys nicely sent me one.

Or you could ask the empeg team if they could sell you one but i don't know the stock situation.

I am in aberdeen scotland if that is on your side of the world.

Thanks for posting this question here, after I suggested doing so in a private e-mail.

The reason I directed you here instead of answering in your private e-mail was because I have become suspicious recently about some e-mail queries I have received. Yours was the second private e-mail in a week that I have received asking where to get parts for the docking sled.

Such private e-mails might be mis-interpreted to be coming from thieves looking for spare parts to resurrect their stolen booty. Since you have posted your query here in a public forum, we can rest assured that you're on the level and this is a legitmate query.

The other e-mail I got was from a person who refused to post his question here on the BBS. I am now suspicious of that person since he specifically stated that he was not willing to post his question on the BBS, and when I suggested that he contact technical support, he merely replied with a "wink" emoticon. (Rob: If you want me to forward those e-mails to you, let me know.)

To answer your question:

The Mark2 docking connector is reportedly hard to obtain if you are only buying a single connector. If I remember the prior conversations on the subject, they are usually only sold in bulk directly to manufacturers.

It might be easier just to buy a complete Mk2 docking sled from the Rio store. I know they aren't cheap, but you will be certain to get what you need.

If it's a Molex connector, you can contact them and they'll send out ``samples'', which are not supposed to meet the strict requirements for their real products, but I've gotten several otherwise unobtainable parts this way. Unfortunately, 9K18M doesn't show up on their search. You can do a search by pictures, if you have a better memory of what that looks like than I do.

It's not a standard OTS part. It was designed and manufactured specially for the Mk2. As far as I know, it is not avaiable seperately.

Well it's not strictly true that it was designed for us, but we did have to import it (in quantity) from the far east. I don't think it's likely that there will be a source for low quantities.

Rob

Does "Quantity" indicate that you may have extra ones for sale? (I'm interrested in the plug on the empeg-case)

Marius (Escort Cab + Mark II)

No, we've never even seen the "raw components". Our contractor buys them in, assembles complete wiring looms, and sends them to our next contractor who assembles the players or car mounts.

The above should really be in past tense of course.

I think we have some spare external wiring looms which would be a bit cheaper than complete car mounts - but probably not much cheaper.

Rob

Rob,

I'd like to order an extra carmount (europe store) but I want to be 100% sure that the loom is soldered. Can you confirm that all carmounts are now soldered ones ?

Thanks in advance,

They *should* be, but I'm not 100% sure they are. This does annoy me rather, as they did commit to soldering all the looms; however, since EOL it's very hard to complain as they're not making any more.

I believe, at the very least, the crimping quality is much improved. We have had far fewer loom failures on rio-branded players than we did on empeg-branded ones.

Hugo

I got one in my hand from my Mk2a and it looks pretty crimped to me

They will all be crimped - they're crimp connectors. The issue was that the supplier was supposed to solder the crimps afterwards to give them more strength.

hugo

I bought my Mk2a at the begining of November from the US store. There's no solder on the connections for the car mount. In fact, the loom connections are 1 of only 2 major complaints I have with the build/design. I had to repair one of the connection on the car mount as well, because it was all but hanging loose when I got it (stripped some wire and re-crimped). Where the wires go into the connector they have no support. Not even through their outer insulation. It's pretty much just the really thin gauge stuff holding on for dear life. :) I usually like external connections to have at least a plastic zip-tie holding the outer insulation to the player case. Or a small arm/clamp coming off the back of the case that crimps onto the wires.

The second, but less major issue, is that the RCA connectors on the player are not fastened to the case, but only to the circuit board. This isn't as durable with repeated plug/unplug home operation. I'm lucky that the current set of interconnects I'm using are fairly loose when mated to the empeg and go on and come off easily.

Bruno

The second, but less major issue, is that the RCA connectors on the player are not fastened to the case, but only to the circuit board. This isn't as durable with repeated plug/unplug home operation.

Interesting. I hadn't noticed that particular design issue. I see your point.

However...

- I haven't had a bit of trouble with the connectors, and mine get plugged and unplugged (on average) about four times a day.

- There are many other stereo components whose RCA plugs are designed exactly the same way, so it's not like they were breaking tradition to design it that way.

- I'm sure Patrick thought of this and took it into account when he laid out the Mk2 motherboard.

The mk1 had a cable clamp; we had complaints that it always got in the way so it got removed for the mk2...

There was a limit to what we could do with the connector too. We spent a very long time looking for a good docking connector, but we never found anything with cable support that wouldn't be so deep it'd actually fit behind the cradle in most cars.

The RCAs are board mount, yes, but there is a mounting screw close by. The mk1 had panel-mount RCAs, but this was a pain for assembly. Really, we'd prefer board mount with panel support...

Hugo

The second, but less major issue, is that the RCA connectors on the player are not fastened to the case, but only to the circuit board.

That hadn't occurred to me. I'll bet that Monster Cables' ``turbine'' plugs would tear it up. I have a hard time getting them on and off of much more solid jacks.

Yeah, those Monster units aren't designed for repeated plugs and unplugs, are they? Seems like they intend for them to go on once, permanently.

I've been known to occasionally snap off one of those tabs on a Monster plug before, just to make sure it came undone more easily.

I would recommend using a different kind of cable if you're going to be doing a lot of plugging and unplugging, regardless of whether it's an empeg or any other kind of device.

Definitely. When I discover that I need to repeatedly plug and unplug a turbine connector temporarily, I grab something like this as a time and connector saver.

Yeah, everything is pretty tight back there already. I figured one of the reasons why you omitted a clamp was because of this. The wiring loom just seems a lot more flimsy than everything else - which is actually a lot more solid than most other gear. It should be fine as long as it's stationary.

I noticed in the pics at the geek site that he MK1 had panel mount connectors. I really like the ones on my JL Audio amps - very durable.

With other devices, it's not always the plug/unplug stress, but the downward stress from cables dangling. My component video cables for instance pull down incredibly on my DVD player's connectors (which are unfortunately not panel mount).

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to hear audio from the empeg in my car for the first time this weekend. (Things have been going really slow putting the insides of my car back :)

Bruno

FWIW I don't remember ever seeing a player come back with damaged home jacks. The oldest Mk.2's have been out there a while now, and they get repeatedly connected/disconnected far more often than most stereo components.

Rob

Actually, there have been about 5; the jacks themselves are fine, but the track going to the right phono seems to be very susceptible to cracking. Not had a rio player back yet though, ISTR we thickened up the tracking a bit.

Hugo