Sorry if this has been asked recently, but I've been completely overwhelmed with the general forum that I can't catch up. Hell, I had over 4000 unread messages in here. I'm not about to read them all

I just want to know if there has been any progress made on the tuner modules. Is there any word on whether more will be made?

I heard there might be a glitch in the plans. I expected to see some info posted with details in the past few days, but still waiting. Hopefully the wait is a good sign...

Cory

dont say glitch, dont say glitch.....

We seem to be at an impasse, in that the list of customer email addresses is
not available from the eStore. I'm not sure if the data even exists (that is,
within SB - the eStore itself is out-sourced). Unfortunately I can't find
anyone who was originally involved with the car player that still works for
the company, so I can't even try to call in favours.

Without the eStore email list we can only contact international customers
plus those that read the BBS. I would guess that to be at most 40% of
owners, going by the polls that were posted here. I don't think the factory
will make fewer than 1000 units and I don't see how anyone would risk the
investment without direct access to customers to pre-guage demand.

We haven't entirely written off the possibility of getting an email list,
but right now it's starting to look likely that the accessible market is for
no more than 200 pieces. It's going to be hard for anyone to justify making
so few pieces using the current (SMT) design. We would be willing to
provide details of the tuner interface to anyone interested in making their
own tuner product, but that would likely involve a great amount of effort
for (possibly) a modest return.

Rob

As I was not an owner during the last poll, I didn't vote.
But put me down for three, assuming a cost of ~$100

I didn't vote either !!!!

Anyway, if you are going to post info about tuner, when can you do so ? It would solve a lot of problems for some of us...

regards

OK, So someone explain to me why sonicblue,s3,empeg or whomever wouldn't release the list of owners on a product they no longer give a ____ about? Are they afraid of privacy rights? are they afraid of empeg resurection (it IS near easter!).

May I humbly suggest a mail campaign by our esteemed BBS members to try to move them from their seemingly STUPID position

I wasn't aware of the last poll (perhaps prior to my purchase of two units). Anyhow, perhaps another poll would be useful. I know many registered users of this forum desire more than one tuner, and who knows how many unregistered users want tuners. Heck, even current tuner owners might want a spare? It might be conceivable to hit 300 - 500 unit demand without an original e-mail list.

Cory

Its becuase they don't have a list. I bet they (SB USA) are too stupid to keep that sort of data.

You missed the point. SB have an opt-in mailing policy, and only 60 car player customers have opted in. I was hoping to get an email list from the sales operation, and that is what has proven difficult. I don't even know if that information is provided to SB (the store is out sourced).

Rob

Oh....So now I'm REALLY bummed...guess I won't go throught the pain of install in my M3.....Oh well it's a pretty cool replacement for my CD changer in the house.

I think the BBS tuner needy would appreciate the posting of any/all info on the tuner (FAQ??). maybe there is a SMC house SOMEWHERE that will consider less than 1000 units as an order, god knows in the heart of silicon valley there must be someone that can help...............it's a sad day 80(

i f you wont install it due to no tuner, i think you are totally missing the point imho.

radio BLOWS compared to having 5000 of your own songs.. the only thing that would e nice is a traffic report or some stern in te morning. Even taht wouldn't make me give up my empeg.. you could also shell the $300 the tuner is going for especially if you just bought your player, i mean, if you just bought it from soming blue and then you buy a tuner for $300 from ebay, you are way ahead of most of us anyway.

Addicted to NPR, I would agree that radio BLOWS for music, Maybe I'll just Aux in a walkman tuner, permanently set to NPR...Got all this cool audio gear (a/d/s, custom subs, focal speakers....) be a shame to waste.

RELEASE THE TUNER SPECS!!!! Grrrrrrrrrr

Put me down for three. Not having a tuner is preventing multiple installs for me.

Why doesn't somebody create an email list on riocar.org where people can leave their email adress together with the amount of tuners they want ?

And maybe Paul H could then add some flashy link here on the boards that would notify every BBS user of this list. This and the word of mouth should be enough to contact almost every Empeg owner I would think, and then at least a correct number of the wanted tuners would be known.

Never say die, start a section on tuners and while your at it put me down for a couple

yah or better yet a preorder section where you pay up front for a tuner, that way SB knows they won't lose money.

a) start the list
b) set a close date
c) find out how much a tuner run to the old manufac would cost
d) bill us and take the money
e) ship us the tuners.

I have pushed the poll back to the top of the list in "General" again, so if you didn't vote before, please vote now.

By the way, I have just tallied up the total again, we are up to 302+ tuners wanted on the poll. I for one have also changed my mind on how many tuners I want. I originally wanted 2, now I want 3 or 4.

Rob,

What do you think the chances are of making the design available for others to manufacture or completely public? I assume there are issues with intellectual property to consider right?

I am in a position where I can possibly provide this type of short run manufacturing service (once I see some costs of the important stuff like the actual tuner module).

yes i to need three tuners and id gladley pay upfront

Shonky, if you are really serious about that offer to build tuners, I highly recommend that you contact Rob directly via private e-mail and discuss it with him.

If there are 1900+ registered users, I would assume a good portion have Empegs (50%!!??) wouldn't we have a good datadase to email people from the BBS about tuners?

How many Mark 2's were sold?

I am serious - at the very least I am talking a group buy of components and circuit boards supplied by me - you might have to assemble yourself. There would probably be an upfront partial payment, completely refundable if the whole thing falls in a heap.

One thing though is that I have never seen a complete module in the flesh. I have only ever seen photos, so I do not know the actual complexity.

I believe there was some mention of a PIC microcontroller inside the module that communicated with the empeg. Is this correct? That shouldn't be a problem though, I am just trying to get an idea.

Hmm, I think that a kit might be an interesting way to go. Even if you had to make the kit larger than the original tuner module (for instance, if you used regular-sized components instead of SMT for some of the work), that might make a lot of people happy. Dunno.

What it really comes down to is the final complexity which as I say, I haven't seen. I did a bit of a search and found a couple of posts by Hugo about having a PCB for correct impedances etc so a different PCB may not be that wise. Releasing the PCB design to the public would be a big help.

This is the actual tuner module:
http://www.microtune.com/products/1384_Series.html

Is SMT really that much of a problem? I work with SMT by hand quite often and don't have a real problem.

Also if there is a PIC inside, the source or binary for programming it would have to come from the empeg/sonicblue guys I would say. A kit would come with these preprogrammed ready for soldering.

Timeframe would be fairly long I would say. I would guess something like at least 4-6 months given lead times on some components these days.

Although I don't think there will be much problem, what it basically comes down to is co-operation by the empeg/sonicblue pppl/

Microtune is in my neighborhood, I'll check on prices for qty 500 and qty 1000.

Sean

Thanks that might be helpful. I would suggest that not everyone hassle these guys at once. Let a one or two of us ask first otherwise they will just get peeved at being hassled by a heap of dreamers.

I have emailed them for a quote of 300 since that is about what the current "survey" stands at.

Cheers Matt,

Looks like you got a weatherband module too (I'm guessing that weatherband is a 1385 and non-weatherband is a 1384). Can you tell me if there are any components underneath the receiver module?

Complexity doesn't look too bad at all depending on what's underneath

Do you under the metal shield or the back side of the pcb ? The shield is soldered on in four spots.