At about 12PM tomorrow (Saturday), I will be unveiling the first prototypes of the empeg sleds. I just received them overnight via UPS. One is raw, and one is black! They look excellent, if I do say so myself.

I will start taking orders for sleds just as soon as my beta tester can get it installed in his car and verify they provide a good fit.

Hopefully your beta tester doesn't have one of those cars where you have to take the whole dashboard apart!

That's why I'm not the beta tester.

BLACK?! Oh man... a black sled and an AnoFace... *droool*

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BLACK?! Oh man... a black sled and an AnoFace... *droool*

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I.. was under the impression that the sled mounts IN the car? (read: You can't see it?)

Me.

The color of the sled becomes important in two issues. Number one when the empeg is pulled a black sled would look far more professional and less "industrial". Second the black sled would make the magic marker mod unneeded, as well as look better than the mod did anyway.

I thought the marker mod was for the VFD? How does a black sled make the circuitry on the VFD darker?

Z~

I't doesn't; the thread is titled "Magic Marker/Notebook Mod" and it's the notebook part (though the link takes you to a discussion about the magic marker part) that the black sled solves. IIRC the Notebook mod was cutting a thin rectangular frame from a black notebook cover that was either glued to the lips of the sled or press fitted into the cars opening in front of the sled. It'd allow the empeg to slide through, but cover up the lips of the sled.

/Michael

Whoops... my bad on the confusing link. Basically the black sled keeps me from needing to marker my sled so that the silver doesn't show through near the handle or around the edges. The black sled would also look a lot better on home installs where your not going to be as worried about covering up the hole with a storage din or something.

Ah yes, I guess one could magic marker mod the sled lips as well as the display PCB and components... How well does it hold up to rubbing from insertions/extractions of the empeg?

/Michael

It's acceptable... but the new sled would obviously be better. I used a sharpie and I haven't had to redo it yet.

I used a Sharpie on the lips of my sled probably 3-4 months ago, and it's holding up pretty well. If I sit close and study it I can see that it may need a few very minor touch-ups, but I don't anticipate having to do this very often.

Edit: I would definitely be interested in a black sled to use in a home dock. Or actually, perhaps both in the car and at home.

after a year, the sharpie is wearing off my sled. I'm looking forward to getting a black one.

Rob: It was cool to meet you and the rest of the group that was there. Definitely cool to put some actual faces with the names.

As someone who was able to actually hold the black version of the sled for a few seconds, I have to say it's been well worth the wait. Job well done! It looks like a PERFECT reproduction of the original sled. I can't imagine the beta tester having any problems whatsoever. It was feature complete, down to the placement of the tabs, etc.

Looking forward to placing my order!

Cheers,

Rob

Rob, this looks excellent, but in it's current form wouldn't sell me. (I don't need any extras at this time).

What might encourage me, would be if the rear of the sled could be worked to include mountings for ethernet and/or USB. Whilst neither are self-aligning like the main harness, some people here have managed to do ethernet mountings...

I know this might be a little late, since you're looking at production soon, but it's just a thought.

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What might encourage me, would be if the rear of the sled could be worked to include mountings for ethernet

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seconded. this is the one thing stopping me from going wireless ethernet in the glove box.

I've got to say, I've spent the last few days kicking myself for not going to the ATM and getting the cash to buy the black sled off Rob at CES. If you've got anything close to a black dash, you're going to want a black sled.

Matthew

Any idears on what one of these is gonna cost? I've got a second vehicle that hardly gets driven due to the lack of an Empeg...boy, one of these would rock! Just gotta work it into the budget.

No more than $75. Most likely less than that.

ROCK!

ill have to start saving now. i have to repalce my sled since some dickless [censored] took my sled along with my entire dash when they stole my head unit.
BTW will these include the wiring harness??

He said before, no harness.

thanks thats what i needed to know.
Now i must begin my search for a harness, or should i send my empeg off for repair first. decisions decisions

You can buy the parts to make the connectors also someone was selling them premade a while ago.

Ooh, no harness? That would definitely be a deal-killer. What did those harnesses go for in the group buy?

Christian, aka "Shonky" did them last year.

The bare connector with all pins worked out at ~ $13

Then to supply and construct the harness there was an additional $18, though I recall this turned out to be a little low compared to the effort Christian put in & the parts cost. If your'e reading this Christian, thanks again for a quality job.

For reference only, the harness included..........

Front RCA preamp out connectors
Rear RCA preamp out connectors
Aux In RCA preamp in connectors
3AG fuse holder with 3A fuse in the battery line
DB9 Serial port connector
Labelled power/mute/headlight wiring


Cheers, Sim

Your order number is 73
Order placed at Mon 3 Feb 2003 8:27 am

I bought one of Christians "Shonky" connectors. I was very happy with it.

I bought it just in case i ever got around to doing the "portable project" that I have been pondering... Now all i have to do is find the correct sized "boombox"...