Hi.

OK, everyone, this is the curent start of play.

First, I must apologise for the long delay in getting this thing off the ground. Just about when I was ready to begin shipping, several other, very important/time critical contracts popped up, and I had no choice but to drop everything and work on them. Since then, I haven't even had time to more that glance at the BBS, or do much tuner work. The useful bit about this work is that it has stuffed the kitty full enough that she makes little clinking noises when she walks, so I should be able to do more kits at once.

I am still having issues surrounding the credit card facilities, since they want a silly amount of (in my view) redundant and irrelevant documentation. It's taking a long time to get sorted, but sorted it will be. In the meantime, I may just use Paypal or something similar, to avoid any more delay.

I have also been looking into the issue of business insurance and legal disclaimers against people sodding up their empegs and blaming me, which could get expensive. I fully realise that 99% of the prople on this BBS are both well aware of their abilities and most unlikely to cast unwarranted aspersions, but I can think of at least one person who could be a problem in this regard. You know who I mean. I have to take at least basic precautions.

The tuner kit is finished, and thanks to the critiques from Tony Fabris and the other beta-builders, the documentation is done and will be uploaded soon. 50 kits will be ready to ship just after christmas, and the difficult parts (tuner module, maxim mosfet switch, etc) for more are on order and will hopefully arrive soon after.

The guy who was going to do the web-site had to go away on business for a while, but that should also be up after christmas.

So, to sum up: All going well, and the various bits of outstanding issues being sorted in the next couple of weeks or so, shipping should begin in earnest by mid-january.

I've even bought 50 little cardboard boxes to ship the kits in, and a tape-gun.

As a little 'sorry', the first 50 orders will receive a 10% discount. As soon as the web-site is up and ready to take orders, I will make an announcement to that effect.

Thanks for the relative lack of criticism on the delay, and sorry once again for the time taken. I had hoped to ship before christmas, but life... What can you do?

Pca

Tuners! I'm excited. I can't wait, thanks for going through all of this just so we can listen to the radio. Of course now I'm going to have an excuse to check this board even more in the upcoming weeks.

Matthew

Can I just sign a waiver holding you harmless of any liability

Email me your paypal info and I'll purchase immediately


This is too cool.... (Barney Fife voice <sniffle> "Yeahhh, I built that tuner myself...)

Later

Jerz@rgns.com

Woohoooo!!!! Tuners! :P Drool! No probs about the delay! The longer the wait, the sweeter the tuner LOL

The useful bit about this work is that it has stuffed the kitty full enough that she makes little clinking noises when she walks

*spew...drip drip drip*

coffee moment.

It's Christmas in empeg-land!

YEAH! Good things come to those who wait.

@whee!
I don't think anyone minds the delay (or minded?).. The people that did were ungrateful nats.
I'm just happy that my new Mini Cooper will have a complete (?! Is there such a thing?) Empeg now!

Many, many thanks!
Me.

Greetings!

Excellent! Thanks for the update and the fantastic work with the tuners!

Although, not to put down the tuners, I am curious to see how many people who purchase them will be posting messages of how bad broadcast radio is, once they get the tuners installed. I have had the original tuners and the factory radio installed in my car as aux in, and I have not used them more than once (listening to a football game) since getting the empeg years ago.

will have a complete (?! Is there such a thing?) Empeg now!

Well, there's always the video out add-on...

/Michael

I just need it to catch the traffic reports (atlanta traffic blows) and news every so often. I don't believe I'll ever use it to listen to music...too many commercials!


later,

In reply to:

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(atlanta traffic blows)

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Aah! You're in Atlanta? Cool! Same here. Do we have any PTS/TA stations here?

Me.

Will there be a limit to the number of tuners that an individual can buy in this first lot?

Thanks, really looking forward to buying one.

Well, the old stereo had "RDS" and "TA" features; while I have always had TA turned on I've never heard a traffic announcement chime through. Now on the otherhand if I tuned to 96.1 it would say "96Rock" on the display, 99x would say "WNNX", 90.1 would say "INFO" (I guess since it was a news channel) and a few other stations would use it. You could also do a search on a few different genres but all in all in this town it seems to be a pretty worthless feature unless you're from out of town and are searching for a rock or country station.

TA will definately become a welcome feature in atlanta if and when it comes about.

Will there be a limit to the number of tuners that an individual can buy in this first lot?

Yes, I think to be fair I will limit it to a maximum of two units per person. I don't really want someone grabbing the lot then pushing the price up.

pca

I haven't been paying close attention to the this tuner issue 'cause I didn't think I needed one, so this might be a dumb question. Is there a waiting list for tuners already? If not, I would be interested in receiving one of those first 50, please PM me your Paypal info so I can purchase one if they are available.

Yes me too, I would really like to be one of the first 50 (i guess me and everyone else) and no need to wory about me building the tuner, I am a electronics repair tech and I have been soldering since I was 9 years old, and started building kits when I was 12 (I'm 27 now by the way). I have also done lots of smd work. I just need a tuner soo bad right now, I am restoring my jaguar xj-s and dont want to go in the dash more than I have too

This is the moment we have waited for. I for one will be hitting his website 24 hours a day 7 days a week constantly untl it is time to order.

The For Sale board is about to go crazy with horded or discarded original turners!


Can someone list the differences (read:superiority) of the kit turner over the original one?

In reply to:

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This is the moment we have waited for. I for one will be hitting his website 24 hours a day 7 days a week constantly untl it is time to order.

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Did he post his site yet? I haven't followed the originaly Tuner's thread, mostly because I had already made the decision to get one. Just wanted to get it before getting my empeg installed in my Cooper.

And personally, I don't care if I'm one of the first 50. I'll be glad to pay whatever he asks for, as long as I get one.

Me.

Excellent news, Patrick. This is going to be a good Saturday project in the shop putting the tuner together. I've been lazy and haven't put my Eutronix digital output soundcard in yet - I'll probably do that too!

To answer some of the other questions here, I do not believe there is a waiting list (yet). If you keep your eyes peeled here on the forums, you won't miss any new and pertinent info regarding tuner kit availability.

Did he post his site yet? I haven't followed the originaly Tuner's thread, mostly because I had already made the decision to get one.

In the first message in this thread Patrick said:

As soon as the web-site is up and ready to take orders, I will make an announcement to that effect.

Without sounding like I'm whining (I'm not!), would it not be 'fairer' to limit it to one per person from the first batch to allow the maximum number of owners to experience the wonders of radio? I mean, it'd be so annoying not getting one from the first batch, but knowing that there's people out there who managed to get two!

Adrian

In reply to:

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Without sounding like I'm whining (I'm not!), would it not be 'fairer' to limit it to one per person from the first batch to allow the maximum number of owners to experience the wonders of radio? I mean, it'd be so annoying not getting one from the first batch, but knowing that there's people out there who managed to get two!

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I agree, at the end of the day, everyone should be able to get their hands on a tuner if they want it. I personally spend a fair bit of time 'on-site' and usually only manage to log on in the evening. By limiting the maximum number of units to one in the first batch, then theoretically that means 50 different people can get to experience the tuner. Obviously someone could cheat by ordering two with different credit cards and different delivery addresses but that would probably take a lot more effort than waiting to get another from the next batch.

BTW, pca, well done!!!!!!!!!!!!

How much $?

I'm in the USA.

Thanks

Now that the tuner is completed and we are all anxious to get one, can someone start working on a XM tuner for the empeg? Once you experience XM on a long road trip you will never tune into FM/AM again!

Once you experience XM on a long road trip you will never tune into FM/AM again!

And once you experience the empeg on a long road trip, you'll never tune into XM again...

And once you experience insanity on a long road trip, you'll never eat wild mushrooms again....

Once you experience XM on a long road trip you will never tune into FM/AM again!

And once you experience the empeg on a long road trip, you'll never tune into XM again...

Haha, you couldn't have said that any better. I beleive they sell little add-on XM tuners that allow you to mount a small display on the dash somewhere, and just run it in through the line in. But, why bother, if you already have an empeg?

I can't imagine it's worth it for me to pay for their arrangement of music I already have (since they're not talking to me, right?) so what exactly would I be buying?

With XM you buy - the ability to listen to new music without commercials.

No matter how you look at it an empeg will only play old music.

With a tuner it will receive new music, as well as commercials.