This is very strange. I have not changed my EMPEG in well over 3 weeks, and the strangest thing started happening yesterday. I was listening to the EMPEG and noticed after a while that there was only sound coming out of the right side of the car. I pulled over checked the connections to the amp and everything looked fine. Turned back on the car and it was fine. Then about 5 minutes later...the same thing.

So i faded to the left (after turning the car off/on). Listened, and after about 2 minutes, I heard the music start to fade and within 10 seconds, the sound was gone and a VERY low sound came from the right side of the car (like feedback from wires close to each other).

To fix the problem, I turn off the car and back on again. The length of time it lasts changes every time.

Has anyone else run into this problem?

-Jason

Sure it's not a problem with your amp? Maybe you could remove the empeg from your dash instead of turning off the car. That might leave your amp on while the empeg is turned off. Then you could see if its a problem with the empeg or the amp.

This sounds like possible trouble in your amplifier and/or wiring.

First diagnostic step is to hook up a known-good portable CD or tape player to the amplifier inputs, completely bypassing the head unit and all cabling leading to the amp.

If that's OK, then start tracing backwards from there to locate the fault.

Note: Do you own a Mk1 or a Mk2? My Mk1 player's docking connector needed to be cleaned regularly in order to be in tip-top shape for all connections.

Yes, I am going to perform this with the CD Player Idea when I get home from work tonight. I agree, this could be the amp. I was going to put that in the email, but lost my train of thought.

I have a Mark1 player and have never cleaned the connectors. How would you suggest I accomplish this?

-jason

Alcohol and cotton swabs. Hope your hand is small.

Well, it's official, it is the Empeg. The next time the sound cut out completely from the left channel. I went to the amp, switched the inputs, and sure enough, the sound came out of the left side and not the right. I then pulled the Empeg (all while the car still on), put it back in, and both channel's came back up.

I don't see how cleaning the connectors is going to fix this problem, but I will give it a shot. This is a Mark1 player, and if I knew I was going to have a job in 2 weeks, I would go out and buy the mark2.

I have always had problems with my mark1, but I believe it was all part of the production. I sometimes will get speaker pops when going over bumps and terrible static. I have to open the player and make sure the daughter board (directly under the second hardrive bay) is level and all the way down. I see they used hot glue to keep it in place, but that never worked.

Do you have any suggestions on getting this permanently fixed?

-Jason

I sometimes will get speaker pops when going over bumps and terrible static.

I got those too with my MkI - a good cleaning of the contacts helps
reduce the problem, but the connector just doesn't seem to be as good
at doing its job as the one on the MkII.

/Michael

In my case, I got crackles and pops (over bumps) or generally when on the move: I also on occasions lost channels completely.

I opened the case and found that the earth/shield wires of the audio harness towards the rear of the unit had broken off from the board connector, probably fatigued. The wiring bundle was badly routed (one of Hugo's complaints about how the Mk1 was made) and the disk sled rested on them and put them under tension. Net result - snapped wires, no audio.

I used an especially fine (0.5mm) soldering iron to re-solder the shield wires after carefully re-arranging the wire bundles to give more space under the sled at the back of the box. This meant unsoldering the "at home" output connector wires briefly, but this is not a big issue if you are moderately competent with an iron. I have been crackle and audio loss free for about a year, with only a single re-occurence of the same thing on the remaining shield wire that broke later on.

While the box was open, I took the opportunity to properly glue in the disk shock mounts with epoxy resin glue; since I think it is the sled clouting the wiring harness, I am now more confident that both the disks and the harness will survive for a while yet.

If you are not confident, I would suggest dropping a line to Hugo to see if he would be interested in applying his magic brand of TLC to your harness.

Good point.

I got the same crackles and pops and lost channels on my Mk1, but my harness wiring was fine (it was the first thing I checked).

Whenever something like that happens, the loose connection can be anywhere along the signal path. I'd check everything, including the internal wiring, the back-of-the-sled wiring, and cleaning the connector.