I was one of the unlucky ones to receive a Rio Mk2a with a bad wiring loom. (A few apparantly came through with a loose wire going to the plug; I got one of them.) Rio was great about replacing it for me right away. Having read here that this was a known issue, I asked them to sell me a couple of extra wiring looms just to keep as spares, in the event of a future failure. I figured it was good "insurance," since who knows what parts availability might be like in five years. I had already had one bad harness, so I couldn't rule out another failure down the road. They sold me a couple, for about UKP 35 each plus shipping as I recall.

After using my Empeg for a while I found myself missing having one in my camper. Suddenly a thought came to me. Back when I was in the stereo business (1980's-90's, when pull-outs were all the rage), pull-out stereos often got stolen, leaving the sorry victim with a pull-out cage ("sled") and no radio to fit into it. Often the car owner would buy a new radio, and the car stereo installer would save the leftover cage from the old stereo, just in case he needed it for parts later. It occurred to me that now that pull-outs are ancient news, car stereo installers might still have a shelf full of old cages that were just taking up space.

I stopped by two local car stereo specialists, and sure enough, had my pick of several. I bought the two most likely candidates for $10 each; the installers were incredulous that anyone would pay a dime for them! With minimal drilling and fabricating, I was able to remove the cages' wiring plugs, and line up and mount my extra looms to the cages so that the Empeg slid right in and attached, just like with the stock cage. (One note: I did watch for the location of the Empeg's ventilation holes, and drill appropriate holes into the sleds to match, since many pull-outs didn't require ventilation on top.)

This worked out perfectly for me. If my original loom ever fails, and I can't easily repair it, I can always reclaim the spare out of my camper. But in the meantime, I can make good use of it.

I don't know if Empeg has many spare wiring looms left, or if they're generally willing to sell them separately through their parts department (or whether they just did me a favor since my original one was defective and they were sending me one anyway). But if they do, this might be an inexpensive alternative to buying a whole Empeg sled.

I also hope I am not inconveniencing Empeg by posting this before asking them if they mind being deluged with requests for extra wiring looms. :-(

That's really cool. I don't suppose you can get any pics for us to take a look at?

Dude, have you got any idea the greatness of the demand for extra Mark1 sleds is?

And the Mk1 docking connector is an off-the-shelf part.

If one could find a supply of these old docking sleds, and a decent source of Mk1 docking connectors... And a way to cut the holes... well, one could make a little bit of money.

Now the product is EOL we would refuse to sell an extra loom, to ensure that we have enough of them for servicing into the future. We do ask for faulty looms to be returned but they're not always re-workable.

Rob

Well, since our answer is the Rio no longer has extra looms available separately, it would seem that the point is moot.

Unless, of course, an outside source were available for the plug itself, in which case a loom could be easily fabricated by someone who was inclined to do so. Didn't I see a mention of such a source here once, or is that wishful thinking?

Sorry, it's already mounted in my dash. But it isn't much to look at. All of the sleds are basically the same width and height, although some are deeper than others. The shape and location of the the loom plug (and therefore the shape and location of the hole in the back of the sled) varies greatly. In some cases the existing hole can be used (or enlarged), and perhaps a small bracket fabricated to hold the loom in place depending on the cage. In other cases a new hole must be cut.

Basically, it was a simple matter of lining up the connector properly. I slid the Empeg in and connected the plug (without the plug being permanently mounted yet), just to line it up properly. Then I marked the exact spot on the cage where the plug would have to mount, and mounted it there. It took maybe half an hour if that, with no special tools. I didn't bother making it pretty (it looks like I cut the back of the cage with a butcher knife!), but I really don't care since the back of the cage is invisible once installed. All that matters is that it slides smoothly in and out and makes proper contact, without stressing the plug in any way, which is strictly a matter of proper location of the plug on the back of the sled (and of course using a sled with proper depth).