Phatbox

[McSwanky]

Hi

Just picked up my 56 plate Fabia vRS yesterday and now looking at upgrading the stereo system to support my digital music collection. Don't have an iPod and don't particularly like any of the solutions offered for them anyway.

In my old Astra I had one of these

Hi-Fi and Audio Visual - Dension DH-100 Hard Disk/Tuner

and I loved it, would have been happy to put it in the Fabia, but its build quality sadly wasn't as good as the concept and pressing buttons on the HU tends to hang the display. It was ok in the Astra as I had steering wheel controls but obviously there are none on the Fabia so I'm a bit stuck.

So I started looking around for a similar solution and saw a VW Phatbox being sold on ebay...

VW PHATBOX MP3 PHAT NOISE PHATNOISE CHANGER - eBay CD Headunits MP3 Players, In-Car Entertainment GPS, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 28-Sep-07 12:00:00 BST)

I suppose I have 5 questions (that I can think of just now!):

1. Does anyone have one of these?
2. Does the VW model work ok with the standard Symphony HU? The documentation on the Phatnoise website suggests the interface works with standard "6 button" HUs, but are the connectors ok for the Symphony?
3. I'm not completely sure where the CD changer normally goes in the Fabia... under a seat? Can it be either passenger or driver seat? Would the Phatbox go in there as well?
4. Is the vRS pre-cabled for a CD changer or would a CD changer cable have to be run?
5. And lastly, does anyone know where in the Edinburgh would fit it as I don't mind changing a HU out form time to time, but I'm not at all confident with running cables round the back of the footwell etc!

So many questions, so little time...... Unfortunately the ebay item ends tomorrow at midday so hopefully someone's around to help before then!

[VRStu]

Hedge & fluffmeister will be the guys to help here, both have them fitted to MK Octy's

As a side note I bought one from that guy recently (I returned it but that's another story). It wasn't delivered from the UK it was from the US, the UK details are a proxy address. He fecked me around something awful with the payments and delivery. The number on the web page is a UK number which diverts to the US. The blokes name is Sal.

I did get the item in the end but it took so long I had made other plans, and then it took me ages to get a refund. That said I paid directly via CC and not on eBay and the original agreed price was £250 delivered, I got him as low as £180 in the end when I told him I wanted a refund.

[Hedge]

As Stu says I have one of these in my MK2 Octy. It just fitted onto the lead that connected to the CD changer and once it got its power and did its firmware update it as off and running.
From what the guy said when I bought it from him it had been in a MK4 Golf and an RS6. If these are compatible with a Fabia then yes it would work but I can't say for definite not having seen a Fabia cd changer connection.

[VRStu]

The Fabia connector is the same as the Octy II at the CD changer end. If you didn't have a CD changer already in the car then you would need to buy this lead.

[McSwanky]

Thanks for the replies, guys, much appreciated.

A bit more thinking needed before midday tomorrow I think, the guy sounds more than a bit dodgy to me...

[VRStu]

I'm sure you'd get the item from him but forwarned and all that......

[mikeSM56]

Originally Posted by McSwanky

5. And lastly, does anyone know where in the Edinburgh would fit it as I don't mind changing a HU out form time to time, but I'm not at all confident with running cables round the back of the footwell etc!

I know a man that could help you out PM me i'll give you his details

[Wardy]

Originally Posted by McSwanky

I suppose I have 5 questions (that I can think of just now!):

1. Does anyone have one of these?
2. Does the VW model work ok with the standard Symphony HU? The documentation on the Phatnoise website suggests the interface works with standard "6 button" HUs, but are the connectors ok for the Symphony?
3. I'm not completely sure where the CD changer normally goes in the Fabia... under a seat? Can it be either passenger or driver seat? Would the Phatbox go in there as well?
4. Is the vRS pre-cabled for a CD changer or would a CD changer cable have to be run?
5. And lastly, does anyone know where in the Edinburgh would fit it as I don't mind changing a HU out form time to time, but I'm not at all confident with running cables round the back of the footwell etc!)

Answers:
1. I used to have one. Had one in my 1st Fabia. It's probably the best in-car MP3 solution I've used, so far.
2. Yes, works without problem on the Symphony. Connectors are fine and it just gets treated as a CD changer by the HU. Had no problems at all.
3. I had it fitted under the passenger seat. You can buy the CD changer fitting bits from a dealer and it all goes in nicely. Details of the parts needed are on Stu's Fabia website IIRC: Fabia-vrs.com - Home Page
4. Mine wasn't pre-cabled and haven't seen a Fabia that is. Could be wrong though. I just ordered a decent length cable from my local VW dealer (nearest VAG dealer to me). Worked fine and had loads in reserve, was 5m or something daft!
5. Sorry, can't help out with the Edinburgh question. Quite a straightforward install though, once you get the passenger seat out (M10 spline bolts). Changer cable needs grounding and then I ran it along the central tunnel, upto the side of the glovebox, took the 'box out (numerous T15 (?) Torx screws), then upto the back of the HU.

Phew - think that covers everything

It's a great system, especially with the voice announcements. Great idea to do it that way. The only niggles I had were with the cartridge not recognising sometimes in the USB cradle and I thought the software was a bit clunky. I'd probably have it now, as I moved it between 3 cars in total. But then I got a 30Gb iPod, so seemed a bit daft keeping two music collections running simultaneously.

EDIT: On the purchasing issue, I got mine through eBay US at the time and everything was fine. I believe it was a VW dealer trading on eBay, or certainly a proper business seller anyway. Slick service and fast delivery. This was several years ago now, so might not still be offering them. But shout if you want me to dig some details out....

Cheers,
Steve

[McSwanky]

Thanks again for the feedback , I'm going to hang fire for a bit while I investigate the USB flash drive route.

Apparently you can get a 16GB flash drive for under £100 (and just over half that on ebay) now, which I'm tempted to look at combined with a Head Unit with a rear USB port.

I really need to look at individual HUs now to see how they would handle navigation through 10G+ worth of music.

Some more investigation needed.....

[Wardy]

No problem. Just think carefully about the interface and how you're actually going to use and manage the music; it sounds like you're thinking about that already...

For keeping an OEM look, there's nothing better than the Phatbox IMO. I'm going to an Alpine IDA-X001 shortly, for use with my iPod as it gives on-screen navigation.

While there's undoubtedly cheaper solutions out there, you'll have this omnipresent issue of how you actually control your music collection while on the move

Keep us updated.
Steve

[McSwanky]

Originally Posted by Wardy

No problem. Just think carefully about the interface and how you're actually going to use and manage the music; it sounds like you're thinking about that already...

For keeping an OEM look, there's nothing better than the Phatbox IMO. I'm going to an Alpine IDA-X001 shortly, for use with my iPod as it gives on-screen navigation.

While there's undoubtedly cheaper solutions out there, you'll have this omnipresent issue of how you actually control your music collection while on the move

Keep us updated.
Steve

Funnily enough I was looking at that very Alpine model on the web last night but couldn't work out if it would work quite as nicely with a simple mass storage device.

ID3 and decent folder (or artist/album etc) navigation are a must for me and if it works with an 8GB/16GB flash drive (big if!) it looks like a really great solution

I'm away all next week, so there'll be no more investigation for a while, but needless to say I'll bump this thread when I need some more advice!

[Wardy]

The X001 will support USB devices, but not sure on max size. It'll likely be on Alpine's site, on a spec list.

It works better in conjunction with an iPod, as that's what it's designed for, but you do get folder control etc through the HU's main dial.

I have it sat here at the moment. Looks the part and the fit and finish are top notch as well.

Steve

[helpmedisappear]

Just a thought but why buy a 16GB pen drive when you can buy a 250GB usb hard drive for under £50 and stash it in the glove box? Just an idea...

[Wardy]

One reason would be that the 16Gb USB drive is solid state, so not bothered by movement and vibration. A 250Gb hard drive solution is certainly an interesting one, if it was suitably secured and protected by movement and vibration in the glovebox. Cooling and air movement would have to be given consideration too.

Steve

[Hedge]

My Phatbox suffered following the fitment of Eibachs and Koni FSD's. It has since been relocated to a much less mobile position and is as sweet as ever.

[McSwanky]

Originally Posted by helpmedisappear

Just a thought but why buy a 16GB pen drive when you can buy a 250GB usb hard drive for under £50 and stash it in the glove box? Just an idea...

Yep, I hear what you're saying, I have thought about this, and I should look into it a bit further......

I haven't really looked into power requirements for an external HDD (I know many of them can be powered from your PC but would a USB port from a HU provide the same power?

The consideration about movement is an interesting one. I never had any problems with the Dension HD skipping, but it had its own 'suspension' so I would maybe need to think about a bit of damping if I went for this kind of solution.

Obviously I would want to move the disk from car to house as I added to my music collection and wanted to update it so the damping above would have to be easy to remove on a regular basis.

Reliability is an issue as well. The fact that a key is solid state, which means less moving parts, means less chance of failure. The number of external HDDs I've had break at work is considerable, whereas the USB keys are virtually bulletproof.

The other point is size. In more ways than one! Data-wise 16GB would be more than enough to have in the car for me as I can easily filter out all the rubbish in my collection!!! Physical size is a consideration as well, I would like to keep the USB device as small as possible so I avoid having any clutter in the car and have something that's easy to quickly take out and put back in.

It is another option though!

[McSwanky]

Okay, I'm back and after a rather long winded search through many forums and reviews (some foreign, google translator is a wonderful thing) I think I have a winner....

The Pioneer DEH-P7900UB

Car Audio Direct - The UK's leading car audio and stereo resource. Pioneer DEH-P7900UB - Pioneer PIO-DEHP7900UB

Seems to do all I need it to do without any fuss, and there's an optional iPod connector if I ever decide to go down that route as well.

Not ordered it yet, but had a look in Halfrauds earlier on and it seems to look a bit more classy than the Blaupunkts. Shame about the one colour limitation, but I'm sure I'll learn to live with it. Functionality is more important to me.

Now, reading through threads here, I'll just need to swap a couple of the wires round in the ISO type connector on the Fabia? The 'K' wire could also be an issue, should I just snip that and insulate it?

Obviously, I'll need a Fabia facia adapter as well, so I'll need to order one up. Should I also be getting an aerial booster? And if so, where would I be able to pick one up?

Have I missed anything? (Apart from the USB drive..... )