TeddyBGame

Update: January 2007:
I still have the phatbox..and love using it (i'm not really and Ipod guy...yet). With the new US firmware (v0150) in my RNSE, this makes Pbox much easier to control (mostly the mix/shuffle feature).

Also, I have developed a custom enclosure that removes the metal pbox shroud from the equation all together:
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/55845.phtml

Lastly, Jeff Bipes, the originator of the dual input control device no longer build them. Besides, with the RNSE, I have Sirius, MP3's on the SD cards, a Phatbox and I can still play audio CD's in the RNSE (nav disk ejected)...if I really need to.



-Ted


Original post:


Hey folks,
I finally purchased my Phatbox in January..and installed it in mid-February...so here's my long overdue post.

I have a 2001 A6..so I had to go with the OEM version (as I prefer things that can speak to my OEM components). Luckily, I have a buddy at the dealership...so he sold me a brandy new one for $300 (his cost; shipping included).

I've spent the last 6 weeks converting my CD collection via PhatNoise Music Manager (PMM) v2.3 software...mostly to 160 and 192 kbps bitrate. Which makes the average 4 minute song file approximately 6MB. Looks like I have 13GB worth of songs (roughly 3,000 songs/files) so I might upgrade to a 40 or 60Gig DMS in the next year...if I feel the need.

<img src="http://www.vwnavi.com/vwnavi/photos/albums/userpics/Slide7f.JPG">
<img src="http://www.vwnavi.com/vwnavi/photos/albums/userpics/Slide7j.JPG">
<a href="http://www.vwnavi.com/vwnavi/photos/index.php?cat=10040">all pix here</a>

The cool thing about these MP3 players..is the ability to have your entire music collection at your fingertips. Some days...I feel like listening to some tracks from Paul McCartney....and other days...I feel like hearing some gangsta rap from 2PAC. Those of us that have added a phatbox....have not looked back. If you already have a CD changer....buy a PhatBox (via ebay) for $350...and sell your CD changer back on ebay for $175 (that's kind-of what I did).

I went with the PhatBox for two simple reasons:
1) I don't own an Apple iPod or equivalent MP3 player (Nomad or Dell DJ etc.). Besides, when I travel for work, I usually just listen to my MP3's via my laptop etc.

Of course...if you already own an iPod....then you should go that route (because you've already invested $250+...no need to own two MP3 players)....I guess. On the flipside....once you fill up the 20GB in your iPod...that's it; you can't add memory (unless of course..your name is Steve Jobs). You'll just need to invest an extra $200 in an Dension IceLink adaptor...or BlitzSafe if you want to connect it to your factory Concert I, Symphony I or Symphony II head unit. Search the A6, allroad or Audio forum for more details on what others have done.

see these threads too:
https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/574688.phtml


2) I wanted a solution that can be controlled by the Audi factory head unit (in my case, the Euro Nav+ option)...because I didn't want to clutter-up the rest of my front dash area with any additional gadgets (if you haven't seen what else I have mounted up front). Plus, I had a fellow AW-er (urS6_ma - Lee Levitt) give me a demo of his PhatBox...and I really liked the idea of the voice prompts. It is really easy to search through your entire collection by artist/playlist/genre/album etc.

Some thoughts on seeing the artist/track/genre/playlist name:
As you know, NONE* of the factory head units for the C5 A6/S6/RS6/allroad provide song labels or CD text info on the display of the head unit or the instrument display. This situation doesn't change when you add a PhatBox or an iPod etc. However, the iPod's (or equivalent MP3 device) display will provide you with artist/track/album/playlist info etc on the display of the unit. So an iPod is a cool compromise. I remember when I was in college (graduated in 1995) and I purchased Sony's first car MiniDisc player; it was the coolest thing. I could prerecord my MD's and add artist/song info. It was extremely tedious...but ranked very high in "coolness" factor. I remember that it was cool to see the song names...because you could associate certain songs you liked/disliked because the name was right in front of you. With the PhatBox, you just have the same numbers you would normally have with a CD changer. But if you think about it, you will probably have an average of 50-80 artists to choose from, 40-60 songs per artist, and maybe 50-80 songs for every playlist...and maybe 20-30 playlists (at the most). That's really not a lot of music to scroll though with a PhatBox (but I'll admit that iPod etc has a neat jog dial for doing this). Besides, if you have a playlist set up, then it's probably because you like ALL of those songs. I usually just put on a playlist and turn on the shuffle mode; if a song comes up that doesn't interest me, then I advance to the next track etc etc. With cellphone-related accidents these days...I've got enough distractions when I'm driving. For me, the voice prompts were the safest way to go.

*The RNS-E Nav+ (available in the 2005 allroad and sold in Ebay.de for US upgrades) allows you to have two SD memory cards where you can load MP3 files and see the file names on the headunit...but that's a story for another time (search the forum under "RNS" for details on that specific headunit).

Installation in an C5 A6/S6/RS6/allroad:
The installation manual wants you to mount his inside the trunk area (not where the CD Changer is normally mounted). Therefore the Pbox is exposed to being damaged by anything in the trunk (dog, ski boots, golf clubs etc). Many of the folks that have already installed a Pbox have decided to modify the area where their CD Changer is located (see posts below). For me, I wanted to keep my CD Changer with the Pbox and run them together....courtesy of this Jeff Bipes'
<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/38643.phtml">dual switching device</a>. For me, I took things a step further (as always). I had a local Boston Audi enthusiast (thanks Walter Clark!!) help me modify my original CD changer bracket with the aid of some fancy welding (who am I kidding, Walter did all this work...I just watched in amazement). After 45 minutes, the welding was done. I used black spray paint to cover any exposed welds or metal areas. Done.

The rest of the installation was about as easy as plugging in a USB peripheral to your home PC (of course, if you don't have the CD changer cable...then it's a bit more work; see posts below). With the limited mounting depth in my drivers' trunk area as it is, all of my research told me that the PhatBox's dimensions are 2.5" high x 8.65" wide x 6.5" deep. You'll need to provide an extra 4" to the rear of the unit for cabling, and 2" to the front for the DMS cartridge. A total of 12.5-13" mounting depth is needed in the A6 Avant trunk area - probably the same with the sedan (existing depth is 10" max). If you do the math, that means that the DMS cartridge will be sticking out 2" beyond the carpeted trunk cover. What happens, is that the cable gets bunched in the rear area and that 4" that you needed..becomes 2.5". Then you can gain a .5" of clearance by cutting into the foam of the trunk cover (see my pix). I did some additional research and learned that some others had custom built a 90 degree connector with some spare PC parts (search the PhatNoise forum under "90 degree connector" for related posts). While this is doable (if you can source the parts..I believe you need a 3M MDR connector and some printer ribbon cable)...I felt that it wasn't really necessary..as there have been dozens of people with their Pbox installed this way...and no issues. FYI - Phatnoise doesn't sell a 90 degree connector...so don't bother asking.
Here's a post on this subject: <a href="http://www.phatnoise.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1315&highlight=degree+c onnector">90 degree connector post</a>

I just hope that I don't get in an accident and get hit in my drivers' rear quarter panel. That would suck.

If you have factory OEM XM/Sirius option installed (never fear):
See this post from Ultrasport_Sal for his solution.
<a href="http://home.comcast.net/~rsalstrom/phat.html">Ultrasport Sal</a>
see this link for more pix etc:
https://forums.audiworld.com/a6/msgs/475083.phtml
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/47442.phtml


Advice to those who plan on purchasing a PhatBox:
As some of you might know, the hardest part is ripping your CD collection to MP3 and then organizing your playlists/albums/genre info in the PhatNoise Music Manager Software. It's a tedious process....but hey....it's worth it. Having your music in MP3 format just makes sense. If you don't do it now....you'll probably find yourself needing to do it sometime down the road. So why not rip to MP3 and put those bulky CD's in milk crates in the basement?

Feel free to search the PhatNoise userforum for more information (hint: search under "Audi" if you want to find Audi related threads):
<a href="http://www.phatnoise.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=d3d62d12db31e6296b43daa24bd5825 f&forumid=6">PhatNoise Userforum</a>

fyi - New PhatNoise userforum (as of June 2005) - previous forum on phatnoise.com is end-of-life (weird???):
http://www.myphatbox.com

A) Download a free copy of PhatNoise Music Manager (v2.3 I think) so you can start ripping your music collection to MP3. The whole key to getting your music ready for a PhatBox is having the ID3 tags (artist name/genre/album/song title etc) correct. FYI - If you have a lot of MP3 from Napster or Kazaa...then you'll need to clean up the ID3 tag info (basically, fixing the name labels for artist/genre/album/track etc.)...sometimes, the files from those sites aren't tagged right. On average, each CD will take about 2-4 minutes to rip. I was averaging about 10 per night. For most of my CD's, I only ripped 6-10 songs per disc. When you load your CD prior to ripping, you can "uncheck" any songs that you don't want to rip.

B) When you start ripping to MP3, make sure you have an internet connection...because the PMM will automatically go out to the internet and find the ID3 tag info (yes...you can edit that stuff later). If you don't rip them this way...then you will have generic tag info (i.e. Track 1, Track 2 etc...versus the actual song/track name).

C) Also, try to avoid setting up any playlists at this point. When you load up the version of PMM that comes with your Pbox...it will wipe out any playlist info that you had with the free version (this happened to me...and I was pissed). Don't worry..your ID3 tags are safe....this was something that happened to me....and I was unsure of the specific playlist suffix within PMM. Just a word of caution. Your mileage may vary.

PhatVoice modification:
The PhatBox player doesn't provide a voice prompt for the track/song name (only Artist/genre/playlist/album). With a little bit more work, you can tweak your PhatBox to support voice prompts for track/song names. I have yet to do this upgrade...but will probably do it sometime this Summer. The PhatVoice is a free add-on.
For more information see <a href="http://www.tmk.com/PhatVoice/index.shtml">PhatVoice Free Add-on</a>

Parts Needed:
1) Audi Part# for PhatBox: 000-057-110-A
Source: Can be found at www.clairparts.com or ebay.com for under $350

2) Audi-specific CD Changer interface cable (already included in above package):
Part#000-051-592A (If you find a Pbox from a VW...you just need this cable and it will work the same).
Source: Can be found at www.clairparts.com for $50.

3) The Audi part# for the CD Changer cable is: 4B0-051-735B (needed for those with a 2003/2004 model year; Audi provided the cable in 1998-2002)
Source: Can be found at www.clairparts.com for $100.

Install of OEM Pbox in the glovebox of a B6/B7 A4/S4:

1) purchase a B6/B7 glovebox wiring harness:
8E0-051-592 (will require inserting 9 pins into your 20 pin connector behind your Sym II; make sure to slide out the purple locking tab a bit before inserting the female pins. FYI - when you buy this cable, it will include instructions for pin locations by color of wire etc...)

2) purchase the VW interface cable for the Pbox:
vw part# 000-051-592

caveats:
- you will need remove the outter metal shroud of the pbox to install the pbox in your gbox. not very hard to do.


Some related posts on this topic (hint to nOOb's on this forum: most of your questions can be found by reading these posts):
<a href="http://www.phatnoise.com/downloads/3301-HUSETUP_web.pdf">PhatBox Audi Setup manual</a>
<a href="http://www.phatnoise.com/audi/support.htm">Audi install manual and other downloads</a>
<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/38643.phtml">related post</a>
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http://audi.805net.com/phatbox/ (pinouts &amp; "red" phatbox)

Troubleshooting Pbox performance (some answers below):
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/47285.phtml
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/47242.phtml
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/48088.phtml
https://forums.audiworld.com/audio/msgs/49100.phtml

For RNS-D/Nav+ (CD based): See link for fix for the 15minute-pause/skip syndrome (email Ken for help/costs etc: kenzhao8@comcast.net)
http://www.navplus.us/forum/viewtopic.php?t=213

For RNS-E: See www.navplus.us
Interface is the same.
Doesn't have the same small issue problem as the Nav+ (see above).

Add OEM phatbox to UrS4/S6 (C4 A6 with Delta headunit) / requires upgrading to the Concert I tape deck - good stuff!!:
http://www.mswanson.com/audi/Phat_upgrade.pdf

Phatbox in glovebox of B6/B7 A4/S4/RS4:
https://forums.audiworld.com/a4gen2/msgs/854532.phtml

I hope this was useful. Good luck!

-ted

RyanJohn2.7

BTW... I think I owe you pics of the allroad trim you sold me for my A6... seem to remember telling you I would post some... :/

I'll try to get pics up later, the trim is awesome.

Ryan

OOOOya

Awesome post!!!! Thanks TBG!!!

TeddyBGame

cool...I'd love to see them. I know they look sweet on your car.

absolutcq20v

I'm just unsure of exactly how you navigate, and identify the songs...and can you sort (alphabetically) by artist, song, etc. I have 97% of my music as MP3 already, and I organized the ID tags when I bought the iPod, so I should be pretty ready to go.

Great write-up, as always. Now just see that Stoney adds it to his FAQ!

nemesisa6

wow so much to read. great job man!!! I still have alot of questions, but let me finish the rest.

Zaub02A6

Where are you located? If you're in So. Cal. I can let you play with my PhatBox.

It is really easy to navigate by playlist/artist/album/genre. I created playlists A-Z to help organize the artists... flipping thru 200+ artists takes to long IMO, so I can go to playlist, jump to the letter I want, and then go to the artist I want.

I just installed mine this past Wednesday, so I don't have a whole lot of experience yet.

I was able to drill new holes in the cd changer mount, and mount the PhatBox a little deeper in, and it does not hit the access panel at all.

Brian
2002 2.7 A6

4taz

You're great once again. thanks

Ultrasport-Sal

Great write up.

streamline

is there a write up on how to create the Jeff Bipes toggle switch