PHATBOX

JWC · Post by **JWC** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:50 am

I fitted a VW PhatBox in mine, made a few mods to it, but works really well. I stuffed 166 Albums in it and still only half full.

Had to get a cable from Nexxia though to make it work. There are a couple of tiny issues, but other than that I'm quite happy with it, much better than fiddling with a botched in IPOD and driving into the back of the car in front, besides, I like my PhatBox's accent, she's sweet.

TERENCE · Post by **TERENCE** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:09 am

pardon my ignorance - but what is a phatbox?

inder · Post by **inder** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 10:22 am

Phatbox is an Audi/VW jukebox music system, bit like a big cd changer that sits in your boot. It interfaces with the standard VW headunit and provides hours and hours of music, as the system is hard drive based.

The hard drive can be removed in a caddy and connected to your pc to load up tracks

JWC · Post by **JWC** » Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:52 pm

Yeah, I thought it was all old stuff, but didn't hear of them on this forum. Basically rather than using the 6 buttons on your radio as CD's it uses them as mode buttons, 2 = playlists, 3 = artists, 4= genres etc, then you spin up and down alphabetically or whatever, and it announces the album names or whatever using text to speech synthesizer. If you get confused, you can always press scan and it tells you what its currently playing.

It allows you to have everything that you want, without having to change the Gamma or Beta radio, which are actually quite good.

It bolts on to the normal brakets that you would have for a normal VW changer, and is specifically developed with VW as an option that you could have fitted at VW garage.

I'll post pics if its not totally dark when I get back to my car.

JWC · Post by **JWC** » Thu Nov 03, 2005 5:28 pm

My VW PhatNoise Phatbox. Where it says DMS that is the cartridge that you can plug into your PC to update it. Took 30 mins to upload 166 Albums!

I like it its sweet. They are kind of end of line, but there are a couple left on eBay ~ 170 quid.

I made the brackets in the workshop the other day, better than the crappy 23 quid ones you can order!

inder · Post by **inder** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:53 am

Nice place for mounting it m8

Do you have a sub in the boot or nowt like that, just standard headunit (uprated speakers or standard?)

Giorgio · Post by **Giorgio** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:46 am

buy an iPod 60GB and install that into your car. Then you take it on the train too

JWC · Post by **JWC** » Sat Nov 05, 2005 12:04 pm

I have a sub on the other side, but its all strategically placed to keep my shopping upright.

You could use an IPOD, but then you have to install a line in mod, when do not work with the VW Dash changer I have. Also an IPOD is too small for my crap eyes to read when I'm driving round dark streets at night. And the phatbox does FLAC format which rules, as its lossless. I went to phathack on the web which allows you to format any 2.5" drive for use in the phatbox, which means its infinately upgradable, and I have the developers kit for the CPU and there is a plug-in architechure so you can make it play any formats. Also it costs less than an IPOD and I use my phone for MP3 on the move, I can't be bothered with carrying too much.

Besides what the hell is a train????? I went on one once, but it was rubbish, rather walk.

I especially like the phatbox's accent, she sounds english, but with a very slight hint of spanish. Better than my GPS who always sounds lost.

All these voice prompts, maybe I can let them drive and get some sleep.

At the end of the road turn left, the current track is WAKE UP - Matrix Soundtrack.

remover · Post by **remover** » Fri Jan 06, 2006 11:25 pm

phatbox is the best!

I have one in my car, it fits in the first aid compartment no problem!