Greetings!

I am looking into building my own empeg stereo component docking case. I would like to get any feedback or thoughts / recommendations about it. I will be using a spare sled, and using it to give a "car personality" to the player. This means 4V outputs, car EQ settings and dimmer. It will likely be built into a wooden box, but I have not given that much thought yet.

I would like to design in the following:

- a headphone jack, for quiet listening (Do I need amplification, given the 4V car outputs? I know people have had luck with small headphone sets before, but I don't use small headphones...)

- a line level output (easy)

- a speaker level output (OK, can I build an amplifier into the same box, power / cool it, and what kind of components would be recommended?)

- a toggle for the dimmer (nice for dark room listening)

- ethernet connection (there is a lot on the board about this already)

Any thoughts or comments are welcome. Thanks!

You can do the headphone jack and speaker outputs with a small amplifier. And mount that inside your docking case. Yes, you will need an amplifier if you want decent performance from decent headphones.

The dimmer switch is easy - you just have to provide +12v to the line normally used for illumination sensing in the car. You'll already be using a +12v output power supply in the case to power the empeg, so you just wire another lead with a switch off the +12 line. That was a nice idea I hadn't thought about previously, thanks. :)

I suppose I would probably want a car config for home docking as well (instead of having hijack do a forced AC setting) - especially if using this with my backup empeg. However, when using it as a dock for the unit you take back and forth to your car, it's not so nice to have to share some of the settings. For instance, in the car I keep my volume locked at 0db. In the home dock, you might need to use (or prefer to use) the empeg's volume control (depending on the amplifier you incorporate into your design).

Mark Lord mentioned a small amplifier he recently purchased in another thread. The store is relatively local to me so I'll be passing by soon. Probably not for another 2 weeks though because I'll be away next week. I'll take pictures and post anything I get, so hopefully others will do the same.

Bruno

>Mark Lord mentioned a small amplifier he recently purchased...

http://rtr.ca/empeg/dock/

Go look at riocar.org in the installation gallery and you can see my solution might give you a few ideas

You could even fit a light sensor to auto adjust the dimmer - velleman do one http://www.velleman.be/Product.asp?lan=1&id=344193. Its only £5 from maplin in the UK. I was debating this but dont think i really need dimming on mine, and dont know how easy it would be to incorporate.

I Like the plywood block to provide the Ethernet link and 12 volt power to the unit, very simple.
Thats how I'll do mine as well as it makes it a cinch to do
[I've seen more complicated ideas than this one].

Greetings!

Excellent thoughts! I like that link to mlord's install - very nice! I like the idea of having it upgradable even inside the rack. I had not thought of that. I also like having a tuner module built into it. Later on, I will pull up google and see if I can find that amp...

I am working on some drawings now. I am looking to create a very strange "retro" look - not a standard rack item. More to follow as the idea develops.

I will probably go with a manual dimmer, but I don't really worry too much about other settings (EQ, etc.). It is very likely that one of my spares will be nearly permanently mounted in this box, removed only for cloning with the car unit.

Something that may not have been noticed in the photos:

The plywood backing has a square recess, in which the ethernet plug sits.. the recess is necessary to ensure the connector does not rotate out of alignment.

If you have the ethernet plug too solid it will be difficult to align that is why the connector on the back of the empeg has a little bit of wobble since the ethernet on the empeg don't wobble you need to have a small wobble on the ethernet plug

Yes, even with the plywood, the ethernet plug has just a little bit of wobble allowance. Not so for my power plug -- I just fitted it dead center to the connector and all is well. But some wobble allowance there also would have been good, I suppose.

Cheers

I'm still wondering how long it took you to get the depth of your wooden block and the recessed bits just right so everything would click together nicely. :)

Looks like you also have the wooden block bolted to the back of your sled by two fasteners. Hard to see and I don't recall you mentioning.

Bruno

>I'm still wondering how long it took you to get the depth of your
>wooden block and the recessed bits just right so everything would
>click together nicely.

Got the depth of the block right on the first try.. just inserted the player into the sled, and inserted a measure (ruler) through the slot at the back of the sled, and measured the gap between player and sled. The block was then made to that depth (somewhere close to 5/8" as I recall, but not exactly).

The recessed bits were similarly simple.. just plug the ethernet plug into the player, and measure the remaining projection of the connector. That's how much it needs to be recessed into the block.

The power plug just fits flush in the block, but getting the hole in the right place took (only) two tries, using some masking tape over the power jack on the player: press the player into the plug gently, pull it out again and look at the indentation of the plug on the tape to see which way to adjust it.

>Looks like you also have the wooden block bolted to the back
>of your sled by two fasteners. Hard to see and I don't recall
>you mentioning.

Just two wood screws, through drilled holes in the back of the sled.

Cheers

You did mention on your page that you don't actually need the ac/dc connector for power, but only for detection correct? If that's the case, have you already considered simply getting a small plug of the same size and use that in your wooden block instead? That would avoid putting the adapter in the box and you could use it elsewhere.

Thanks for the comments on measuring. I had assumed that much already, but it's good for people just jumping into the thread that don't have to scratch their heads. Really good idea with the block though - simple, stable and it lets you do multiple connectors with one attachment point.

Bruno

>You did mention on your page that you don't actually need
>the ac/dc connector for power, but only for detection correct?

>If that's the case, have you already considered simply getting
>a small plug of the same size and use that in your wooden block
>instead? That would avoid putting the adapter in the box
>and you could use it elsewhere.

Yes, I also thought of that. But I need power for the Empeg in the box, and the adaptor does the job well, so..

But not such a big deal for me, as I (now) have multiple Empegs, which means I also have an extra adaptor (especially the new cute mini one!). But you have a point there.. others may consider placing some huge RadioShack brick in their dock, and saving the smaller lighter weight Empeg/Rio adaptor for carry-around use (eg. office).

Cheers

-ml