# Had my new Phatbox installed yesterday



## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

By Ryan O'Neill of United Car Stereo in Dublin, CA. He did a nice job and was very pleasant to work with :thumbup: Thanks also to Manny at Cutter for getting the BMW parts out to me in time.










Apparently they ran out of 20GB cartridges, so they gave me a 40GB cartridge instead. Shit, now I'll have to buy an extra 300 CDs to fill it up...


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## ·clyde· (Dec 26, 2001)

Cliff3 said:


> *Apparently they ran out of 20GB cartridges, so they gave me a 40GB cartridge instead. Shit, now I'll have to buy an extra 300 CDs to fill it up...  *


Gave you the 40GB? Cool. :thumbup: Wish they had done that for me. :banghead: Was worth the $99 to me though.

The install looks great. I did mine myself...should take some pics and post someday...ugly looking, but it's all concealed behind a panel.

Not sure if you are aware, but there are some unsupported features and otherwise unmentioned config options described here.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

*Re: Re: Had my new Phatbox installed yesterday*



[email protected] said:


> *Gave you the 40GB? Cool. :thumbup: Wish they had done that for me. :banghead: Was worth the $99 to me though.
> 
> The install looks great. I did mine myself...should take some pics and post someday...ugly looking, but it's all concealed behind a panel.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the link, it looks like there's some good stuff there. :thumbup: I would have been happy with the 20GB drive, but I'm happier with the larger one, especially since it was a free upgrade  They ran out of stock on the Phatbox units this past week, so I assume their inventory cupboard is bare.

I thought about doing the install myself, but what's another $100 when you've already spent nearly $1100 (including CA sales tax...) for the unit and mounting parts.

It's going to be nice not to have to choose which CDs I'm going to want to listen to before leaving for a drive  I do need to add another drive to my home PC now.


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## tgravo2 (Dec 7, 2002)

What exactly is the Phatbox?


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## ·clyde· (Dec 26, 2001)

tgravo2 said:


> *What exactly is the Phatbox? *


The simple answer is that it's an MP3 player that masquerades as a CD Changer. Find out more here.


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## tgravo2 (Dec 7, 2002)

[email protected] said:


> *The simple answer is that it's an MP3 player that masquerades as a CD Changer. Find out more here. *


Ah. Cool. Thanks. I already have an MP3/CD player though.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

tgravo2 said:


> *Ah. Cool. Thanks. I already have an MP3/CD player though. *


I thought about going the Alpine CHA-S634 route, but from everything I've read, controlling it from the OEM head unit seems to be problematic. The best part about the phatbox is the interface. Their software creates MP3 files that use voice synthesis to create album, artist, genre, and playlist voice prompts that you scroll through. The CD disk selection buttons on the head unit are used to select the mode used to navigate the hard drive, and the forward/reverse buttons (also found on the steering wheel) are used to scroll from entry to entry in the list. Each entry is announced by the voice prompt. Individual track titles are not associated with voice prompts.

And, of course, a 40 gig drive is the equivalent of more than 60 CDs recorded with MP3 format files.


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## tgravo2 (Dec 7, 2002)

Cliff3 said:


> *I thought about going the Alpine CHA-S634 route, but from everything I've read, controlling it from the OEM head unit seems to be problematic. The best part about the phatbox is the interface. Their software creates MP3 files that use voice synthesis to create album, artist, genre, and playlist voice prompts that you scroll through. The CD disk selection buttons on the head unit are used to select the mode used to navigate the hard drive, and the forward/reverse buttons (also found on the steering wheel) are used to scroll from entry to entry in the list. Each entry is announced by the voice prompt. Individual track titles are not associated with voice prompts.
> 
> And, of course, a 40 gig drive is the equivalent of more than 60 CDs recorded with MP3 format files. *


I guess both have pros and cons. I will be adding new subs so I bought an aftermarker MP3/CD player.


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## Mathew (Feb 8, 2002)

Wow, i may have to look into this...

Ive seen the name tossed around many times, but i guess i was confusing this with something else.


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## JeffW (Apr 10, 2002)

*How much?*

Nevermind.. I found the price on their website... interesting.... :thumbup: 
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I already have the cd-changer, how much does it cost to "retrofit" this thing on an E46?

Thanks,
Jeff


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

*Re: How much?*



JeffW said:


> *Nevermind.. I found the price on their website... interesting.... :thumbup:
> >>>>>>>>>>>>>
> I already have the cd-changer, how much does it cost to "retrofit" this thing on an E46?
> 
> ...


You can only have one CD changer connected at a time, so it would replace an existing CD changer and not be an additional source. As I noted above, I was charged $100 for the install. That included installing the CD brackets, the new trunk liner, fabricating some mounting brackets, and installing and testing the unit itself. Some of that work has presumably already been done on your car, plus your local shop probably has a different hourly rate, so :dunno:


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## Keith (Feb 27, 2002)

*Re: Re: How much?*



Cliff3 said:


> *You can only have one CD changer connected at a time, so it would replace an existing CD changer and not be an additional source. As I noted above, I was charged $100 for the install. That included installing the CD brackets, the new trunk liner, fabricating some mounting brackets, and installing and testing the unit itself. Some of that work has presumably already been done on your car, plus your local shop probably has a different hourly rate, so :dunno: *


Damn, they only charged you 100 bucks and didn't burn anything!.

Looks like they did a great job :thumbup: and you seem to be happy, so I guess this will be place I/we can keep refering people to.

See ya soon,


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

*Re: Re: Re: How much?*



Keith said:


> *Damn, they only charged you 100 bucks and didn't burn anything!.
> 
> Looks like they did a great job :thumbup: and you seem to be happy, so I guess this will be place I/we can keep refering people to.
> 
> See ya soon, *


Yup, didn't launch a whole mess of tude my way either (the other shop underestimated the UUC-SSK job and blamed me for their error). Big :thumbup: to United Car Stereo. Thanks for the referral to them Keith


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## machmeter (Aug 6, 2002)

*Display pictures?*



Cliff3 said:


> *The CD disk selection buttons on the head unit are used to select the mode used to navigate the hard drive, and the forward/reverse buttons (also found on the steering wheel) are used to scroll from entry to entry in the list. Each entry is announced by the voice prompt.*


Quite intriguing!

Could you take some pictures of the head unit display and post them? Do you have the BMW Navigation System or CPT8000 with Voice Activation? I wonder if it's compatible with my system.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

It doesn't display anything out of the ordinary on the head unit -- that's why they had to use the voice prompts for navigation. My understanding is that it is compatible with the nav unit, and I don't think a phone has any effect on things. Phatnoise has user forums; you may want to poke around a bit in there.


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## skyehill (Feb 19, 2003)

What parts did you need from BMW? Is it because you didn't have the cd changer hardware already installed? My 330i has the cd changer in the back...well, the empty two-tiered holder. Do I need additional hardware in addition to the phatbox to install it?

Thanks.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

Just the items that come from Phatnoise. I ordered the BMW CD rack and trunk liner from Cutter. If you have the trunk-mounted CD changer, they should already be installed in your car.


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## ·clyde· (Dec 26, 2001)

Cliff3 said:


> *Just the items that come from Phatnoise. I ordered the BMW CD rack and trunk liner from Cutter. If you have the trunk-mounted CD changer, they should already be installed in your car. *


The bracket and trunk liner are also there if you have NAV.


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## riffic (Oct 31, 2002)

*phatbox*

Can a phatbox be easily removed from an E46 upon selling the car or turning in after a lease ends?


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

Sure. It's the equivalent of a CD changer and the Blitzsafe adapter plugs into the CD changer connector in the trunk. I kept my original trunk liner and left-side floor tray, so I could theoretically return my trunk to stock condition in less than an hour (I say theoretically because I bought my car and intend to keep it for at least 8 years).


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## ·clyde· (Dec 26, 2001)

Cliff3 said:


> *Sure. It's the equivalent of a CD changer and the Blitzsafe adapter plugs into the CD changer connector in the trunk. I kept my original trunk liner and left-side floor tray, so I could theoretically return my trunk to stock condition in less than an hour (I say theoretically because I bought my car and intend to keep it for at least 8 years). *


Even if you wait 8 years, it should still take less than an hour (not adjusted for infalation, um, yeah. )

I could remove my phatbox, custom mouting equipment (a couple pieces of plywood) and replace the liner trim piece with the original in less than 10 minutes.

The problem with removing it and using it in another car is that unless the head unit in the new car is the same as the one in the old car you will need to get a new adapter and/or head unit. Phatnoise will sell you an adapter for a different head unit if you are an original owner (I'm not sure if they are selling them to those that have bought used yet, but eventually, I think they will have to), but if the stock head unit in the new car isn't on the list, you will have to replace the head unit as well. It's a potential PITA that I am not looking forward to.


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## Cliff (Apr 19, 2002)

Well, you know, the weekend, a couple of :drink: :drink: and we're looking at an hour  Good point about the head unit.


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## riffic (Oct 31, 2002)

*thanks*

Cliff & Clyde,
thanks for the answer. :thumbup:

Sounds like a nice option that I'll have to consider, now that I know more about it.


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