Originally posted by Stimps in this post

Wellie - which Sony H.U. did you order? The CDXMP40? (details)

If so, post a quick review somewhere once it's up and running - I was quite tempted to go down the MP3 route... may still end up doing so now I finally have broadband at home :evil:

Yes, it was that one. Ordered late last night from mobiletoys.co.uk. They sent confirmation that it had been shipped this morning. This wasn't the very cheapest but at least they had stock and don't charge for postage. It's a lot more expensive in a certain catalogue shop and a certain motor accessory chain store.

The Sony looked to have the best set of features for the price. I noticed a Panasonic player also played WMA (Windows boo hiss Media) files but I rejected this because there was no mention of EON in the features.

I know MP3s have been discussed at great length in another thread. The advantage of an MP3 CD player is that you can get 10 hours on one CD at a fairly high bitrate. My favourite (free) CD ripper is CDex . I used to use MusicMatch Jukebox but they kept removing features from the free version, presumably in the hope that you'd upgrade.

I'll post an update on the player when I get it working.

Welliesorter

Wellie? Aside from the audio topic, which bit of Leic you from? I originate from up there - born in the Royal Infirmary, and grew up in Kibworth, south of Leic. I didn't see another Silver Fabia when I was up that way recently to visit the relations. Although that's probably because I went straight to Fosse park and out to the M69 to get to Birmingham. Only stop was to Asda in Oadby.

Originally posted by devonutopia in this post

Wellie? Aside from the audio topic, which bit of Leic you from?

I don't originate from Leicester but have lived here for a while. I live on the Uppingham Road side of town, but not the posh bit. I've only had my Fabia (one of the last of the Silverlines) for a few weeks.

Oh right - don't know it to be honest... I don't know how you're finding the town/city, but I was never really keen on it, and was glad when the family moved down to Devon. I wouldn't want to go back now really, unless its for a

Haven't tried Kazaap, but I shall...

Look at the bandwidth column and often do the "find my sources", but I find the

results pretty binary (ie. it works or it doesn't). :(

I seem to recall not so long ago in a thread someone pointed out the mountings

for the Fabia and Superb speakers were different (and better) than those for the

Octavia. Would be good to do an upgrade though, to see just how good the

results would be, and also to increase the knowledge in this area on the board...

How much are Fabias again these days?

Rob.

Hmmm... does anyone know of any direct replacement speakers for the fabia? I seem to remember someone posting a link to an adaptor plate to mount speakers with...

I'd only be tempted to change the door speakers if I had different door cards to put back on - the "pale yellow skyscrapers" pattern really doesn't go with the rest of the car

Oh for Big K to be reading this thread and answer the door card question...

(spot the hint...!)

That pale yellow skyscraper pattern was what put me off the Elegance, TBH. Oh, and the fact I couldn't even afford it played no role what-so-ever

I don't know about the speakers, but I'd also be interested to find out. Not that I'm really thinking of changing mine.... YET

In an ideal world (i.e. if I was a bit more flush with cash) I'd have a look at seeing if the seats from the RS would fit into the fabia, and get the rear seats retrimmed to match... But somehow I think that would be a slight bit of overkill

Bucket seats and harness style seat belts? You'll be wearing a crash helmet whilst driving in no time

I was thinking more of Winnie the Pooh seatbelt pads like the ones Halfords sell

(Hmmm, you could put little red LEDs into Winnie's eyes to scare the young 'uns...)

My Fabia owning colleague has lent me his removal tools but they're too wide for the slots. They must be for his current player rather than for the original. :(

I've received the facia adaptor. A lot of money for what it is!

Devonutopia,

The pale yellow skyscraper is the alternative to the pale blue skyscraper you have in the comfort. I know cos my old comfort had it and my partner has blue skyscrapers in her comfort.

The elegance which I now have has simply got grey trim and seats with a sort of matchstick man/aboriginal type pattern. Looks pretty smart and understated I think.

I actually quite liked the yellow with my nature green metallic fab. But each to their own I guess!

Cheers

True... But blue is my favourite colour generally, and I like it as its darker. If I had got an elegance I would have gone for the grey trim pattern too, especially with silver paint job.

Job done!

The player arrived shortly after my last post. I can't complain about that because it was ordered late Wednesday night and arrived early Friday morning.

I've been to my former boss's today as he offered to help with installation (he's good with gadgets). In the event he did it and I hovered uselessly.

My advice to anyone thinking of replacing the original radio is don't try it without the correct tools. We thought we could improvise something with some small strips of aluminuium. If we'd realised how hard it would be to do I'm sure we'd have driven to the

Looks good!

Is that a remote control in the tray underneath? Thats a nice feature. Must be handy to have a remote to use, instead of having to take your eyes off the road to push fiddly buttons.

I gotta get myself a digital and get a shot of my player...

Yes, that is the remote control. As I said before, I don't really see the benefit of it: if I'm in the driver's seat the player itself is within easy reach and I think I'd be annoyed if rear passengers fiddled with the radio. The buttons on the remote are less fiddly than those on the player but I'd say the advantage of that is outweighed by the distraction of having to dig it out and look at it while driving. I'm sure I'll soon get used to the position of the controls on the player so I won't need to see it to operate it.

Sony do make a separate knob to twiddle but it costs extra.

Wellie - make sure you RTM as leaving the remote in the car might be a really bad idea!

SWMBO has a sony active-black head unit, and you *need* the remote to enter the security code - so having the remote & H.U. in the car might be asking for someone to pinch it...

Looks nice though :-)

Surprisingly, there's no mention of a security code anywhere in the manual.

Even the original Grundig/

I rely on people not nicking my CD player by it not having the front on it too, as it has a nice red flashing LED at the back too, which is nice. However, it would help if I bothered to remove the front now and then. Crime is so lacking down here that I rarely bother to remove it - it would only get scratched in the house somewhere. (Mustn't moan about the crime though, eh?)

Speaking of unattractive - anyone want to buy an original Skoda radio/tape player I don't think I will sell it actually because if I ever change to another Skoda, or heaven forbid VW, I'll want the CD player and the alloys to be swapped over. Keeping my tape player and the steels will be handy for that situation.

Could someone just clearup the am reception issue as when i've replaced the standard HU in both a previous octavia and a fabia TDi i lost am reception. I'm tempted to replace the HU in my VRs but as I spent most mornings listening to talk sport, i can't afford to lose am. Also if i go down the DAB route does that require aerial modifications?

I think you need the aerial signal booster, metal tubey thing, with a power feed to it (IIRC).

As for DAB, you'll need a DAB aerial.

Could someone just clearup the am reception issue as when i've replaced the standard HU in both a previous octavia and a fabia TDi i lost am reception. I'm tempted to replace the HU in my VRs but as I spent most mornings listening to talk sport, i can't afford to lose am. Also if i go down the DAB route does that require aerial modifications?

Wow, that sounds not too good. I plan to upgrade the h/u when my vRS arrives but certainly can't do without Talk Sport on those night drives!

Is this problem wide spread or unique to you?

jifster

'Working my way upto a Nissan 350z'

Jon's right. Aerial booster. 5-6cm long tubey thingy with a 12V switched power requirement like one of these

You can get a special "beesting" aerial which will combines DAB and normal FM/AM reception. Good as it looks like stock OEM one (a bit longer I think) but costs around 100 notes :( Clicky.

Other than that, you need a dedicated DAB aerial. Either one which is removable and goes on the windscreen (ask Jeff aka Rooboy). Clicky.

Alternativley a "normal" aerial which requires drilling through the roof or magnetic, etc, and will sit next to the original one. Clicky.

Just as a side issue.....what band(s) are used in the UK???

:confused: