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So my S4 has no CD-Changer - not such a bad thing... enter Phat Noise...

1. What do I need (Phatnoise & cage to mount - do I need a cable??)
2. Where do I get it (eBay...?? Somewhere a little more reliable?)
3. Is it really worth while... can someone summarise its use in brief? Voice commands, how does it handle tracks, genres, artists, albums etc etc

I want to order one today/this weekend.

Cheers,
Leon

Try one of these off ebay

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search. ... =audi+phat*

Will items from the US, work on UK cars?

Guy has quoted me £10 for the cage... so that is £210 which is okay I guess... BUT I dont know if I have the cable or not, I cant seem to see it in the boot

I got mine off e-bay, took a month to arrive and the seller finally ceased activity after I claimed via PayPal for my money back. It then arrived. Check the feedback rating for the sellers and use Paypal.

Mounted in place of the CD stacker and plugs straight into the CD cable which I think is already pre-wired in the loom(??).

I like the concept as I was pi**ed off with the same 6 cd's and too lazy to change them. Currently have about 50 albums on the cartridge and haven't noticed any problems with sound quality. I dare say some music buffs will tell you that there is degredation of sound quality but it's ok for me and my ears.

US items...make sure you get a UK power supply for the cartridge cradle (12volt on power supply and plugs into USB port and mains).

You can select how to play tracks/albums by artist (I think this is the most popular method) by genre, by other methods too...but I only every use Artist mode.

The phatbox makes a synthetic Steven Hawking style voice announcement of the artist and then plays away.
Sadly you're in Devon so I can't demo it to you! Maybe down in Devon at the end of May...but I bet you can't wait that long!!

PM me if you want any other details.

Paul

Phatnoise is highly recommended - well worth the money provided you dont go via main dealer. Im pretty sure all S4s came with this cable even if there was no factory installed changer. Cable should be tucked behind carpet near the nearside rear light cluster.

Deffo worthwhile.

Fitted one into the wifes broomstick, (passat B5) had to buy the cable for that, got the lot from Rally959 on ebay, took about 2 weeks to arrive from the states. plugs straight in and worked out of the box with no hassle. only issue seems to be a momentary drop in sound every now and again but since i don't drive it it's not an issue to me and she hasn't noticed it, lol. there's a fix which involves rewiring the cable but until she complains it'll stop like that. they also take 10 to 15 seconds to boot up and start playing when you first switch it on but apart from that it's tops, there's about 20 albums on it so far as well as all the music off my pc and still loads of space on the 20gig cartridge to go at.

The phatbox makes a synthetic Steven Hawking style voice announcement of the artist and then plays away.

You can use the ATT natural voices that comes with the PhatNoise CD - much better than the std voice, but he/she (you have a choice) still has a problem with pronouncing certain sounds, however you will soon learn how to re-write the album and artist names to work around this

Is it easy to remove the cd changer from the boot and easy to fit the phatnoise in it's place? Also no additional cables are needed are they just a straight swap plug and play? Thanks.

Is it easy to remove the cd changer from the boot and easy to fit the phatnoise in it's place? Also no additional cables are needed are they just a straight swap plug and play? Thanks.

Straight forward swap over. And cable supplied with the phatbox plugged into the original connector.

Thanks for the tip about the natural voices. I noted that "Jamiroquoi" was a bit of a mouthful for Steven Hawking!

Paul

Thanks Paul. So you can swap them over working through the hole/hatch you dont need to remove any boot liner or anything. I'm thinking of buying one of them from the guy on ebay....

Duane.

Ok then, i've been into the compartment where the cd changer is and i cannot find or see a way of getting it out??? I can see 2 bolts on the left that bolt the cage to the car and one on the right that looks awkward to get to. Whilst i was in there i noticed what looks like it could be an amp on the right hand side??? Any help would be appreciated. I dont want to buy the phatnoise until i know whats what.

Thanks.

Hi Duane,

Although I've an RS4 (Avant) the swap should be pretty much the same - I just removed the 6-stacker unit from the cradle in the boot and slotted the PhatBox in.

All I had to do was remove the cradle (3 screws in this case) and then undo the screws that held the Phatbox in the cradle. Might be slightly different in a saloon though.

Picture attached for reference.

Paul

I cannot find the cable - all I found was a 4 pin lug - no round connector .

Just noted from the first posting that you don't have a cd changer....so you'll probably need an adapter cable. You'll probably find that if you contact the ebay vendor they'll be able to advise on cable requirement.

rally959 has the following contact number according to the advert on ebay..... Questions ? Please call 0207 669 4262.

Hope that helps.