[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index] factory radio
In message <352BB1B3.2B3F7085@multiverse.com> harrison writes: > I think that the worst idea is using an Audi factory unit from the 80's. They > sound bad, are under powered, and play tapes slower than required. An Audi cock-up. It's called "not having the courage of their convictions". When Audi was designing the ur-quattro and the Audi 80 quattro, they had a whole raft full of good intentions. I seriously believe they wanted to build what WMB now advertises that it has: "The Ultimate Driving Machine". Part of this was intended to be the radio. Audi, being utilitarian and aligned strongly to the domestic market, had other priorities to those that many people have today. As engineers (and they've said this to me) they maintained that a car is not an ideal place to listen to high quality sound systems - if you have them loud enough to mask the inherent noise of the vehicle, then you can't hear what's going on outside and you're not a good _driver_. The quattro feature was supposed to expand the envelope within which a normal driver could drive safely. The same was expected of every other feature. The radio was to be an ergonomic miracle, and the design brief was heavily influenced by a study done at Munich University on the sources of distraction to car drivers and their influence on accident rates. The radio originally selected for the ur-quattro, where one was fitted, was the Philips MCC. Even within Germany, Philips (not the Dutch company, but a subsidiary based in Wetzlar) was not a very well respected manufacturer of car radios, and most buyers wanted a better-known name such as Blaupunkt. So Audi capitulated. But I know where at least _ONE_ of the original radios is. Guess. -- Phil Payne Phone: 0385 302803 Fax: 01536 723021 (The contents of this post will _NOT_ appear in the UK Newsletter.)
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