factory radio

[quk@isham-research.demon.co.uk (Phil Payne)]

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
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