Re: Accessories

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

In message <v03130300b1f5fb0a4f14@[206.106.147.12]> Phil Rose writes:

> While extolling the features of a '95.5 S6 to me, an Audi salesman
> demonstrated a radio feature that I think is the best compromise: the radio
> _automatically_ shuts OFF with the ignition, but it can be turned on again
> by simply pressing the power/volume knob. That's cool! Do all late-model
> Audi's now have that feature?

This wasn't done earlier because Audi's original designs (back in the
late 1970s) called for the use of Philips car radios.  The MCC series,
originally designed for the ur-quattro, has a peculiar characteristic.

I can't remember the precise intervals, but three times after it's
switched on (something like fifty seconds, five minutes and twenty
minutes) it ceases reception and 'fine tunes' the frequency tables it's
using.  At any rate, it goes quiet for 0.6 seconds.

It didn't go as Audi planned it - even in Germany, Philips does not have
a spectacular reputation as a car radio manufacturer.  BTW - this
_isn't_ the well-known Dutch Philips, but a specialist outfit based in
Wetzlar that just happens to be owned by ...

Anyway - most Audis were, because of customer stupidity, fitted with
Blaupunkt crap of some sort.  I have a Philips 994, which was originally
designed to complement the 1980 ur-quattro and now does so in a 1988
ur-quattro.

The design brief stressed two factors - excellent radio reception and
ease of use when driving.  The 994 is an amazing success, and won
several German design awards when it was launched in 1981.  In direct
contrast with most 'in-car entertainment' devices, it's breathtakingly
devoid of knobs, buttons and switches.  It looks like something from the
1960s - a volume knob on the left, a tuning knob on the right and six
chrome 'station' buttons in between.  Stealth - as befits the quattro.

In fact, it's an extremely sophisticated radio reciever.  First of all,
it has 4 bands - VHF/FM, Medium Wave, Long Wave and the 49m band.  You
want to listen to it - this thing can probably pick it up.  Secondly,
it has 70 memories, arranged in 6 scanner-like banks of ten and one
custom group.  The idea is that all of the various frequencies used
by the station of your choice are programmed into a group - the group
is selected, and the radio (like a scanner) always picks the strongest
signal.

Doesn't work in the USA, because of the way local and national radio
is organised.  Works a _treat_ in Germany, where stations like HR3 have
twenty transmitters using eight different frequencies.  Works fine in
the UK, too, where national radio (like Radio 4) re-uses the same
very limited set of frequencies across the country.

The original design brief is thus met - it's a superb receiver, and it's
also an ultimate 'low intervention' device.  It never needs retuning to
follow a station as you move around the country.  This is de rigeur for
more modern European radios, because the stations now broadcast an
encoded station identifier - but they didn't in 1980!

The 49m band is useful for short-wave news - I often listen to the
news in German from RTL in Luxemburg.  The long wave is useful for
the cricket commentary in the summer, and the medium wave (referred
to only as 'AM' in the USA, it seems) is useful for Formula One and
other occasional sports.

It _does_ have a cassette drive.  It plays cassettes.

But, as I said above - it takes three breaks to check its frequencies.

Once it's done that, service is uninterrupted.  Disconnect the power
for a second, and the clocks start ticking again.

IMO - it's a shame that consumer perception (Blaupunkt is 'good',
Philips is 'who?') ruled.  The 9xx series were superlative radio
receivers - in every professional sense (sensitivity, s/n, etc) _vastly_
superior even to Becker.  Mercedes even offered the 9xx as an option for
a while. Audi should have stuck to their guns and shipped every car with
an irremovable Philips 9xx.

(The Coupe GT fire we suffered last year unfortunately claimed a 944 as
 a victim.  I now only have a 917 as a potential successor, should my
 994 ever give up the ghost.)

--
 Phil Payne
 Phone: 0385 302803   Fax: 01536 723021
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