What experience do people have with the Music Keg? I think it will work with the stock head unit, but without any visible feedback regarding folder or track I'm concerned about remembering where to go to get the songs I want to listen to.

Even if I switch head units (I have a Panasonic MP3/WMA player), I'll gain only a few characters visible at a time.

My question to people who use the Music Keg or similar devices - Is this really an issue?

Also, will the dash controls switch discs if I attach a CD changer or Music Keg to the stock head unit? The owners manual is not really clear on this.

Thanks for any thoughts and opinions!

 

I've been pursuing this for some time, trying to get a little larger volume of music. It's been pretty frustrating, since no two manufacturer's products seem to talk to each other.

It seems that the Phatbox (by makers of the Kenwood Music Keg) make a hard-drive based player that is compatible with the stock Honda head unit. The device is controllable from the head unit, and instead of a visible display the device reads the status to you. There is a fair variety of organization of the files, too. This seems like it might work.

In the demo, the voice is a middle-aged guy. Now if they'd just use a young female voice ...

 

Ok I have the music keg. Trust me and just buy it. I love it!!!! 10 gigs is a lot of friggin music. One thing about it that I love is that it will play random all disks. So any album, any folder any song. Random.

I have it hooked up as dedicated to my kenwood 622. Sound quality is great. However, if your songs have different bit rates, you will notice one song may seem louder than another song and have to change the volume level. Just rip all of your music at the same or similar bit rates.

I am not aware that Phatnoise makes one that is dedicated for the s2000 factory radio. I called them and asked them about a month ago and they do not make one. But hey ill check into it again.
One thing that you can do if you want to keep your factory radio is get the FM modulator kit witch is used for the music keg or Sirius tuners and install that into your s2000. Then the music keg has RCA audio outs which you can connect to the changer port in the back of the factory radio with the adaptor that I think was from PAC. The FM modulator will display the song and disk info. There is no way to get the song and disk info to display on the factory radio.

I highly recommend the music keg. Two thumbs up

 

Oh I just wanted to clarify that you do not need to install the RCA cables for it to work. You just may get better sound. If you do not care you can install it without the RCA'S and it will play on a user set radio station. Sound quality is not as good as dedicated but is a lot better than regular radio.

 

Thanks for the feedback, Jimbo!

I think the Honda interface is pretty new. I was on the Phatnoise forum yesterday, and they were saying something about a Cinco De Mayo sale, and new products coming out. I also saw a demo and downloaded instalaltion/operation instructions for the Honda version.

It seems that the Phatbox is a pretty good unit.

The Phatbox customer support mentioned the connection of the unti via RCA, with the FM Modulator as the control. That is not bad, as the Kenwood version is cheaper than the Phatbox version, but I can't think of a place to mount the controller!

The Honda version of Phatbox pre-empts the controls to navigate the file structure, and instead of reading the results on the tiny little dot display the Phatbox reads the results to you with a text to speech feature. The demo made it sound pretty good.

The Phatbox/Kenwood seems to be a robust machine - you're the first actual user from whom I've seen a post.

 

Hey all,

I have 2 music Kegs - one in my s2k, and one in my f350. I purchased the upgraded Phatbox cartridge - 40gb, so all my albums go with me all the time.

My Keg is bolted under my passenger seat, giving me access to it , and also not taking up trunk space. I purchased the cheapest Kenwood head unit from the shop, since I don't even play CD's in the car anymore

Phatnoise does make a version that works with Honda Factory head units now, but it is VERY expensive. Another Phatnoise advantage is their SSA Voice technology that Kenwood doesn't have.

But I'm very happy with the Kenwood unit(s), they totally change how you listen to your music!!!!

Word of caution - make sure the connections are secure - the vibrations of our little wunderengines can vibrate them loose, as I found out on the Keg unit that stopped working until we had it reconnected!!!!!!

Happy Listening,
Bill

 

great addition i have the 10gig version with the kdc822mp which also allows my to just run one wire for the audio and the controls and i have full navigation capabilities, got keg for 300 and radio for 280 both brand new, for the buck is awesome i never have to worry about a cd again and if i do happen to have new mp3 this unit plays them as well of the cd slot! i have it installed to the left of the gas tank opposite the spare tire. so no space loss. Only have about 5gig roughly 1100 songs and it can be twice as that so i imagine if you ever think you need more get the 40gig cartige although i doubt you can fill that out with music you will actually listen to!

 

I don't think the bit rate has any effect on the amplitude of the resulting mp3 file. Different audio CDs are mastered at different amplitudes, so when you mix tracks from different sources, this is sure to happen. I usually use the "normalize" feature in the ripping software I use, or do it manually with SoundForge when making mp3s or custom audio CDs.

 

Oh, well it deff does make a difference but if you don't notice it good for you