[slinkelist] (no subject)

[Paul Chambers]

At 7:11 AM -0600 3/10/00, Jay Pfaffman wrote:

I'm with Jay - one rough landing, and the CDs would be all over the 
inside of the changer. That would mean removing the cover and putting 
all the CDs back into the carousel. The tricky bit would be making 
sure they all went back into the _right_ slots - the sony changers 
remember the track/title information by physical slot number, not by 
checking the actual CD that's in the slot. They also have to be 
inserted with the correct orientation - label side to the right. I'm 
not sure this is something an aircraft mechanic will have come across 
before.

I agree with Jay - you'd be better off with a solution using a 
jukebox based on a hard disk. I'd suggest that you first take a look 
at the various MP3 jukeboxes designed for automobile use, since 
they're likely to be more shock-resistant. There's a list at:

http://hardware.mp3.com/hardware/all/car/

The neatest one I've seen is the 'empeg car'.

One consideration with MP3 systems - make sure the system supports 
some of the higher bitrates (at least 128 kbps, preferably more than 
that). Compressing the audio does degrade the quality a little, but 
most people can't hear significant differences between 128 kbps MP3 
and CD audio. But if you have musically-inclined customers, they may 
- so you'd want to look at higher bit rates, (e.g. 160 kbps, 192 
kbps, or more) to be sure they'll be satisfied. Though there's a fair 
amount of background noise in a plane in flight, my guess is that 
they'll first hear the system in the hanger, and first impressions 
count :-)

I think the solution that would probably meet your needs best would 
be one of the professional hard-disk jukeboxes from Arrakis Systems 
(http://www.arrakis-systems.com). Their products were originally 
designed for professional markets, like radio stations. They do come 
with PC-based control software, but I've not used it.

What makes them particularly suitable for your application is that 
they support multiple independent zones, so you could have different 
music playing for different passengers (unit comes with three zones, 
and can be expanded to 96). The 'pro' model supports balanced audio 
outputs - I don't know how long your wiring runs will be, but I'd 
imagine that the environment is electrically 'noisy'. While you could 
get balanced line drivers/receivers separately, it's better if the 
device actually outputs balanced audio in the first place.

XLR connectors (the type used for balanced audio) are a lot more 
robust - and actually lock together. I'd be wary of temperature 
cycling and vibration working normal RCA connectors loose. If you do 
need to use RCA connectors, I would recommend looking at the line of 
'locking' RCA connectors from WBT (http://www.wbtusa.com/). Their 
stuff is very expensive by consumer standards, but perhaps not by 
aircraft standards. It would be worth the extra money if it avoided 
connectors working loose. If those do prove to be too expensive, at 
least use the 'turbine' cut RCA plugs that MonsterCable 
(http://www.monstercable.com/) uses on its better cables - they hold 
pretty tight.

Hope that gives you something to go on.

Paul

>On Thu, 9 Mar 2000 21:49:31 -0800, "Terri Shea" <tsshea@rglobal.net> said:
>
>I am interested in a Slink-e on two levels. I work for a Aircraft Management
>Company, providing corporate aircraft transportation to business. Which
>leads me to my first question. We are in the process of purchasing a new
>aircraft, which will need to be outfitted with paint and interior. The
>people we are doing this for are very musically inclined, and have asked for
>the ability to manipulate the music system in the cabin. To this end, we
>located your web site. Would your system work in this environment? If we
>were to install a RS 323 port by one of the passenger seats, can we connect
>a Laptop through the port to the CD changer and manipulate the CD's? Two: Is
>this system user friendly enough to be install and maintenance by an
>aircraft mechanic?
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