All depends on the date for me Andy as I'm on call a lot of the time these days Anyway I'll pin this in the meantime. Chris.

Sorry Flappo but I just cannot agree. I've owned BMW's, Merc's & Audi's for as long as I've been driving and the Audis have always been the best of the lot. Currently got a BMW and it is certainly trying - very trying

Phil, at the top right hand side of the forum page there is a small header named Inbox . If there is a number next to it then that is the number of new messages received/replies to sent messages. If you click on this header you will see the PM message you sent and any replies given. Chris.

No prob's. To add to your post, it would be very very difficult to reproduce the panels as they are silk screen printed (or possibly laser printed) to attain the very precise "clear" areas where the light shines through. If anyone can find a vialble way to do this then there would be a decent market for them as a lot of equipment from

joeyboygolf: That sounds like the sort of excuse a soft southerner would use...........and I thought you were a Yorkshireman!!!! Ah but I'm also married to a Yorkshire lass Graham......... and I know my limits @ Nigel, thanks for your comments, you're right - the pictures were on the old forum which is now unaccessable. I'll take some more

As far as I'm aware the panel should still be available from your dealer for this model. Welcome to Beoworld Chris.

And a Happy New Year to one and all from me and the dogs Chris.

joeyboygolf: If you are able to look at B&O which is non standard then re-covering is fine. Personally I am afraid that if it aint right then I don't want it so would always buy the genuine article. Looking from a purest point then I agree 100% Graham. I reclothed a pair of spare frets in blue and kept my originals for the day I decide I want

As the original OP was "which offers best value for money" then I have to say the 8500 assuming you can live with the grey panels (which are far more hardwearing than the mirrored ones of the 9500). Almost identical to the 9500 other than the lack of 2 way com's/timer functions (for which there was an eprom upgrade) and the appearance

You have to be very careful when selecting cloth for Penta frets as the original stuff is very lightweight. Anything of a heavier knit than the original fabric and your frets will not clip back on absolutely correctly and shake themselves off over a period of time due to the extremely tight tolerances of the clip positions. I know this from experience