Well, my long odyssey is complete, at least the first phase of it. I've managed to get my empeg installed in my '06 Charger. Here's the RioCar.org photo gallery with some install pr0n for your perusal.

My biggest accomplishment with this install was getting in-car wireless connectivity via a wireless bridge in the trunk, and a long stretch of Cat5 to the dash. The RJ-45 is held in place with a crudely constructed plywood/epoxy brace, as others have done here (thanks to jimhogan for assistance in this area.) The bridge is switched on/off via the amp remote line for now, and I'm currently working on the software portion which will try to phone home to invoke mp3tofid/rsync periodically.

The installers also ran an RCA cable to the dash pocket underneath the climate controls (blue cable visible in a couple of the photos) and a telephone mute line to the same area (not pictured.) The main use for the aux in will be to connect my Treo, so I can plug it in as a speakerphone, and also play Internet radio streams and any other songs I have on the Treo. I might also grab a cheap portable CD player in case someone brings along CDs.

In terms of the physical install, I think my installers did a decent job, though the astute observer will notice two Dremel dings on the right side, and there's trace of another less deep scratch on the left. This is what happens when you let installers dremel your dash after a night of drinking (or I would assume they were drinking.) Parts of the silver dash and black vehicle mount bracket had to be cut to allow for the empeg to be pulled from the dash, and in retrospect, I may have chosen the wrong installer to do this part of the job. The scratches aren't the worst ever seen, and it probably would have looked a lot worse had I tried to do it myself, but I'm not thrilled about that. I'm probably going to have to hit it with some silver paint or nail polish to get it to the point where it's not as noticeable.

The other complaint is that the empeg sits a little too far into the dash, at least at the top. I don't think this is fixable due to the way the sled fits in the vehicle mount, so I may have to solve this with a replacement fascia (which is a good idea anyway given the style of my dash.

Well, I figured I'd share, since I know at least one BBS member is considering getting a Charger.