One further suggestion made to me was to try to find a way to slant the empeg within the ashtray so that its a little more level. This would A - make it a little more level and B - point the rear of the empg towards the front of the car instead of down. This might prove to allow enough room. But its just a purely speculative option. I am supposing at this point the only way I'm gonna find out for sure is to go outside, take off the center console myself and start measuring.

Now about the AUX input on the Empeg. Does it go through A/D-D/A or does it pass the signal through purely in the analog domain?