Here's the 1st of 2 pics of my feeble attempts to deal with the gaping maw of an empty sled. I make a lot of trips under 15-30 minutes and don't haul the Empeg to the car for those, so I have a separate head unit and wanted something to fill the sled both during those times and overnight.

This box was made with some black ABS sheet I got from Crutchfield using a jeweler's saw and liberal amounts of cyanoacrylate glue I obtained at a hobby store. It may look less ugly when I relocate the Empeg sled to the upper position later this year (Subaru trim pieces are back-ordered.). If Rio would find it in their hearts to produce a more professional, vacuum-formed version of this, I'd buy it!

As for the removable faceplate fakery, who knows? It is true that thieves will break into some cars in search of the faceplate in the (correct) belief that some folks have simply stashed theirs under the seat, in the glove box, et cetera. On the other hand, I have had removable faceplate units for ~8 years (and actually take the faceplate inside) and have not yet had anybody trash the car. When somebody does, I suppose I can have some small satisfaction that they stole a faceplate-less, coded radio (not that there isn't a cottage industry in operation somewhere in LA resurrecting such units!). But, does this mean I'm more or less vulnerable? I don't know the statistics on this. I have only a sample size of 1. I suppose I really should build an "already been ripped off" insert with lots of wires hanging out of it, but that would really only work if the Empeg was the only head unit. Plus, I'm too lazy and it offends my aesthetic sensibilities!

Jim