Any particular model you would recommend?

There are quite a few options. We tend to sell a lot of Kicker amps in general, and the KIX-404 in particular for use with the Empeg (it's the same amp we used in Empeg's own A-Class demonstrator). This sells for 207ukp (about 330US$ assuming a 1.6/1 exchange rate) after deducting our usual Empeg customer discount. It's rated at 4 x 40W RMS, so it's ideal for a lot of typical Empeg installs. We've sold countless of these now, and I can't recall having any significant problems with any of them - other than one odd exception which seemed as though they'd somehow neglected to solder the RCA inputs to the board during construction. One of the big UK car hi-fi mags recently reviewed this amp and gave it a really good rating.

Slightly cheaper, there's the Sony 504X at 179.99ukp (about 290US$). We've sold one of these for use with an Empeg before now, and it worked fine - the main reason we don't tend to actively sell them all the time is that a lot of people have criticised them for sounding a bit flat - I know for a fact that a lot of their lower end head units underperform other manufacturers equivalent units, but their higher end stuff if pretty good, so whether that's fair criticism is difficult to say - we don't sell enough of them to get a good perspective. It's got a "rated" power output of 4x50W - RMS, it's probably a little bit less powerful than the Kicker.

Alpine also offer a couple of options - the MRV-F303 4 channel, rated at 4x90W max, which costs 269.90ukp (431US$). Internally, this is very similar to two of the amps we installed into Hugo's MX-5/Miata built onto one board. RMS power is about the same as the Kicker, but it never seems like an especially powerful amp when used in anger - it'd probably be fine in a smaller car, but less so if you plan to use it in a bigger car or run inefficient speakers off it.

Also from Alpine there's the MRV-F353. I's a shade over your 500$ budget (assuming you're US, not CA) at 560US$/350ukp, but definitely worth considering. It's very similar to the F303, but it's got an additional 300W max mono channel, allowing you to add a sub at a later date. If you're not going all out for maximum SPL, it's a good choice, as it gives you loads of flexibility - you could run front and rear speakers, plus a sub off it, or add an active crossover and run an active component kit in the front, plus sub, which should sound pretty good, and give you great front staging but at a slight trade-off in terms of lack of sound to your rear seat passenger's (if you actually care ;-)

I'd happily sell any of those options for use with an Empeg. If I thought about it for long enough, I could probably reel off a list of about a dozen more options, from a good few manufacturers, but I don't know how available they are outside the UK. If you do need an opinion of anything in particular though, just let me know. We tend to get to hear/sell/fit most mainstream brands at one time or another, so I tend to have a pretty good idea what's worth buying and what's not.

I have no idea what amp to buy, and no one locally (or within a 4 hour drive)

Well we do offer mail order if you're really stuck finding decent stuff. We've even got a F353 with slightly beaten up packaging that we could sell you for 279ukp/446US$ ;-)

Dominic

Cambridge Car Audio
http://www.cambscaraudio.co.uk