Well, two days of work later, my 10GB + Tuner is now installed in my Jetta.

First impressions: The fascia blends perfectly in the dash. The Empeg really looks like it belongs there. The sound is fabulous, and the controls are intuitive and easy to reach. I do think I'm going to try the magic marker mod, though. I saw it in full sunlight, and noticed the circuitry I've seen talked about. (I've also ordered a smoke faceplate, which may help a bit).

Installation: I replaced my front and rear speakers and added an amp as well -- the first time I'd ever done either. The Jetta's climate controls have a lot of empty space under the DIN slot (there's only one DIN on an A3 model Jetta), so the tuner and the bird's-nest...err, wiring, had someplace to get shoved. The Jetta has a standard ISO connector, but some of the wires didn't match, so I pushed the pins out of the Empeg's connector and reseated them where I needed them.

I also used the existing front and rear speaker wiring for the front speakers; I jumpered the front to the rear at the speaker ISO connector in the dash, and used the rear speaker wires in the trunk as the run for the front speakers. This saved a lot of headache.

I had to disassemble the lower part of the dash on both driver's side and passenger's side to run the speaker, amp switch, and power wires cleanly. I was worried about running the power cable through the firewall, but that turned out to be the easiest bit -- awl a small hole into one of the plugs and run the wire.

My new rear speakers don't quite fit the factory install spots -- they're a bit too small (thanks, Crutchfield. That's not what you said when I bought them!) so they're mounted using 3 instead of all 4 screws. I'm going to need to fix that.

The amp is currently zip-tied to the metal underside of the rear deck. This is temporary until I can get a drill down there with some nuts and bolts and firmly and properly mount the amp.

I also intend to call my dealership and inquire about buying a DIN cover for use when the empeg's with me.

I need to clean my car and go to the hardware store tomorrow, but I'll take pictures this weekend and post some install pr0n soon.