Ta for the input!

I'm fine with turning the unit off manually. My current Kenwood KDC-9050R (which does indeed draw its power from a separate Yellow 12v wire and turns itself on and off depending on the state of a red (ACC) wire) is set up with its main power and ACC wires both connected to the 12v supply coming from the ISO connector in the car. This is because I need to use the unit without the key in the ignition and the only way u can achieve this with the Kenwood is by powering the ACC permanently.

I haven't had the chance to try it out yet but if the Empeg is clever enough to allow the unit to be turned back on manually after power to its ACC wire is cut (ie key taken out of ignition) then that would be fine, I can connect it up as it is supposed to be (ie Orange on the Switched Accessories line and Yellow on permanent 12v) and still use it without the key. Having to turn it back on again once the key is removed isn't a huge problem.

If however it doesn't allow you to do this then I'll have to power both wires permanently which then brings up a further question:

It states in the manual that the Ignition Sense Input (Orange) wire shouldn't be permanently connected to 12v to "avoid excessive battery drain". Does this mean that even in standby mode the Empeg draws enough power to kill a battery if left over a few days or does it simply mean that if you do this you run the risk of leaving the unit playing by mistake? If it's the latter then that's ok 'cos I've been living with turning my radio off manually for years!



Oh and to avoid confusion, here's my original plan explained a little better.

Assuming that the Orange (Ignition Sense) wire HAS to be live in order for the Empeg to operate then I propose to wire my system like this:

1) The Empeg's Yellow (Permanent 12v) and Orange (Ignition Sense) wires would be wrapped together and connected to a permanent 12v source along with the Kenwood's Yellow (Permanent 12v) wire too. It's possible I could connect the Kenwood's yellow wire to a separate pernmanent 12v source if the combined load would be be too large otherwise.

2) The Empeg's Blue (Amplifier Remote Power On) wire would be connected to the Kenwood's ACC (Red) wire thus in theory causing the Kenwood to turn off when the Empeg is turned off manually.

3) The Kenwood's existing External Amplifier Control wire (pink/black if you're interested!) would connect to the amplifier's control terminal thus in turn switching it on when the Kenwood switches on. The only down side here is the Kenwood will have to active whenever the Empeg is in order for the amp to work but that's not a real problem.

Unless of course the Empeg could supply enough voltage down the blue wire to turn on the Kenwood AND the amp itself... but that's another question and this post is far too long already