I just installed my empeg player along with a Rockford Fosgate 200a4 amplifier in my 1999 Nissan Altima. I ran into 4 problems, of which I have fixed 3 and worked around 1 for now.

Problem #1: My Altima uses a "ISO mount" mounting bracket, and the empeg mounting cage has no screw holes for such a device, and little clearance to add them. I managed to drill and tap it and use 10-32 screws to hold the bracket in place. I then cut the screws to length with a dremmel tool, so they are flush with the inside of the docking sled. It would be nice it came with these holes so I didn't have to estimate the right position.

Problem 2: I get static, even with the engine off. It seems that even having a ground wire and being mounted to metal car wasn't good enough, I drilled and tapped another hole in the back of the sled and made a short ground cable, then screwed it to the car.

Problem 3: The amplifier "pops" when it gets turned off. I saw suggestions to use resistors, capacitors, etc. al. on the RCA jacks. What finally worked was to get a 4 amp automotive choke + capacitor from Radio Shack and install it on the ignition line. Wonder of wonders, for the first time in my life I met a competent and helpful RS employee.

Problem 4: I still have alternator noise when the engine is running. I have tried grounding just about everything to everything in search of a cure for this, as well as choking the 12V "memory" power. No dice. Then I discover that disconnecting either the front or the rear inputs from the amp makes the noise go away on the remaining speakers. I had a couple of theories about this, that all turned out to be insubstantiated: It isn't cross-talk between the front and rear channels, they run on opposite side of the car. It isn't straining the amplifier, since there is no noise when I wire front and back speakers in parallel to the same channel. It isn't straining the electrical system, since it is fine with the engine off. Tomorrow, I will go to the stereo store here and see if they have any ideas on how to get it working with all 4 channels.

Has anyone run into this problem before? It looks like an amplifier issue to me, but it is hard to tell without a scope. Currently, my best idea is to put a choke on the amplifier power line, but that doesn't explain the weird front-back interference.