That's a pretty major hike!

On imported stuff to the UK you're usually looking at 10% import duty and 17.5% VAT. I've never been stung for more than this, though that was bad enough (still makes sense to buy CDs from CDNOW though...)

One thing: Cambridge car audio (the local-to-empeg installers) used to do Rockford Fosgate but stopped after many problems - faulty units, unreliable units, etc.

Maybe you should try a different brand - Kicker are thought to be pretty damn good (ok, I have one in my beetle - see the installs forum - but it sounds great to me). Specs are similar - 40x4+250x1ish (class D?/T? sub amp) - kicker impulse 405, it goes for a lot less than $1000 and has neat touches like a remote sub gain control that I've got fitted under my dash.

Hugo