I've been empeg-only for as long as I've owned the empeg.

Reason: The whole point of getting an empeg was so that I don't have to carry CDs with me. Why would I want a CD player?

Recently, though, I broke down and put a portable CD player in the glove box and ran the aux-in wires someplace I could reach them. That satisfies the need to occasionally pop in a not-yet-ripped CD, or a CD from a passenger. However, this happens very rarely, at most once or twice a year.

If you are planning on doing a full two-stereo installation just so you can play the occasional onesie-twosie CD, I think that's overkill. I think you're much better off putting the portable CD player in the glove box and using it when it's needed.


There are other advantages to going empeg-only:

- No heat from the adjacent CD player to ruin your empeg's hard disks.

- No confusion with which-thing-needs-to-be-turned-on and which-input-is-selected.

- The empeg is 100 percent theft proof when you pull it from your dash. CD players no longer have that feature and will still get stolen (I once had a removable faceplate stereo stolen even though the face was off).

- The empeg can be easily stealth-installed as pictured here, reducing the chance of theft even further.

- Fewer components in your installation means less chance of a ground loop in the wiring.

- The empeg is much nicer-looking in the dash of most cars, with its clean simple design, compared to all the gaudy aftermarket CD players with too many buttons and too much text on the faceplate.