> I've always been curious about the "myth" that: A majority
> of cars have a stock amp burried somewhere in their dash;
> not built in to their stock head unit. Is this true? Is there a
> general set of manufacturers that do this?

It's usually the "upper" trim lines and/or cars that come with the "premium" sound systems that have the amp as a separate unit vs. built into the head. Therefore a *minority* of cars, not a majority.

Also, the separate amps are often installed in the boot/trunk or other places vs. the dash.

> And... why would they?

Well, perhaps for two reasons I can think of:

1. heat dissipation: the premium systems are typically higher-output and often more than four-channel systems and therefore give off more heat.

2. More flexibility in in-dash offerings: even if the premium OEM double-din head unit currently available for the car has no more features than the non-premium OEM single-din unit, they had the options, during development, to stick a bunch more features in that space because the amps were elsewhere. But perhaps their analysis of the market dictated that no extra features were really warranted.

> So I wonder, if the vast majority of aftermarket headunits
> can have amps inside, then why don't stock head units do
> the same?

Again, I think this is for year-to-year marketing flexibility.

> Wouldn't it be more costly to include an external
> amp in a stock car?

Yes, but they are typically found in the upper trim lines and/or extra cost items. The head unit alone for my Element EX costs over $600 (at discount...nearer to $800 list) and is just a tuner/cd-player with 5 channel line level out. So yeah, the setup costs the manufacturer more, but they pass that cost, and a lot more, on to the buyer.

> And it all boils down to: How can an empeg be powered by
> this mythical burried amp WHILE the stock headunit is out?

empeg powed by an amp??? I assume you meant to say "how can an empeg send music through the...amp". The answer is: by connecting it via harnesses/wires. Typically, the amp would be expecting line-level outs, which the empeg generates.

> Does the wiring harnass accept line-level outputs that go to
> the amp (as opposed to my notion that it accepts speaker-
> level outputs that go straight to the speakers)?

typically, yes.

-brendan