This space however is irrelevant because I should not have to treat this head unit any differently than any other car stereo out there. (I would not have these issues with a Kenwood, Sony Etc.)

Actually the empeg runs a lot cooler than many other head units - and MUCH cooler than a head with an internal amp (if you were to use that amp). I've burned a finger really badly on a well known branded CD head with 4x45W outputs - but it wasn't faulty, it just got hot.

If the solid state fuse trips, a faint "hot electrical" smell may be detected - this is Normal." What??? Normal??? a few minutes to reset? or is it cool?

I don't think you quite understand what that means - this is a very cool feature of the player! If you manage to blow the fuse (e.g. by shorting something out, or other such problem) you don't have to replace anything - you just wait for it to reset. This kind of fuse works by getting very hot when it trips, hence the smell. Thats how ALL solid state fuses work - you wait a few minutes, they cool down, and reset.

To repeat myself, the player doesn't need a fan - we've never had a temperature related failure. Not one.

Plus it no longer locks up, crashes or reboots.

Your player was doing that and you didn't contact support?? They don't do that! We have hundreds of players in southern California, Florida and Arizona and no problems reported - obviously something was amiss with yours. It's a shame you chose to open it up, fit a fan and invalidate the warranty!

Rob