I will try that, and the laundry list of other things I've compiled from searching the BBS.

The Alpine could run as Aux in to the empeg, but then it wouldn't function when the empeg was out. The relay allows me to leave the empeg at home and just use radio/CD when I'm going somewhere that I can't bring the empeg in with me (movie, restaurant, less trusted part of town, etc).

Also, the relay lets me use the volume and audio controls of each device independantly. Not a huge deal, but it's nice.

Thanks for all the tips. I'll try everything, then eventually just get the isolators.