i've had the same behavior on my mk2a. my nighttime dimmer setting is at 80%. when this bug occurs, if i go into the dimmer menu and scroll through the choices, 80% will always show the abnormally dim level, while higher or lower settings will be at their correct levels (so 70%, 60% etc are brighter than the 80% setting).

i thought i've noticed a correlation with powering up the mk2a when the lights are already on. in my installation, the empeg sits fairly low in the dash, and it's impossible to insert the unit while the shift selector is in park. so, i'll sometimes start up the car, move the shift selector, and then insert the empeg (i don't recommend this -- horrible speaker "pop" results). i think i've noticed that if i've also turned on the lights before inserting the unit, the "dim display bug" occurs. i'm not sure about this, and i'd have to do more research to confirm.

in any case, this certainly smells of a software problem to me, not hardware.

--dan.