claims to have done about a dozen or so Rio Car/Empeg installs.

A dozen or so? Highly unlikely.

Do the math... even in Alaska, where the total population of the state is less than a modestly-sized city anywhere else in the country, there are at least 20 stereo shops. I would guess that the average U.S. state probably has 10 times as many -- say 200. Times 50 states, that would be 10,000 stereo shops in the U.S. alone.

Let's guess and say that 60% of the 4,000 empegs went to the U.S., and further guess and say that 50% of those empegs were professionally installed (as opposed to owner installed). That would be about 1200 Rio Car/empeg installs spread out over 10,000 stereo shops, or an average of about one installation for every eight shops.

How can you explain the likelihood of this shop in Northern Virginia (an area that is certainly not a hotbed of empeg activity in the first place, not compared to Northeastern US, or Texas, or California) doing empeg installations at a rate of 100 times what you would expect by averages?

It's like the old saying, "Be wary of somebody who says he enjoys a cold shower in the morning. Since he lies about that, he'll lie about other things too."

tanstaafl.