I've recently moved to NYC, and as such I do not really ever use my car (and may sell it). I've been using the empeg hooked up to my stereo, but the sound quality is not nearly as good as it was in the car (obviously because it is now going to only two speakers rather than four). Is there any way to rectify this situation and improve the sound quality to that in the car? Suggestions?

Define "sound quality".

The empeg is sending the same quality signal to your home stereo as it did to the car amplifier (albeit at the corrected voltage for home systems). So there shouldn't be anything wrong with the source audio.

Perhaps you just need to EQ it a bit?

Maybe it's because the audio out on the car sled uses 4v outputs and the RCA outputs on the player itself only are 1v.
There have been people before who said they liked the 4v sound output better. The only way to use the 4v outputs in-house is then to build a docking station with your car sled.

Or maybe the stereo system in your car is just of better quality than the one you have in-house? (so you stereo is at fault, and not your empeg?)

I'm just guessing here because -obviously- things like "sound quality" are highly subjective.

There have been people before who said they liked the 4v sound output better.

Sure, if you define "sound quality" as "louder". The home outputs should deliver the same sound quality as the car outputs do, just at a different voltage.

I would really like to know his definition of "sound quality". He could be referring to many things, volume being one of them. He might mean that he's got ground loop noise on his home stereo. He might mean there's not enough bass. He might mean that his home stereo is better and lets him hear the MP3 compression artifacts more clearly. He might mean he's getting distortion because he plugged the player into the "phono" jacks on his home stereo (a no-no). He could mean anything. So let's see what his definition of "sound quality" is, first, then we'll work on the problem.

a little off topic, but i recently got some CDT front components installed. I must say, only the songs that i personally ripped myself sound any good on them. any poorly encoded (or, in some cases, where the source came from a vinyl instead of a cd). keep in mind that they sounded perfect on my old speakers, due to lack of quality. now, i hear crackles, pre-echos, and even sync errors when someone used burst mode.

kinda sucks to explain to my friends why some song that they heard in my car sounds crappy and hissy now. so... i guess i'm paying the price for trying to improve my sound quality.

He might mean that his home stereo is better and lets him hear the MP3 compression artifacts more clearly.

I think that's what I mean. There seems to be more background noise and or an echo effect of sorts when I use the player attached to my stereo as opposed to in the car. I would also like it if it were a bit louder; is there any feasible way to utilize the 4V inputs in conjunction with my stereo?

There seems to be more background noise and or an echo effect of sorts when I use the player attached to my stereo as opposed to in the car.

MP3 compression usually does not sound like background noise or echo effect.

Please describe the background noise. Put the player on "pause", is the noise still there? You could simply be describing a ground loop with the AC adapter, usually solved by trying a different power supply.

If you hear an echo effect, check to make sure that your home stereo is not set for some sort of "cinema surround sound" effect.

Perhaps it would help if you described your home stereo, and how the empeg is connected to it, in more detail. For instance, what input is the empeg plugged into on your home stereo and what are the stereo's settings on that input?

I would also like it if it were a bit louder; is there any feasible way to utilize the 4V inputs in conjunction with my stereo?

Yes, either with a second docking sled, by purchasing another car docking connector (just the black plastic part and the pins), or buy purchasing/building your own home docking station.

However, first check to make sure that, when plugged into your home stereo, the empeg is turned up to 0db maximum (but not overdriven past 0db). That is the correct setting for home use.