So I picked up a 5.1 amp and a subwoofer real cheap on ubid and went down to the local installer to see what it would cost to get my brand spankin new empeg installed and connected to the new amp and sub. US$400. So, I've decided to forget the sub for now (it was only $20 anyway) and just buy a new head unit that has an aux in. It will be half the price and I will have tangible hardware for my dollars spent rather than just labor that will disappear as soon as I get a new car (in about a year).

But, it occurred to me that somebody, sometime has probably come up with a 4 channel amp that fits in a 1 DIN space. I'd rather go spend my money on that just for simplicity rather than having to deal with all the doodad overhead of a full-blown head unit in addition to my empeg + tuner.

I spent about 30 minutes digging through the archives here but couldn't find any discussion of such a beast. Maybe my choice of keywords sucked because I can't imagine that it hasn't come up before. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Why so much. I would try another car audio installation place. I just had my 4GA amp wire ran through my car and another 18GA wire ran to my fuse box for $20. The wire was bought last year for $40. I know thats not everything you need wired but thats the jist of it, I can't tell you what else anything would cost to install cause I did the rest myself. Surely you could find someone to do it cheaper.

I wouldn't want an amplifier in my dash next to the player. Would give off too much heat and heat up the empeg-- not good for the disk drives.

I have seen amps that were small enough to fit in a space like that, but they were cheap and too low power to give a clean signal even at low volumes. High quality amps require a certain amount of physical mass, as well as decent heat sinks and ventilation. The dashboard isn't the right place for them.

If installation cost is your only problem, I suggest DIY: Get your amp from Crutchfield with a proper installation wiring kit and read the booklets they send along with their stuff. It's a lot of work, but if you're decent with tools you should be able to handle it.

Old ford granadas had a din sized amp below the stereo but it was pants. if you are running cables for a sub and amp run a few more for a fourchannel amp you could be real lazy and run cables back to the dash and then go through the cars excisting speaker wiring.

i did this due to time constraints but the next install won't do this.

Well it can't be any worse than running your empeg through another head unit now can it Tony. Actually a small DIN sized amp *should* be better than any built-in head unit amp. I have a small 4 channel Magnat amp (Magnat Classic 170) that is just slightly smaller than a DIN slot, and I'm more than happy with it - is more than powerful enough for my factory speakers (43W/channel into 4 ohm speakers). Unfortunately you don't seem to be able to get them anymore. At least I haven't been able to find them :-(

Well it can't be any worse than running your empeg through another head unit now can it Tony.

Something else I wouldn't do.