Nail on the head, Ruffles.

One thing I've been told is that when going for good sound, you have to work backwards through the system: Start by getting the best possible speakers (and enclosures) you can get. Then get the proper amps to drive those speakers cleanly at the desired levels. Whatever money you have left over is what you spend on the head unit.

Of course, the Empeg is a special case. Still, I agree that if you're going to spend $1-2k on a stereo, you owe it to yourself to get decent amps and speakers.

The flip side is that some of the Empeg buyers aren't audiophiles. They just want a lot of MP3s in their dash without a big change in the sound. They're buying the Empeg's features, not its sound. But in that case, wouldn't proper VR be a feature you want? If so, again, you owe it to yourself to get the proper mic so that VR works well. The Andrea mic is special because it has built-in noise rejection so that it'll work in your car properly. And it mounts on the edge of your sun visor so you just leave it there and forget about it.



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Tony Fabris