I am about to have my empeg installed by Best Buy (i hope my car still works afterward) and couldn't find the instruction manual for the radio module. Does anyone have a scan of it online? or is there anything important in there for them to know?

I don't remember there being one. Basically all that they have to do is plug the plug hanging off of the back of the sled into the module. The only thing I can think of that's a little off is that if they use the extension cable (don't know if you even have one), some of them were made incorrectly. They're supposed to be straight-through (that is, pin 1 on one side matches pin 1 on the other side and so on) and some of them had one pin misplaced or something. In fact, I'd just check that before I went and fix it yourself if it's miswired.

There's also the antenna that must be plugged in.
The connector on the module requires an adaptor to match up with the standard antenna connection used in the US.

Thanks Mlord! Robotic, what does that adapter look like? I think mine already has it on it, but I am not sure...

It's one of these, they seem to cost peanuts here, but a small fortune in theUS.

Wow- that's fancier than the one I have, but the general idea is the same.

A lot of stores don't seem to stock reasonably priced cables at all. And by that, I don't mean that they're overcharging. I'm sure that those Monster Cables cost them a lot, and Monster probably put a lot of money into making the cables. But, let's be honest, that money is just going down the toilet; it doesn't make the cables significantly better. But you can't find a $5 RCA cable that meets the minimum requirements to carry a signal any more.

On the other hand, nothing in the US has that European car antenna connector. I imagine that there are probably less than 1000 sold in the US in any year, maybe less. So it kinda makes sense that they'd cost more. Hell, they're probably imported from Europe.

I think it might be that they were so successful at convincing a large percentage of their cable customers that they needed expensive cabling, why bother carrying the cheap stuff at all? Combine that with the fact that people don't want to wander all over town just to find a cable, and you've got yourself a guaranteed-sale 100% markup item.

Even Radio Shack barely carries cheapo cables any more, and they're the kings of cheapo electronics.

Maplins seem to take a pretty reasonable selection of ordinary priced cables and connectors. You go to Dixon, Currys, Comet, you pay over the odds to start with. It's the same as PC World, I only go in for something that I must have now.