Okay... getting weirder!

1. I got in the car, turned the key to Acc. and started the player up. NOISE (like a modem hearing the empeg do its thing).

2. Started the car. NOISE.

3. Allowed car to run for awhile (perhaps to let the alternator charge the capacitor). NOISE.

4. By-passed capacitor. NOISE.

5. Turned off car. (No need to charge the Capacitor anymore). NOISE.

6. Re-crimped empeg's ground connector at battery (what the hell, why not?). NOISE.

7. Laid self in front of car and released parking brake. NOISE.

8. Un-plugged both RCA's to 4-ch. amp. NO-NOISE.

9. Plugged in only rear RCA's. NO-NOISE. (got a big THUMP because I left everything hooked up and turned on).

10. Plugged in fronts (and rears) NO-NOISE. (Huh? didn't this combo give me noise just a few moments ago??)

11. Re-connected capacitor. NO-NOISE.

12. I then did a combo of pulling the player from the sled, turning the car on and off a bunch just for the hell of it - NO NOISE.

At this point, I don't get it. Maybe that "thump" from the RCA's getting plugged into a live amp gave the system the slap upside its head that it had coming to it! I also have a gut feeling that if I go out to the car tomorrow morning, I'll be back to NOISE.

Here's one thing, I don't think that my low power issue has anything to do with my noise. After I turned the car off, the player started giving the battery icon a bunch of times and my annoying "self-reboot" - a sure sign that the battery was getting low from the audio testing. Yet, as time went on, the noise went away.. So low power didn't add to my problem.