wr400f, here is what i think they did (confirm if you could). i have thought of trying this myself. the line level converters are connected to the OEM speaker outputs from the OEM amp. the signal output from the OEM HU is low level (i measured it to confirm my suspicion). this is the only way to "step down" a signal (line level converters step down the voltage). to use the output from the deck would require a "line driver" to step up the voltage for use with an aftermarket amp. doing it the way i think they did negates the need to run RCAs from the HU (which would require the plugs from the deck to be wired directly to the preamp board in the deck)to the trunk, which obviously is alot less work.

this is an interesting question/comment. you can fade the rear/front doors speakers only, not the woofers/front. the brightness and midbass loss that you described tells me that they DID NOT rewire the speakers. you are using Focals for the front door and OEM triangle and rear door? 2 channels are driving all of the front speakers. what load does the amp see (not including the woofers, you know that)? it, i am sure, would surprise you and your installer. are the focals full range (coax/triax)? try disconnecting the rear door speaker. what i would have explored is what additional expense would it have been to use a 2 way speaker system for the front door (mid bass/mid range) and tweeter for the triangle (passive X-over) and ignore the rear door speaker (not much good to the driver and passenger).rewiring would be necessary.

i think an EQ is a good idea, one that accepts 4 channels. you could fade the woofers from that.

break in period for speakers?? really....your ears might, but that doesnt make any sense to me.

trent, what do you think?? the odd speaker resistance is not because of a passive X-over somewhere in the car (to my knowledge, with lots of research). each speaker's rating is odd so that the amp will see an acceptable load, through creative wiring, while driving 8 speakers from 4 channels. i dont know how they are wired (parallel/series/combo), but i do know that disconnecting one speaker (like a rear) will change the load and the front speakers will not sound the same, which is to be expected. how long did it take you to rewire the car?? the "division points" will tell the truth (parallel, ect..) how many wires enter the door? "cheap" is obviously relative. to me, to use a high spec amp and retain the OEM HU is wasteful; the weakest link is the HU and the performance will be limited by the "weakest link". an entry level amp from a reputable company has, actually, quite impressive specs, and even those will exceed the capacity of an OEM deck. my point is that if the goal is to greatly improve on the OEM sound, using the OEM HU, it can be done relatively inexpensively. this is an issue for me because the car is leased (i would never plan on keeping a car for a long time, better ones come out) and i wouldnt go through the expense only to turn it in. this is an interesting challenge, that is, how much better can it sound with minimal work and expense? i plan on surprising alot of doubters. any additional details/comments about your system that you share is very appreciated...