Three problems with my audio system upgrade (at the midpoint in my installation):

1. I wired the factory remote turn-on lead to my amp and EQ (factory wire split into two wires). Now that I'm sitting in front of the computer, I don't remember the color of the wire, but I followed the factory schematic, and it denotes "SB" as the "Amp on Signal," so I think it was Sky Blue (or some other blue). My problem is this--Amp and EQ ("Units") are off when ignition is off. When key is moved into the accesory position or the car is turned over, the Units turn on even if the stereo is off. Ideally, I'd like Units to turn on only when the stereo is turned on. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the Navigation, since the voice guidance utilized the audio system. The only problem with this reasoning is that even when I turn the voice guidance off, the Units still power up while the stereo is off. Any ideas?

2. I installed my Diamond s600 components, EQ, and amp. Now, the balance control on the stereo doesn't work correctly. Everything worked fine with teh stock speakers and factory amp. The following scenario occurs when fader is set to full front (Can't test rear right now because I only mocked-up Units for front speakers--as previously mentioned, everything worked when system was stock). When the the fader is set to full front and balance is set to full left, there is no sound. Full right works fine. I tested both left and right speakers by flipping the outputs on the amp, and both left and right speakers work fine. Regardless of whether the left balance output is driving the right speakers or it's "tricked" into driving the left speakers, the left balance flat out doesn't work. I do get a buzz from the nonworking side that is amplitude proportional to the input gain on the amp (PLEASE SEE FULL DESCRIPTION IN ITEM 3, BELOW). Did I screw up by using the input for one crossover by utilizing the tweeter leads, and feeding the other crossover with the factory woofer leads? That's all I can think of right now. This will be the first thing I test tomorrow. Has anyone else experienced this and found a solution?

As a side note, I ended up mounting the crossover at the bottom of the door towards the back (coupe). I had to remove a yellow foam block and cut the plastic mounts for the block from the plastic finisher, but it's the perfect location. I drilled a pilot hole into the door (actual door--not the plastic finisher), then mounted each crossover with two #6 x 3/4" slotted hex head machine screws (not self-starting). The install is rock-solid, and there's no way they're going to accidentally pop off. Since I mounted the xovers on top of the dynamat I'd previously applied, there is also an extra measure of protection from noise caused by xover on metal. I also fabricated an adapter ring from .080" aluminum for the 6 1/2" speaker (which is also sitting on a dynamat ring). Last, I shaved the inside of the factory tweeter mounting pillars with a Dremel to better accomodate the Diamond tweets. Pictures of all this, plus my sub enclosure and amp rack will be posted down the road when I finish this phase of my audio upgrade.

3. One last problem. Right before I started this phase of my audio upgrade, I encountered a low frequency oscillation coming from my sub. Previously, I just had a mono sub amp with line level inputs spliced from the factory sub inputs feeding a single 10". I did multiple things wrong with that setup including grounding the amp to the stiffening capacitor (which had its own ground, which in turn was probably not even a good ground--bolt behind rear seat that had a bracket with some brown fuse-looking thing attached to it). I also had the amp and cap mounted to the speaker box and removed the whole shabang periodically. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the cap would fully discharge over time during the occasions when I removed the sub unit from my car, and when I re-connected the power to the cap when reinstalling the subwoofer unit, I'd get huge, scary arcs (the cap posts are pocked with points where the metal melted). Nonetheless, everything worked pretty well, until one day when I accidentally shorted the + and - terminals of the cap with an allen wrench as I was reinstalling the sub unit (This happened after power lead was connected, as I was tightening bolt on ground terminal). That was about the point where I got the low frequency subwoofer oscillation, although I'm not sure if the short directly caused the hum or damage to other components that now causes problems in all my aftermarket gear. The amplitude of the hum was directly proportional to the input gain. Which leads me to the present. Armed with quite a bit more knowledge, this latest installation utilizes a new power amp, component speakers (sub, sub amp, 1/0 cable upgrade from current 4 AWG, and cap not installed yet--still in testing phase) and a new ground location (one of the factory studs near where the factory bose amp was, ground clean of paint, debris and other caca). The hum is back, but only shows up in the nonworking side (i.e., full "right" position on head unit balance control, regarless of whether feeding left or right speakers--see #2, above). The hum now sounds like a buzz. Also, for a while, I had gone back to factory everything, and I didn't have any problems. This one has me truly stumped and I don't know where to even start.

Thanks all, and I'm looking forward to sharing my detailed install pics. I've learned a lot, I'm sure I'll learn a lot more, and I'd love to help others who are contemplating the same type of installation job, and save them some time and $$$!!!