Before I bought the Xfire I spent 4 years and a lot of effort taking a 1985 Alfa Romeo Graduate Spider (from a barn existence) to sunlight. I found an Alpine with a hard wire connection and with a little careful sanding was able to mount it in the OEM dashboard. The alpine had a hardwire, from the rear, and it was easily operated from the head unit! And it sounded great. Two years later, they all sound similar out of the box. I know if I asked if do you need the factory amp, a lot of people would say, "no, the replacement H/U works fine w/o the amp, and I am sure it would. I can feel it but want to get that yes,yes that it works before the next whoops step. I am not afraid of taking a chance! in 19