for cheep but good. head unit il relly liek pionner have ahd good results with it my fried has also. Don't kn wwhich speacker to get i have pionner 4 ways whch good if they are amped but you should probly go for something else like eclyps. As for aps you can find good deals at soem car audio places and im not talking about cheep ****, but the stuff that is good. I got a rokford fosgate 150 watt rms amp for only 100$ so if you shop at a small privet place you can dig up soem good deals.
DO NOT GET SONY I REPT DO NOT GET SONY.

 

With head units, you get what you pay for. If you are only interested in sound quality and not gimmics, I highly recomend the Naka 45-z, or high end eclipse. With speakers it is often a preference thing. I personaly hate pioneers, because they enphasize way to much Treb, and I like mids for this Ilike Bostons (not cx or rx) or the good Nakas. The best way to decide on speakers is listen to then, one set after the other, at the settings you like. DONT LET SOME SALES GUY PUMP IT THROUGH A HUGE AMP. When you get it in your car it sounds so different.

 

the jvc el kameleon is a sweet head unit. that was what i had at first. that got jacked. insurance wouldnt give me another jvc cuz they would only get a detatchable face. they gave me a kenwood. pretty good, but not nearly as good as the jvc. that got stolen also, so now i have nothing. my dad wouldnt make another claim cuz the rates would shoot thru the roof. also its a $200 deductable and theres no use when i can buy another one for a little more. the high end eclipse is really good too.

 

I got last years model of JVC. I just got my JVC subs last week, had to special order them, then had a custom box built. The JVC AX6700 amp should be in by Thursday. Soon as i get all that done i'm going to put in 3-way JVC 6.5" all around with another JVC amp running them, and the new El Kameleon.
All JVC in my car, I don't want mismatched crap. And i had a set of Pioneer speakers and they sucked. Their new decks aren't bad though but i'd say JVC all the way in my personal opinion but i know their not the absolute best.

 

Yup.. I'll vouch for Pioneer and Eclipse's products. I'm running a Pioneer Premier head in my car now, and the judges rave about the sound quality. (of course, my head was designed for competition use.
I also had an older Pioneer tape player/changer controller and an EQ in there for years. I sold the stuff a few months ago (when I got my new head unit).. the deck was ~5 yrs old and the EQ was ~4 yrs old.. they still work flawlessly. I started the competition season with them in my car, and still got very high scores.

I bought a mid/high-range Eclipse for the GF's birthday and installed it in her Altima a month or so ago. It's an awesome unit. very simply laid out, no gimmicks. just good clean sound with plenty of power.
Want lots of lights, buttons, and gimmicks? Buy Pioneer, Sony, Panasonic, or JVC.
want a simple deck with clean sound? buy eclipse, Pioneer Premier, Nakamichi, clarion-ProAudio, or Alpine.

speakers: Boston are fine, I fine them WAY too bright with their titanium domes. I had some in my car for about a year, then immediately switched to FOCAL when I heard them for the first time.
Pioneer speaker are great for someone on a bugjet. they're very fairly priced and sound pretty good and will take TONS of abuse. I had a set of $70 6.5" 2-ways in my old truck for 3 years (before I bought the Bostons).. they were a little bright, but they'd still kick out enough bass to shake the mirror on 50watts. I ran them on a 150w amp for a looong time, and they were only rated for 70W.
I would put Rockford fosgate's mid-fi stuff right about this same range too. I did some door panels for Ryan Fobart (Killermove)'s car, and when I got them done, I installed his rockfords in my car. they gave my $500 FOCAL components a run for their money! Hmmm, $120 rockfords... $5000 FOCAL.. which would you choose?

Eclipse are also good speakers from what I've heard, but I don't have any personal experience with them.


amps.. see my statements about head units above. they all make pretty good stuff, but also throw in Precision power, Orion, Kicker, MTX, even Lanzar if you can still find them on the market. (they went out of business I think, but still have lots of stuff out there).

 

Kicker makes one hell of a sub aswell, their amps aren't the best but are ok. Kenwood Excelon decks are good decks too.

Hey matt i was going to ask you. Those pods you made for the front doors they hold 6 1/2"s???