You don't have to spend a lot of money if you do your research, shop around for deals, and do a great install.

In my Integra (beater), I used a home-made passive crossover, an Adire mid, an Altec Lansing tweeter, and a Tang Band sub with a Planet Audio 4ch amp.

Add that all together and you're under $150

More importanty, I looked at on and off-axis frequency responses for lots of drivers, box plans, used Peel-n-Seal and weather stripping everywhere, and tested different tweeter mounting locations and mid angles.

And in the end, it sounds better than the first $1000 system that I had in my S2000 (That got stolen )[QUOTE]Originally posted by s2kmugen

 

really?.... I've tried the "Cheap" set of amp kits before and came across problems.... as for the JBL amps.. sounds like they're making a change.. but I'm still not to sold about how clean the boards are.. maybe b/c Ive been using PPI (before they sold out) for a while... anyways... 600$... sounds like a good buy.. but I'll stick to my set up..

 

Not every cheap amp kit is good. But the Scosche is

And the friend of mine whose truck I installed the BP1200 in has been running it at 1 ohm since the day he bought it with no problems, squeezing every last drop out of it for an ED A series sub (Yeah, he's that kind of louder-is-better type )

But more power to you if you like the more expensive stuff. The econ skills I'm supposed to have tell me that the more people spend, the more manufacturers will make car audio parts.

And I love having a big selection

As far as amps go, I've used a number of different brands of amps (JL, Autotek, Nakamichi, Planet Audio, MA Audio, Memorex (eh heh...no, it wasn't *supposed* to be a car amp but I couldn't wait to test some speakers ), and helped friends install different amps (Boss, Hifonics, JBL, Aura, Profile, ARC)

Anyhow...the biggest constant seems to be that more headroom is what leads to better sound. I really haven't seen any amp have significantly "cleaner" power than another amp--just underrating and overrating.

And an amp that claims 50 watts per channel but is only 35 watts per channel is just as good as an amp that claims 20 watts per channel but actually is 35 watts...

This is of course, within amps that are near each other in quality. Of course, there will be small differences but you'll hear distortion from your speakers way before you hear the difference in amps...

Now there's a topic that can be discussed for hours...

I really shop for durability and features more than anything else...

 

My suggestion would be to buy one pair of very high quality speakers for the doors and a decent amp. Plan on keeping the front speakers and amp forever. Now the way to save money. I was more interested in size and weight for my sub than anything else. I have pair of high quality front speakers , stock head unit, and an older high end alpine amp. I had an older 8 inch bazooka sub that sounded decent. In order to save space I took a chance and bought a new jensen jts82 bass reflex tube type subwoofer off ebay for fifty bucks. I am amazed at the sound. I am sure the big dollar systems sound better, but I can drive with the top down at any speed and enjoy any type of music I desire.