I recently installed an Alpine headunit, amp, and a JL 10" subwoofer. It sounds awesome and to anyone that appreciates rock music, I recommend that size subwoofer with a ported box. Rap fans should get either more subs or just a 12" or 15" sub... If you want good quality sound: JL Audio, Alpine, Polk Mono, and Bose are all good examples. The installation process lasted me around 4 hours with my friend, it was our first time and we had to buy some tools and pieces. To anyone that has some knowledge of cars and electronics, try installing it yourself... it saved me just over $100. Some websites have fairly good installation guides:
How to Install a Car Amplifier - eHow.com
SOME THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
- I can't stress enough to unplug the battery when working with the electronics of the car.
- The most common cause of an amplifier not turning on is a bad ground. If the amp isn't working try a different spot to connect the ground cable to.
- Never EVER work on the electrical system of your car with the ground wire attached to the battery. You can damage yourself and your equipment.
- Never have your speaker or signal wires run near your amplifier's power cables. If they must cross do so perpendicularly and only in one spot. Run the two cords up opposite sides of the truck under the fire panels to the head unit. It will take away from sound quality and clarity.
- Measure the area behind your seat where you will be putting your sub. My sub box barely fit behind the passenger seat(very thankful). I also had to sacrifice the use of one of my two back seats. Any sub can fit back there, it just matters what size box you get. I managed to put my amplifier underneath my driver seat.
Good luck to all that are installing their new sound systems and I hope this was helpful to anyone that needed advice.