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not sure if anyone is super knowledgable on car audio but i figured i would put it out there..

i want to upgrade my system in my transam at some point... its a 2002 firebird basically.

I have a rear 10" JL stealth box and 2 sets of MB Quart RSC216 Component/crossover speaker sets (6.5")

So i need electronics basically....
I was looking at a Alpine PDX-5 Amp, but am open to suggestions
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290408825578&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

i need 5 channels, either 2 amps or 1 amp with 5 channels

Headunits i am open to,but would like a touch screen unit

those alpine amps are really nice, but if i were to do another system again, i would give some serious thought of going with old school ppi audio 'art' series amps. a404 or a400's for the mids/tweets, and a a600 for the subs. by far some of the best amps ever built imo.

are you serious about imaging and staging and all that, or do you just want something that sounds nice?

i dont have any rear mids or tweets in my firebird, just some cdt mids and tweets in the stock door pods and some cdt image inhancement tweets mounted into the a-pillars cross-firing across the windshield. my imaging and staging is amazing if i say so myself... so, if you wanted to save space and only use the rear mids/tweets for 'fill', you could just run them off an amplified deck and then bridge the 3-4 channels on that alpine amp to the sub.

if you lived closer i'd give you a listen... for the head unit, get something from a good company that as high of preamp voltage as you can get so your amps get a really nice and strong signal. (e.g. eclipse)

woofersetc.com, partsexpress.com, and crutchfield.com are all good places imo. you gotta make the decision between cheap on ebay and no support, or spend a little more and have a no-questions warranty.
i got my headunit (top of the line alpine at the time) for less than half cost through crutchfields scratch and dent section. and i can for the life of me see anywhere where it was scratched, or dented.

oh my... soooo cheap...

http://cgi.ebay.com/PRECISION-POWER-PPI-A600-2-ART-OLD-SCHOOL-SQ-CLASSIC_W0QQitemZ260561693345QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item3caaafeaa1#ht_500wt_1182
http://cgi.ebay.com/ppi-art-series-a404-2_W0QQitemZ130372068439QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item1e5ac7e457#ht_500wt_1182
http://cgi.ebay.com/Precision-Power-PPI-a200-art-series-amplifier_W0QQitemZ280473445821QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item414d8525bd#ht_500wt_1182
http://cgi.ebay.com/Precision-Power-PPI-ax400-art-series-amplifier_W0QQitemZ280473442797QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item414d8519ed#ht_500wt_1182
http://cgi.ebay.com/precision-power-amp-A300-art-series_W0QQitemZ260561169540QQcmdZViewItemQQptZCar_Amplifiers?hash=item3caaa7ec84#ht_500wt_1182

You can't go wrong with Alpine. I use to be brand loyal to them and would pay whatever. With my newest car though, I just went into a locally owned car audio place ready to buy big power for my JLs and the guy talked me into a Pioneer that was half the price of the Alpine I was looking at. The Pioneer has worked great for over a year now. It gets pretty warm, but has never evn hinted at shutting down. It hits hard. I would agree on high wattage on the deck. It makes a huge difference. The ones today have gotten pretty powerful. If I could do it again, I would buy one with a USB that can read mp3 files. Hooking an mp3 player up is fine, but it would be nice to have a USB for a flash drive. I'm no expert though, I just like to feel my music while I hear it. A good stereo completely changes your view of sitting in traffic.

One other thing. Invest in Dynamat or Roadkill. Really any kind of vibration killing product. It just sounds better and eliminates that rattle you hear coming from a lot of cars. You may already know this, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

THEYTOOKMYTHUMB wrote:One other thing. Invest in Dynamat or Roadkill. Really any kind of vibration killing product. It just sounds better and eliminates that rattle you hear coming from a lot of cars. You may already know this, but I felt it was worth mentioning.

agreed.

i read a little while back that the power output from even a high power head units is still bugger all, it might have 4 x56 watts but only 7-10 watts are good quaility when when the internal amp is pushed.. any good system must be externally amplified!.

alpine is very good gear, i also like eclipse head units and nakamichi!, as for amps soundstream, phoenix gold have a very good name which ive used on quite a few installs. sounds like your installing some good gear indeed, sound deadening and the mounting of speakers on craft wood is esential. the head unit needs to be isolated from vibration preferably. are you doing it yourself?