I've been very happy with the JL 250W amp for my sub and the Alpine 400W for the F-R speakers.

I'm not an audiophile at all, but I like clear loud music. What I've found is that getting a decent brand amp ~$250 was good enough (previous year's model sales are awesome) - the real trick was to focus on your front speakers (components with aimed and calibrated tweeters in the A-pillar areas). Rear speakers should match in power but should only provide "fill" (some people even go mono) to make a nicer sound stage where you sit as a driver.

I've been experimenting a lot trying to figure out what people meant by "soundstage", "fill", "crossover freq" etc... and from my experience the vast improvements have come from upgrades and tweaking the front speakers.

Just my $0.02 from a neurotic layman's perspective.

From what I've seen on our site, most people are picking up nice head units so I'm assuming that issue is covered.


Sort of a work in progress pic.