I agree with Ben and Muscle for the most part ... but it all depends on what you are looking for. If you just want to add a little bump then replacing the headunit isnt a must ... but it does sound 200% better if you do. And Ben made a good point ... don't skimp on the wiring that's important. I used all 4 gauge wire and make sure to run the power down one side and the speaker wire down the other.

 

^^^ yup that's another fine point that is overlooked. always run ur power and signal far away from each other.

true h/u is not needed but as you said they do make a big difference in how it all sounds. but definately not a must.

 

It also depends which stock unit you have.

On my 07 i started with just the single disk cheapy. I replaced it with the 6 disk mp3 factory unit. That alone made a huge difference. I dont know what the power ratings are between the two, but there is a definate difference. I then added sony front and rears and it sounds very good. It sounds as good if not better thanmy two 2005's i had with an aftermarket sony and kenwood dvd player in the dash to power them. Just my .02!

 

good job on catchin the wires guys i knew i was leavin somethin out, defintelya 4 guage wire is best for most applications, and 12 guage speaker wire is perfect, also your amo is crucial, if you get a 2000 watt sub you DONT need a 2000 watt amp .. a 350-500 RMS will do fine, trust me, don't get one of these 2500 watt amps off ebay, they SUCK, once again JL is best in all areak, also kicker and rockford fosgate are great AND rather affordable compared to the JL, but once again, you get what you pay for. Most places that sell JL will replace it for free forever, at least all the places around here will, lifetime warranty, btu i think that depends on the seller.

 

I dont know dude, I guess I was not wired correctly, but once I replaced the amp, it was night and day. With the 2ohm it was allthumps and now clean bass. With the 4ohm, awesome.

 

Peddler asked to see the pics so I figured I would post them here in case anyone else wanted to see them.

 

Heres another point about cheapy amps. There is something called CEA something like certified electronics association. but basically it is a set standard as to how companies test their electronic products. With amplifiers that is that the amp is tested at 14.4V of input voltage and the root mean square output wattage (RMS) is what they rate it at. This basicallye evens the playing field and makes it fair for a consumer to see how much wattage the amp they are buying will put out. it is easy for companies that do not participate in CEA to just make false advertisement. lots of times what they say is 2000 watts peak power. peak power is meaningless. lots of times what the company does is overload the amp with what say 25V of input voltage and mebbe for .5555 secs it puts out 2k watts but then it fries. well they label that as peak voltage and sell it as such. the RMS wattage may only be 200 watts for all we know.
most reputable companies are CEA complaint, Rockford, kicker, MTX.

The only exception to this is JL audio they are not CEA compliant. JL does not rate their amps at14.4V because they realize that most people will not have a charging system in their vehicle taht will hold 14.4V with a load on it. they rate their amps at 12.5V which is fine with me because it is true most charging systems won't.thus jl is the only exception.