alpine all the way never had a problem ever with alpine

 

i use to work at a instalation shop, I use to love alpine and sony sony stopped makeing good head units in the late 90's and alpines new stuff in my opinion is not so good, had to return my last alpine 4 times and on the 4th time they told me that they were Discontinuing that modle for 06, then i bought the new 06 modle and didnt like the options mind you i bought the units in the 450-600 price range.. if you buy an alpine get one of the lower modles the high end ones have alot of useless stuff.. I like the New Kenwood's they got great reviews and Im really happy with the one I bought, I-pod ready 5v gold pre-outs and sounds really good..

all i can say is everyone has there own opinion, form your own and if you want to save money guy used subs and used amps off ebay, a good amp should last a lifetime, and a good set of subs should as wel depending on usage. figure out a price range read some revies and go listen to some speakers in that price range but stick to well know brands

 

one more thing, If your really into sound qualty dont by used JL subs the cones warp over time due to heat from the voice coils, not all series do so, only the lower modles..