Theres plenty of ways to get a sick system for even under $500. You don't need to spend thousands on all this expensive stuff. I bought a sick 2600 Watt Soundstorm Class D amp on sonic electronix along with 2 Eclipse subs, and my bass is loud as hell, and I've had it in my car for about a year and a half, and everythings working fine. For speakers, I recommend alpine, soundstream, and boss. I've had good good experience with all those. I know of friends who use the VR3 $50 200 Watt amp from wal-mart to power up an MTX 4500 12" and it pounds! Thats like $140 spent right there. +17 for the wiring kit.