Kenwood sucks
Pioneer is OK
Sony is not great, but better than Kenwood.
Panasonic used to be good, but now...? Don't know
Eclipse makes a good deck
Clarion is awesome

I love my Clarion deck, I had one before and bought a new one 4 years later, works great. I am a huge clarion fan when it comes to head units and sound processing.

I like Kicker Solobaric subs as well. The L7 is a monster. I had the Rockford HX2's before and they are also good. Either would give you the bass you want. If you get the L7, just get one. That will be enough trust me

For speakers, lose the rears and use front only for imaging. Install kick panels if you want. Use 5 1/4" component set. I have rockfords now and I like them (Fanatic X) but if you can swing something else, great. MB Quart if you can afford them, or Focal (drool!!!). Some other ppl here might know what else is good. BTW if you install kicks, leave your factory tweeters in and hook them up as well. Brings your imaging up.

For amps, I really don't know. I think the kickers are great, but I'm sure there are others that are good. The JBL's and MTX's are apparently a good amp. Again' someone here may be able to help.

Stay away from anything Kenwood or Sony when it comes to your system (maybe a Sony deck is ok). I could pull a better piece of audio gear out of my ass.

-Diabolik