From personal experience, I find that Boston Acoustic, Rockford Fosgate and Alpine make excellent speakers/component systems. Infinity makes excellent speakers as well, but they tend to blow their crossovers easily.

For subwoofers, I recommend Kickers, hands down. Their Comp are nice subs, but if you want to really pump out the bass, get L5 or L7 squares. I have two 10" L7 square subs in the trunk of the Accord (just waiting for an amplifier ). My friend has the same setup, but in his 2002 Ranger (he has one L7 instead of two), and it is incredible. The squares punch out the same low-end as a 12" with the responsiveness as a conventional 10".

Amplifiers vary. Alpine and Rockford Fosgate seem to make good amps, but it depends. I'm not too terribly knowledgeable in this area.

For headunits, Alpine or Pioneer, preferably Alpine. I've been using them for years, never a single problem, and they're build quality and options are unbeatable.

Don't go to Best Buy for anything but simple stuff like capicators. Their selection sucks, and they don't have a clue how to probably install components.

I'd use Tweeter or a dedicated audio store for install work. Our Tweeter around here is excellent.

Good luck.

And as a recommendation, keep your options open. Don't buy the first thing that sounds good...there's plenty of good audio companies out there.