Any advice on car audio?

Yes, it is possible to get good sound -- infact, surprisingly good sound -- in a car. However, it is NOT possible to do this cheaply. In addition to the cost of the equipment itself, it is absolutely necessary to install sound deadening materials inside the car. Road noise is very intrusive, particularly if you have an older car that lacked good soundproofing in the first place. Without good soundproofing, you'll lose most of the high frequencies, and need a lot more amplification to compensate for the loss of low frequencies due to road/tire/engine noise.

When I installed a good audio system in my car, I had the help of a friend who was a professional car audio technician. We essentially stripped the inside of the car (seats, carpets, headliner, dash and transmission consoles, door panels, etc), and then applied Dexdamp soundproofing panels (DynaMat is the other commercial material) to all of the interior surfaces, as well as the trunk, inside surface of the trunk lid, and inside surface of the hood. To complete the treatment, we shot expanding soundproofing foam inside the door shells. Then, on top of the damping panels on the floorboards, I then installed a heavy under-carpet soundproofing material designed for yachts. All of this is pretty labor-intensive, but there is little point in buying good car audio gear if you fail to provide a relatively quiet car interior. With good soundproofing, you can reduce the interior noise level by at least 6 db, and sometimes by as much as 10-12 db. This may not sound like a big reduction in noise, but it is.

In addition to the soundproofing, you will also need -- at a minimum -- decent replacement speakers and a good amp (or amps). You will probably also find that you need a new CD player, separate subwoofer, and probably an equalizer or digital signal processor (DSP) to contour the frequency response (which can pretty non-linear in a car). If you get really serious about this, you will also want to have 1-2 large power supply capacitors (in the 0.5 to 1.0 farad range). Top all of this gear off with some good audio wiring harnesses, and you can easily spend in the $2000-2500 range (assuming you or a friend do the labor).

When the job is done right, a good car audio system can have excellent frequency response, great imaging, and very good dynamic range. It's certainly not equal to a top home system -- think of it more as a really large set of headphones.

Loaded question since so much of car audio is ridiculously over-marketed lies (1000W amplifiers?). Man what a mess the car audio market is.

Okay, here are my thoughts on the car audio thing, ignore at will. Unlike a home audio system you cannot move the speakers around to suit your taste and more importantly the speakers really do make the biggest difference. Check out Focal and maybe some of the higher end Infinity speakers to get a feel for what's possible. You'll need discrete subwoofer(s) but like a good audio system adjust them so they blend nicely with the speakers in the car. I said blend, not boom. Add some dash mounted tweeters, they will make a big difference to your perception of the sound.

The head unit is a tuner and control center, don't get carried away spending a bunch of money on it. The amplifiers matter since a) they are WAY over spec'd and b) need to drive a bunch of speakers simultaneously. Get TWO amps and divide the load reasonably evenly if you can. The CD changer? Get something reliable and matches your head unit for easy hook up (I prefer Pioneer over Alpine for reliability). Wires? Get some 12 gauge from Home Depot, they'll do nicely. Finally, make sure your battery can handle the draw, nothing worse than sitting at a light and your tunes cutting out cuz your battery can't keep up.

Is it worth it? To me it is, I love good music when I'm toolin' down the highway at less than the legal limit. Many people will argue my choices were not ideal, but check out my "systems" and click on my Supra for some ideas. All bought on Ebay BTW. Happy listening, Jeff

"less than the legal limit"? Huge typo!!!!! I'd have a LOT better system if I obeyed the laws and didn't have to shell out long green to cover off speeding tickets. SD is dead-on (pun intended), treat the car then load it up. Best, JL

Hey Jeff

if you find that your amps draw more than the battery wants to put out(do your dash lights dim whent he bass hits?), install a good capacitor. Lightning Audio makes these.

The way i see it, leave the serious listening for at home, the car stereo should "Add" to the driving experience, not be the entire focal point, or yer gonna end up running into somone. It should be Dynamic, Loud, and capable of giving a good kidney massage. :)

Don't waste too much money on a car system.
You can go all out like Mr. Campbell advises, but it costs time and money. How much time do you really spend in the car? Since these car audio companies change their lines every two weeks ;-) it's easy to find something decent on sale too.
I'd rather spend around $500.00 for a good head unit (CD receiver with removeable face and 4 x 100 watts - Ha ha), upgrade the speakers if necessary, and be happy.
You'll never get the car to sound like your home system. Save your money and spend it on music and upgrading the home system.