I need some advice on High End Car Audio...

You will need to find a great dealer, who has a real understanding of high-end audio. Cars can sound really, really good, but it is very rare to find a car audio dealer that has a clue whatsoever. Most car audio shop owners have never heard a real high-end stereo, and are in the business of making cars boom and bump.

My best advice is that the installation quality is by far the the most important aspect of any car stereo, so make sure you find someone who knows how to make speaker cabinets out of car doors. My best recommendation, is to not commit to a dealer before hearing one of their car installations, and confirming the "good sound" to them, is anything like "good sound" to you.

I went through 3 car dealers, all of whom promised the world, and delivered extremely sub par, bordering on painful installations. I finally found someone on a car audio forum who really knew what he was doing, and was able to build a car audio system that even an audiophile can enjoy.

I spent years chasing this. The biggest thing I learned is that you can't go in to a store, listen to speakers in a board, and have a good idea of what they will sound like in your car. The car acoustics are so awful, anything that sounds good in a store sound room will sound awful in a car. Good car speakers are designed for the car acoustics and will sound thin and screachy in a regular room. Definitely listen to systems that the shop has installed in cars. Also, make sure they understand the kind of sound you want. Most people want tinkle and boom sound. I was in a local shop, and the owner demonstrated his show car system for me. I told him I thought there was too much bass and highs, and the sound was unnatural overall. He said he understood what I meant, twiddled a few switches and knobs, and played the best car system I have ever heard, better than many home systems. If they answer questions by saying "This si what we do, we are the best, leave it with us, you won't have any regerets..." without some indication that they know what you want, just walk away. (This applies to many things, and is why I built my own deck - too many contractors promising much, with no evidence to back it up).

I had two 3 Series before and I installed Focal speakers in the cars. Go for their top models. And I am using Brax power amps for years. Have yet to find anything better. McIintosh do have car power amps. I only like their head units. The problem is the source. It is going to be hard to replace the head unit unless you want to forgo all the functions in your steering wheel. But there are adapters available whereby you can install a better quality head unit and still have the functions on the steering wheel intact. Funny thing is most of the good head-units are Japanese. Most of the better sounding amps are American. Go figure?!

Went through this stage about six years ago. I quit a few years ago and haven't looked back--tradeoffs just weren't worth it.

JMO

It is a pain. I did find a rogue installer who was able to tap the 1V output right in the circuit board of the head unit, so I was able to keep my head unit. My car is a 2005 Acrua TL.

I have 3-way DLS Iridium speakers up front.

Left the rear speakers as is.

ADS old-school 12" sub (much nicer than new stuff)

5 Zapco studio series old-school amps

Tru Trechnology 4-way active crossover (no longer made)

Zapco SX-Sl line driver/crossover/equalizer

I went all-in because I did not have good situation for a home system when I did this four years ago. I would not go as extravagant now.

The mids are 6.5's on the DLS's and I could almost get away without a sub. If we worked on the getting the set with 8's in the door - then for sure. They do come with a very nice passive crossover - so one could do a pretty simple one-amp/passive 3-way set up and be very happy.

Focals were out for me. I would never put metal tweets so close to my ears.

The class D amps are definitely worth a look for auto systems these days due their efficiency. A second (sealed) battery in series is also nice as it adds some oomph and acts like big capacitor.

Elitecaraudio used to be a hot forum, but seems to have died down. YOu may need to search for the best current fourm.