Recommended systems - components for Car Stereo


I am looking for the best recommended components for a car stereo. I am after quality not quantity. What would be a best fit for a single CD playing unit with a great midrange good mid bass and clear highs. What speakers would be best. It will be installed in a 2 seater sports car with a cloth to, presently with full range speaker in each door panel and a sub speaker installed in between the two seats (BMW Z3). The sub speaker "farts" at low volumes ghich is either to the poor factory supplied cd player or over zealous use by the previous owner.
Do not want a flash display or light/functions/bells and whistles just great sound.

Price range up to $1300.
Any suggestions from pratical experience would be great
russellb
JL Audio, these guys are tops in car audio, I use their amps and speakers in my BMW 325ix. I don't believe JL makes a cd unit, only speakers and amps. Consider keeping your head unit, adding a JL amp and JL speakers. If you still want to replace your head unit, look at the JVC's, I have a JVC Digifine head unit that offers state of art DAC for car audio. Stock subs are a joke in most cars.
with a 2 seat sports car, that is a convertible, you need to give up on quality and go for quantity if you want to hear it with the wind noise. You need spl's to enjoy music with a top down. Dynaudio speakers and McIntosh amps are available, but won't sound any better than Alpine or top of the line Sony.

I would suggest looking for an MTX Thunderforms sub to fit in your trunk, if they make one for your B'mer. JL Audio makes the same type enclosure for about 3 times the cost, but in a convertible the additional speed that you are getting for the price will not be noticed.

I would then get some Alpine digital amps (the 4.150) to drive both your sub and your speakers. For speakers, I would look at the higher end, and power handling Polk, Alpine or Boston Acoustic. JL's are great, but won't handle the volumes you need with wind noise.

For a head unit that you want, I would suggest a high end Sony, Eclipse or Alpine, and I would blow off the disk drive and just make sure it has a good iPod interface. If your iPod is loaded with AppleLossless or Wav files, the DAC in the headunit will sound fine.

Good luck!!

PS - if no trunk subs will work, there are some really cool below the seat sub modules that really work for convertibles.
I've seen Mark Levinson car amps and matching bass drivers on e-bay.
Usually pulled from a written-off/parted out Lexus.