[mattyjman]

first, i wouldn't "wish" to be someone that has a critical ear in music... it becomes expensive really quick, and it irritates you when things don't sound right... hence, the not wanting to develop that.

i can't comment on everything, because a lot of what you are asking is subjective.

i'm sure the amp and sub combo will work out just fine, and there is plenty of space on both sides of the trunk to do fiberglass enclosures. check out my build log, i should have some pics on there. as for the battery, this is a good thing. this means you don't have a spend a crap ton on wiring. 1 4 guage fused should do you just fine if you are only adding one amp. factory wiring on it is just fine... looks to be about 1/0 gauge too.

as for the sq music, critical ear thing, it may be that you don't listen to the type of music that is recorded well. tracks that are recorded and mastered have high dynamics, and spacial staging... by that i mean that if the artist walks on the stage from left to right, you should hear that in your music.

that's the whole point of this thing called stereo... it puts an image in front of you. picture a band playing a bunch of instruments. where they are sitting is where the sound should be eminating from. so, when it come to car audio (well, at least the nuts like me) the objective (also including the obvious stuff like tonality, equality, crisp and well defined sound) is to have the sound stage in your car the same as it would be in your listening room. the center of your car should be the center of the stereo image. it should also be above the dash, somewhere around the middle of your windshield. really good systems will project the "image" to be past the windshield, and extending outside of the side pillars.

that's more of the technical aspect that goes into stereos....

but for what you need, if you can't tell a difference, no harm no foul and be thankful for that.

however, if you did want a cheap way to train your ear, buy a decent pair of headphones (not Beats type headphones), turn on some well recorded stuff like Live Dave Matthews Band, close your eyes, and try to imagine the sound stage. imagine the instruments. do they sound like they would if you were at the concert? can you tell between instruments that are left or right of center?

Audiotechnica MT50 headphones are great, and cheap too, only 150. (sound better than beats too)

so, theory aside, i digress...

when i sold stereos, I always pushed the subs first. it, for some reason seems to make the most difference and impact on a factory system... something about filling out the bottom end seems to always make a smile.

if that doesn't suit you and you still want more, i'd buy an amplifier, and put it on the factory speakers if you can't afford new ones at the same time. an aftermarket amp, in most cases, will make more of a difference than changing out the head unit. Unless some functionality that you do want isn't in the factory system, it's money wasted in my eyes getting a deck now a days - especially when so many things are tied in with the factory HU's. But I wouldn't blindly assume that the HU is going to make a huge difference... normally what does is that the new HU has more power - you can negate that by getting an amp - which you'll probably do anyway.

lastly, sound deadening. you might be referencing my build... i haven't seen anyone else on here use mlv and ccf, in conjunction with the common dynamat.

the question you need to answer here is what do you want the "deadening" to do. what's the desired result? if it's just to keep things from rattling, often times its cheaper and much easier to diagnose rattles and address them as they arise than to rip out your entire car to lay down sheet after sheet of deadener, only to realize you still have rattles.

if you goal is to get the car quiet - eliminating road noise (well, as much as possible), yeah, you are going to spend a lot. if its to keep vibrations down, then do some on the trunk lid, address the pressure flaps in the trunk, and keeps some handy for when issues do arise.

hopefully this is helpful... i haven't really told you what to do... just some concepts behind some of your questions.

if it were me in your situation, based on your initial comments, i'd just add the subs and amp, and see how it does. if you want better clarity and dynamics all the way around, then add speakers and an amp for them. that usually does enough for the average joe.

matt