Answers:
Alpine if you have the money. If you are going to buy a cheap Alpine head unit you will probably be farther ahead buying a expensive Sony. The top end Sony head units are surprisingly nice and have a good sound too. I personally have both Alpine and Sony and I am happy with both. I have had other brands too and would not recommend any of them. ( pioneer , kenwood , Panasonic etc...) The Sony I most recently purchased was under $200 and has every option Sony offers. I took it home and installed it and was shocked at the sound quality and adjust ability of the unit. I even considered building a system using it but have not done that yet. Good luck and have fun
Other Answers:
Alpine all the way..sony is sooo limited..but it is personal preference in the end...alpine if you want competion end...but stay away from the r12's!
LISTEN MAN.IF YOU WANT BUMP LIKE THE BIGBOYS GET YOURSELF A PAIR OF DIGITAL DESIGN SUBWOOFERS. YEAH I KNOW YOUR SAYING I'VE NEVERHEARD OF THESE. WELL THESE ARE THE BEST . GO TO THE WEBSITE WWW.DDAUDIO.COM TO FIND OUT ALL THE INFO. ALSO WWW.REALMOFEXCURSION.COM HAS SOME GOOD INFOON THESE SUBS. YOU WONT BE DISAPPOINTED. GUARANTEE Pioneer-Trust me on this...Alpine's too expensive and i've fried more than one sony.
Polk Audio speakers, Kicker subwoofers and Kenwood Amps.
These are the top brands for each catagory. They are the best quality and the best sound. alpine is expensive but it could blow sony out of the water i bought one from best buy and im going alpine all the way.