One of my major interests has always been car audio. Even before I had a vehicle, I had a hatch-style box w/ two crappy Thump 12's sitting in my room getting 50 watts from my home stereo. My Amigo has had 3 separate audio set-ups so far, but I'll only bore you with the latest.

My HU is a Clarion DXZ715. If you are looking for a new HU and have a chance to demo one of these, I urge you to do so. I wouldn't trade mine in for the world. And though it has nothing to do w/ how my radio sounds, one of my favorite things about this unit is the way the brushed aluminum faceplate blends well w/ my dash. My last HU was black and looked horrible against the light interior.

For some reason, the little Japanese guy designing my truck decided to put 5" speakers in the front dash. NO, not 5 1/4, 5". Which left me with very few options for aftermarket replacements. I was torn between either some middle of the road Pioneers or some Polks, the Pioneers won and have much better SQ than I expected (but still could be better)

The back is where to sit to really enjoy music in the Amigo. I've been a fan and user of JL audio products for years and decided to get the JL XR650CS 6.5" component to use in this location. I plan on building some nice fiberglass pods to angle them toward the front. But due to lack of spare time, these carpeted MDO panels that took me 30 minutes to make are probably going to be used for quite some time. The JL's are being run by my tank of an amp Xtant 2140c and have some sweet sweet SQ. I call the amp a tank because I have used and abused it, even making it run subs w/ the bass boost on +20 dB for 8 months and it just keeps asking for more.

I love to build (hence being a carpenter/construction worker for now) and take great pride in building my own boxes. The current box is a 5 ft^3 common enclosure that houses 2 12W3-D4's. Since I only go to comps as a spectator and use my system for real music, I tuned the box to 30 hz. The subs are now being run by a JL 500/1. I think very highly of the new JL amps, but unfortunately don't see them catching on much w/ the general public because of prices. I got mine for $350, but anyone that knows me will tell you I have hook-ups all over this country and never pay full price for car audio. My XR components cost me $300, the Clarion 715 was $290 shipped to my door, and the Xtant bled me for $400 (which is way under what they went for at the time).

This is the amp rack I built. I used my Rotozip to carve out the JL logo and then put some fans and plexiglass in. I was going to put some neon back there, but then decided it would get annoying to look at all the time. My power wire is all Fosgate and my RCA's are MonsterCable Xtra low noise. I added a YellowTop years ago and just got the Fosgate cap because it was had for $65 and I know I can find someone to buy it from me later for at least that much, since BB sells them for $170. All of the amps and fans have their own switches I incorporated into my dash in order to have complete control of my system.

Thats pretty much it for now, though I'm always getting new ideas and making new projects for myself, so things don't stay done for long. My short term plans include a Calmini ceramic-coated header. I have also wanted to get a hardtop, but I have searched for one with a slanted back like the clothtop for 3 years and have yet to find one. The straight-backed ones are just too boxy to look good IMO. Longer term plans include a possible 2" body lift, 4" SOA suspension lift, ARB lockers, and some 33x12.50R15 tires. I'm planning on some Goodyear MT/R's, but I'm waiting on the new BFG MT KM's before I decide for sure. But the long term upgrades won't be started on until I buy a new vehicle and just have the Amigo for off-road fun and driving in the winter time when the roads are bad.

If you read all of this, thanks... you're a much more patient (or bored) person than I would have been;)