First off, i'd like to share something with you. I am surprised by everyone's response. At a time where it seems that to be "cool" you have to copy every one else, I thought that I'd be original and also spice things up. But no, everyone's gotta get a spoiler, some rims, and a tin can exhaust. And the car is still the same. Wrap a diamond bracelet around a turd, and it's still a piece of shit.
I gave this Regal a new heart and some soul. You think you turn heads? You can't imagine what turning heads is. Everyday I drove the soul machine at least 100 people went home and told their family; "you wouldn't believe what I saw today..." Those were chaotic times, but we all had a blast! Fast, fun, loud, and memorable... isn't that the point?
I didn't put this car here for the system or engine. I wanted the soul machine to be remembered for what it really was... fun with spray paint. Take a gander at each page and you'll understand.
Anyway...
This was my first car. I bought it for $600 at 16. It had a V6 that ran a few cylinders shy. I wanted to replace the engine but because i was young i did the stereo first. I started as small as one can; a single "whizzer cone" 6.9 sitting in a plastic cup holder - HA! After two years of this and that, improving each time, I ended up with the loudest system I'll ever have again:
My HS graduation money paid for the equipment, and I sold some home audio speakers (sweek Sansui 6 speaker, 4-way speakers to a friend that begged me for years) to buy the amps. I got these 12" Hollywood subs for $75 each. They are JL W4 replicas and cost half as much. The owner of the store had them in his car and swore by them.
He was telling the truth. I bought 2 in june of '96 and quickly recieved two (2) tickts for having a "sound amplification system". They were $75 a piece - HA! I then purchased two more two months later in august of '96. The enclosure was 2 cu. ft. sealed for each sub (8 cu ft total).
In the end, Alpine took care of the head unit, eq and active crossover. I ran several head units in this car. The first aftermarket was a Pioneer Shaft-style Cassette which replaced the AM radio that ran two front speakers only. Then came an entery Pioneer CD player with some aftermarked 3.5" and 4"x10" and some subs. For the record; 4x10 speakers are a lousy attempt by GM to supplement a tiny rear deck, but i'm glad the trunk lid was big. Since every pioneer component (head units, speakers, amps) I have owned was entry, but sucked, I switched to Alpine. I ran a 7828, 7830, 7930, 7986S (3-disk in-dash) and a 7949 (If you know Alpine, you know these numbers. If not, you are either too young or weren't in the IASCA game). I only changed head units because I was upgrading. I sold all of them in perfect working condition, and usually to friends. The 7930 I got back and used again until I picked up a 7939 which mated to a ERA G320. Kicker 40ss ran the pioneer 6x9's and Orion Extreme 6.5" components (again with Pioneer, and these 4-way speakers sounded like crap compared to their Eclipse predecessors. A HIFONICS THOR ran the subs in two ohm stereo (which was really mono since the crossover could mix the signal to mono with two outputs). The Alpine active two-way crossover gave me added control over the two amps and was necessary since the THOR didn't include any processing. It was pure amplification baby! I tried an Audio Control crossover, but I liked the easy tweaking the Alpine offered. I currently own an Audio Control EQL and love it. 
I had kicker 3.5" in the dash running off the deck. I did add more fans for cooling though. The THOR got mighty hot running 2 ohms for hours, and hours, and hours at full volume. GM didn't do us any favors with the trunk though - that lid stabalizing bar was bullshit. For a while I wanted the 12's in the trunk. This was the better option. No rattles, no bullshit, just pure and clean bass.
It sounded great (for what it was) and was real clean. Hell, i took it to a local competition and scored 4 points shy of a perfect score on the RTA (Bumpin' on the banks 1997)!! SPL was 140 windows up, 145 windows down. And that was after the RTA judging. This wasn't an SPL car, so my settings were for flat response down to 30HZ. If SPL was my goal, they would have each been tuned enclosures, 3 cu. ft., and 160dB would have been easily attained. If you think Hollywoods suck, i sold two in 2000 and still have two today that hit and I run in my house with some DJ equipment. Ever get 10+ years out of your subs?
However, I admit that i was young (17) and i knew nothing about imaging and a sound stage. see my current ride, a 2001 Accord EX V6. Before that I rocked a 1990 5th Avenue . Why is it called the Soul Machine? Keep reading and you'll see. 
Eventually the transmission started to go, and with the engine wanting to die, it was time for a change. A 305 was offered stock, so we knew that a 350 would fit.
With the sound system done, I moved to the engine and performance.
