Quoted: Quoted: If you're looking for Sound Quality I would skip the Sony head units. Alpine, Pioneer or Kenwood would be a better choice. Eclipse would also be a great choice but is beyond your budget. Absolute BS.  Nothing else to see here, move along.

Sony's quality has fallen way off ever since they went to the XPlode "bling bling" line. The older Sony's were great and the older Sony ES series were some of the best.

Quoted: ... Is there anyone out there in the same situation I am? ... Mike just called me after seeing my post in the thread. Here's my desire. I have a newer vehicle with a stock but adequate tuner & CD. I actually like the controls and have really no desire to shit-can the stock in-dash system. ... I do however wish to add an amplifier/ equalizer (watts) and some aftermarket speakers matched to the new "upgraded" system. I prefer not to add anything that looks aftermarket yet I would like to audio to output a tad-bit more than the factory tunes. ... Does anyone out there do this?

Didn't you buy an extended cab truck?  There are lots of boxes out there that fit under the rear seats to house one or two subs and an amp.  The "system" is virtually invisible then.  Stay away from component speakers and go coax (the tweeter will be obvious when mounted to anyone who knows) and you'll be totally stealth.

The main hiccup I see in your plan is the stock headunit.  To start with even a $100 name brand would sound 10x better than your stocker.  In addition your stocker likely has no pre-amp outputs.  This makes adding a quality amp a problem.  As was posted above more pre-amp outs are better, I prefer a head unit with 3 pairs for most applications.

Here are a few options for pieces. You could get some or all of them depending on what you decide. The Alpine head unit is an excellent choice at this price.

From www.ikesound.com

Alpine CDA-9827 Head Unit - $179
CD / MP3 / 4v Preout / 3 Pre-amp outputs / Changer controls / subwoofer level control / XM Ready.
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/1843


Alpine SPR-176A - $118
Type-R 6 1/2" 2-way component system.
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/72


Alpine SPR-694A - $105
2-way 6 x 9s
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/63


Alpine SPR-174A  -  $90
Type-R 6 1/2" 2-way Coaxial.
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/59


Alpine MRV-F450 - $266
5 channel amplifier (50w x 4 + 200w x 1)
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/1189


Alpine SWR-1241D - $99
Type-R 12" Subwoofer, 4 Ohm DVC, 300w
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/407


Precision Power PCX-440 (refurbished)  -  $125
4 channel amplifier,  4 x 80w
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2476


Precision Power PCX-280 (refurbished)  -  $88
2 channel amplifier, 1 x 200 (bridged)
www.ikesound.com/product-product_id/2161


Another good place to buy online - www.woofersetc.com/store.asp

I'm still assuming you're doing the whole install yourself.

Edited to make links live. . .

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you're looking for Sound Quality I would skip the Sony head units. Alpine, Pioneer or Kenwood would be a better choice. Eclipse would also be a great choice but is beyond your budget. Absolute BS.  Nothing else to see here, move along. Sony's quality has fallen way off ever since they went to the XPlode "bling bling" line. The older Sony's were great and the older Sony ES series were some of the best.

The cassette player I replaced was an older Sony, and you're right, it had much better sound than this new one does. That's the main reason I'm not using the internal amp on the head unit. I stuck with Sony because they seem to have  better fm reception. I live way out of town, so that was an important consideration for me.

And Sarge, I wouldn't call it perfect, but definitely adequate. Eta, you're welcome.

Quoted: Quoted: Crutchfield +1 Everything you need to know is here.

+2 they have everything you need and instructions

You're right about the eXplod line, more cosmetic than performance.  However, I have a Mobile ES CD player that is 6+ years old and still sounds great.  The ES series were pretty much comparable to anything available at the time.  

Quoted: Quoted: ... Is there anyone out there in the same situation I am? ... Mike just called me after seeing my post in the thread. Here's my desire. I have a newer vehicle with a stock but adequate tuner & CD. I actually like the controls and have really no desire to shit-can the stock in-dash system. ... I do however wish to add an amplifier/ equalizer (watts) and some aftermarket speakers matched to the new "upgraded" system. I prefer not to add anything that looks aftermarket yet I would like to audio to output a tad-bit more than the factory tunes. ... Does anyone out there do this? Yep, but depending on your current in-dash, you may not want to stick with it. If it doesn't have pre-outs (RCA's) for the amp, sound quality will suffer dramatically. It can be done, but not worth it (IMHO) Basically what you want is more power. I still have all factory speakers in my car, sounds great, since I added clean power & a seperate amp for sub & speakers. Even w/o the sub, it sounds good, just need to have clean power, that's the real issue. I spent a lot on my deck though, I wanted a non-powered deck, since the power from decks is generally not as clean as directly from an amp, though I think this has improved recently. HTH..

Not exactly true.  I have heard some very good systems built on factory head units.  All you have to do is use high-level inputs, which can be wired from the speakers.  They also make conversion kits and wiring harnesses to allow installation of external amps.  After all, basically all of your factory systems utilizing amps use high-level inputs instead of the normal low-level RCA connectors.  I'm not disagreeing with you, as it is much easier to simply replace the factory unit with a CD player.  I'm just saying it is possible.  

I will definitely agree with you on "clean" power, as it makes a world of difference.  Head units can make power, but just can't sustain the power amount for very long.  

Quoted: Not exactly true.  I have heard some very good systems built on factory head units.  All you have to do is use high-level inputs, which can be wired from the speakers.  They also make conversion kits and wiring harnesses to allow installation of external amps.  After all, basically all of your factory systems utilizing amps use high-level inputs instead of the normal low-level RCA connectors.  I'm not disagreeing with you, as it is much easier to simply replace the factory unit with a CD player.  I'm just saying it is possible.   I will definitely agree with you on "clean" power, as it makes a world of difference.  Head units can make power, but just can't sustain the power amount for very long.

What I was trying to say is, yes it can be done, but it also sounds like shit when you use "adapters".

Personally, I don't think it's worth it to spend $ on an amp, when you're going to get shit sound anyway, just louder..

I got a nice cheap Blaupunkt  head unit at sams a while back. like under $200  and did everything i needed and more.

I combined it with a cheapish amp and 2 JL 10s, and its pretty nice. Gonna replace the mids when i get the money.

When I had my bronco I had this

4) 5x7 speakers....... I chose polk audio
1) mtx 50x4 +200 x1 amp
1) 10" bazooka bass tube
Alpine cd player
I bought everything off ebay for a grand total of $400 and some change. Speakers and cd player were as new.