[keithr]

Hi Mike,

Audio, and aesthetics, are subjective things. To that, i'll give my subjective opinions.

Originally Posted by MikeM7

Pioneer Stage 4 TS-C172PRS
PRS Series 6-3/4" component speaker system

I'm usually not a big fan of Pioneer's speakers. These, however, seem to get really good reviews. So, you can either take their word for it, or take my word for it. I would suggest you take NOBODY'S word for it...

Have you heard these speakers in person? I always recommend auditioning speakers before purchase. Speakers are VERY subjective; what one person thinks sounds fantastic, another might think sounds terrible. I'm a big fan of JL Audio speakers in the car, and Boston Acoustics at home. There are LOTS of people who would vehemently disagree with me. My brother spent a small fortune on Helix speakers in his Tacoma, and honestly, I think my JL C5's sound better.

Originally Posted by MikeM7

Pioneer FH-X820BS

I do not like these double-din non-touchscreen units. I think they're ugly as all get-out and ruin the aesthetics of the vehicle. Ask yourself what you're really looking for in this head unit...

Features? You're going to give up HD Radio and satellite radio, if those matter to you... although you can add the satellite radio as an option if you want it. You'll obviously lose any benefits of the full color LCD like album art, NAV (I'm assuming you don't care about that), etc. That HU also only has 2V preouts, which, while adequate, are not going to give you the best signal for clean sound.

If you want to fill the double-din space, personally I'd recommend a touchscreen unit that would truly be an upgrade from the factory radio. Otherwise, you could just keep the factory radio and upgrade speakers/amp/etc. if you want a "upgrade on a budget."

Pioneer and Kenwood have lots of options, some more affordable than others, but features, of course, will vary with price. I would suggest you make a list of your needs/wants and find the best fit for what you're after.

If you don't need/want a touchscreen, I see no reason to put a double-din radio in there, like @seant2h said, a single din will give you some extra storage space, and I personally think they look a whole lot better than those big non-touchscreen monsters. There are some nice singe din units available too including the Alpine he mentioned as well as offerings from Pioneer and Kenwood... again, decide what your needs/wants are and go from there.

Originally Posted by MikeM7

Alpine KTP-445U Power Pack
Compact upgrade for any car radio — 45 watts

This would be sufficient... certainly not going to "rock the house" with a little guy like that, but it's a step up from running speaker power off the HU. There are a few of those compact amps out there to choose from, I've seen similar offerings with varying wattage and distortion (be sure to check the specs!) from Alpine, Pioneer, Clarion, Kicker, and others...

Personally, I think this little guy is pretty impressive: http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...NVX-MVPA4.html

Originally Posted by MikeM7

Any reason this set up would be a bad idea? IE not enough power, difficult to install, better bang for buck available etc.?

Depending on how far you want to take the install, you can get harnesses and adapters to make it all fairly painless as far as the install goes. You can use the factory speaker wiring if you don't need to run a lot of power to your speakers, there are adapters for the plugs at the factory locations so you don't even have to cut them off. Or, you could take a step up and run new wire, but that's a bigger endeavor. As far as inside the dash... well, I've just completed installing my own system and I can tell you, there are a lot of harnesses and adapters you'll need to make it all work and it can get confusing.

@SVXdc is the guru for all THAT stuff, you can order pretty much everything you'd need from him and he's a great guy to deal with. You can search around on these forums and find various posts and threads by him, and you can start here on his website to start figuring out all the pieces and parts.

Originally Posted by MikeM7

How would this stack up to the OEM plug and play packages?

By this, I assume you mean the OEM Audio+ system?

Well, I haven't heard the OEM Audio+ Reference 400CF in person, but the components you listed above really aren't going to compare to the full OEM Audio+ system. The price tag alone should indicate a pretty significant difference between the two... the OA+ package includes a subwoofer and much more powerful amplifiers with DSP to correct some sound oddities off the factory deck. The OA+ package gets really good reviews in terms of improving the sound quality inside the BRZ. Again, though, I haven't heard it myself.

All THAT being said....

Originally Posted by MikeM7

What would you get instead and why?

As far as "bang for the buck" I think you can do better than the OA+, if you're willing to put in a little bit of work, or pay for that work if you don't want to do it yourself.

I just finished (well, still have some details to take care of but it's mostly done) installing my system in my BRZ, consisting of:

Pioneer AVH-4000NEX Head Unit
JL Audio XD700/5v2 Amp
JL Audio C5-650 front component speakers
JL Audio C2-525x rear speakers
JL Audio Stealthbox subwoofer
Rydeen Duo backup camera
2015 OEM shark fin antenna
All new wiring

I will probably do a write-up on the install, I did it along with full-car sound deadening. I took pictures along the way and I'll mention some of the caveats I ran into.

Now, all that, at retail, is a pretty hefty price tag and if you were to have it installed by a shop, add quite a bit for labor for a QUALITY installation. However, with some savvy and clever shopping, I was able to score all of that for probably 50% of retail pricing and I did the work myself. Still not cheap, but in my opinion, a MUCH more potent bang for the buck and it sounds AWESOME.

Determine what your wants/needs are for the project. Budget? Superb sound quality or just a step up from stock? Features? etc. Use that list to drive your decisions on the what and how.