reading this i have two JBL1000 12"sub and they thump twice as hard as any sony, pioneer and kenwood in the same price bracket and power range. Been flogged for 4+ years now and still going strong.

Although they are not the best brand they are decent.

When looking for speakers for my brothers car we compared them to pioneer, MTL (or MTC i can't remember) audio, kenwood and sony and they were not only the best priced but sounded the best by a mile for clarity, which is what you want if you are running subs.

I should also mention all speakers were tested on the same headdeck and the same amp

AS said there are better brands (alpine to name one) but you can do far worse, i have jbl 5x7's in my BA running straight from the deck and everyone comments on how clear they are, same as my brothers car which has 4" in the front and 6" in the back.

much appreciated

From what I have heard from other people it is to me personal opinion.

Some say Alpine is s**t, some say they are great, but I tend to go for reliability in terms of aftermarket Amps and Subs, something that is well within range of the cars electronics that you don't overload and blow your whole audio system (Which I see people time and time again do, and alternaters because the audio system is too powerfull that the alternater dies. As to Alternaters and Audio systems that is not exactly my expertise).

Some also say that Alpine Headunits (I personally think they are because they weren't user friendly to me in JB-HiFi) are s**t but their amps are ok.

PIMP_LTD's advise and knowledge is very good, if not alot better than mine. When it comes to amps and subs and how to run them with different setups I am totally incompetent.

My advise to you is to get what you want, don't be pressured by some salesman saying "you don't want that, you want this", blah de blah de blah". Although this doesn't really happen I'm just giving you an example. JB-HiFi have some good salesman, if your not sure you could take the sub box into the store and the bloke might have a good idea of what to use, But Pimp_LTD's advise is quite good, personally I would go with an alpine amp.