I'm goin' with the works...

HEAD UNIT: Kenwood KCD-X815 (it replaces the 811) has a nice red lighting that matches Audi color, 3 sets of 4V pre-amp output, cleanest display I could find next to Eclipse.

Amps: Xtant 4ch for the fronts and rears, and probably a Kicker for the subs

Speakers: Probably Boston Pro 5.25" separates in front doors (so far looks like these give best midbass in the 5.25" range) Not sure where I'll mount the tweets... maybe in the stock locations, but I might have to mess with phase to get them to sound centered.
Boston Pro 6" coax or midbass drivers in the rear deck.
JL, Kicker, Kenwood, or Eclipse subs (two 10 inch-ers) in a sealed enclosure. I think the Kicker solobaric stuff uses the smallest enclosure. (need to save trunk space.... know what I mean!?!?!?

For cross-over, the Kenwood eXcelon head unit has built in variable crossovers for all three outputs, which will save me from having to buy an outboard crossover network.

Other....
1farad cap for the subs
dynamat or other deadening product for the doors and rear deck.

and that's all!

Once it's all done, she oughtta sound reeeeeeeeal purrrrrrrty, and kick pretty damn hard too!

OH MAN I can't wait for my tax return!!!!!

...recommend the Kicker sub. I ran the Boston Pro 5.2's in the front of my 90Q, along with Boston Plate Mounts on the rear deck and an 8" kicker sub. This was hooked up through an Eclipse head unit and 6 disc changer and powered by a modest Pioneer 4 channel (4x30) amp and a 110 Watt DEI amp running mono to the sub. Even without the sub, the system was very clear and had good bass response. With the sub, it was very well balanced. The 8" kicker combined with adequate power was great! The 10" was downright awesome (I tried it in there), but it wouldn't fit in the side well on the 90Q.

The Boston Pros (mine anyway) had a high frequency adjustment where you could set it flat or with a 3 dB (I think) boost. They are very bright, so I highly recommend setting them flat and adjusting your treble with the head unit. The highs on the Bostons are incredibly crisp and clear; among the best, IMO. The only speaker I thought was better were some of the A/D/S speakers, but they cost quite a bit more.

Have fun! :-)

well, i enjoyed the red lightings but i realized it does not justify the sound quality difference when compared to the eclipse. personally, i think if you wants to spend so much money on your audio, its not worth to get the X811.

the 2 eclipse 10"s were giving me a headache with the really deep bass. And there were just too much reflections in the cabin. I will prefer to have that kind of base in my home theatre.

I had a set of eclipse 8052 in the front door with custom mods. however, i found them sound much better on the display board than on the car.
btw, its a pain to get the sound stage right on the stock speaker locations. I dont want to get a kickpanel so i can still keep the root rest. You can probably make the sound stage better by placing the tweeters under the windshield. For my setup, there is hardly any difference when i fade the sound to the front instead of center.

for the rear, i had a set of 6" kickers mounted at the stock location. i cant remember the name, but it's the one that you can move the tweeters. I got them coz i got a good deal on it, and it doesnt sound bad.

right now i use a kicker zr240 running the 12" 2ohm Solar-baric with a lightning audio 1 farad cap and a zx460 running the speakers.

I did a custom trunk, so that the amps can be placed inside the spare tire well. but the shape of the spare tire well is too weird to have the subs in there.

i love the solar-baric. The bass is really tight. I would get 2 of them if i can figure out where can i put another amp. I put it pointing where the factory ski sack was. i cut the ski sack(they came with the car free anywaz, i pay for the option) .The box is much smaller than the eclipses even if i have 2 12"s in there. i can still put one 16" factory wheel with tire in the trunk with lots of space left on both sides.

Have fun..

About the Eclipse, I have a 5504 in my other car, and I love it except three things.....

1. It skips
2. It skips
3. It sk.sk.sk.sk.skips!!!!

And it doesn't take a large bump to make it skip! This is the 2nd eclipse I've owned, and they just don't have the anti-skip thing down yet. And skipping is my absolute BIGGEST pet peave! If I'm shelling $400 bucks for a radio, it oughtta have better anti-skip protection than that. Also, when you send it in for repairs, it takes two months to get it back. And my first Eclipse was sent in three times for service when I owned it. Geez, they should have extended the warranty by six months to make up for the down time I had to suffer.

Otherwise, I LOVE the clean face plate... in fact, I still say that NO OTHER HEAD UNIT even comes CLOSE to the asthetics of the Eclipse. And the ESN, three year warranty, sound quality, all excelent!

Something else that is kind of minor, but important nonetheless..... Eclipse uses green lighting, and I'd hate to kill the ambience of that BEAUTIFUL deep red lighting in the Audi interior. I'm afraid it will just clash too much.

I've heard nothing but great things about the Kenwood eXcelon 811, and the 815 (due out in a couple of weeks) is supposed to be even better.

I can't remember it ever skipping, and I drove over some very bad roads, including my lovely driveway. Sometimes the changer would skip, but only if I got cat hair in the cartridge when I was loading discs. Then, it had nothing to do with bumps. I agree that sending it to Eclipse for repair can be a hassle (I had to do it because I forgot my code CD), but the 3 year warranty is great, and nobody else offers that.

Several of my friends have had or do have Eclipse, and none of them have had any problems either. One of them has two Eclipse head units now, although one of them is the one I had, and it now, admittedly, has a CD player problem; the left channel doesn't play. But, after 5 years, I'll cut it some slack, and he only uses the changer anyway.

Anyway, the way Eclipse builds the internals, I'm really surprised you have had so much trouble. Sounds like my Sony experience, only not as bad!

I went through two Sony's, and 4 repairs within a year, not to mention I had a couple discs badly scratched by the loading mechanism. Soured my taste for Sony!

You're right about the aesthetics of the Eclipse. Despite the gree color, the flush and classy looking faceplate looked incredible in my 90Q, as if it belonged there. A lot of the others look kind of cheesy, and so aftermarket, IMO.

Hope you have better luck with the Kenwood! :-)

Charles