[EYEdROP]

My friend has a 1989 Lincoln town car that has no CD player and stock speakers, and he wants to spend no more than $150 to upgrade. He is looking for a cd/amp receiver and a pair of good quality speakers. We are unsure if front or rear speakers are more important, but I would assume the fronts are more crucial. Maybe someone can clarify. Also, he needs the speakers to be powered from the receiver and won't consider an amp. 
 
So from this point, Id say the door speakers need to be high sensitivity and high ohm. He likes his music loud. As far as sound characteristics, he likes a little bass emphasis, a great midrange, and smooth soft highs that are rolled off. The most important is the midrange. He listens to heavy metal, rock, punk, indie, etc... He is not a bass head but likes it to be in the foreground of the music and desires a good bass extension.   
 
What can we do for this amount of money?

 

[Lead Ears]

That's a very low budget. I would search ebay or craigslist to find the cheapest possible CD/receiver that will fit. Same goes for speakers. At this budget, you will not be able to pick and choose components to achieve a specific sound signature...you're stuck with whatever is available at a low enough price. Do not bother with rear speakers. A good portion of the budget will need to be allocated for installation-related expenses (wiring harness, deadening/dampening materials, tools). At the low-end of the the budget, speaker installation technique will make a larger impact on sound quality than the actual drivers. Check out http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/ for installation ideas.

 

[scootermafia]

That is plenty of money if you have the know-how to do it yourself, keep in mind the wiring is going to be tricky for cars that are pretty old, it's not like the local Best Buy will always have the wiring adapters to fit the latest head units to cars from the 80s, although you never know.  $100 will buy you a perfectly fine CD unit, or an even better used one.  The other $50 is more than enough to get some cheap or secondhand speakers, just some basic full range ones like 6x9 for the back and something smaller in the front.  If you want someone else to install it, that might be a bit out of the price range, although some places throw in installation.  Indeed there is no room for a separate amp in the budget, nor is one necessary.  

 

[EYEdROP]

Yeah, we are planning to do the install ourselves.
 
Would I be better off putting more money towards the receiver? or the speakers? It looks like all receivers in that price range are only around 20 watts rms. I was gonna get a cheap one and throw all the money towards high sensitivity front speakers.  
 
I know the budget is not high. But there must be some sort of budget coaxial speaker that is killer value. Ive heard some crappy but expensive car audio.  
 
The doors are 5.25 and the rear is 6x9. 

 

[Lead Ears]

The cheapest decent speakers you can find still won't leave that much $ for much of a receiver upgrade, and vice versa. To reiterate, installation quality can make or break a car audio setup, whether it be cheap or expensive. Mount the speakers securely (perhaps make some mounting rings out of mdf or something) and do as much deadening as you can. This should help any pair of speakers a great deal.