Of course there are good audio gear for cars. For speakers, look up
Focal-JMLab - my personal favorite for percussion are the
Polyglass series, but the
Polykevlar/K2P series have warmer guitars, absolutely sweet for electric guitars with nice amplifiers. There's also
Dynaudio,
DLS, and
Hertz. Most speaker brands also manufacture their own amplifiers, so just browse through the website;
Steg and
Audison are two companies known more for amplifiers. I like the value of good old American power - think of a big-block V8 - so in the past I've used Rockford Fosgate, MTX, and since 2009, a
Digital Designs C4. It's hooked up to a Pioneer Premier receiver/processor,
Vifa Logic tweeters taking 75wpc from the amp's channels 1&2, and
Focal Polyglass V2 midbass drivers taking 150wpc from the amp's channels 3&4. Could use a sub, but the car's due for replacement, so when I get a new ride I'll install a
JL-Audio 8w3v3 in a fiberglass enclosure to keep it out of the way of cargo.
That said, ever hear about people with home audio set-ups complaining their "good"/"great" speakers don't sound good? That's because their rooms have "room modes" where it affects the sound of the speakers, and that's a lot worse in a car - you're sitting off-center, you have noise, the doors aren't exactly custom-designed MDF cabinets, etc. To make your gear sound "right" at a minimum you'll need a processor (either separate or built into the receiver) with 3-way Time Alignment. Plus you'll need to have the tweeters built into the A-Pillars properly, and the doors beefed up Dynamat on the outer shell and possibly on the inner plastic too (since most cars nowadays mount the speaker on that, instead of a steel "skeleton" behind it) in order to take the woofers without resonating all over the place and drowning out the bass. Trust me, I've heard enough Focal and DLS systems where the owners thought it would be plug and play and it's all good. It never is. You either read up and learn from
DIY Mobile Audio, or you spend $$$$$ on a professional installer to do it right.
Also look up IASCA and EMMA for installation and SQ tips. You don't have to tune the cars the way they sound in the competition since these two have rule variations but everyone complies to them (ergo, a bunch of guys would EQ their cars to "flat" too much), but note what they require as "clean" installs with no points deducted for things like tweeters and midrange obscuring driver vision. They also take into account stage height (whether the soundstage is eye-level); whether the soundstage and imaging are correct for driver's seat or both front seats; etc., which are hard to achieve without a processor and/or truly custom install to angle the speakers properly.
