a sub would be next. then door deadening then get some raw drivers along with an active capable amp and do a 3 way front stage(we'll talk about that later). leave the rears alone.
So before you get too far ahead, here are some thoughts. It is a nice deck and did do its rated power, but I'd still opt for a lower priced deck that has 3 sets of 4V pre-outs and a separate amp. I know you want to deaden the doors and do everything right, but don't forget the big picture. At 40w per speaker, you'll hardly see any midbass, which is what deadening the doors usually improves. I'd consider that deck if you got 2 ohm speakers, which will give you some added output from that deck and some more midbass. Before you deaden the roof, make sure your setup even calls for it. I think anything under 2kW, you can probably leave the roof alone. Which does bring us to the question...how loud do you want it?
I see. Any suggestions on which amp and HU combo I should get?
Sorry to say, the acoustics of a Corolla is pretty bad, He will need forms of Equalization along with time alignment and cheap head units have horrible horrible 16 bit DACs, the sound just generally fking sounds horrible source makes the biggest difference in good sound quality, You will hear a big difference going from a basic head unit to one with a 24 bit dac just from the swap alone. Whats in store for him is that 40 watts deck on 4 inch a pillar mids and an active capable 4 channel amp later on for tweets and mids for a 3 way setup lol. Its gonna sound amazing on a budget.
I'd go for this one:
You can use an amp with any aftermarket receiver, but the focal point of that one was its amp. If you don't use it, then you can get the cheaper one I recommended. Clarion makes excellent decks and for $120, that deck is a steal. Has EQ and time alignment along with 6ch 5v pre-outs. Paired with a decent amp, you'll be golden.
