I Have a 2005 Baja Turbo and this past weekend i upgraded the factory speakers with POLK DB650 all the way around. Here is what else i would like to shoehorn into this car somehow:

A new headunit
An amp to power the DB650s
2 Clarion SRV303's Put under both front seats.
A Xenarc 7" In dash LCD screen hooked up to a Mac Mini

My question to you, what is an economical headunit that has all the inputs/outputs needed and an amp for this system. Where can i mount the amp seeing as i am using up the under seat area for the subs. Finally where could i mount the Mac Mini, i am thinking about in the center console arm rest but i am not sure about fitting. I am selling my motorcycle just to make this project happen and all of your input is very much appreciated!

Well - I am not to sure about hooking up the LCD and Mac Mini - but as far as head units go, Alpines are great quality and not too expensive - what kind of outputs do you need? The CDE-9845 and CDE-9847 are great, the 7 has 3 RCA pre out sets. Both the 9845 and 9847 have mini sized inputs also. The 9847 has head unit ipod control.

For amp placement - I am not familiar with the Baja - does it have a rear seat in the cabin? If so, does it flip up like some other trucks? I've seen installs where they put the amps under the rear bench seat - just make sure there is enough room to breath.

I did my carputer setup without an HU, works real well. If you are not convinced on the mac mini you can get a bunch of mini PC parts. Check out http://www.mp3car.com they have everything you need. I was able to fit the entire computer where the radio went and did a mattjk like screen install, except better. The only other place for an amp is the trunk, I had room under my seat. If you dont want to run a seperate amp you can get an HU with an amp built in (like the stock stereo) and clip it to the stock wiring. Why would you want an HU? If you do get one put it where the clock is, they have real nice pods that hold it. Any other questions?

Thanks for all the help so far!

RodimusPrime: Thanks for the headunit suggestions. How much breathing room is acceptable for an amp?

Trunk_Monkey: I do know about the windows(XP) alternatives, but i have seen it done many times before, and i dont mind the challange that using a mac will bring!

I am still looking for some amp suggestions, as well as placement for either the amp or the Mac itself.

It's a Baja so there is no clock pod. There are however three din slots. I did an indash LCD on my Baja with a JVC KD-DV5100. It has a DVD HU, 3 sets of inputs and one set of outs. I power the door speakers with the HU and the sub with an amp under the drivers seat. I built an 8" sub into the center part of the back seat. With this setup you could put your mac mini under the passenger seat. If you want you could even use a 3 or 5 channel amp to power the door speakers as well.
LCD Thread (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=442128) (I changed the head unit after this pick)
Sub Woofer thread (http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=674158) (The subwoofer now is a kicker dvc and has the grill cover over it after these picks)

I am not familiar with the baja, maybe the mini mac will fit behind the screen like mine did? All thats left is the trunk or the spare area...

The Baja is the 4-door pickup looking dealy.

There is no trunk (Well there is, but it's not closed to the elements)...

Is there room under back seat?

Is there room above the glove box? Is there room inside the center console? Something that might be pretty cool is to mount the Mini with the slot facing up in the center console (If it would fit) with all the plugs'n'stuff at the bottom feeding out to the different places (Power, audio out, video out...) and you could open the center console and feed a CD right into that slot...

-Peter

throw the amp under the passanger seat. http://pic4.picturetrail.com/VOL784/3524469/7248770/94327970.jpg