I need a sweet head unit.

O.K. first off, I think I know what yall are going to say but im still going to ask. Should I install a head unit before I put my system in or would it be ok if I installed the head unit after? I want to get my system first and get that taken care of and then re-gain some of my cash back and then get one sweet head unit. And what is a realy nice head unit that can put out the bass and looks good and can serve its perpose the way a head unit should?

i would get a nice head unit first.

O.K. first off, I think I know what yall are going to say but im still going to ask. Should I install a head unit before I put my system in or would it be ok if I installed the head unit after? I want to get my system first and get that taken care of and then re-gain some of my cash back and then get one sweet head unit. And what is a realy nice head unit that can put out the bass and looks good and can serve its perpose the way a head unit should?
When you are putting a system together, you need the head unit first. That is what is controlling everything in your system so that is very very important. I have an older Panasonic and their decks are nice. Good 7 band equalizer, built in crossovers, three powerful preamp outputs including sub, and a nice display that you can customize with your own images. But my display is much bigger than the current displays that Panasonic offers nowadays. Pioneer decks offer pretty much the same with bigger displays so that is an option. Alpine, Clarion, and Eclipse make some cool decks too.

The headunit for me is almost an afterthought, I really only need it to play CD's.

But it would work just fine without getting one right?

as long as you have a source that can get you by for the time being.

If i was gonna use the stock radio with subs and speakers, i'd get an external equalizer to tailor the sound to my liking.

Trust the experts on here get the head unit you want and plan on keeping first that way you have what you want and won't have to upgrade for a long time then work through the soundstages starting with replacing stock speakers with components and then at end adding amp and sub. If you get the amp and sub first and head unit later and then after that components then you'll find it's harder to properly tune your system to where it sounds good and also hits the lows properly.

O.K. I think I will get a head unit first. But I have no idea what makes a good head unit or what they can all do or are capable of. This is new teratory for me. Please help.

you have to think of things that are most important to you ... mostly features.

Does the unit have built-in or available thru an optional plug in box: ipod, blackbird, bluetooth, sat radio, navigation, factory steering wheel control, aux input, plays dvd's, has a slide-out monitor, etc ... Remember when comparing prices to add up the cost of all the additional boxes you might have to buy to get the features you want.

The second is performance features like 4V preouts, equalizer, crossover and time delay. The need for these items depends mostly on what else you plan on buying for your system.