There is not alot of room behind that before you hit the transom. 3" maybe, but it is right at the top of the transom. Those Rockford 6.5" just barely fit.

If I had to chose between the CMD4 and the Sony I would chose the Clarion. Personally not sure how cheap you are getting them, but I would look at Alpine. Spend a little more on the newer head unit trust me it;s worth it.

Soundstream is not what it used to be. Company was bought out several years ago, it's basically cheapo china stuff now. Got with the Rockford. If you want real power look up Autotek on ebay if you can get a Mean Machine or Street Machine model they are old school big power.

I was leaning toward the Rockford fosgate amp, I can get the cmd4 with 2 wired remotes or the Sony with one wireless and one wired remote. Both for about 250. I wanted the alpine but the 9886 with a wired remote would be 500-550 so it's hard to justify that much more money and I'm trying to do this on a budget.

Ebay is your friend. You can get the 9886 for less than your 250.

Also look at the Rockford Fosgate RFX9700CD

Thats funny. I have a Autotek street machine(not as good as the mean machine) on my shelf for back up. Always heard they under rated the watts on there amps for competions.

There was one company called Zed. They made all the high end amps. Autotek, SoundStream, Audison, Pheniox Gold, and a couple others a can't remember. These were all the high end amps used by compition cars.

The Mean Machine was the Zed made amp. The Street Machine was the same design just made in Tiwan. The Mean Machine were rated at true power, but that rating was at an extreamly low distortion ratio. The street Machine was rated at a higher distortion ratio.

I have Mean Machine amps fro the boat. A 44 runing my tweeters, a 66 runing my mids, and a 99 runing my subs. All of it at 1.3 ohms. I also have a Street Machine 601x sitting in my garage that I use to do parades with my DJ speakers for my daughters dance troop.

This was the biggest amp they made. It could weld.... this one looks a little beat up though. http://www.ebay.com/itm/autotek-amp-...item19dad518a9

im definitely using ebay and could maybe get the alpine 9886 used for that but then I have to spend another 180 or so for the wired remote. I dont mind buying used but if I can buy new I would rather. Im just trying to piece together the best system I can on a budget.

Thats why I say go with a newer unit. I know you say you want the CD, but everyone is using Ipods or their phone or some other form of digital music. It's so much easier than CD. You may pay a little more for the Alpine, but you will spend alot more when you get something older and then have to upgrade later.

So the Alpine is the same price as the Clarion with remotes. Then get the Alpine. Later on add the remotes when you have the cash. If the Alpine is going down in the cuddy, it comes with a wireless remote, so you can sitll use it.

OR look at the Rockford unit that I listed. You can get it new for 250 or less and the wored remotes are around 100. But it's better setup for using Ipods and such.

Trust me I know budget building. I bought my system cheap as well. I have less than a grand in my system. You can get good deals on good amps if you wait for it. But spend the money on a good head.