ah.... what a bunch of tools you guys are sometimes. if you spent 1/3 of the time you spend bashing sony on actually installing a tuning a system, you'd all be winning the expert class!
want the lowdown on sony? you could build a complete sony system and have it sound better than all but a few of the cars here on CEG (if you wanted to).
there's an old saying.... it's 10% equipment, 90% install. you kiddies need to worry about actually having something done right before you can tell anyone what not to do.
sony head units? -nothing wrong with them. not great, but not garbage. nothing you're going to audibly notice.
sony amps? -wattage is wattage people. as long as you realize that $140 amp isn't putting out 800 rms watts.
sony subs? -not the greatest, but as i said, if you take the time to put them in a properly tuned enclosure, you'd get fine performance.
sony mids/tweets? -again, middle of the road. spend some time picking the right ones and aiming them, and they'd be a-ok.
mind you... i'm not saying that sony has the same level of quality as bostons or quarts (or whatever)... but in relation to their peers... they're just fine.