Okay, I'll preface this by saying I've replaced head units and speakers in every car I've owned. This however is the most complex install I've attempted, and on top of that I've NEVER owned a brand spanking-new vehicle before. (05 SE CC 4x2 900 miles) Needless to say I was scared to death that I'd hurt my baby during this project. I've seen systems here that are much more impressive (and more expensive) than this, but I'm VERY pleased with the results. Sorry I didn't get install pics, but I did get pics of the finished product.
Here's what went in:
Alpine CDA-9830 CD/MP3/WMA Receiver
Alpine KCA-420i Ipod Control Interface
Infinity Reference 7541a 111W RMS x 4 Car Amplifier
2 x Rockford Fosgate Punch Stage 1 10" 4-ohm Subwoofer
(In custom-built boxes)
Kenwood KFC-P605ie 6-1/2" component speaker system
(Installed in all 4 doors in XTC foam speaker baffles)

Here's the head unit installed. Nothing special, but I did end up using the Scosche kit. It does an acceptable job
http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/headUnit_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/headUnit.jpg)

Here's a better pic of the stuff the Scosche kit makes you rearrange. I should note that some cutting must be done behind the panel to accomodate the hazard light switch location. I also find it rather dumb that they incorporated the Aux plug which - after you remove the factory head unit - is quite useless.
http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/scoscheButtons_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/scoscheButtons.jpg)

Here's the iPod interface kit. The module is velcroed under the front passenger seat, and the cord runs to the glove compartment. Its a nice snug spot for my iPod to reside, and its really nice to be able to control the iPod from the head unit.
http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/ipodModule_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/ipodModule.jpg) http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/ipodDisplay_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/ipodDisplay.jpg) http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/ipodNested_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/ipodNested.jpg)

The tweets for the component speakers fit nicely in the factory openings in the rear doors. The front tweets I mounted in the dash. I cut a sheet metal adapter to fit the factory hole. Then I thickened it with some cardboard which I also hoped would minimize vibrations. The modded tweets are fastened using the factory dash speaker fasteners.
http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/tweetsDoor_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/tweetsDoor.jpg) http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/tweetDash_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/tweetDash.jpg)

Here's the subs. I know this is not anything groundbreaking, but considering this is my first sub install, AND I built the enclosures myself. . . I'm pretty pleased. The observant ones among you are probably wondering, "If you only got a four channel amp, what's powering the subs? Are the door speakers just running off the head?" Well, here's where I had to get creative. I knew I wanted both the subs and the door speakers amplified, and I didn't want to mess with mounting two amps. I looked into 5 and 6 channel amps, but they are way pricey. So the front and rear door speakers are run in parallel off the first two channels of the amp, leaving a channel available for each sub. I had to turn the gain almost all the way down on the channels powering the door speakers, and it took a while to get all the gains, crossovers, etc. adjusted. . . but I am very pleased with the results. I can turn the volume up to painful levels with no distortion, and the amp handles the load fine. (BTW the amp is mounted under the driver's side seat, but that picture came out crappy.)
http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/subsSeatup_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/subsSeatup.jpg) http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/subsSeatdown1_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/subsSeatdown1.jpg) http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/thumbs/subsSeatdown2_tn.jpg (http://mawinstallation.com/images/truck/subsSeatdown2.jpg)

Wow, this post took a lot more time to compose than I expected. (I'm better with HTML than BBCode, but the HTML wasn't working properly.)
I still have a couple of things to do with my audio setup. I want to DynaMat the doors for one thing, but I can't bring myself to pull the door panels again for a while. I also have a little trouble with headlight dimming. It's not terrible, but I wonder if upgrading to an Optima battery would make a difference or am I going to have to bite the bullet and install a capacitor?
You experts out there have an opinion?
LMK what you think of my new system! (unless you think it sucks)

looks good! i would try the battery first thats allways a good mod when doing sounds. if that dont work then a cap will do but i doubt it.

Doubt what? That the cap will fix it, or that it will be necessary after the battery? Just curious.

Looks Good

I would go capacitor. Easy to install and about the same price. But remember that a battery is for everything and a Cap. is for audio only. After the Cap. no battery upgrade is needed.

Looks good... Question though?

You didn't like being able to control the iPod thru the iPod with the AUX jack?

I had that same head unit and iPod connector in my F150. I thought it was cool at first that everything displayed on the head unit, but it gets real cumbersome scrolling thru all of that when you have over 4000 songs on your iPod.

It's just a metter of getting your playlists organized. Also, if something particular comes to mind I want to hear, I unplug the iPod, scroll through real quick an make an 'On-The-Go' playlist which is easily selected via the head unit. The Aux plug worked fine, but I don't like cords hanging around and adjusting the iPod itself while driving took too much of my attention. Also, since the factory head unit went away, so did the functioning of the aux plug.

Looks really good! How does it sound?? Are you happy with the sound quality??

It sounds great. What I wanted was something that could rock my world, without waking up the neighborhood. The bass literally vibrates me, and the dash mounted tweets provide great sound imaging. I'm sure there are more impressive systems out there, but I'm fairly pleased with my first attempt.

my only question is.......does the amp get really hot? by running parallel, i thought it would drop the ohms and is the amp stable at that ohm level? or is that when you run in series? well maybe it was a couple questions, audio guru's help refresh my memory please. it has been awhile since i was an installer.

by the way, it looks really good!

You are correct. Running them in parallel does make the amp see the 4 ohm door speakers as being 2 ohm. The amp is two ohm stable, though, as long as it is not in bridged mode. Here's the specs for the amp. (http://www.crutchfield.com/S-wLazu0sWggQ/cgi-bin/prodview.asp?i=108R7541A) So in essence the amp is putting out 139 watts at 2 ohms on the first two channels (door speakers), and 111 watts at four ohms on the last two channels (subs). The door speakers are only rated at 50 watts RMS, so the amp's gain is turned WAY down on those channels. Therefore the amp isn't working very hard at all on the door speakers, reserving most of its power for the subs.
Yes, the amp gets pretty warm sometimes, but it never really gets HOT. I made sure to check with the folks at Crutchfield to make sure the amp was capable of doing what I wanted it to do. So far. . . no problems at all. (Other than my slight headlight dimming problem.)

sweet, i do retain important information. most anything auto related is very important.