[thom4782]

To me the question boils down to this tradeoff - better sound quality versus original look.

The sound quality improvement is somewhat in the ear of the beholder. The original look is in the eye of the beholder. So which is more important to you and possible future buyers of your car - sound or original look.

There is only so much one can do given the structural limitations of the car. A superb sound system probably means lots of modifications to the original look.

I'm facing this question and have chosen to go with digital sound processing head unit / amplifier set up that gets the most out of programming the units to optimize the sound. This allows me to avoid the "cutting the door card question. If programming the sound to optimize the current speakers isn't enough, then I can go down the cut the panels route later and put better speakers in the car.