Car Stereo: Depending on the year of manufacture for your car, and whether it's been replaced at any point in time you could have any type of car stereo from an ancient tube based AM unit to the latest Ipod compatible hard drive driven unit.
Speakers: Again, with speakers and vehicle age you could have all sorts of configurations and levels of technology. For example my 1953 Studebaker (should it have actually come with a stereo) would have had two mono speakers (one in the dash, the other in the back plate behind the back seat for those who are curious).
Antenna: This is a "well d'uh" type item. If you want to pick up radio signals you need an antenna. :) Antennas remain simple as long as they are not powered.
Wiring: Well, ok, wiring isn't specifically a part for the stereo as most wiring is integrated into a central wiring loom. This being said, if your stereo as ever been replaced be ready to find some dodgy wiring that has been bodged into place. Additionally, if you are going to put a good custom stereo into the vehicle I highly remember fabricating your own parallel stereo wiring harness to ensure that you are using the best quality wires for your speaker as well as proper fusing and protection for the stereo unit.

Based on the age of the vehicle and any modifications that have occurred you may also have some of the following:

Basic Upgrades: The Stereo, Speakers, Antenna, and Wiring may have been "ugraded" at some point. It will either have been done well or abysmally. I've never really seen any middle road on this.
Amplifier (or Amp in the vernacular): These are used to amplify (obviously) sound signals from the stereo unit to the speakers
Accessory Items: These range from Ipod connectors to satellite radio pickups to in-boot CD players. Some folks go crazy with this and add LCD screens and DVD players (which I think is a bit silly).
Sound Deadening: Here I'm describing material akin to Dynamat^tm. If you are going to push serious sound (and this is also good for heat protection on cars) you really need to appropriately apply sound deadening for sound shielding and killing vibration. This goes double/triple for you kids who want to add 3,000 speakers so that you may blast the latest CD by MC StupidFresh. There's nothing more annoying than listening to the trunk vibrate like an angry swarm of bees every time the bass kicks.

How it works

Since the actual function of a car stereo varies wildly, I'll not spend too much time there, instead we'll discuss how everything around the stereo functions. When you turn your key in the ignition you are really using a key based switch. When the key is turned it closes a switch that allows power to run from the battery to the stereo unit. (If you have a modern unit there is also a low amperage powered wire that has battery power all the time to ensure that the memory doesn't blank on the unit.)

Once the system is powered, based on the options, and whether you have a powered antenna it may or may not raise. From there, once you select the music you want to listen to, the stereo unit outputs the signal which then goes to your speakers (or, if equipped, the Amp and then the speakers). The speakers translate the signal to sound, and boom, there you go. Pretty simple really.

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