I drive a 2002 Saturn SL2. It came with the factory stereo, including a CD player, which means the head unit/receiver and four speakers. The sound was more than good enough for me, including the volume and bass levels.
However, over the last year, the CD player in the system has crapped out. It only sporadically plays store-bought music CDs, and never plays CD-Rs, though for many years it played both with no problems at all.
I've found some good receivers for very reasonable prices (between $75 and $125), but am concerned that replacing the receiver means I'll lose my bass if I don't also buy and install a subwoofer with it. Two cars ago when I replaced my factory stereo with one from Crutchfield, the system worked great but had zero bass output, and everything sounded tinny.
If any of you are knowledgeable enough, here are my queries:
Are there decent receivers that provide reasonable bass without requiring a separate sub purchase? (For reference, I'm looking at something like the Sony CDX-GT330
for the replacement unit.)
Is it possible that my car has a factory standard sub and I could just use with the new receiver? Is there any way I could tell if there is one?
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated - car audio is admittedly not a strong point in my technical knowledge database.
However, over the last year, the CD player in the system has crapped out. It only sporadically plays store-bought music CDs, and never plays CD-Rs, though for many years it played both with no problems at all.
I've found some good receivers for very reasonable prices (between $75 and $125), but am concerned that replacing the receiver means I'll lose my bass if I don't also buy and install a subwoofer with it. Two cars ago when I replaced my factory stereo with one from Crutchfield, the system worked great but had zero bass output, and everything sounded tinny.
If any of you are knowledgeable enough, here are my queries:
Are there decent receivers that provide reasonable bass without requiring a separate sub purchase? (For reference, I'm looking at something like the Sony CDX-GT330
for the replacement unit.)Is it possible that my car has a factory standard sub and I could just use with the new receiver? Is there any way I could tell if there is one?
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated - car audio is admittedly not a strong point in my technical knowledge database.
I guess you no longer need four wheels and an engine to be an annoying idiot. Not sure if this is progress. 
