Dont get the Walmart brand radios. I got an ilo cd/mp3 with about
40 watts rms/channel. Real crapper and others have had similar experiences. I think the other Walmart brand (to avoid) is durabrand.
Basically the sound was great but there was no tolerance to bumps at all, especially on regular cd's, and the switches we're crap, a real headache just turning it on or adjusting volume, on a related note the faceplace didn't anchor very solidly.
It was about $100 a year and a half ago. I recently replaced it with a cheap pyramid cassette unit (I'll never go back to CD's) from ebay. The great thing about this head is that, although it has a removable faceplate, all controlls are just *mechanical* links into main unit! You wouldn't want it because it's got slide tuning (with digital readout). Unit only has enough power for dash speakers. Unit is underpowered so I got an amp, and while I was at it, a subwoofer that runs off 1/2 the amp. The pyramid head has an imput jack, and I use it with a 'streamline' brand mp3 player with a gig of memory on SD card.
My music is encoded at 64k so I can cram a lot on there. Someday will get a head with integrated front panel SD card port, for playing mp3's a little more sexily...they are at the $100 mark now. I spent about 35 on the head, 50 on the woofer, 65 on the amp. Wire is getting expensive though.
So, I have a 90 Jetta with the 2 stock dash speakers, kicker 6x9's in the back, an audiovox 4 channel 300 watt rms amp and a Visonix single
10" sub (with single voice coil). Like you, I'm not a perfectionist, in fact I can't hear a thing over 8k.
I also have a 98gl with the stock system, and my daughter has a stock 96, which I added an Infinity basslink powered subwoofer to, with no problem whatsoever, just running a + wire to the batt and getting signal from the rear deck speakers, which had deteriorated surrounds, i noticed, as I did the installation. I think it sounds ridiculously good with the
8 interior speakers and sub in the trunk...and her ipod jacked into the factory cassette.