How much will the budget sound system cost?

I can't answer your question but I have to say I think it's funny that you say you want to hear "instruments" in trance music.

This is not a knock on trance or other electronic music--that's mostly what I listen to when I drive--it just struck me as funny

 

I think asking how much will a "budget" system cost is relative. Some may think a budget system is $100 and others may think it is $2,000. You are probably better off stating, I want to spend around $x. What do you recommend?

 

Well I got a Polk PA660 amp for $200, Four sets of Polk speakers for the doors, maybe $200 max. The some wiring stuff for the HU to the amp and some power and ground and RCA cables. DIY, look at about $500. Add $200-$300 for someone else to do it. You will have a decent system to hear everything.

 

what source do you use? Radio Ipod?

 

everything other than radio sounds pretty good to me. Did you turn on high quality for Pandora? Do you notice the difference between radio and other sources? Quite drastic on mine!

 

OP should try CD or aux cable from a good quality source first.

One big problem w/replacing the head unit or adding something visible (e.g. a sub) is that it now becomes a target for theft. Just something to keep in mind. Might be better to make the changes invisible (changing only speakers, hopefully that's sufficient).

Ages ago (probably 1997 to 1999), in my old 91 Camry, someone broke into my car and stole my car stereo and a CD wallet full of CDs (mostly retail). I had only replaced the stock stereo because it died. I ended up getting a replacement stereo (w/detachable faceplate) and an aftermarket alarm. The stolen stereo only had a flip around faceplate and security code.

My Prius was broken into in front of someone's house after being parked there for only ~40 mins. I was careless and accidentally left a fanny pack in the back. I was out $200 to replace the smashed window and lost my PDA, iPod Shuffle and Jawbone BT headset. This is in a neighborhood w/$1 million+ houses. I learned later that the thieves did a smash and grab on some other cars in the surrounding streets that night.

 

The size of the mp3 file doesn't necessarily have any correlation to the quality. You could have a VERY long (in terms of time) .mp3 (really long song, speech, etc.) and it could be crappy quality. What matters is the bitrate of the file, the quality of the encoder and the quality of the original source material. GIGO (garbage in, garbage out).